Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea

I agree.
Or Azpi, or Moses.

Either of those.
Looks like Cahill got it by virtue of the fact that he is English, because I cannot see any other reason.

 

I screwed up by double posting so deleted all of it and it left a post with just a full stop.
Smart arse @Spurlock liked the full stop...small things and all that

 

Although I hate admitting being mistaken but after yesterday I think Barkley might now be a good signing.

 

Then you would be mistaken. I think he'd be a terrible signing for anyone seriously wanting to challenge and for his price

 

Koeman and Martinez have had him breathing out of the wrong eyelid. If Mauricio Pochettino thinks he can turn that around and Barkley is committed to doing just that, then there's a very good footballer in there.

Three years ago Rose and Walker were openly mocked. Now we're **** because they're not in the team. If Mauricio Pochettino thinks he can get a tune out of him......he probably can.

 

Poch is a very good coach and he's improved certain players remarkably.

I never thought Rose or Walker were as bad as people made them out to be but Poch has done a fine job on them.

Having seen Barkley play, theres two things i don't like about him:

- Thinks hes brilliant and consequent ballhogs (good dribbler mind)
- Doesn't work hard enough and has gotten really lazy

I think he'll end up more Sissoko than Poch and he wants massive wages. I would welcome you guys in splashing your dosh on him.

I reckon you guys would be better off developing winks or going for someone romeu or perreyra from watford (if only he wasn't so injury prone). I rate Chalobah even higher than Barkley.

 

If Wanyama had made that pass, then Sissoko had a free run for the whole length of the pitch.
I still heard various people slagging off the Frenchman for their goal!

I think that the biggest issue yesterday was Wanyama's performance. He missed most of the pre-season and it told.
I expected Dier to be removed, due to his booking, but with the potential switch to three defenders later on, that looks like a mistake.
Easy to say in hindsight, of course, but I think that it was clear that Wanyama was way off the pace after about 20 minutes.

A few of our players didn't look 100% yesterday, but I think that's to be expected at this early stage of the season.
Alli looked very leggy at the end, for example.
Hopefully another week of training will help to shake off the break.

 

I don't see either being a problem. Everton have been **** for a few years now. Any attacking quality came from Lukaku or Barkley. The rest have been awful. Giving Barkley more options will reboot his game. Previously, it has been find Lukaku or do it myself. He won't have that at Spurs and there won't be a shortage of players to tell him so, if he doesn't.

Chalobah? After a handful of PL games? He's nothing more than a prospect. Maybe a good one, maybe not but that comment's a bit of a stretch.

 

I was nodding along in agreement until you starting comparing Barkley to defensive midfielders. Why do that?

 

At first I didn't want him but now I'm not so sure Bobby. Let's now see if there's a bid.

 

Enjoyed the game,a very italian like performance by the champions.Shame there had to be a loser,
but glad it was you lot.

 

I'm presuming if he does come in its to be in one of the spots that wanyama or dembele are in. Hes more creative than wanyama and dier and dembele can only play 1 game a week and has a few more seasons / getting on a bit (30 right?).

I don't see him taking alli it eriksens spot or sons. Now you mention it i suppose he would be useful and would be another play for cover

 

I sincerely hope there isn't one this window for a player who is injured until mid December.

Everton shot themselves in the foot by slapping such a ridiculous price tag on him in the first place. Any interested teams (ourselves and Chelsea are rumoured to be the most interested) inevitably decided to hold off until the closing hours of the window to force down the price. Meanwhile, sod's law means that the lad has picked up 2 injuries requiring surgery in one window when he has only previously had 2 such injuries in his entire career, and now Everton have a player who will have 6 months left on his contract by the time he can kick a ball again.

Unless we can get him in Jan for no more than £15m, there is no point in signing him. It'll be late March by the time he has settled in, and whilst it could be worthwhile having an ace up our sleeves for the business end of the season, if Everton want more than that it really isn't worth the risk or effort. Just agree terms in january and sign him on a free next summer.

 

Was that the Italian parking the bus defence or the Italian falling over with amazing regularity without reason

 

Barkley is definitely best played further up the pitch where his shooting ability is effective and desire to take players on doesn't result in conceding possession in heart-attack land (the land that Lloris sends postcards to every time he distributes the ball). He also doesn't have the workrate or defensive nous to get anywhere near Wanyama/Dier/Dembele or even Winks.

As I've said on many occasions, unless Sissoko and GKN are set to leave, there is no point stockpiling more attacking midfielders. The natural competition for Alli/Eriksen should be Lamela - a player often forgotten in these discussions due to his lengthy absence. IF he can rediscover his pre-injury form, there is no point in signing Barkley unless it is for pittance....

EDIT: Or a swap deal for Sissoko. Which is technically the same thing as 'pittance'.

 

Never mind....maybe you'll beat us at the bridge

 

I can't see the problem in having too many good players. By the semi-final last season we were complaining that we didn't have enough good options from the bench. United's and Citeh are stockpiling talent because they might be needed.

Having Barkley come in to prove himself is like having Son. He won't start every week but he might break through into a first choice or he may play a more back up role. I don't see the problem. Surely he's more use than another GKN or N'Jie or even Janssen? He's PL ready and tested and at under £30m is cheap. FFS, that's less than Xhaka or Mostafi last summer and likely to be about half the cost of Gylfi Sigurdsson last week.

The fact that he's broken should drop the price now or January to something that we can live with and the one thing he's said in the last 9 months is that he doesn't expect to be our top earner, so wages should be okay.

 

Agreed. But what we currently have is too many poor players. Which is why GKN and Sissoko will need to be shifted to make space for Barkley.

In addition, we can't afford the wage bill that is part and parcel of stockpiling good players. Which is why, as above, it will be prudent to shave the £130k combined wages of the aforementioned french misfits.

 

There's always a sucker.......... unfortunately, with those two, it was us.........but a discounted price or loan should see us right on that score. One thing about not paying top wages is that it's easier to get rid when necessary.

 

Still pissed at yesterday's result.

Individual mistakes cost us the game. It's frustrating enough having to play a side that's essentially just a multi-million quid glorified version of a Tony Pulis defensive Stoke side but to gift them two superb opportunities was criminal from our perspective.

For the first goal, Alli's youthful naivety was telling, jumping in the way he did on Luiz was silly in an area where a good free-kick specialist can punish you, and Alonso did just that.
Love Hugo but he does tend to concede near-post shots too easily at times. Although that said, he should've never been put in that position because the dreadful Wanyama should never have given the ball away in the first place. Big Vic is an animal and one of the first names on the team sheet when fit but it's clear he's wasn't right enough to last the 90 yesterday (both fitness wise and performance wise), he should've gone off instead of Dier, regardless of Dier being on a yellow.

The performance itself wasn't bad at all, a bit of luck and Kane's close-range shot wouldn't have been saved, nor would he have hit the post for the second week running but sometimes **** happens and we have to deal with it. One thing we need to ensure is those sloppy mistakes are cut to a bare minimum.

Hopefully put it right against Burnley.