Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v RB Leipzig

Little bit on Parrott which is doing the rounds.

Rumour 1 - He's hanging out with the son of Ireland's biggest drug trafficker - there's a pic online of the person who is supposed to be the son as they both went to Dubai during the winter break.
Rumour 2 - He went typical "lad mode" and slapped his cock over a teammate's/ friend's face (or drinking glass, there's conflicting stories on this one) and there's supposedly a video on it.

To add onto those rumours, apparently Jose has had a meeting with him about "off field antics" and talking about his potential. Jose said today he still feels Parrott isn't ready despite Son's injury - I personally agree with him even though there are a lot of cries for Parrott to get a shot - but I do now wonder (providing the rumours are true) if when Jose says he's not ready, it's not down to his talent but his maturity, which is somewhat understandable given he's just turned 18.

As someone quite rightly said on Twitter too, Parrott went away this winter break to Dubai, if you're really looking to establish yourself as a first team member of this squad and you've only played about 70 mins this season (Colchester and Burnley cameo), surely the sensible thing would've been to stick around and work with the coaches to not only improve and impress them but show a willingness that you're dead set on making an impact and are willing to make sacrifices? Ben Davies never went on holiday, he stayed behind to train and was therefore fit enough to start against Villa, that's an example to any player who's either returning from injury or looking to establish themselves.

 

Maybe play Dele upfront?

It’s what I’d start with

Was optimistic before the Son injury, not so much now but this is football and anything can happen.


Looking forward to seeing how Jose tackles this one.

 

This is gonna be another Poch and Marcus Edwards situation isn’t it

 

Now we have two options. To fall and die because it’s the fourth floor. The other is to climb. We will be on that balcony fighting with everything we have. There is only one possibility. No strikers, no market, no players nothing. The only help now is our crowd. The Tottenham supporters. That’s the only thing I ask because I can’t ask any more from the players that they’re giving. which is everything they have”

very important

 

These reports might make some sense of a situation that seemed to make none whatsoever.

We obviously believe in him as a player and the kid's definitely ready to play first team football from a physical standpoint ...

Sometimes, the answer to dealing with players who are 'troubled', is to give them more responsibility, not less. A number of players with 'issues' have been given the club captaincy, to tie them to the group, rather than try to force them into line. Maybe stick him on the bench and give him a few minutes and promise more if he knuckles down?

My main fear is that more drift in his career is likely to make things worse,not better. More's the pity, not every player is Harry Kane or Japhet Tanganga but the devil makes work for idle hands...

 

Agreed. I remember my manager didn't really trust me to make the step up to the next level in my first job. He took a chance anyway and I rose to the occasion.

 

If Parrott plays, is it true that he feels most at home when sitting on the shoulder of the defender?

(........... I've got my coat on already............)

 

It's a shame that lots of the rumours about him seem to involve a cockatoo

 

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Bravo!

 

A couple of their main defenders are missing tonight

gives me some hope

 

It’s the hope that kills you

 

im used to dying as no doubt you are

 

Never in the field of human conflict has so many bloody injuries happened to a club. We are due a miracle!

 

or new medical staff?

 

100% this.

The sheer volume of injuries and length of recovery periods over the past 3 seasons has been outrageous. No other top team has come close to it. I'd assumed it was down to Poch's notoriously intense training regime, but the problem has clearly persisted into Maureen's reign too. There are only 3 plausible explanations:
1) Voodoo
2) We have an inept medical team
3) We have an inept scouting team (they keep recommending injury-prone players)

 

I don’t know the breakdown but it would be interesting to know how many are knocks/breaks and how many are strains or injuries associated with overworking a player. We’ve had a notoriously unbalanced squad and some players hardly ever get rotated and I think this has to potentially play a part as well as the points you raise above.

 

Have our injuries been that bad? We've got a few injury-prone players, but the rest seems to be down to overplaying people.
Kane, in particular, has been run into the ground, returned to quickly from his absences and has no cover.
I think that we just feel key injuries more and don't have a well balanced squad.

Some other teams appear to be rather fortunate with injuries, especially in key areas.
I don't think that we're that bad when compared to the average, though.

 

It'd be really difficult to uncover the bottom line in hard data. I found this article (summary of last season) helpful. Unsurprisingly, the 'big 6' tend to suffer the most injuries, due to the strain of playing up to 20 more games a season than lesser sides. United suffered the highest number of injuries. We were a close second, then there is a chasm between us and the rest. It is noteworthy that the relative financial loss incurred (i.e. paying players to sit at home in a cast) by us is quite low, and that is thanks to our sensible wage ceiling (Wet Spam's, by contrast, is demonstrably unsustainable).

The two teams that stand out are Leicester and Wolves - both suffered paltry injuries last season (they are freakishly low) and surprise surprise both had brilliant years. That trend seems to have continued into this term as neither of them seem to ever have significant players out for significant lengths of time.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbym...-player-costs-on-average-350000/#371adca5410e

 

The only changes I'd make would be to swap Ndombele and lo Celso..and start Tanganga for Davies or Alderweireld. Seems like when Tanganga starts we keep a clean sheet, and when he doesn't we give up two goals...though I don't know how accurate my perception is.

 

I think you could just as easily argue when Dier doesn't start, we keep a clean sheet, and when he does we give away two goals.