Rival watch

Funnily enough, we're being linked with their academy centre back Tosin Adarabioyo. It's understandable he might want to leave, given Mangala was getting picked ahead of him last season...

 

£65m plus Aguero for Toby.
£15m plus de Bruyne for Walker.

And they'd have to contribute to Aguero's & de Bruyne's wages, just like they did with Ade.

While I'm at it, £100m compensation for Poch once they realise Pep is a fraud who's just had the prior fortune of managing the two best teams in world football as his first proper managerial roles and now when in a legitimately challenging league in which there are a number of contenders for the title, he's been found out as basically being a glorified Tim Sherwood who thinks a gung-ho approach to football is the way to go by completely neglecting the defensive aspects, so when up against a team who can both attack and defend, comes unstuck.

 

Understandable when you consider how many kids who have been in the Academy
setup over the past 5-6 seasons have gone on to establish senior PL careers, won
PL Young player of the year etc.

 

Eh?

He's comfortably the world's best midfielder now in my opinion, he's definitely improved since he left Spurs.

 

Still the same.

 

Now rated, rather than underrated.

 

Tough to say if Modric is better or not since leaving us, playing in a far superior side with more global recognition naturally helps him stand out but most of us would've said that he was probably the best playmaking CM in the world prior to his Madrid move (alongside Xavi, Iniesta and Pirlo), it's just we'd have been shot down and called deluded by rival fans for suggesting such a thing.

Everything he does at Madrid is what he done for us, completely dictates and controls the game, with vision like a hawk with binoculars. A truly wonderful player and it's why Spurs fans were so devastated at how he began acting when trying to force a move away to Chelsea and then Real.

For me personally, he's the best CM I've ever seen at Spurs in my 26 years.

 

I call Messi "The son of Greaves"!

 

How is Jimmy anybody heard?

 

You make a strong argument and I have to say im in two minds now. As NSIS says technical brilliance is probably drillled into Spanish youngsters from an early age, which explains why a mid table La Liga side can simply run rings round Liverpool at will.

But my confusion stems from the fact that so many top flight players aren't English, it becomes difficult to the brink of implausible to blame the coaching styles in this country. The players misplacing the most passes in the second half against Bayer were Lamela, Eriksen, Son and Dembele; not Rose, Trippier and Alli as that line of argument would suggest.

The other source of my confusion is at international level where for all of the technical brilliance of the likes of Spain, Germany and Italy, other teams like Portugal, Wales and Iceland regularly show that hard grafting and teamwork trumps sublime football surprisingly often.

I think PL sides have certainly gotten better at the hard work and graft side of things. Pioneered by Poch and Klopp, Spurs and Pool are now the benchmark of what is a good work rate for a player, sacrificing big names irrespective of their price tag if they aren't putting in a shift. Perhaps the pace of the PL makes my point a self fulfilling prophecy, but the languid style and approach you see from so many teams on the continent is rapidly disappearing from these shores. Luxury players are becoming a thing of the past as the likes of Yaya, Sturridge and Giroud are banished to PL's outer rim. Only the likes of Stoke, West Ham and Sunderland appear content to pick up luxury items - look how well that is working out for them.

I'd conclude by saying that TV money plus a sustained period of poor decision making by the big guns has helped to make the PL a more competitive league. But perhaps you're right...maybe the overall quality has dropped.

 

Here's the most recent update

 

It's quite funny that even you can only pick one and I'd still dispute that, too.
Dier set a very high bar last season in that role and I think that Wanyama might have raised it.
We'll see if he can sustain his form as the season rumbles on, though.

 

Inter v Southampton on BT Sport. They get Jermaine Jenas, while we got "Not that Owen" Hargreaves.
Poor choice, in my opinion.

 

Thanks HBIC

 

I have just sent a message to Jimmy wishing him all the best. I was surprised that relatively few have tweeted to him.

If you are on twitter send a tweet to one of our all time great players. If you are not on twitter now is the time to join and send him a message of good will. This man provided us with some great moments and some wonderful memories let's make sure he feels the love.

 

Southampton thoroughly outplaying Inter at the San Siro, but not taking their chances. 0-0 HT.
We saw the danger of that on Tuesday, but the Italians don't look that bothered or that good, frankly.

 

Technical COMPETENCE. Spanish leagues do not produce an army of Messi clones.
As I said, what IMHO I expect any top-flight pro to be able to do at the absolute
minimum is talked about in the UK as though we are seeing miracles.

 

Inter 1-0 Southampton. Didn't take advantage of their superiority and now they're behind.
Been much the better team, but that's what happens.

 

Schalke/Krasnodar is like a paralell universe Spurs match

Stambouli starts
Bentaleb rested
Clattenberg the ref
Former target Yevhen Konoplyanka puts them 1-0 up
Perpetual transfer linkee Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on the bench

 

I bet Man U will kill themselves trying to win this tournament,unlike Spurs who believed this was a reserve tournament.....and treated it as such.