KaKa

Duff will be back in January, and would have been whipped into shape by Sam. Luque, hopefully, would have improved his fitness and strength byt hen also, and should continue where he left off in the pre-season. Edmilson might be coming in. These three should hopefully make up for the loss of Martins and Geremi.

November. Paul Jewell in. Agreed. Warnock to Bolton too. blueyes.gif

Especially at 31. didn't realise he was that old. Nothing a bit of Emu oil won't fix. Besides 31 is 25 in Allardyce years.

4 "top strikers" no goals Tottenham's top scorer is Titus Bram ... pardon me, Anthony Gardener. How long till the Spurs backlash begins, by tomorrow methinks. A lot of pundits and journalists will be feeling like like mugs and they won't be happy. Freakin' awesome

What are the odds on Spurs getting relegated. I'm dead serious here.

Aaaaaaaah the inevitable Robinson blonde moment! Woo hoo ...

Wahey! Top four Tottenham in da house. Quiet as a library at the mo. Never mind, Kewell to the rescue soon enough.

Kaboul off ... It never rains it pours! Only defender that looked like he had a clue so far.

Sell Owen buy Farfan, who is a realistic purchase for us. Front three of Farfan, Viduka and Martins ... drool city.

I can't believe people still think Sam is going to pay the 4-4-2. Did he not say at his talk in that he prefers the 4-3-3 before you defend with more players and attack with more players also. We also played it against Bolton and it looked great. Most of the money this summer has been spent on central midfielders to play in this formation in Barton and Smith also. The only change of formation that will take place is in instances where we are closing at the end of games and we go more defensive. If Sam switches to a 4-4-2 when everyone is fit, it will mean dropping Martins as well as one of Smith/Barton. I think this is pretty much impossible.

I'm worried about Owen's style of play. He really has to have a greater work ethic to fit into Sam's 4-3-3 which looked too potentially good to abandon for one player's sake. Should be interesting to see how this pans out. Martins has proved he has what it takes to develop into a real threat in that system and everyone else has looked great in it. Owen really has a lot to do right now and I hope he realises it. He can't feel entitled to anything!

Tottenham essentially blew all their budget on bench players this summer, which is what I don't understand. Not one of the players they bought is ready to go straight into their first team to make a big impact, and considering how much they spent I don't think this was a smart move. Bent coming off the bench on Sunday didn't make any kind of sense to me, and it seems he will be rotated all season. I was so sure Jol was going to unleash a new formation which featured Keane, Bent and Berba but nope. The addition of Bent might actually prove to be a hindrance if they are not careful, as it seems Jol might get tinker happy.

The potential is overwhelming. I agree. If a front three of Owen, Viduka and Martins works well it would be delicious. Also, great to know that we could also slot Milner and Zoggy into the wide forward roles occassionally, to give Owen and Martins a break, or to add more width should we need to do so. Fantastic options upfront.

Martins really has the potential to be awesome this season in the 4-3-3, as our three man midfield is so strong and competitive and we have in Viduka, a striker with a great first touch and good close control who can hold up the ball. I think these two things combined will help mask Oba's deficiencies, as when his touch lets him down and he sometimes loses the ball it will not be in areas that are as dangerous as they were last season when he was predominantly playing through the middle. Our midfield will also not be as vulnerable and so should do a good job of winning the ball back for us. The way the team is now built, it should allow for Oba to be his random best and allow his intangibles to shine through. Oba is not in an ideal situation when he is the only real threat upfront as he was last season, as he can be inconsistent and blow hot and cold; he just isn't quite polished enough. However in our current setup where we appear to have so many other threats and it isn't all on Oba's shoulders I think he will really shine, as he has a bit more leeway and can afford to try more things that might not necessarily come off all the time. He really looks like he can thrive in the wide forward role upfront and it should be exciting.

Don't want to get carried away with just one game, but having watched some of the other matches are Tottenham really better than Man City, Portsmouth, Everton or ourselves? 5th to 7th place is going to be very tight. Wouldn't be surprised if Tottenham ended up 8th or 9th.

Frosty enough, they were probably just sickened at getting thumped though. And no, we played 4-3-3. I expect that'll become a regular thing as well. Owen will be pleased He won't be here much longer though, on the bright side. Do you know something we don't Shak?

Gerrards me captain! Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet Hoping he's the man of the match too.

I said that the other day, they've replaced Tevez, ReoCoker and Benayoun with Bellamy, Parker and Ljungberg. Oh my God, when you put it like that they've actually gotten worse!!!

West Ham getting it at home! 2 - 0 Man City. Get in! They will no doubt bid £20 million for both Dyer and Solano now. How long before Bellamy and Bowyer start going at it? Curbs on the hotseat already? Loving it ...

:lol: :lol: Hell yeah! I keep thinking it's that big nosed lunatic celebrating another Bolton goal.

Sibierski! The shirt changes but the talent lives on - legend!

Gone off Brambles head onto the crossbar and in ... 2 - 0 Everton over Wigan.

What?

Seriously what the hell is Phil Thompsons problem?

West Ham getting what they deserve already. Please keep it up City, always thought Sven was great but was treated badly and distracted by the British press. City are going to be a surprise this season. Tottenham ... £16.5 million on a striker they didn't necessarily need and they haven't got a single decent midfielder, not one! Zokora is the best and is average at most. Etuhu outplayed both Zokora and Jenas. Probably didn't help that they didn't play down the top four talk, but instead talked themselves up all summer and piled the expectation and pressure on. Reality bites.