No matter how we try to wrap this piece of turd up, it will still be a turd. Our squad players should be good enough to dispatch a League 2 team with far better football than yesterday, granted we were playing at a tricky uneven away ground with the fans on our back...I'll give them that!
there is only one first choice wingback who is (marginally) better than Trippier and he plays for us. Jesus, I've only just watched the match. Fortunately, Supersport does the whole match, not highlights. I was so pissed last night due to a litre of gin trying choke me, I became incapable of logging on after 2-2 and too hung over this morning to find the result. That was not good for the Heart.
I think I'm asking a different question though. We currently have the best FB's in the country on both flanks in Walker and Rose. Anyone who argues with that is either stupid or supports Chelsea (not sure why I made that a second option). So the 'gap' in quality between them and their deputies is going to be far more noticeable than for example Man Utd who can rotate through Darmian, Rojo and Valencia without it really affecting the quality of play. There isn't much of a gulf between them. That also isn't the case when you look at Rose and Davies. It is the case - and this is only my opinion - on the right flank. The gulf between Walker and Trippier is enormous. The dilemma is that we were lucky enough to pick up a deputy LB who is good enough to waltz into most PL sides' first teams and stay there. The fact that he has hung around this long is a miracle. As unlikely as it is for lightning to strike twice, we should be ambitious enough to aim for the same thing on Walker's flank. There were a couple of really promising youngsters playing in Italy last year, Vrsaljko and Hysaj who both earned themselves moves to bigger clubs (Atletico and Napoli respectively) for consistently impressing. Neither was particularly expensive either. I feel that if we can pick up an Eric Dier, we can surely look to improve on Trippier without breaking the bank.
It still come down though really to you not really rating Trippier. I'm not saying you are wrong - you don't usually seem to be - but on this point, I think your views would be at odds with those of most Spurs fans. I for one suspect that right back is one of the last positions the club is considering recruiting for at the moment, unless it is a long term prospect to go out on loan, or unless our fortune of having two high quality right backs takes a turn and Trippier decides that he wants to move on in order to get regular first team action.
Lol. Putting some of the decision making aside, he had a few poor touches which he recovered through shear pace. Didn't look quite right yesterday at all. - but he's got bags of potential. If there is this supposed 14-15 players who are up to scratch, and the rest aren't, he's definitely on the cusp of being part of that group of 15, for me. Even though he wasn't at his best yesterday, there were several performances that were far worse than him, as SOTM said.
I think Trippier suits our playing style more than Ben Davies. Although Davies is probably the better player when rating his overall game and is a much better defender, we miss Rose more than Walker because Trippier continues to offer a real attacking threat and our full backs are such a major part of how we open teams up. We were/are trying to get in a young Brazilian left back, Guilherme Arana, who plays just like Danny Rose but will have his pick of clubs when he leaves Brazil. His agent said he was very interested in Spurs after coming to Hotspur Way. So, that probably means that he's off to Chelsea.
That's why I love football. Magic of the cup was truly well in effect. Absolute credit to Wycombe, gave us one hell of a game and their players are a credit to their town, club and manager. You can see why they were on a 16 game unbeaten run. I predicted that line-up before the match so was happy to see it, though unfortunately too many let themselves down. CBs were bullied and just woeful, full backs weren't involved enough, GKN, Onomah and Sissoko done one or two nice runs but drifted out of the game far too much, although Sissoko done a little better in the second half. First half Wycombe dominated us and more than deserved their 2-0 lead. That's all that can really be said for the first 45. Second half we stepped up, Son was running at their defence, Winks was getting more control of the midfield and the subs massively helped us take control. Janssen done well to win the penalty and score it, was unlucky not to score his header which was well saved but did get the assist for Son's winner. Dembele was a monster, their midfield players must have hated playing against him and there was one moment they only stopped him on a run by rugby tackling him. I think he pushed the opposition players around him into exhaustion which really allowed us to grab the third equaliser and then winner. Alli's finish was superb, got round one defender with good skill and slotted past the keeper with three defenders all closing in. Credit must go to the team in the end though, despite the fact in theory we should have never allowed this game to be as close as what it was, to come back from 2-0 down and then score two late goals having been down to ten men due to Tripp's injury shows incredible determination. Great seeing the crowd get behind Ryan at half time, with Micky Hazard recording the stadium sing his name. Once again well done to Wycombe but delighted to be through into the next round, COYS!
Trippier is a very good RB and is part of the reason why Walker has massively raised his game. Definitely wouldn't want to sell/ replace him. We're truly blessed in the FB positions, we have the two best in the league followed by arguably the two best backups in the league. Davies and Trippier would walk into about 10-12 of the league's first XI's, just shows the strength we have.
It is odd that we're being linked with various left backs who are like-for-like with Rose, notably Arana and Sessegnon, yet not any like-for-like with Walker - unless Poch sees KWP as this. The only other logical suggestion is that Poch was thinking of playing three at the back some time ago, and seeing Davies play there for Wales means he's looking at someone to understudy Rose in that different role. ...and just as I'm typing that, Sessegnon puts Fulham 3-1 up against Hull.
Trippier certainly wouldn't be the first name I'd put on a transfer list. That honour probably goes to (in no specific order): Fazio Sissoko (I still pray daily that some Chinese team will swoop in with a £60m offer for him. I will personally build a raft and sail him to China) Onomah (loan) Janssen (loan) GKN (loan) CCV (loan) Our squad is in a healthy but at the same time strange position, in that the 'bit part' roles are almost exclusively filled by extremely young and inexperienced players. Whereas other teams tend to have a bunch of older, slightly past it players doing the 'occasional appearance' role, we have a cluster of lads who would surely be far better off getting regular first team football and learning the ropes than popping up once every 2 months and getting a roasting for predicatbly naiive performances. Our loan structure used to be sensible; the fact that the 3 players we have out on loan are all likely to be sold permanently in the summer is an appalling commentary. I'm not questioning Poch, but I cannot fathom what he expects the likes of CCV, GKN, Onomah and Janssen to do. Liverpool have a similar problem. Pretty much the same team who beat us comfortably in the LC were in turn beaten quite comfortably by Wolves this weekend. This suggests that most PL youth teams are League 1- Championship level at best. So if a loan opportunity comes in from that sort of level - why not seize it with both hands?
I was talking about Davies as centreback cover. I agree with you about him at left back though, having a pacier left back would be a good addition if there's a good one, or a youngster with potential, going.
Davies hasn't got the pace of Rose, but he is still the stronger and more versatile defensively and he has a really good football brain and his forward runs are generally well timed and incisive. He has the ability to ghost in, although sometimes that seems to surprise his teammates as much as the opposition! Getting back to the GKN debate, he's had 12 apps and 7 of those as sub - in all of which he has looked good. Surely too early to be writing the lad off??? And whilst the 2nd half performance may have seemed better, that was against a fast tiring WW team - and we still managed to concede after 80 minutes!
This ties in with my constant gripe of us not buying experienced players to step in. I wanted Fonte, Defoe and players of similar ilk and experience. That makes for a powerful squad, not having the Youngsters taking that spot. I agree the kids need to gain first team experience but why not loan them out. There are enough teams at the bottom of the PL or top of the Championship who they could and should join and if you are impressing, you will be back at Spurs. Instead they get the cup games which might extend to a total of 4 games if we are lucky and in them games they have to massively impress. Bigger teams than us have turned to an experienced head in order to achieve. Blanc joined United at the age of 36(I think) because the odd game he did step in for his experience would be enough to get the team through, job done. Convincing these experienced players to join is another matter, what with most of them wanting first team football. However the selling point would be that they are joining a team chasing the league and making all the right noises etc etc.
and looked very impressive in doing so..... To be fair, Fulham looked an impressive outfit in a number of positions. They are really coming together after a few dark times.
I think there's too much of a myth by saying a promising youngster on the cusp of the first team will necessarily benefit from a loan in a lower division. How many players have gone on loan to teams in the Championship or below and come back any better off in term of being a first teamer or even squad member? I don't think anyone has. In recent memory only Walker and Rose have come back to Spurs and jumped straight into the first XI and that was on the back of Prem loans to Villa and Sunderland respectively. Townsend, Mason, Kane and Livermore (can even go as far back as O'Hara) all had a number of loans in the lower leagues yet never came back as fully fledged first teamers, eventually it was through impressing the current managers in training and cups that got them more time in the first team. Poch has pretty much already said the youngsters that are around the first team (CCV/ Winks/ Onomah etc) are better off staying here, learning the system and learning from the senior players rather than going out on loan to a club nowhere near our level and likely to not play our style and I'd agree with that idea.
The premise appeared to be to : 1. go out on loan to at least get some serious long-term competitive game time, and "toughen up" too in the process. 2. The final part of the journey was a loan to a PL club, after which you were deemed ready (or not) for your chance to stake a place in the senior squad. Regardless of who is still with the club, the method gave us Walker/Livermore/Caulker/Naughton/ Townsend/Rose etc since 2011. To ignore this is then IMHO a matter of dogma.
Going out on loan to lower league teams prepares players for games like Wycombe. They experience a very physical game where there is little time on the ball and players have to learn how to play at set pieces at both ends of the field. It doesn't replicate what they will experience in the first team, but it does toughen them up and gets them playing regular football, which is very competitive.There isn't a chance to hone skills. Organisation, strength and physicality are more important. Many of the PL players who've gone to League One or Two seem to end up being loaned to half a dozen different clubs before eventually being permanently transferred there. Some manage to make a career at Championship level, but I'm struggling to think of any whose game has improved enough at that level that they return to take up a first team place. Even those loaned to the Championship rarely see any career progression - look at Patrick Bamford.
I'd say that the loan system is just as hit n miss as the transfer system (in that you can look at a team's transfers and flip a coin to predict which will be success stories and which will flop). It is a mistake to argue that every player we send out on loan should return a year or two later and go straight into our first team. We are the 6th wealthiest team in the country playing in the most competitive league in the world. We simply don't have the time or indeed the need to wait around for years for youth prospects to return from various loans. Failing a future with the first team, we should first and foremost look to make as much profit as possible from prospects. And the loan system is surely a win-win in this regard. You either have another team paying to help develop a Kane - who is now as close to priceless as any player in the PL. Or, you have another team paying to put have your player in the shop window, gaining experience all the while. Would players like Townsend, Yedlin, Livermore or Pritchard have fetched such tidy sums without their successes out on loan? Tom Carroll is a fantastic case in point. It was clear years back that he would never be good enough to play first team football for us. So we sent him out on loan to Swansea, where he impresses. Still not quite good enough but his stock had never been higher. Two summers ago he easily would've fetched £10-12m. But we decided to keep him on for another uninspiring season, he ran his contract down, and ended up moving to the same club a year later for a quarter of the price. Send Onomah out to a Sunderland or Middlesbrough. They'll toughen him up and give him more opportunities in the shop window. He either experiences a personal miracle and comes back as good as Alli, or we bump his current value of appx £5m up to £12m and make a tidy profit. If managed sensibly (cf. Chelsea for the opposite approach), it is win-win in so many ways.
