You could blame Brasil 1982 for that. They were the team that had a back four that thought they should be Pele rather than Gentile.
Pep's hope is clearly that he will be the second coming of Gerard Pique. The missing factor is that Pique only reached the level he did because he had a classic blood n thunder CB next to him in Puyol. With Kompany almost permanently crocked, Stones just won't have that level of tutelage.
True. Having a balanced pairing at centre-half can be very important. Leicester managed with two more traditional ones last season, but that was largely down to their style of play. Lots of teams have suffered from picking good players that don't complement each other. Ledley King's point about Neybet in SoS's thread is very true. We've benefited from a number of old heads in the Premier League era. Perhaps we need one or two to complement the youth in our side?
Part of the issue is a player seems to want to be something they are not. Case in point, Verts and Toby both play as ball-playing centre backs, but the reason they can play this way is because they have the necessary skill set to play that way. Other obvious examples of this are Beckenbauer, Ledders, Rio Ferdinand and Sinisa Mihajlovic. On the other hand there's been plenty of centre backs who think they can play the ball, but because they lack either the passing ability, positional sense or ability to cover (or a combination of all three) what they actually are is someone who is guaranteed not to get a Christmas card from their goalkeeper of central defensive partner anytime soon.
There has been one glaring problem with the manner the Paul Stewart story that broke today has been reported. For example, the opening line of the BBC's report reads "Former England and Tottenham footballer Paul Stewart has spoken of being sexually abused as a youth player" while the Mirror's front page not only shows Stewart in his Spurs kit, but only refers to Spurs on its front page - as posted below please log in to view this image To someone with no knowledge of Stewart's career, the logical conclusion to be drawn from these reports is that Stewart was abused during his time at Spurs - even though this is far from the truth as he wasn't playing for Spurs at the time the abuse happened, but not only has this not been made clear, references to him playing for City and Liverpool have been hidden away in the blurb rather than the headlines or sub-heading where Spurs are prominently featured. It's one thing for journalists to be malicious in reporting whatever bollocks they made up as fact, quite another for them to be so careless in their reporting that the story they print comes across as very different to the one they intended to report.
I thought the same thing when I read it. I imagine it's because we were arguably his most prominent club and therefore raises the impact of a headline - however conspiracy theorists could read an alternative script. One thing for sure is that the gutter Press will not make the next few weeks and months any easier for PS.
I hate the press One day some hack will write a straightforward, complete, factual account without comment, prejudice or bias, but I'm not holding my breath.
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/foo...en-out-against-monaco-says-tony-a3402401.html Or perhaps, Tony, you haven't watched any of our games this season and so wouldn't know that Jan has been generally immense in Toby's absence, leading by example in most games. You also wouldn't know that our 2 first team LB's are suspended and injured for the crucial game against Chelsea. And since you know exceptionally little about football, you also won't know that Jan plays LB for his national team, has deputised for us there on occasion, and was rested against Monaco so that we'd have someone semi-competent against the team currently topping the table. As you were, Tony. I've loathed you since the age of 6 when your Merlin sticker was so bloody common I couldn't swap you on the school playground for love nor money and so I ended the season with over 30 'doubles' of your stupid mug.
An interesting article from MP published in Marca: Whenever Mauricio Pochettino speaks about Tottenham Hotspur’s future, he does so whilst sounding like he’s very much going to be a big part of it. The Argentine has in the past been linked with other jobs, at perhaps bigger clubs, but it’s clear he sees there’s a chance to build something special at Tottenham. Whilst building a new stadium may bring financial constraints on transfers now, something Pochettino has admitted to Spanish newspaper Marca, the Tottenham manager sounds very excited about the whole thing. “The first thing is to finish the Stadium,” said Pochettino when asked how Spurs can compete with England’s biggest clubs. “It will be the best in England and one of the best in Europe. We will grow with the stadium and help stabilise ourselves as one of the top clubs of England. It will be a source of income and we will be able to sign great players and have the best in the academy.” Pochettino added that Tottenham aim to be “the greatest”, and whoever has sold him the story of the club’s future has clearly done a very good job. Marca threw Pochettino a grenade of a question by asking if he’s one of the best managers on the planet right now. “What, me? Everything is very subjective,” said Pochettino, ducking the question, before building himself up by referencing the difficulty of English football. “Where is there a more competitive and better league than the Premier League? Each country will say that his is, but when you see the club level, structure, viewers who watch the Premier around the world, you realise that this is another level.” Marca weren’t having that and pointed out that the Premier League is missing a Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, so the Tottenham manager presented the Spanish newspaper with a future they may not like. “Real Madrid and Barcelona already have them and nobody will take them away. Of course, with the economic power that clubs have here, the next Messi or Ronaldo will play in England. The talent will come to England in a short time, in fact it’s already coming.” On that note, Marca and Pochettino quickly moved on to discuss the instability in Argentine football. Don’t worry Tottenham fans, Pochettino taking over the national team wasn’t presented as a solution. The Mirror's report: Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino admits the club's stadium move means they cannot compete financially with their Premier League rivals.
Fantastic bit of juxtaposition in today's BBC gossip page... Manchester City want to sign Ajax and Denmark forward Kasper Dolberg. The 19-year-old has scored 12 goals in the Dutch league this season. (Denmark's BT, via Daily Mirror) The Premier League is investigating allegations over Manchester City's recruitment of academy players. (Times - subscription required)
Yes, this is the Daily Mail speculating that migrants and Jo Cox are responsible for Jo Cox's murder please log in to view this image If you think this is a mock-up, here's the link to the story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ed-immigrant-family-MP-wouldn-t-help-him.html
Former Arsenal attacker Paul Merson has suggested in The Daily Star that Mauricio Pochettino could leave Tottenham Hotspur. Merson has suggested that if Pochettino does not get to sign the players that he wants, then he will leave Tottenham. Has he fallen off the wagon, or is he just being a rent-a-gobshite?
Gobby Savage has claimed that "quality" players won't want to sign for Spurs now that we don't have Champions league football. I must have missed how we had qualified for the Champions league before we signed Lloris, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Modric, Bale, Berbatov, Klinsmann and countless other players that prove how full of ****e the Welsh windbag is...
Watching the Sunday Supplement on Skype and they were discussing United and a reporter called Neil Curtis from the Sun said United were missing a top striker. Another called Jack Pitt Brook from The Independent asked if United "made a mistake by allowing Kane sign a new contract at Spurs?" Curtis replied that United have "given up dealing with tottenham cos it causes too many headaches." I have no idea where to start with any of that.
