Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City

Tackle numbers are one of the most irrelevant statistics imaginable. The number of times a ball is won in a tackle doesn't really affect the possession statistics. Fouls simply give the opponents a set piece and a chance to score. Mourinho is a poor manager if he doesn't know all this.

 

I definitely don't agree that they're irrelevant. Tackle numbers have generally implied the defensive qualities of players over the years, especially DMs. Kante had the most tackles in the seasons Leicester and Chelsea won the league. Ndidi in recent years has been high up on the list, as was Gueye prior to his move to PSG. These have been some of the best DMs in the league over the last 5+ years so I don't think it's a coincidence their tackle numbers are very high.

As for fouls, if you look at the top ten/ twenty in the league who've committed the most fouls, a large portion are the DMs/ combative midfielders in the league. You essentially need to take the rough with the smooth with those types of players, if they're making the most challenges then they're likely to both win the most tackles but also make the most fouls. Up until recent weeks where he's made mistakes, Hojbjerg hasn't really been at fault for many Spurs goals, though he'd been pivotal for us having such a good defensive record.

 

You suggest "everyone" is on Dele's side but like most of this situation the truth is that there is a split.
I have said he should be sold for the past year.
@"Thanks for that Brian" and @Dier Hard have been saying to sell him for a while (iirc) and several others have been very critical of him.
The same is true of our defenders.

You can be critical of tactics and of the players imo

 

Yup, I'd sell Dele tomorrow for a decent enough offer.

I'd sell Toby, Dier and Winks for a bag of chips and a Fanta.

 

The last three are valued at more than £60m by Transfermarkt and around £50m by CIES. I am afraid we are all a bit spoilt by how well we played a couple of years back and how hard is it to sign better players.

 

Valuations are generally opinions though.

Transfermarkt is fantastic for stats but anyone can pick a particular value for a player that will be debated amongst the masses. It values Pepe at £36m, most teams would tell Arsenal that Arsenal would have to pay them in order to take Pepe off their hands.

 

It's not an exact science but it matches quite well to actual transfers when they happen. You would have said the same about Morata at Chelsea but they got full value for him.

 

**** knows how, though. Very strange.

 

It isn't strange at all. Once you realise that everyone in the top 100 players in the world is worth more than £50m its stands to reason that those between 100 and 500 are worth between £30m and £50m approx. Players like Morata and Pepe and Dele and Davison Sanchez are certainly in the top 500 even at their current reduced levels. Trouble is to be top 4 we need about 25 of them, including 6 or 7 of the top 100 which is were we are lacking.

 

It's called money laundering. A yacht disappears here, a Morata appears there, a tax loophole stays open etc., badda-bing-badda-boom.

 

Morata's value should've dropped badly during his time as a Chelsea player, though.
He flopped badly and went from a 24-year-old who was highly rated to a 28-year-old meme.
His price remaining relatively flat was weird.

 

It probably dropped 30% in real terms as there was quite a lot of price inflation over those years.

 

Anything financial at Chelsea is dodgy

 

Does he, though?

Here's the thing about saying he concedes a lot of free kicks: what you aren't saying is where he concedes them. For example, if he concedes a lot of free kicks around the centre circle that isn't an issue as that means he's preventing a breakaway and, as we're all aware, scything down players to prevent breaks is what Winning Teams™ do

On the other hand, if he is conceding free kicks on the edge of our penalty area that is an issue, given how weak we are from free kicks and how several of our defenders seem to exist for the sole purpose of blocking Hugo's line of sight of the ball, and what certainly has to be said we do have players who have a habit of conceding free kicks in those positions - but Hojbjerg isn't one of them...yet

 

we know CIES is baloney. It thinks Kepa still worth between 30-40m

It also has Wener at 90-120m which is also the same value as Harry Kane

 

Iranian Rials?

 

i edited my post which you didnt get in time. It thinks werners worth 90-120m, the same as harry kane

 

That's roughly two Moratas.

 

There are bound to be some amomalies but CIES is the foremost independent sports research establishment in the world so I reckon they are likely to be more right than any poster on here.

 

i thought i would put this to the test:

lloris - 7-10
sanchez - 30-40
davies - 15-20
reguilon - 50-70
aurier - 15-20
dier - 20-30
toby - 10-15
winks - 30-40
hojbjerg - 40-50
alli - 20-30
ndombele - 30-40
son - 50-70
moura - 20-30
bergwijn - 50-70
Kane - 90 -120
lo celso - 40-50
lamela - 2-4

pulisic - 70-90
hudson odoi - 50-70
mount - 90-120
abraham - 40-50
werner - 90-120
ziyech - 30-40
pepe - 50-70

okay i'm bored now. CIES fans must be chelsea fans seeing the value of our wingers or there must be some serious misvaluations. Also Hojbjergs your joint 3rd most expensive player so he must be one of the stars in your team so maybe you are undervaluing his performances.