Spurs 2013-14: Jermain Defoe, The Greatest European Scorer
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After Real’s last game against Inter Milan in St Louis, the Madrid coach was asked about Bale. He replied: “Why talk about Bale when Jesé [Rodríguez] and [Alvaro] Morata have both played so well. They are young but incredibly talented.”
Cooling interest in Bale?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/wales/10238344/Gareth-Bale-is-not-in-my-plans-insists-Real-Madrid-coach-Carlo-Ancelotti-as-interest-in-Spurs-forward-cools.html
Cooling interest in Bale?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/wales/10238344/Gareth-Bale-is-not-in-my-plans-insists-Real-Madrid-coach-Carlo-Ancelotti-as-interest-in-Spurs-forward-cools.html
Eh, Ancelotti's job is to keep harmony with the players on his squad already.
Though I wouldn't be surprised if Perez was more concerned about getting Bale than Carlos is.
I still think Bale is about 65/35 to Madrid this season.
Though I wouldn't be surprised if Perez was more concerned about getting Bale than Carlos is.
I still think Bale is about 65/35 to Madrid this season.
Levy wheeling & dealing - Parker to QPR for ~£3.5m in the next 48 hours, and Huddlestone to Hull on a permanent move, Livermore there on a loan - Graeme Bailey.
The Daily Express doubles down on the ridiculous by saying that Spurs are going to hold on to Bale by signing:
Erik Lamela for £30m
Willian for £30m
Christian Eriksen for £8m
Alen Halilovic for £12.9m (which, apparently is done, barring personal terms being agreed on)
Which, with the £59m already spent (with £20m coming back in sales) means that Spurs would have laid out £120m net, while keeping Bale. I mean, I know they are going to sell Scotty Parker, but that is a completely out of character lay out. So, I guess the question is...why make up something so unbelievable? Like literally, impossible to believe. I can't wait until September 2nd.
Also, I guess we're also on on Tom Ince for £8m.
Erik Lamela for £30m
Willian for £30m
Christian Eriksen for £8m
Alen Halilovic for £12.9m (which, apparently is done, barring personal terms being agreed on)
Which, with the £59m already spent (with £20m coming back in sales) means that Spurs would have laid out £120m net, while keeping Bale. I mean, I know they are going to sell Scotty Parker, but that is a completely out of character lay out. So, I guess the question is...why make up something so unbelievable? Like literally, impossible to believe. I can't wait until September 2nd.
Also, I guess we're also on on Tom Ince for £8m.
Could be a legitimate concern related to his reported foot injury, but it seems a little fishy...Gareth Bale to miss Premier League opener.
If Joe Lewis' £50m interest free loan is true... and new TV money on top...+ promise of CL, it could justify a spend.
Lamela and Willian only if Bale goes, but one of them if they think GB stays.
Halilovic is an investment in the post Bale 2014.
Will they really play the cards this way?!
Lamela and Willian only if Bale goes, but one of them if they think GB stays.
Halilovic is an investment in the post Bale 2014.
Will they really play the cards this way?!
At Crystal Palace
Typo on Chadli's name. Fuck it.
Bench is:
Fridel
Kaboul
Naughton
Capoue
Carroll
Townsend
Defoe
I'm surprised no Ade, Sandro, or Unterscharfuhrer Holtby on the bench, but I'm not sure if they picked up any knocks that I hadn't heard about.
To be honest, Palace don't look that formative, so I'm also not surprised if AVB is just being cautious with his players.
Obviously no Bale, who is either talking to or not talking to anyone on the team, according to a sourse close to someone and has the ability to tell something to someone that can write something in a newspaper.
Typo on Chadli's name. Fuck it.
Bench is:
Fridel
Kaboul
Naughton
Capoue
Carroll
Townsend
Defoe
I'm surprised no Ade, Sandro, or Unterscharfuhrer Holtby on the bench, but I'm not sure if they picked up any knocks that I hadn't heard about.
To be honest, Palace don't look that formative, so I'm also not surprised if AVB is just being cautious with his players.
Obviously no Bale, who is either talking to or not talking to anyone on the team, according to a sourse close to someone and has the ability to tell something to someone that can write something in a newspaper.
Okay, I kind of love Crystal Palace supporters singing "Glad All Over" as the teams take the field...er...pitch
The last time I saw Rose for Spurs was his debut against Arsenal. His goal in that game makes me so hard I lose feeling in my shoulder.
I might have missed it, but Speroni's kit doesn't appear to have a sponsor.
I might have missed it, but Speroni's kit doesn't appear to have a sponsor.
Lennon's service today (until that last one) is like a waiter that's spitting on your food in front of you and dipping his balls on your salad.
I vote for Kyle Walker as the Most Likely to Commit a Crime on the Pitch. Next time someone "dispossesses" him he may go all Last Boyscout on him.
I vote for Kyle Walker as the Most Likely to Commit a Crime on the Pitch. Next time someone "dispossesses" him he may go all Last Boyscout on him.
0-0 at the half, which surely would be a final result Palace would be pleased with.
Spurs had the only two real scoring chances of the half, Dembele on a midrange shot, and Sigurddson on a really nice turn. Still, have to be concerned if CP packs it in.
Lennon is sure fast to get balls on the wing, but seems to have trouble unloading good crosses off his runs.
Edit: DrewDawg phrased Lennon's performance a lot better than me
Spurs had the only two real scoring chances of the half, Dembele on a midrange shot, and Sigurddson on a really nice turn. Still, have to be concerned if CP packs it in.
Lennon is sure fast to get balls on the wing, but seems to have trouble unloading good crosses off his runs.
Edit: DrewDawg phrased Lennon's performance a lot better than me
Looks a lot like last year's team at times....good in possession, lacking in ideas in the final third. Siggurdson hasn't looked very good (aside from the shot), he needs to get going to provide a link to Soldado. Paulinho and Dembele have been impressive so far. Would be nice to see Townsend come on in the second half.
After having trashed him, Lennon earned that goal with a solid cross that earned the hand ball.
Spurs lead the Prem in "Guys who look like other things," I think.DrewDawg said:
Walker looks like a bad guy in the Fast and the Furious movies/a certain murderous tight end.
Parker looks like a WWI fighter pilot.
Soldado looks like Brian Bloom in The A Team.
Holtby looks like a captain in the SS.
Sigurdsson looks like he could be Biff's younger brother.
Vertonghen looks like an 80's skii movie bad guy.
Lloris looks like he'd be signing sensitive songs in the Delta house until Bluto smashed his guitar.
Friedel looks like Gollum.
Bale looks like SeanBerry.
That chipped ball to release Soldado right there by Lennon makes me stop hating him just enough to hate him again when he dribbles to the corner of the box and fires the cross into the side of the net.
Hot Spurs takes:
Lloris - Not made to work hard, but those two saves at the end of the game were extremely important. He did have trouble on the corner and reacking some crosses. I didn't actually mind when he came out of the box to challange Phillips, but that's mostly because it's not 1999. If he does that against a team like ManU, I'll lose my shit.
Rose - A lot of the offense, especially in the first half went through him, which is troubling. He played fine, I guess, but there is a hole on the left side that hasn't been.
Dawson - Not much to do, but did it well. Pushed up more than he probably would like (or should) due to...
Vertonghen - Stayed at home a lot more, presumably because of his ankle. He works very well with Daweson and Lloris, but was a complete non-entity when he replaced Rose. #warpig
Walker - Pushed up a lot more at the beginning of the first half, and the 2nd half as Palace seemed to overload his side for most of the opening half. Will always do the Kyle Walkter things, like head the ball back to a surprised Lloris in traffic and push up 90 yards before realizing the opponent is on the counter attack.
Chadli - Outstanding debut. His passing and positioning really impressed me. I really enjoyed watching him play, and his physicality and athleticism is complementary with the rest of the midfield. #warpig
Paulinho - A quiet, very good debut. I didn't notice much of his game today (in a good way). He made no noticable mistakes, and considering how volitile Spurs can be in performance, he looks like he can be quite calming.
Demebele - Pretty much played the exact same game as Paulinho did today, which is an improvement over his second half of last season. He only really went on 2-3 runs that I can remember. #warpig
Siguardsson - He sucks.
Lennon - Pretty much the protype Lennon game. Still doesn't really know how to use his speed, and he's not big enough to drag the ball into the corner and still deliever a cross. His brilliant flashes are brilliant and pretty much evenly distributed with his being maddeningly crap.
Soldado - Easily the man of the match for me, as his activeness in the box, and physicality gave Gabbidon and Delany fits. He played Defoe with size...Adebayor with heart. It's hard not to be optomistic about our post-Bale offense with a player like Soldado at the top.
Capoue - Another solid debut, and he controlled the midfield when he first came on. I haven't seen him play much, so I was suprised with his passing as most of the pre-match stuff I read on him made him seem like 100% a destroyer. Faded a bit towards the end of the game as Palace opened up, so he might struggle when teams are sending waves of players at the center of the field.
Defoe - Slipped behind the defense quite a bit and had a very good first few minutes before Spurs did what they always do in the last 7 minutes. Bricked a sitter, because Defoe.
Kaboul - Great to see him back, but he's obviously is lacking some quickness.
Good, not great effort for Spurs...someone above said they looked a lot like last year, in that they dominate for large stretches and have no goals to speak for it, so against a better squad that can't happen.
Mostly, I was impressed defensively until the last few minutes of regulation when they had the same lapses they have had since Jol was the manager. In extra time, it was almost like something snapped back into place and Spurs decided to hold posession and win the game, which was a nice change.
One worry for me is Vertonghen's ankle as there isn't a lot of depth in the back that you really want to see. Dawson is playing very well the last season and a game, and Kaboul is back...but with Caulker gone, it looks like our depth after the top 3 is Naughton and Capoue.
Bring me more Belgians. #warpig
Lloris - Not made to work hard, but those two saves at the end of the game were extremely important. He did have trouble on the corner and reacking some crosses. I didn't actually mind when he came out of the box to challange Phillips, but that's mostly because it's not 1999. If he does that against a team like ManU, I'll lose my shit.
Rose - A lot of the offense, especially in the first half went through him, which is troubling. He played fine, I guess, but there is a hole on the left side that hasn't been.
Dawson - Not much to do, but did it well. Pushed up more than he probably would like (or should) due to...
Vertonghen - Stayed at home a lot more, presumably because of his ankle. He works very well with Daweson and Lloris, but was a complete non-entity when he replaced Rose. #warpig
Walker - Pushed up a lot more at the beginning of the first half, and the 2nd half as Palace seemed to overload his side for most of the opening half. Will always do the Kyle Walkter things, like head the ball back to a surprised Lloris in traffic and push up 90 yards before realizing the opponent is on the counter attack.
Chadli - Outstanding debut. His passing and positioning really impressed me. I really enjoyed watching him play, and his physicality and athleticism is complementary with the rest of the midfield. #warpig
Paulinho - A quiet, very good debut. I didn't notice much of his game today (in a good way). He made no noticable mistakes, and considering how volitile Spurs can be in performance, he looks like he can be quite calming.
Demebele - Pretty much played the exact same game as Paulinho did today, which is an improvement over his second half of last season. He only really went on 2-3 runs that I can remember. #warpig
Siguardsson - He sucks.
Lennon - Pretty much the protype Lennon game. Still doesn't really know how to use his speed, and he's not big enough to drag the ball into the corner and still deliever a cross. His brilliant flashes are brilliant and pretty much evenly distributed with his being maddeningly crap.
Soldado - Easily the man of the match for me, as his activeness in the box, and physicality gave Gabbidon and Delany fits. He played Defoe with size...Adebayor with heart. It's hard not to be optomistic about our post-Bale offense with a player like Soldado at the top.
Capoue - Another solid debut, and he controlled the midfield when he first came on. I haven't seen him play much, so I was suprised with his passing as most of the pre-match stuff I read on him made him seem like 100% a destroyer. Faded a bit towards the end of the game as Palace opened up, so he might struggle when teams are sending waves of players at the center of the field.
Defoe - Slipped behind the defense quite a bit and had a very good first few minutes before Spurs did what they always do in the last 7 minutes. Bricked a sitter, because Defoe.
Kaboul - Great to see him back, but he's obviously is lacking some quickness.
Good, not great effort for Spurs...someone above said they looked a lot like last year, in that they dominate for large stretches and have no goals to speak for it, so against a better squad that can't happen.
Mostly, I was impressed defensively until the last few minutes of regulation when they had the same lapses they have had since Jol was the manager. In extra time, it was almost like something snapped back into place and Spurs decided to hold posession and win the game, which was a nice change.
One worry for me is Vertonghen's ankle as there isn't a lot of depth in the back that you really want to see. Dawson is playing very well the last season and a game, and Kaboul is back...but with Caulker gone, it looks like our depth after the top 3 is Naughton and Capoue.
Bring me more Belgians. #warpig
Spurs didn't play great, but look pretty solid all around. Soldado is going to be so much more dynamic than Adebayor up top. A really good addition.
It's pretty impressive the way the club have been managed over the past few years. So much better than Arsenal.
It's pretty impressive the way the club have been managed over the past few years. So much better than Arsenal.
eddiew112 said:
I think when the team is 100% healthy he (or anyone else) won't be playing that role very much. Ideally he's a backup on the wings. He doesn't have ideal speed but he's a pretty great crosser.
Hopefully Paulinho takes Gylfi's place in more of a box to box role in a 4-3-3, with 2 of Sandro/Dembele/Capoue in the midfield. Any 3 of that group should be able to physically dominate the midfield vs almost everyone.
Agree with most of URI's hot Spurs takes. Good job.
veritas said:
I think Dembele is more likely to move forward once Sandro is healthy, with Sandro as the destroyer, Paulinho as the link player, and Dembele in the hole (assuming no Bale). Dembele played just off the striker at Fulham and was effective in that role, and he has a very good shot from 20 yards out.
Spurs twitter folks were hopping this morning. Well, morning here, afternoon there. Always interesting to check my twitter feed bright and early. Full of Premier League and Japanese baseball tweets.
A roundup:
A roundup:
- Bale is close to being done and moving on with £93million plus Fabio Coentrao coming back. http://metro.co.uk/2013/08/20/real-madrid-set-to-finally-sign-gareth-bale-after-making-93m-plus-fabio-coentrao-bid-3930820/
- Erik Lamela in talks with Spurs. Cost of £30million. http://www.caughtoffside.com/2013/08/20/roma-starlet-erik-lamela-in-talks-with-tottenham-over-big-money-move/
- Willian reportedly in London for physical. Another £30million. Some reports are saying "Tottenham has not made offer" but the skinny is that Anzhi Makhachkala has told the player to agree to personal terms, and the fee won't be difficult to work out. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/aug/20/tottenham-hotspur-anzhi-makhachkala
I really rate Lamela and think highly of Willian, AvB is really building a nice little squad at WHL. I wouldn't be entirely comfortable with the prices there, spending 60m of the 93m on those two players is a bit high, but Levy drives a hard bargain and can probably shave a bit off there.
Nonetheless, the whining Arsenal fans should be watching what Spurs are doing, because I think there's an outside chance Spurs are in the title race with all the depth on display. Bale scored a lot of wonder goals, surely some of which produced results out of draws and draws out of losses, but on paper it sure seems like a really complete team in all aspects and one that isn't going to be much fun to play.
Nonetheless, the whining Arsenal fans should be watching what Spurs are doing, because I think there's an outside chance Spurs are in the title race with all the depth on display. Bale scored a lot of wonder goals, surely some of which produced results out of draws and draws out of losses, but on paper it sure seems like a really complete team in all aspects and one that isn't going to be much fun to play.
I don't know if I've seen Lamela play. Is he a striker? Attacking mid? I'd imagine Willian will be deployed on the left.
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