Loan Watch

Lennon's also opened the scoring for Everton against Swansea.

 

Pritchard got taken off late on, Brentford seemed to lose a bit of momentum once Jota went off with about 20 minutes to go and ended up drawing after a really scrappy goal from Bent in injury time. They should've won by 3 or 4 but great last ditch defending and awful finishing from Andre Gray kept the score at 1-0. Brentford could be top of the league if they had a good striker and a better defence, they're very impressive in midfield.

 

Lewis Holtby's loans have continued along a depressing route, with Hamburg bottom of the league and facing relegation.
He had a rather animated chat with some fans after their latest loss, a 2-0 home defeat to Wolfsburg:

Apparently he's saying something along these lines, according to a comment on the video:
"I'll stay here, too. Yes, I stay! I don't want the club to be relegated. I tell you: 'Yes, I want to work my ass off!' I'm undergoing training each day, look what I do! Indeed I'm trying to get out of this mess. I am also just a human! You know? I have once played well, I have played great, too. I don't know either. I have been injured. I'm trying to fight me back in."

 

Brentford highlights:

How did they manage to balls that up?

Pritchard post-match interview:

 

watching highlight's in the football league show I was impressed with Pritchard, and agree with you about next season,could become the playmaker that we are missing

 

Pritchard scored the opener against Bolton today, 2-1 to the bees at half time.

 

Anybody else finding it difficult to believe that Udinese and Deportivo La Coruna have sent their scouts to Coventry to keep tabs on Grant Ward? Even before I mention this story came from TalkBalls?

 

Pity that Brentford are slipping away.
Though I assume Bournemouth would be looking to try again for
a Pritchard loan if they get promoted.

 

Delle Alli has won the Football League Young Player of the Year award.
He beat Patrick Bamford of Chelsea/Boro and Nathan Redmond of Norwich.
The goal that he scored on the weekend, capping a 6-1 victory over Orient, was his 15th of the season. Impressive stuff.

 

I'm already being a ridiculous football fan in building up excitement to see Pritchard and Alli in the team next year.

Might not happen but frankly it is just as likely, it seems nowadays, to have quality players come to the team via the academy or lower leagues than from a massive transfer fee. Of course they could both prove to be Bostocks but you've got to live in hope, haven't you? Can't help but think that they both look class in the YouTube videos...

 

Alli got 2 assists last night for MK, adding to an impressive season. It might be a year too early for him next season though, the jump from League 1 to fighting for the top 4 of the PL will be considerable and a season in the Championship or even at a lower half PL club might do him some good to bridge the gap. On the other hand he could be completely ready for it, I've hardly seen him play so I'm not the best judge. For Pritchard I think this will be his most important season yet, he will surely be playing in the PL next season either for us or on loan, and if he can show strong performances at that level then his Spurs future will probably be secure for the next couple of years.

I can't wait to see them in Spurs shirts though, hopefully we'll see Tom Carroll too.

 

In the League 1 POTY poll standings voted for by managers in the division, Alli came second and there are two ex-Spurs academy men in there too, Nathan Byrne and Mass Luongo at Swindon.

 

I wonder what our chances of lining up like this at any point next season are:

Lloris
Dier Verthonghen Davies Rose
Bentaleb
Pritchard Mason Carroll Townsend
Kane

Very academy-ie. Perhaps a bit young and inexperienced for the prem, but in the cup?

 

Put your money on Luongo being at Villa next season.

 

The best indicator is how often the players feature for the clubs they're on loan at - Pritchard's been a first teamer for Swindon and Brentford for the past couple of seasons and performed,while Bostock was on the periphery of pretty much every team we loaned him to. In the past few seasons the likes of Walker, Rose, Kane (at Millwall, anyway...) and Townsend were all first teamers on loan, and they've steeped up.

There's exceptions to the rule, obviously - Mason didn't feature for Swindon as much as Pritchard (or Grant Hall, for that matter) but he's stepped up, while on the other hand Caulker was a regular at Swansea but since he left the club he's regressed terribly while Adam Smith got regular games but never stepped up as Walker and Naughton were both ahead of him in the pecking order - but as a rule of thumb if a player is a regular while on loan elsewhere, they're going to get their chance.

 

Pritchard's continued his fine season by getting voted one of the 10 best Championship players by the managers in that division.
He came eighth on the list, which was topped by Chelsea loanee Patrick Bamford and he was the only player from a club outside of the top 6.
1. Patrick Bamford (Middlesbrough)
2. Daryl Murphy (Ipswich Town)
3. Troy Deeney (Watford)
4. Callum Wilson (AFC Bournemouth)
5. Matt Ritchie (AFC Bournemouth)
6. Chris Martin (Derby County)
7. Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough)
8. Alex Pritchard (Brentford)
9. Lee Tomlin (Middlesbrough)
10. Harry Arter (AFC Bournemouth)

Delle Alli also had a good day, notching two assists in MK Dons 3-0 victory over Doncaster Rovers:

They're now a solitary point behind 2nd place Preston in the chase for an automatic promotion place with two games to go.

 

Interesting to see Will Hughes isn't on the list, given his name's been linked with several top Premier League clubs for the last couple of years.

 

Is that Chris Martin the striker who was at Norwich who helped get them promoted to the Premiership? Who they then sold before the season started and consequently Norwich struggled to score goals after? Only saw him a few times but always impressed. Never understood why he didn't get the chance in the top flight. Looks like he might get a 2nd chance with Derby though.

 

It's either him or the bloke from Coldplay.
Doesn't say much for the Championship if it's the latter, though.

 

Good news for three of our highest profile loanees today as Pritchard plays 84 mins in Brentford's promotion pushing 2-0 away win at Reading, Alli gets another assist for MK Dons in a 3-2 away win at Rochdale, and Tommy Carroll has said that he hopes to be back playing from injury for Swansea before the end of the campaign. Hopefully he still gets to the Euros this summer.