Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United

I think we’ll be waiting on Dier being phased out for a bit longer. While I think Rodon is the future for that left CB spot, Dier has far more PL experience than Rodon or Romero and they’re both only 23. You can see a relationship between Romero and Dier developing, as Dier is beginning to more often anticipate his CB partner stepping out, which Romero likes to do.

Ultimately it’s down to Rodon to impress in the cups and ECL and displace Dier that way because I think the shirt is his for now. He’s been quite solid but has individual errors in his game that he needs to cut out.

 

Jose figured that out too to be honest but copped a lot of flack for it by some of the fanbase, there was a lot I disagreed with him on in the end but dropping Dele certainly wasn’t one of them. Though it does now seem a large majority have changed their stance with the guy and realise that for whatever reason he’s just bombed and needs ridding of.

I’ve got a funny feeling Dier isn’t being dropped any time soon though and I also have a funny (bad) feeling we’ll end up selling Joe Rodon either in January or the summer and within a year or two will massively regret it.

 

The obsession a lot of Spurs Twitter have about Dele is mad to me. So many complaints about his exclusion when he’s only shown sparks, and that’s being generous, of his breakthrough form for years now. And when he does play, if it’s in a different position, that’s not good enough either.

He’s serviceable as an 8 and is 3rd in the pecking order as a 10 so honestly I think it’s probably time to wave goodbye.

On Dier I agree as posted above but I really hope we don’t sell Rodon and that he is given the opportunity to play himself into the shirt over the course of this season. Selling him would be a mistake I agree but he needs to ply if he’s ever going to take the shirt.

 

Nuno reportedly likes Dier's leadership qualities, so he's likely safe for a season or two

...then again, the ubermensch praised Sissoko for his leadership qualities, yet Nuno got rid of him at the earliest opportunity

 

The A&E doctor in the crowd who assisted the Newcastle fan by using the defibrillator is a ringer for Harry Kane!

 

Just the one incident? I saw hundreds of incidents of cultural appropriation yesterday...

 

It's interesting that Tanganga seems to have lost his place in the team since the Palace sending off. I've been decently impressed by Emerson if not blown away, but Japhet was one of our best players in the opening games of the season.

I wonder if Nuno quietly has a pretty ruthless, unforgiving side that doesn't come across as immediately obvious.

As for Rodon, the line up against Arnhem will be an interesting barometer Re where he fits into Nuno's plans. I have a suspicion we'll see a back 4 of Doherty, Sanchez, Tanganga and Davies which doesn't bode at all well for him.

I'd prefer him to go out on loan and to a PL side in Jan.

 

It wasn't the Palace game that cost Tanganga his place, it was the NLD where he was hooked at half time. Rodon, on the other hand, seems to be in the same spot Wimmer was in where he's trusted enough for ESL games but needs an injury or suspension to get into the team for PL games

As for Vitesse, I wouldn't be surprised if the back four was Tanganga, Sanchez, Rodon, Davies - and then wouldn't be surprised that it isn't getting the ball forward as fluidly as when we have Emerson or Reguilon at FB

 

Pretty much said the last couple sentences myself a good few times. I think Dele was the product of fortunate timing by having Eriksen (and Dembele) alongside him. He himself isn’t really a great player but he was brilliant in a system with great players to get the best out of him. Without those two he’s more or less a Southampton calibre player.

 

Tanganga was brilliant against City but got torn to shreds by Traore against Wolves and I don’t really remember his performance vs Watford. I think as HBIC more or less said though it was the Arsenal game that seems to have cost him, harsh in a way as the whole team were terrible until Skipp and Gil came on but seems like Tanganga was the major casualty. I’ve also been impressed with Emerson and think he’ll only get better with game time and learning the language. We’ve got two decent options there now, not quite as good as when we had Walker and Tripps obviously but good enough to get us by and do well.

As for Rodon I just don’t see what more he has to do. Sanchez and Dier continuously let us down and yet he still can’t get a sniff. He’s 24 in a few days and is a Welsh international, he won’t be content playing a minor bit part role for two successive seasons in my opinion, he’ll either ask to leave or the club themselves will look to sell him.

 

Defences work best as a unit and centre backs as a pair. Post Alderweireld and Vertonghen, who does he work best with? Find a partner and stick with the pairing - because it takes time to develop a partnership so that players have an understanding which is essential to effective defending.

 

This is the argument. It’s a cliche but football isn’t necessarily about getting the best 11 players on the pitch at all times, it’s about finding combinations that work as a unit. It seems like Dier and Romero are beginning to form a partnership and while I feel bad for Rodon and think he could have had more game time with us, I’m not so sure he’s got Dier’s (sometimes unwarranted) confidence to be vocal with his CB partner.

 

One thing to mention: Michel Vorm's said that Dier's helping basically every defender settle in as he's multilingual, as he can speak Portuguese to Emerson and Spanish to Romero, meaning there's no language barrier between our back four

It's similar to how Poch would play Gazzaniga, Sanchez and Foyth together after they first joined as they could all communicate in Spanish while settling in

 

Rodon can barely speak English on the other hand, and I’m not sure how good Romero’s Welsh is. Croseo a Spurs?

It’s interesting how much this kind of thing factors in.

 

Didn't take Chelsea fans long to switch to the new money club, did it?

 

As I (believe I) said on Sunday, if they were taken over by a Nigerian prince would they all have blacked up?

 

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