I went by the latest available official figures, which are always about 12 months out of date: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2013/apr/18/premier-league-club-accounts-debt
In terms of money spent in reality it's 1. Man Utd 2. Man City 3. Chelsea 4. Arsenal Which is what the league table reflects, but I agree in that principally Redknapp is wrong but remember who his dad used to manage.
District line is funny, I've heard him come out with loads of beltas. Man Utd being bigger spenders then Chelsea, is just another one.
It's an interesting subject, Spurs, Dembele and goals. Dembele has been the key man for Spurs (can't be bothered to find the stats) in terms of record. But he almost never scores or assists. My theory is that aside from his considerable skills, he's a commanding presence. His teams have gotten 7 points in three games against Man U the last three games (as have Dempsey's, non-coincidentally). He seems to have the effect of settling us and intimidating the other team. (w/Sandro I got the sense other teams were sometimes petrified.) Another interesting figure (from the Mirror a week or two ago): he leads the Prem in highest percentage of completed long passes. You can argue that's a perfectly misleading stat: he misses few long passes because he only tries safe ones. We were better when Modric fired out the long passes more quickly, even if he missed a few more. On the other hand, of the second and third leaders in goals/assists per minute for Spurs, Dempsey is almost universally panned, while the sentiment for Gylfi seems lukewarm. So I guess we can all agree a midfielder who doesn't score or assist but seems to have an excellent impact on the squad really needs to be much better, while those who do score and assist are just crap and can't be helped...
The "pundits" Sky use to predict results are Jamie Redknapp and Paul "I cannot see anything I don't want happening" Merson (or Charlie Nicholas if Paul's unavailable) It's no wonder there is a pro-Arsenal and anti-Spurs bias
If there's one player who shouldn't be at Sunderland it's Connor Wickham. Weren't we linked with him once? I'm sure that he could do better.
Well you did us a favour by taking Darren Bent off our hands but I think it's too late for us to buy him even at half the price your club made the mistake with. I can't imagine why he went to you in the first place or for that matter O'Neill and Di Canio. Think you'll have another relegation issue next season.
Put those Benny rumours back on 'hold'........ From the OS: https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/spurs/News/team-news-17052013.page Seemed strange he wasn't even in the bench. Apparently it's a knee problem - maybe he wouldn't go down on it to convince AVB to keep him at the end of the season???
That was a bit brutal in that case - and a bit of shooting yourself in the foot!! Dropping your number 1 LB from the squad for a vital game..... Didn't think he was THAT off form......
I expected him to be left out of the starting line-up and predicted as much, but I thought he must've done something stupid to get pushed out of the squad. Tall defence to deal with Stoke's aerial threat, so Vertonghen at left-back. Worked after about the first 2 minutes, too!
There was some logic to playing a tall back four, but to deprive us of at least having Benny as an option just seems petty in a self-defeating sort of way.......
Naughton was on the bench though, so he could cover either full-back position. We needed a win, so I can understand Villas-Boas going with an attacking bench.
Don't get me started on the values of Naughton - I am trying to keep my blood pressure under control for the next 48hrs!!!!
