The Spurs thread | 2016-2017 season | Serious thread - wummers/derailers will be threadbanned

I'd like to see us play weak sides in the EL anyway. I think we should prioritise the PL and FA Cup this year, as we never seem bother with the cup. We should use the EL for our development players and the likes of Davies/Trippier to get games.

That makes two of us then! I'd like United to be very active in the EL to maintain a second chance of CL football, so Spurs crashing out would be a big hurdle removed.

Well, there you go. Spurs can really never do any wrong, can they. This is exactly what irks people. "It's not a meltdown, it's just a reaction." There should be a fecking Spurs squad photo next to 'meltdown' in the dictionary after how last season finished. You're a visitor on the forum of a footballing rival. We won't put up with your ridiculous over-explanations like your pals over at The Fighting Cock or wherever it is you lot hole up.

And let's not pretend we don't know where the majority of the animosity towards Tottenham stems from. It's more or less only because of one poster. He, or even his fellow Spurs fans, might pretend he's a level-headed supporter who's perfectly nuanced and can see both sides of a story. But your pretence is based on good, old fashioned tribalism.

In general United fans are no better of course. And as a caf nobody, I don't post much and I certainly won't claim to be some sort of paragon on here. But then again I'm not the ones posting on rival forums. Don't act surprised at being disdained if you stick your necks out.

I don't think there's much animosity here or even disdain, overall the debate seems more than reasonable considering that we support clubs that are currently competing with each other.

You should just chill and enjoy our forthcoming meltdown, it won't be long now.

You can't just think of youth players like robots, just because one might reach a particular milestone before another it doesn't mean they are therefore better or are destined to go on to have the better career. There are so many variables to consider when it comes to a young player's development and it's foolish to say if a player hasn't met a certain target by a certain time then it's more or less game-over for them.

I largely agree but if Edwards (I pray he is) isn't knocking on the door of the first team when he's 19 he's going to find it difficult. I think if he had more physicality it would be happening already, but in the PL it's very difficult for more lightweight young players to come through.

That said Harry Winks has developed a lot physically since the Summer.

I desperately hope Edwards makes it and overcomes some disadvantages, if he does we could have a sensation on our hands.

Wasn't talking about a specific game or point. The way you were playing and the kind of 'bigging up' at one point, you were in the mix and failed to successfully complete it. Every other top club was having mediocre season, while that was your best season in a while. Yet, it was not enough.

This post from Liverpool fan forum caught my eye. Have a look

Sound familiar.
Now, who would that be ?

Oh wait..

Swansea have confirmed that they are in talks to sign Tom Carroll, for a reported £8m!

Levy

Going to win the title imo

Not only are they winning every game, they're winning every game easily. I expect a slip from Chelsea soon and Spurs to keep winning and winning.

This is still Spurs we're talking about. They'll bottle the title.

They're nailed on for top four at this point imo. They're just a very good side overall, solid defensive unit and banging in the goals at the other end. They look like they're much stronger mentally as well than say Arsenal, maybe they've learned from their feck up at the end of last season. A real contender for the title if they keep up this form and don't get any injuries to key players.

Wanyama has added necessary steel IMO.

Spurs looked embarrassingly poor and out of depth in Europe this season. Looks like they will be qualifying for CL again next season and they need to improve.

Not in my opinion. They seem a different beast this season and scarily I think they're only going to get better and more dominant. Pochettino is a genius. Deserves better than those boring entitled fans at Spurs

Hard to say. We've never had this many teams playing at such a high level in the same season. And Spurs' attack was invisible until about November, while they struggled with the Champions League. They're not perfect, wouldn't be a shock if they missed out.

I'd say all four positions are still up for grabs.

It's a long season. And a reminder how things change quickly.

City looked great in August, Liverpool ruled September, Arsenal got their act together in October, Chelsea in November and December, now it's Spurs time to shine.

Spurs are league challengers at this stage.
In a group of 4 or 5 other lesser challengers. What could possibly deja vu?

They've got a really well balanced side. The best back 3/4 in the league, a strong, physical midfield and a sprinkling of magic in Alli, Eriksen and Kane. Can't help thinking they'd look a bit one dimensional if they lost Alli and/or Eriksen but, if they can keep those guys fit then I think they've got a genuine chance this year. They're excellent.

How much of a blow will Vertonghen be? If that was his ankle ligaments he'll be out for months.

In fairness which English side has looked good in the CL in recent memory?

I find the stick Arsenal, City, United, and Liverpool supporters tried throwing at us over it funnyas they've basically all done similarly in the last 3 years.

You can include United in that considering their form right now.

There's going to be plenty of twists and turns between now and the end of the season though for sure.

It's a big blow imo, too early to say just how much of an impact it will have until we know the seriousness of his injury. Might mean they go back to 4 at the back, or they might decided now is the time to give Carter-Vickers a real go.

Eriksen is the key one. He basically does the work of two players being a #8 and #10 and the main creative hub for the entire side. Alli would be a loss of goals + assists for sure, but he doesn't really do much else for us currently.

people were saying the same last season, Spurs are battering everyone and Leicester will fall away

Neither will happen and I'd say Vertonghen is the easiest of the starting XI to replace.

Wimmer came in last year and we didn't miss a beat, in fact we were possibly even better defensively during that run. Davies as we saw today and for the Wales team can also play that position.

Thought rumours were that Wimmer was going to be sold this window? Is that bullshit?

Not convinced about Davies myself. Don't really rate him as a player at all, he's bog standard average.

Might be an unpopular opinion everywhere, but I believe Pochettino is among the best manager in the league and in the world. I am still suprised he was overlooked for manager of the year last season amongst everyone, but if he keep this up, I do not believe he will be overlooked again.

I feel he has not strengthen that much this season beside Wanyama and if he had a better transfer window, he would have been on top of the league. He should have went for Zaha or a winger of such quality that could give them depth and a pacey striker over Janssen. However, even though Janssen has been unimpressive so far, he still has an opportunity to come through.

On a side note, what happened to Lamela? I thought, this season he will be one of their stand out player. He seems to be the forgotten man.

Wimmer will probably go in the summer to get first team football, but he's 100% going absolutely nowhere this winter. He's Vertonghen's backup and does the job really well (personally I like him better but I understand why he's not used) so we're not going to weaken the first XI or backups whatsoever in the winter.

Spurs have blocked a loan deal to Stuttgart a week ago, they only wanted to sell for around £14m or something like that.

Lamela is injured.

Poch said he should be back (in training) next week.

Hats off to them. They brilliant atm. But they looked so last season as well.

He has been out injured for a long time. Hopefully back soon.

That's definitely a stretch. You were awful.

However the season pans out, Poch will be looking into why Spurs start the season slowly and only kick into gear from around the new year onwards.

I backed them to get Top 4 at the start of the season. For a young group they have a good mentality and obviously coached excellently. They're a good team to watch and when they click it's class fluency but the hardest thing to train is defensive cohesion.

Anyone can park the bus and play the numbers game but being a team who play on the front-foot, having such clock-work understanding without the ball is very impressive. They close space, have clever movement and of course Lloris in net is a luxury only a handful can dream of.

Danny Rose is the epitome of this improvement. Here was a classic case of a player not good enough to make it as a winger so he was pushed back because he's fast and athletic. He can do a job at full back but against the better teams these players get exposed - and pre-Poch he was.

Now he is the best in the league in that position being a frequent attacking option and developed into a very astute defender.

Ah, I see. He was their stand out player in pre-season, so it will be interesting to see where he will fit in.

Considering Spurs have gotten further in the CL than Arsenal have in the last decade then I don't really find it to be a stretch.

We were awful this time around - you're awful every time around. Just making it past the group stage isn't that amazing.

Given we had Lloris, Dembele, Kane, and Alderweireld (our key spine) all injured early on I think his answer is pretty glaring.

So why the slow start last season?