Saturday, March 24, 2012

Well at least we're still 5 points ahead



That was a rather interesting match. For about 80 minutes this match was possibly the dullest derby match this entire season, but in the other 10 minutes it was one of the most intense matches ever.
For the most part, Tottenham didn't look too hungry for a win, though there were some individual moments of brilliance throughout the match, such as Adebayor's shot/cross that went just over Walker, Modric's run which result in a poor shot from Van Der Vaart at the end of the first half. Then there was Adebayor's 1-on-1 with Cech, which was eventually saved by a great block from Cahill, Walker's shot which went into the side-netting, Bale's header which rebounded off the bar and also his powerful free kick in the 94th minute which was just pushed wide by Cech.
Chelsea also had a few decent chances, with Drogba continuously getting past Gallas, though failing to capitalize on any of them. Their best chance was of course Mata's free kick, which left Friedel standing still. Unfortunately for Mata (but fortunately for us Spurs fans) the shot rebounded off the post and was ironically cleared out of the box by David Luiz.
If we look at the stats, Tottenham had many more opportunities, with 20 shots (compared to Chelsea's 9) and 55% possession throughout the match. Unfortunately though, we just couldn't put any into the net and  once again suffered because of our lack of a clinical stiker.

There are 2 positives that we can take out of this game though.
One, we dominated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in a game most people expected us to lose;
and two, at least we didn't lose and still have a 5 point lead on Chelsea, who still have to play Arsenal at the Emirates and Liverpool at Anfield (and they've got Champions League midweek games to deal with too).

It's a pity that Aston Villa couldn't take any points off Arsenal, but I feel that a draw was good enough this week, especially regarding our poor form lately.

5 years time - who will be playing for Spurs?

In 5 years time, Ledley King will be 36, BAE will 33, Dawson will be 33, Modric will be 31 and Defoe will be 34.
So who will replace those players when they start to retire?
Well if you look at players who are already in the 1st team, Walker, Bale and the only players who are under 25 years old.
Though we've also got Rose, Livermore and Caulker (on loan at Swansea) who have had 1st team experience and are all u22.
The Tottenham youth team is very talented as well. They made it to the semis of the NextGen Series (which is basically an u21 champions league), though were eliminated as they fielded an ineligible player. Luongo, Lancaster, Coulibaly and Carroll have been some of the stand-out players in these matches - many of them played in our Europa League campaign this year.
Of course Daniel Levy will also have bought some players by 2017, so we can't forget about this.

So back to the main point - who will be playing for Spurs in 5 years time?

My predictions would be:
Krul
Walker, Kaboul, Caulker, Rose
Lennon, Modric, Hazard, Bale
Damaio, Lancaster

Well that looks like a fairly decent team to me...
Who do you think will be playing for Spurs in 5 years time?

Friday, March 23, 2012

We still need a striker

The Stoke game clearly showed, once again, our main problem.

We need a proper striker.

I'm not saying Defoe, Saha and Van Der Vaart are bad - I think that they are all very talented individuals, but none of them are target men, which is what we need.
Adebayor has been fairly successful this season, but he still lacks that ability to put away shots from all different places (which strikers such as RVP, Gomez and Ibrahimovic are so good at).

Today (not sure if it is a fact or a rumour), Villareal have placed Giuseppe Rossi for sale.
If you have read my blog, you will know that he is one of my favorite players, so I would love it if he came to Spurs. But besides that, I think he would work really well at Tottenham, because he is a very good all round player - quite strong, quite quick and a good finisher.

He's available for around 15 million pounds, due to Villareal's financial problems.
The only problem is that he wants to move to the Serie A so that he can play in his home country, Italy.
Though he hasn't ruled out moving to the premier league yet.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Back to the Transfer Rumours

So, Napoli have just revealed that they would be willing to accept £100 million pounds for both Cavani and Lavezzi. 
Is this the solution to Tottenham's attacking problems?
With Man City prepared to pay around 50/60k for Bale, maybe it's better that we cash in and then use the money to buy two-thirds of the 'Holy Trinity'.

This would give us a clinical striker (Cavani) and a skillful winger (Lavezzi), who should be able to fill the gap left by Bale's departure. I think this would work very well for Spurs, as it would bring in 2 fresh players who are eager to impress in the greatest league in the world.

Of course there are other options, such as Drogba, Damaio or Rossi, but it would probably be more effective bringing in 2 players from the same club, so that they adapt much quicker and work well together.

So who would you like to see next season>

Bale 


or



Lavezzi
and

Cavani


Monday, March 12, 2012

Top 3 London clubs - wage comparison


An interesting graph - Daniel Levy is a true businessman

(It's funny how the table positions are opposite to the annual wage)

Answers

As promised, the answers to yesterday's quiz:

1. Kyle Walker and Assou-Ekotto

2. Jermain Defoe

3. 70

4. Burnley

5. Kyle Walker and Kyle Naughton

6. Peter Crouch

7. Bale, Van der Vaart and Kaboul

8. Inter Milan, Werder Bremen and FC Twente

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Quiz time!

These questions will be from the last 3 season (09/10 - 10/11 - 11/12)


1. Which 2 players have had the most appearances this season? (in all competitions)

2. Who has the scored the most goals this season for Spurs? (in all competitions)

3. How many points did we get in the 09/10 season?

4. Who did we lose to in the final game of the 09/10 season?

5. Which 2 players did we sign from Sheffield United in 2009?

6. Who wore the no. 15 shirt for Tottenham during the 10/11 season?

7. Who were the goalscorers in our 3-2 win over Arsenal? (10/11)

8. Name the other 3 teams in our Champions League group? (10/11)


I'll post the answers to these questions tomorrow.