This cup means sweet FA to most EPL clubs, although I am surprised he played such a shadow squad. To fans, yes.. it would be nice to get a bit of silverware. But ultimately I think it’s a top 4 finish that’s the goal. It was very apparent if you saw the game that this line up didn’t understand/ embrace whatever you want to call it Ange Ball. You had Forster at the back trying to play it out at feet and he made Joe Hart at Celtic look like Beckenbauer.
The thing about the full B side is that they play Burnley on Saturday and then it's the international break. I don't think the full B team switch was with an eye towards Burnley. See below for more details.
I’m still very on board with Ange, the first two matches were the most fun I have had watching Spurs in years, this one not so much.
I don’t think he didn’t want to win, the subs were certainly made with victory in mind. I do think he was surprised either by how mediocre the depth is or by how little they understand the assignment.
Bingo. The B team played well in preseason, but this was a real match. I also think we need to give a lot of credit to FFC. Especially in the first half, they bossed the midfield and their goal came after a spell of possession in the final third lasting over a minute. I remember this vividly because Mrs. Zoso was milling around and I asked for her thoughts on the Spurs kit, and the broadcast never had the chance for a replay during buildup. PS--I think the third kit design is fine, but I don't like the color. Probably because I'm not quite sure how to describe it.
Third match was pretty good too.
This was a little "we need to rotate guys a bit" and "see, my depth is shit, get these guys out, and get the guys that can play this system in". And the second part won't be done in one window.
I do think Ange was a bit surprised by the relative performance of both squads. First and foremost, I think Fulham deserves a lot of credit. I have no idea how much they rotated, if at all, but they were very cohesive.
On our side, I thought both FBs were very poor. I thought Skipp and GLC were very poor. VDV was very good. PEH, Richy, and Perisic were fine. Solomon didn't get a lot of touches but was generally poor. Forster made some really good saves, but his footwork is well below Slick Vic's level.
Going into the match, I thought they needed to rest Biss and Madders, Richy had to play, and that was about the extent of parameters. I don't have a problem with Forster in goal. You want to keep your backup keeper sharp.
Dav looks slightly worse than he did in preseason, which just goes to show that he really does need to be moved on, and if Spurs really did reject a bona fide bid from Rennes (?) for €9M, then they're going to regret it when he has to fill in for Romero (suspended for YC accumulation obviously) against Palace or some club and he shits the bed and the fans lose their shit in return. They know he's on the last year of his deal, right? Take that money and go get a backup the club can get excited about already. Perhaps that was a temporary rejection and they're still trying to line up the incoming--I can dream right?
Apparently Genoa are trying to convince Tanguy to agree to a transfer, but unless Spurs are paying most of his wages, I don't see how this goes through. I wonder how much amortization is left on the transfer fee, because he's still owed £21M (!) in wages over 2 seasons.
Tanganga has been linked with Torino. Good.
Dier to Munich sounds like bunk to me. Dortmund makes some more sense as they have the ability to squeeze juice out of any lemon.
I suspect Reggie and Lloris will have their contracts terminated after Friday.
