Dembele with his sure dribbling and safe passing adds a lot to our possession. I think he intimidates other teams as well. We did so much better last year when he played. The debate continues whether he adds a lot, despite the lack of goals, assists and key passes and is under appreciated (my opinion and maybe yours as well) or whether that was a statistical anomaly.
My thoughts exactly. He kept beating his man and getting hacked. Fair to say we looked lacking in creativity in the final third, but a team that sits back and fouls cynically is always hard to break down. I'd rather we play Carroll or even Hudd to add creativity, with the idea the rest of the team is strong and fast enough to be able to afford a creative player who isn't much of a ball winner.
What did people think of Chadli? I thought he had some great touches and linkup play, which is very encouraging from a new signing, but seemed to lack a bit of end product and did drift inside and across the pitch a lot. Maybe he'd do better on the right to stop this? Although he and Rose did seem so have something of an understanding building up which was, again, encouraging to see in preseason.
Chadli looked good, but he was far too greedy at times. There were occasions where he needed to release the ball early, but instead, ended up running himself into trouble.
I see what you're saying Roo, Chadli ended up running the width of the pitch a couple of times because he wouldn't/couldn't release the ball. Espanyol did seem to press us very well which probably didn't help, we rarely seemed to have time and space on the edge of the box whereas we were allowing them plenty at times, which wasn't so good to see.
I think it's fair to say Chadli won't be having a Bale-sized impact this season, and probably never. I'm not going to judge whether he's a good buy though, till the season is well underway. Whether he's worth a start v Palace, I'm not sure. I expect him to start, but I think I'd prefer Townsend IF Andros had the manager's confidence, which I suspect he hasn't.
What's the deal with Townsend's ban? Anyone know when it starts/finishes? EDIT: Just researched - The initial 1 month ban was surprisingly active over the summer, so he's available for selection. Remaining 3 months are suspended until Summer 2016, and only activated on breach of betting rules. Seems very lenient.
I'd really like to see Townsend get a bigger role this season. Always seems to look threatening when he has come on and he did well at QPR. Could be a great sub to make the most of tired legs with his direct approach and pace and I'd be happy to see him start the right games as well.
No mention here of any long term injury issues for Younes? http://www.tottenhamjournal.co.uk/t..._spurs_during_year_long_injury_hell_1_2329421
There seems to be a great chance that Kab and Daws will be our CBs v Palace which will make me a lot more confident than I was two days ago.
One good thing about yesterday was that I can tell my grandchildren that 'I was there when Andre Mariner awarded us a penalty'. He still missed a blatant handball however! Good to see Sandro and Kaboul back but I'm not sure that they will be up to 90 mins in a league game for a couple of weeks. Chadli looks an absolute steal for 7 mill and I think he could go on to be one of our best players for the next few years. I also think that Carroll should get more game time this season especially in games against lesser sides who will probably park the bus even when they are at home. New left back definitely required. Contrao would fit in nicely
It's a shame we didn't get a pen or two in the Prem. A pen in a friendly is nice, let's see them awarded for us in the games that count now.
