The Official THFC thread

[ONeill]

Jeez lads! Give us a wee bit of credit where it's jew!   

Gold Star!!!!

[The Gs Man]

 

[seafoid]

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/oct/02/tottenham-hotspur-manchester-city-premier-league-match-report

[The Gs Man]

Genuine title contenders!  :-)

[Hectic]

I believed Spurs would beat City yesterday and so it proved.  For me Spurs were the best team in the league by a distance last year but for a poor start and blowing up a little at the very end but they have a squad as good or better than anything in the league right now and as things stand I would not be surprised to see them and Liverpool in the mix come the end of the season.  It may well be that the other two teams in the mix will be Arsenal and City though Arsenal do tend to choke around early spring while City this past week have shown that they have areas of the team to address - mainly too many of their defenders cannot defend.  I had a colleague tell me on my return from being at Celtic Park last wed night that Celtic were lucky because City did not have DeBruyne - well I am sorry but for the money City have spent I refuse to acknowledge that when they are one man down they a ffffed!  But back to Spurs, one of the top 2 keepers in the league, best defence in the league, really good blend of top quality midfielders with the only area they seem a bit short in being up front and they will miss Kane at some point during his lay-off but they still have plenty of goals in the team.

[Walter Cronc]

Not sure with some of your points there but they do have a superb manager!!

Said it before, he was the manager United should have given a blank cheque to and told him to write his price!

[Hectic]

I think he is a manager that is more comfortable in the type of role he is in at Spurs i.e. developing players who will work their socks off for him.  Of course if he keeps it up he will be lured to one of the really big boys (no disrespect to Spurs) but the way I see English football right now, with the exception of Spurs and Liverpool the rest of the so called top teams are full of over paid brats who will only try a leg when it suits them or when it is running nicely.  Money has ruined the hunger of many.

[Walter Cronc]

Things will all change at Spurs and Liverpool (to a lesser degree) when the new stadium arrives. We have already seen it with Erikson earlier this season. Why would they be happy with 80-100k a week at Spurs when City, United and Chelsea can all double or treble their salary. Kane will have his head turned soon enough! Spurs are similar to Arsenal when they first moved into the Emirates in that regard. Top players but earning less than their peers.

[TabClear]

Things will all change at Spurs and Liverpool (to a lesser degree) when the new stadium arrives. We have already seen it with Erikson earlier this season. Why would they be happy with 80-100k a week at Spurs when City, United and Chelsea can all double or treble their salary. Kane will have his head turned soon enough! Spurs are similar to Arsenal when they first moved into the Emirates in that regard. Top players but earning less than their peers.

A salary cap like the nfl would be a great leveler.  It would force teams to invest in youth. I think the Superbowl has only had one multiple winner over the last decade. Obviously the playoff structure and draft helps as well but it means that no one team dominates because of financial clout.

The UEFA financial fair play regulations are a joke.  Converting debt to equity and sweet heart deals on stadiums means the likes of city can basically ignore them and hoover  up global talent with no comeback.

[Hectic]

Agree - you would think 50k a week would be more than enough for any individual to be set up for life let alone moving on from closer to 100k because it is not enough - more money that comes in, more goes out on wages and agents fees - I would have liked the new TV deal to have something written in about using a portion of it to lower ticket prices so that the thousands of supporters attending could benefit rather than a handful of individuals but at the same time I am aware they are throwing more money at it to try and boost their product and unfortunately that does not include supporters.

As for the new stadiums for Spurs and Liverpool - think I read somewhere that they reckon Spurs will not take the same hurt as Arsenal as they have massive finance secured for the project including NFL backing and naming rights - not sure of the entirety of the sums.  Was there not also something where Arsenal got slowed down by the turn in the property market as part of their project was to redevelop Highbury into apartments which then took a few years for the return to filter in.  Time will tell I suppose though on the face of it Liverpool never seem to have too many problems finding money to spend.

[Walter Cronc]

Arsenal got tied into a 10 year deal (I think) with Emirates for both the shirt and stadium rights. Initially it looked good but was dwarfed by subsequent deals that United, Chelsea and City acquired. The Highbury Square project has been good for Arsenal in terms of return but as you say it took years to go through. I think the Arsenal board were a little naive in terms of financial fair play and tried to do things by the books (no shame I suppose) whilst Chelsea and City flaunted it!

Have they decided which NFL sides will play at the new WHL? I thought the Jaguars franchise was a long term shoe in for Wembley? These new stadiums and increased capacities are all well and good but they also give clubs the excuse to stick the arm in and attract wealthier supporters while the average joe gets priced out! An example - in my office the only two regular Arsenal attendees are both company directors!

[seafoid]

Arsenal lost their way in parallel with the Cork hurlers.  Watching them in the CL is like Groundhog day.

[seafoid]

Simon Kuper in the FT divides teams into moneybags owners like Man City, the Barse, Real Voldemort,  Chelsea, PSG and miserly owners like Arse, Liverpool , Everton

Tottenham aren't really moneybags but bought very well and have a super manager.

Man Utd would make a great PhD

[thewobbler]

I always find comments like "Arsenal have lost their way" to be very empty.

They've got two of the absolute superstars of the league in Sanchez and Ozil, and a squad brimming with talented players who play good football, and have an amazing habit of winning games in the last few minutes.

Even with unlimited spending power, Chelsea, City and United can't match their consistency in the EPL.

I know everyone wants their club to win trophies, but there's only two trophies that matter to a club like Arsenal and every year there's 4 live challengers for one of them and half a dozen live challengers for the other. Declaring them as underachievers for not toppling either in a decade is trite.

[thewobbler]

The thing I most like about Poch is that he's a coach.

He would seem to be adamant that if a player has the right tools in terms of motivation, athleticism and technique, then it's better to spend time on the training field with him, rather than spending that time looking for an expensive improvement.

Most Spurs fans would have happily moved Rose, Dier, Dembele, Lamela, Son and Kane along as quick as they arrived. Most had serious doubts about Walker and more than a few still don't get Eriksen. Basically they want to champman their team every season. They're already on jansenn's case and are horrified at the thought of Omonah and Winks getting a game.

Personally it's so refreshing to see a manager who doesn't think like an impulsive supporter, doesn't watch YouTube highlight reels and wonder why everyone else has better players. Centre halves apart this Spurs team could be together for a decade (in theory). I hope it happens like that.