Pre-Season Thread

Skipp looks the real deal from the 2 games i've seen him in pre-season. I wonder if he'll get a shot this season or is it a year too early for him?

 

Throw him in I say...see if he's ready, if not he can always retreat back to a level below. I think sometimes the moment passes and we never see them again.

 

Yeah, let's start getting 3 or 4 up and throwing these guys in. Simples!

 

Yeah Skipp is looking like the real deal. He’s already been someone most of us have known about but seeing him perform like he has in the first team has reassured us he’s got a huge future. Still only 17... ****ing mad.

As I said earlier though, Amos has had a great ICC tournament. Held his own in every game and for me was MOTM against Milan (KWP was awarded it).

With us having an absolute mare at CM at the moment, what with Winks, Onomah and Wanyama all recovering back at Hotspur Way, Dier and Dembele returning late and Sissoko also picking up a knock, depending on who we sign before the deadline, we could be lining up against NUFC with Amos as the DM.

 

I'd rather see either of those 2 at DM than Sissoko.
Sissoko slows our play down so much it's painful

 

Are we sure Skipp is only 17? He looked really good in an academy game I saw last season (on TV) passing was superb. Looked 21+ then! I'd throw him in if the regulars aren't ready.

 

He's not a Nigerian player from the 90s. He probably has a legit birth certificate

 

Crazy ain’t it?! Turns 18 in September. Plays with an insane amount of maturity for his age.

This was why I was gutted we lost Parker after just one season of managing the U18s, he was/ would’ve further been an ideal mentor for Skipps’ further development.

 

I'm also on the Skipp bandwagon. What I really liked was that he only lost the ball once all game, by my unreliable count. I like Amos, too, but think Skipp has considerably better close control.

I see nothing to indicate he's 17. He doesn't look too slight, the way 1/4 does. Both in terms of what he did and what he didn't do, he was one of the best players on either side last night, I thought.

 

Yes, his first touch seems pretty spot-on. Usually a pretty good indicator of quality. It's that first touch and a decent footballing brain that usually set the top players apart and allows them to look like they've always got time.

 

So, so true Spurm, that is the first thing the scouts should look at, first touch. The rest can be taught.

 

Tiziano Crudelli flashback:

Gol di Tottenham.

 

Impressive how we built down the right hand side - although why we're wearing Milan shirts I can't fathom.

 

That was some bloody pass back from that Milan player wearing white

 

The Standard suggested that we'd be testing him in the U23s first, as he apparently faded badly towards the end of the season for the U18s...but then again the Standard's currently of the opinion that antisemitism didn't exist until Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour party, so their insight can be taken with a grain of salt

 

Milan created plenty of chances.

 

He may have a tad too much on it though

 

If you have those chances for both teams in 10 games, Milan wins six or seven, two or three are draws, and we win one. But they were playing mostly their first team, we were playing our reserves with a couple of exceptions, and they set up to play on the counter. You could say they got their tactics right, except that it was a friendly, and it ruined the game from a spectator's point of view.

Our approach was to pass it forward carefully, which we generally did successfully, but by the time we got to the final third, they were perfectly set up to defend, we had lost all our momentum, and we proceeded tap it around the box ineffectually. Of course, as it happened, their finishing was laughably bad, Vorm and Gazzaniga were excellent, and what's his name let in a soft goal from N'Koudou.

 

Not bad from our second string, but Milan should have won by a country mile.

 

Anyone got a stream for tonight’s game?