Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Barcelona

ANYWHERE. For ANYTHING.


"Why do I get the feeling these are the exact sort of people where, if you ever meet them in a FIFA lobby, they're guaranteed to rage quit in the 89th minute when getting tonked 4-0? And since I'm on that subject, when will EA fix it so if a player rage quits a match in the last minute when they're getting tonked, it still counts as a win in your analytics instead of a draw? It's been a constant source of irritation for at least a decade now."

If you are playing a networked football game, then after N minutes of "elapsed" time,
the default option for a walk out should be to concede the game.

This is a time-honoured problem for networked two person games
(even for those where no game result history is kept by a game server) .

 

Maybe but we need numbers.

 

Not since Bruce moved him to a more central midfield role. He’s more Modric than Eriksen these days (obviously nowhere near that level, lol). Good player though, think he’s very underrated due to the fact too many look at his stats and see only a handful of goals and assists. He has the drive that we massively lack in CM.

 

Can’t be any worse than having Dier as a CM

 

Maybe he’s not. He’s just an example as it was evident we were interested in him. I wouldn’t mind seeing him in a spurs shirt though, although I still think we need a more “higher profile” addition or two aswell.
I’ve always been an advocate of not buying for the sake of it, as we have wasted money in the past with players who didn’t actually improve the squad. I don’t think Grealish would have necessarily improved on the first 11, but he would have improved the squad, somewhat. Not only because we’re short at CM, but also because he’s just better than some, and could potentially offer more than a few players who regularly make our match day team sheet, yet seem to do **** all when called up on.

 

Based on last night having Wanyama is worse than having Dier, we were better with Dier and Winks was much better next to Dier

 

Lol. To be fair to Dier, he’s a great player but just in a shocking patch of form at the moment. Needs to buck up his ideas though otherwise he’ll be on the bench more often. Wanyama last night looked terrible which is a huge worry.

 

Arsenal are progressing but are behind us on goal difference.
Chelsea are progressing but are just 2 points above us.
We have a horrific injury list which is not the case with others...yet!
Last night we played without Eriksen, Dele, Jan and Dembele but put in s very good second half performance.
Imagine Arsenal with Lacazette, Abamyang, Ramsey and Ozil out v Barca.
or Liverpool without Mane, Ferminio, VVD and Salah.
Only City could cope in my opinion.

A win v Cardiff is vital as it'll give us 2 weeks to get our injured back.

I was really enthused by our second half performance and if that is repeated will could have a very good season.

 

Wanyama - haven’t seen the player of old for some time.
Winks and Dier - shocking starts to the season.
Dembele - struggling with injuries and lasting 90 mins and/or back to back games.
Sissoko - the worst of the 5, and basically offers nothing.

Between all of them, there’s also very little to no goal threat.

We really wouldn’t have anything to lose signing Grealish if we got him at a sensible price.

 

I agree but didn't he recently sign a new contract with a ridiculous release clause - maybe time to look elsewhere

 

I’d probably say he would improve the XI at the moment purely based on the form and fitness of others.

Dembele’s declining, not been terrible so far but nowhere near as dominant and I don’t think he ever will be.
Winks has been **** barring the second 45 vs Barca.
Dier has been dire.
Wanyama’s been injured but looked terrible last night and didn’t look great last season when he returned from injury.
Sissoko is a “job do-er”, we know his capabilities and what to expect.

 

Not sure about the release clause but yeah, he signed a new deal. I doubt he’d have signed a contract that had a crazy release fee though, stupid if he did, he’s at a stage where he needs to be playing top flight football if he wants to reach his potential and judging by Villa’s start to this season, they won’t be able to offer that to him next season. He’s wasted in the championship.

 

Perhaps. Just an example though. It maybe that we have to find another Grealish type ready for January.

Yep, maybe he would improve the starting 11. Based on the form of others, quite possibly. But then I guess it’s whether he can step up to top 4-6 prem football, and the CL. That’s asking a lot.

Sissoko a “job do-er”. That’s what we’ve come to accept. Sad really. And to be honest, he’s not even great at that most of the time!

 

With the loss of Bruce, who it appears he was close to, and missing out on a transfer in the summer, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has a word in his ear now to push for a transfer. Not to mention the risk of staying there and being hit by a cabbage!

 

I’d say he’s an upgrade on Winks, he generally plays how Winks played in that second half last night but has a lot more skill to ghost past players.

Haha I don’t mind big mouss these days, we know he'll never be the best player at the club but he is a handy squad option (at times).

 

There's been speculation that Big Vic's knee injury is similar to Ledley's and we were keen to unload him and both Mous(s)a's this summer. Oliver Skipp is coming through but we're 2 players short in that department. There's no doubt that we wanted NDombele and Grealish and failed with both.

Since then, we've been linked with others, which is probably just as well, as I don't see either being sold in January. Maybe Hector Herrera, who has also been linked and is running down his contract.

 

The expectation was probably along these lines - that Spurs would WW v PSV, WD v Inter and LL v Barcelona, finishing 2nd on 10 points.
So you are -1 so far.
Far from irretrievable.

 

I think there was some mention that the Colombian midfielder we were interested in whose name escapes me (he headbutted Henderson) maybe available in January

 

Wilma(r) Flintstone.....................or Barios?

 

Spot on.

As I’ve previously said though, it’s the psychological factor now. Looking up at a 6 point deficit is far from ideal. Dortmund crumbled last season.
Not only that, but Inter will be buzzing at having picked up 6 points from 6. Wouldn’t be surprised if that new found confidence results in them picking up a point against Barca, to be honest. Not good for us in the slightest. Not only have we got to be on top of our game, but we’re relying on other teams now. As spurs fans, we know that doesn’t end well for us!