leffe186

Yeah, although I’m slightly less impressed he managed to see you through a period without Livramento and Miley as your RM and RW . Also there were three other clubs who had 11 players out at one point last season. You had terrible injury problems last season, with more minutes missed than any other club, and a key player in Pope missing for ages. The problem is that it’s just such a complex issue to compare, as the immediate context is so important. Last night we finished the game with the CM moved to LB, the LB moved to CB, a CM who’d played at CB all game and our fourth choice keeper who’s thankfully played well enough to move up to third choice. Not to mention the three teenagers in front of them and the other young player recalled from a loan who was pitched in out of desperation. The specific injuries at specific times across all positions are what is so difficult to contend with, and have resulted in players like Porro having to run themselves into the ground.

Quite. I’d have Vertonghen being given offside five yards in his own half or Roy Carroll (or whichever Man U keeper it was) being allowed to retrieve the ball from two yards inside his own goal higher for starters.

It’s mental. Current injury team would be: Vicario, Spence, VDV, Romero, Udogie, Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Johnson, Solanke, Odobert, with Werner on the bench and Richarlison having a late fitness test. Meanwhile players like Porro, Son and Kulu are out on their feet. I said I was checking out until Feb but honestly might have to wait until March. Want to berate Ange but the whole thing is a joke.

We can drop points against anyone. If they play a low block and take the chances that everyone gets against us then they’ve got a chance. Plus if Richarlison gets injured that’s our presence up front knackered.

I was just now working through my saved programmes and in the Football League highlights there was a Wigan player getting a straight red for a somewhat similar thing last week. Stevenage guy beats him to the ball and is running away and he just kicks him. Again, I would always have given a yellow, but I can see the ref’s point of view. He just kicks him with the ball miles away. There should be a much higher threshold for a straight red and it’s clearly not the right decision, but occasionally it’s nice for a simple, blatant cheater to be told to fuck off out of it

That’s sort of my thinking, although I would never have sent him off. Would have been a yellow and a talking-to “if you put a foot wrong from now on you’re off.” For me it wasn’t a deliberate attempt to hurt the player but it does feel like such an absolutely blatant and undisguised kick at the player with the ball completely immaterial might sometimes merit a red. Like, if he stepped across him, or tripped him then he’d without question have got a yellow. The fact he takes a straightforward kick at the guy’s leg is a bit much, and what presumably tipped the balance.

Just started rewatching the game. At the kick-off, I heard this from Sam Matterface: “Glenn Hoddle was part of the squad that won Tottenham’s only European trophy” Genuinely had to rewind it twice to see if I heard it correctly. Jesus Christ. What a useless idiot he is.

Oh thank goodness for that. I must have misread the BBC text. They said something like Kinsky was out etc and my ongoing injury PTSD probably kicked in

New keeper injured now so back to our fourth choice keeper. BBC says 14 senior players injured now. It’s just fucking stupid. Edit: Just saw Forster’s on the bench so presumably he’s fourth choice now.

Solanke injured now. At the beginning of the season I expected our first team to be Vicario, Porro, Romero, VDV, Udogie, Bentancur, Bissouma, Kulu/Maddison, Son, Solanke, Johnson. Currently eight of those players are out, and four of their back-ups are out. It’s ludicrous. One other backup (Richarlison) is presumably going to have to play today for his first Premier League start of the season, so he’ll be injured by half time. It’s a washout. We just need to get enough points to stay up and maybe fluke something in the cups. The only question is how much is bad luck and how much is Ange’s training/tactics, because clearly both are involved to a certain degree. The difficulty is that you can’t judge anyone fully under these circumstances. You can make an educated guess, but that’s it.

About time everybody adopted Millwall’s nickname for them - the Stripey Nigels.

Just to be clear, I mean whether or not Havertz or even Arsenal are involved.

I guess also, for all its failings, because there was no VAR.

Was justice done? Did Havertz get booked for diving?

I’m on the bus following it by text and haven’t seen anything but even then I can tell you that this whole incident supports my contention that on these occasions you should be allowed to give Havertz a running kick in the balls.

That Watford goal is mint as fuck. What a shot.

Yup.

you have no idea. Austin and Whiteman have barely played a proper game in their careers. There’s a reason Forster was our backup.

He’s been ill too apparently. We’re not playing those who will put the yards in, we’re playing the ones who are able to play . Not much choice. The bench is hilarious.

I think he is mistaken actually - he’s missed out Ben Davies. That would be 14 missing.

I don’t think you’ve met a lot of Spurs fans or spent much time on Spurscommunity. No-one has any illusions about them. We were saying they’d fucked up by not getting a proper second keeper in back in September.

Forster is our third keeper. We just don’t have a second keeper . Our other keepers are Austin and Whiteman who are there to throw balls at Vicario and Forster in training and DJ online. Outside Forster our best keepers are actually Keeley (a kid on loan at Orient) and Gunter (a kid in the U-21s).

Kudus is still a thing tbf.

I’ve kind of checked out of football until February and didn’t realize Arsenal were at home. Going down the escalators at Kings Cross it sounded like “Ilchester, lalala” and I couldn’t work out what division Ilchester were in and how the fuck they had so many fans.

Got an old friend who’s a Newcastle fan and it used to wind him up that I was always the “Voice of Reason”. Again, I’ll say what I’ve said all season about Son - if he gets enough rest he’s still got it, just obviously he’s older and it’ll be in shorter bursts. He’s still had a handful of brilliant games this season. The plan was to rotate him with Odobert, Moore, Werner and Richarlison on the left. Odobert and Richarlison have barely played due to injury, Moore has been out with a virus for months, and Werner has had injuries too…but is also just Werner. If his legs were truly gone he wouldn’t have had those great games at all. Plenty of Spurs fans think he’s gone, but they tend to be the reactionary ones I think.