Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Stoke City

Ricky and Ossie weren't...took a ****ing War to stop them!

 

Lámela has been worth every euro we spent. He adds a dynamism to the team whenever he is on the pitch. And he really pissed of Arsenal especially wheelchair

 

I know he has his faults but I think he's brilliant! Every team needs a lamela.

 

Nope.

IMHO people have to accept that the PL is a harsh "acid test"
of player ability + fitness + mentality, and a great many players
(domestic or overseas) will just never have the "right stuff" combo.

 

I'd disagree with that.

As a player and a person I like him but his injury record is appalling and for what we paid back then, he's never really been in or amongst our POTY contenders. He's missed around three seasons worth of football in seven and a half years and of the games he's played I'd imagine a decent percentage were as a sub.

Good player when fit and his mentality is great but he's been nowhere near worthy of being a record signing for the club.

 

Our top ten signings are
Ndombele
Sanchez
Lo Celso
Sessegnon
Sissoko
Lamela
Soldado
Reguilon
Aurier
Lucas Moura

Lamela is arguably the most successful of those....

 

And the nine of those who the club still owns cost £300m and only two or three usually start. Yet somehow people think it's easy to improve on players like Dele and Winks.

 

Dele had a decent game against Stoke, Mourinho is simply using him as a scapegoat, he has also had decent games in the previous 18 months+. There will not be much to Dele these days when he gets a game once every 2 or 3 weeks. There is nothing special to Lucas, Bale, Bergwjin, Sissoko, Winks, Lamela, Lo Celso or Ndombele at present either, all of these have been a passenger as often as Dele has, and they get far more chances. Mourinho is unfairly treating Dele, plenty of other players contribute just as little or less, and yet still get picked. Eric Dier gives the ball away more than anybody, but he is Mourinho`s love child, and so continues to be picked.

 

Can anyone explain Mourinho's logic to me on the goal being Alli's fault?

The ball's with Lonergan in the Stoke box and he doesn't even rush it out. Everyone's back in position.
Dier makes a rash decision to go too far out to try to win a header that he's never going to win and then the defence is in a mess.
He's primarily at fault, followed by Lloris for conceding at his near post and possibly Hojbjerg for not covering quickly enough, at a stretch.

 

That doesn’t make him a success nor worthy of every penny. It just shows how poorly we’ve used big funds.

 

Who’s saying those you listed are special or are doing great? You’re trying to create an argument against something people aren’t saying just because you’re upset that Dele isn’t playing.

There’s only one person to blame for Dele’s downfall and it’s the man himself. You can choose to scapegoat Jose for it as much as you like but if Dele was worth playing he would be. He got enough chances under Jose last season and plenty of chances under Pochettino.

 

We've easily upgraded on Winks with Hojbjerg - and he only cost £15m.

 

WindyCOYS has a whole Twitter thread in this

 

I`m not creating an argument at all, but merely highlighting the fact that if you are calling Dele a passenger, then you have to call those other players a passenger also. Bottom line is, Mourinho doesn`t like him for whatever reason, and prefers other players, some of whom are inferior. You seem to be of the opinion Dele has been awful for around 2 years, he hasn`t, he has been no worse than plenty of other players and has still contributed positively in that time. All he is guilty of, is falling below the very high standards he set himself previously. Plenty of other players are not worth playing currently, and yet they are, so why isn`t Dele.

 

I agree with Windy. He had an encouraging first half, looked bright, grafted and got fouled a hell of a lot.
He should be on the bench against Wolves, at least, especially with Lo Celso missing for the foreseeable future.

 

Dele was/ is the topic of talk, just as Ndombele, Lo Celso, Winks etc all have been at times. So it’s pointless bringing others up when people have already had their say on them.

Jose doesn’t like him because he’s been **** and possibly isn’t doing enough in training that others maybe are.

He’s not just falling below very high standards, he’s practically got no standards at the moment because for too long he’s been piss poor. He’s 6 and a half years into his Spurs career and hasn’t reached the same levels of consistency as his first 2 seasons. Flashes and decent spells here and there but unlike Kane and Son he doesn’t do it on a regular basis and it’s why they’ve kept their spots and he hasn’t. Now there are more players that can play in his position and they’re being favoured too him at the moment. That’s why he’s not playing.

As I said, he only has himself to blame.

 

Hojbjerg is Wanyama's replacement. Winks has been covering a DM role that he isn't particularly suited too. And as I've pointed out we are getting fewer points with Hojbjerg than we were with Winks and Sissoko when Son and Kane were fit.

 

He’s not really suited to any role though. We’ve upgraded on him with a player more suited to what we need and it’s why his game time has been limited.

We’ve also finished progressively worse in each season that he was a first XI player. In 18/19 we scraped 4th, last season we scraped 5th. Prior to him and Sissoko being our main CM pairing we finished 3rd, 2nd and 3rd.

 

None of them are as good as Dembele which accounts for that. We've got two world class players in Son and Kane, a decent goalkeeper and 22 other players who are all good but not great.

 

Which is why we need upgrades. Not players like Winks and co consistently getting game time.