Kaboul was a natural footballer, natural athelete and built like a tank. The mental side of his game was always a problem, he just seemed to either switch off or lack the awareness to track a runner. Once his legs went I never had much faith in him returning to anywhere near his best, he just didn't have anything like the brilliance of King to deal with losing the athletic side of the game and on top of that he lost the edge on the technical side with so much time spent injured. Still, he was a good servant to the club and was good with the fans so it's a shame there wasn't a place for him to stay at the club. Stand out moments for me were the cross that helped put us into the CL and the excellent performance at the Emirates last season. Hopefully he can rediscover some of his old form at Sunderland, it should suit him better not playing a high line and playing in a more defensive side, generally.
I'm sure you all absolutely loved that 3-2 victory at The Emirates, but I honestly struggle to remember a time when I was more angry watching a game at that point of the season (the defeats to Birmingham in the LC Final that season, and defeats to Bradford and Blackburn in 2013 had me physically shaking). To go 2-0 up, yet end up losing a game is bad enough. But for it to happen against your rivals and on your own turf was just utterly horrendous.
That match was on my daughter's 13th birthday. She, her then 8 yr old sister her mum and me went out before kick off. We were on the way to Broadstairs in the 1st half getting text updates from a mate. We arrived just before half time and went to get a cake. After that we went onto the beach where amte texted to say it was 2-1. I had no internet signal so couldn't check the scores...then we got a text saying it was a penalty and after vdv scored it we were dancing around singing the vdv chant...when we scored the 3rd me and my daughter ran along the beach souting KAAAAAABOOOOUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLLL! we are a mixed race family and people assume I am asian and we got some strange looks from the locals like we were involved in a muslim ceremony ...my 8 yr old felt tge need to tell everyone near us it was a football thing! When we got home the following night my teen girl was well impressed that I had recorded the match so we sat and watched the whole glorious 2nd half...Ian Wrights face was worth the tv licence fee!
Me too but it does make me miss Van der Vaart. He really 'got' the rivalry in the NLD and his passion was awesome
Reports say Tomislav Gomelt is set to join Bari on a free - which would officially mark the end of the Croatian Era.
I can't even remember where I was for that game, which means there's a good chance I was very drunk As for the others, well at least you didn't blow a 3-0 half-time lead against 10 men! That was a truly awful walk back down the high road afterwards
An unreliable source claims we're in for Berahino for 15, and that West Brom won't budge for that. I'm not sure how much I'd pay for him. Berahino seems a bit like Chadli: he'll score goals but he won't do anything else. Unlike Chadli, he won't assist. On the other hand, he has pace, has played with Kane, might be an option on the wing, and is young and English. Maybe we pay too much (assuming we can get him at all), get ready for the season, and hope we don't add to our collection of big bad buys. Someone Berahino's age is unlikely to be a big loss, and won't be on huge wages. More rumors we've bid for Chicharito. I hate when they run out of new bogus rumors and resort to recycling them. Though for the rumored 9 million plus high wages it would probably make sense to do. Though he also won't do much but score, he's one of the strikers less likely to hit a long dry spell.
I really do hope Kaboul gets a great reception when he comes back to the Lane. Before his injuries he was my fave defender after Ledley left and was pretty gutted to see how far he'd falling thanks to the time off. It's shame that things ended sourly but I think he can hold his head say and feel proud at what he done for our club and likewise for us fans we should be grateful for his service. The cross for Crouchy that sealed our Champions League place and the winner at the Emirates when we were 2-0 down will mean he'll go down in Spurs history. On his day I truly believe he's one of the best CB's in the Prem, if Sunderland can get him fully fit and back to form, they've made signing of the season, especially for the value. As for Berahino and Chicharito, I'd definitely take them if they were affordable. Berahino has had the experience of working with Kane, Carroll, Dier and Pritch plus he has the ability to be a wide forward in my opinion due to his pace and good finishing - so could provide stiff competition for that RW role if Lamela/ Townsend fail to make it their own. Chicharito is a natural finisher, amazed he's struggled for game time as he seems someone with bags of goals in him, though ironically if he joins us he'd still likely be a back up to Harry (although would likely feature in every game) but if the club can persuade him to join then we should be all over that. £9m is a snip in footballing terms for a proven finisher like Hernandez, I'd also happily pay around £15m - £20m for Berahino as I think he'd be worth the investment, reminds of a young Defoe but with a bit more flair.
L'equipe stating that Blanc has confirmed Stambouli is now a PSG player and will be officially confirmed later today. 5 year deal. A shame really, looks a good player, never quite understood why he didn't get more chances, especially when Mason went off the boil the last month or so.
His move came out of the blue somewhat, he never really got a chance with us and now, one year later, he's off. His whole transfer and time with us has been strange though we've somehow managed to make a profit if the figures are to be believed.
You never know the truth of these situation, maybe O.S. does in this case. It could be lack of game time, could be he never settled in England, could be a combination. Who knows? He obviously wasn't happy and wanted to return to France.
I read a rumour that says he'll be on €150,000 a week at PSG... which may also explain why he wants to go. Not sure I believe it though - seems an awful lot for a squad player!
Coulibaly joins Peterborough United. I'm going to follow this one with interest as some of his performances for our Academy side were awesome.
"My understanding is that Poch would heave preferred Stambouli to stay." Which makes the departure even more strange.
