Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Leeds United

I'm not sure where he fits to be honest. I don't think he has the ability to dictate like a typical number ten does, you look at the likes of de Bruyne, Silva, Eriksen, Coutinho, Ozil etc from recent years and does Lo Celso fit that mould? It's a no from me. Then from a deeper perspective can he do what Dembele done? Again it's a no from me. And then can he do what Modric done? Yet again I just don't see it.

There is a good player in there somewhere but I don't think the Premier League is where we'll see it. Same goes for Ndombele, I think he's someone that needs more time and space, chuck him in Barca's XI and he'd probably look a world beater but his lack of intensity and fitness just doesn't really cut it here in England.

I think as most of us do want another creative player, at least one, possibly two of Ndombele, Lo Celso or Dele, will need to be moved on. One of them won't play anywhere near enough and another likely won't be too happy with their game time either, should someone new (and good) come in.

 

I think Lo Celso's a 10 and the only times I can think of him playing there for us this season were games that we deserved to win.
He started there against Newcastle when they nicked the 1-1 after he'd gone off and we should've been about 4-0 up.
The other times were the 2-0 against Arsenal, the 3-1 against Ludogorets and the 7-2 against Maccabi Haifa, though they're all **** opponents.

 

The irony is that, ass much as THAT BASTARD DIAMOND was a pain in the ass and ultimately led to Poch's downfall, if he had Lo Celso up top with Kane playing in a similar role to VDV that pairing would have likely flourished

...if we ever got the ball up that end of the pitch, which is why said formation was a pain in the ass and ultimately led to Poch's downfall

 

Purely for the HGS, I’d keep Dele. The other two would probably command a decent fee but they’ve really disappointed me since they’ve arrived and like you say, both don’t seem to be able to handle the intensity of the PL

Have Spurs been linked with any creative players?

 

I think he can play there if there's a genuine top level creative midfielder playing deeper but he's not what I'd consider a natural number ten, certainly not in the general Premier League mould of recent years. I think the plan was indeed to have Ndombele deep and Lo Celso advanced but neither seem to have the vision required to make it work effectively enough, nor do they have the chemistry as they've generally been terrible when sharing a pitch, albeit they've hardly played a ton of games together, despite both coming to the end of their second season. But I can only compare of what we've seen in the past and the likes of Modric-van der Vaart and Dembele-Eriksen worked very effectively, I don't see these two having a similar working relationship.

 

I find it hard to believe that players are limited to a single role. They all have overlapping skill sets. Lo Celso seems fine in CM to me. As does Ndombele, but not together in a 4231 because they don't have the discipline to defend. Neither does Hojbjerg though.
I still think 343 would play better to our strengths as a middle line of Aurier, Lo Celso, Ndombele and Reguilon should be able to manage both attack and defence and having three at the back should put us under less pressure.

 

The HG situation doesn't overly concern me too much, especially if the player in question isn't a prominent member of the team, which Dele isn't any more. If we didn't have Dele this season and no HG replacement, no one would've really noticed the difference. I also think (or hope I should say) we'll be moving on a considerable amount of players this summer and seeing as most at Spurs are non-HG there'll be scope to potentially bring in one or two HG players if need be.

As for links, Sabitzer's been touted, though I'd say he's a bit more 'all action' than simply just a creator, I think he'd massively improve our team though and I'd be all for him joining.

 

The problem with Ndombele and Lo Celso playing together is that we switch to a 4-3-3 when they do, for some reason.
That seems to be worse for both of them, so I've no idea why we do it.

 

None of that line can defend, though.

 

Enjoy relegation with that once we ship a record amount of goals in a season because no one in our midfield (or defence) can defend.

 

I don't think anyone knows why we've done a lot of things of late if truth be told, lol.

 

Going back to THE BASTARD VAR I've listened to a lot of sport radio since the match, and it really seems that one of the worst decisions ever by VAR (and that's saying something) really isn't a big thing. It is difficult not to associate the reason with this to who it happened to. I can't help thinking that if it happened to certain other teams then it really would be a thing. And the question of VAR would be raised again, more prominently, and for a much more extended period. So whether unconsciously or consciously, the VAR refs know that they can give controversial decisions against us, and it will soon be forgotten, but they had better no do so against other teams or they will bring criticism. Could be selective memory of course, but I don't recall such tight decisions going against these other teams. And until they do give such a decision against these other clubs they can carry on being as crap as they want, so it's kind of negative reinforcement.

For what it's worth I'd scrap it. If not then get in a set of VAR refs that are independent of on field refs. Maybe from another league or another country. Or maybe it should be regarded as a separate discipline and being qualified as an onfield ref shouldn't even be a requirement. They can be a separate career path for officials. As many have said, there is simply too much of a cosy relationship between onfield and VAR which is not healthy and is affecting results. And I'm one who thought VAR might actually be a way of getting away from the bias in favour of teams playing in red etc. How stupid am I.

 

I see United's getting another year out of Cavani. Bloody lucky if you ask me!

 

Shame he’s not 5 years younger though.
Class

 

I've watched him over the seasons with PSG. Misses goals but makes up for it with his goal totals and his constant hussling. Even Harry Kane goes to sleep sometimes. This fella does not!!