****OMT*****Tottenham Hotspur vs. Chelsea, Saturday 8th March 5:30pm

[Gilzeantoscore]

I dont agree with the foreign imports playing in the EPL, I think there should be a cap, like Rugby League, I beleive its why the national team is suffering.
I dont agree with British players in the Spanish/German/Italian league either, works both ways.

People laughed at Sugar and his Carlos kickaball comment, but he had a point. It's true that many foreign players do well at the top clubs, but they dont look too flash at the battling ones. It would be the same with British players at foreign clubs. I'll bet that many of our imports wouldnt know who Jimmy Greaves was. I'd bet my life that most of the Chelsea foreign contingent wouldnt know that he played there as well. There is something about players buying into the ethos and history of your club. Van Dar Vaart had it, but I dont think many others than Sandro do today.

 

[paxtonwolf]

I want to know who is to blame for a lack of movement, the slow build up play, the poor decision making, the **** **** **** delivery of corners, the lack of motivation in the players and our lack of signings in the jan window if this crop are so ****?

Why let Defoe go too if soldado is a dud? This is not all about bottlers, **** players etc. This is about the ethos currently at the club. How I wish I could go back two seasons and forgive Harry his misgivings after the England job bollox. He gave us the direction we have lost!

The mentality of this club is one of failure and it is so apparent even in us fans. It makes me sick!

I like it.

I still partly blame the FA. From the day Capello resigned, they knew Woy was getting it, they should have ruled HR out from day one, he could have got on with managing Spurs. He could well still be here, along with Bale and Defoe

 

[paxtonwolf]

Xenophobia my ****. We're not a world-renowned club every young boy dreams of playing for: we're well known in England, but not that well known internationally. Therefore, there is a greater chance that a player from England would have a connection with the club that a foreign player would not, simply because players in England would have grown up at least hearing about the likes of Hoddle, Lineker and Gascoigne, something that cannot be said for foreign players. If Barca decide to create a team of Barca fans they have the luxury of being able to look across the world for players simply because of their global appeal: everyone has heard about the likes of Cruyff, Ronaldinho and Messi. The same cannot be said for us, making acquiring English players a sensible way to at least gain a greater chance of one of them having an attachment to the club.

Secondly, English players aren't as good as foreign players, full stop. That will change (the new generation of young Englishmen coming through (Carroll, Barkley et al) are at least as skillful as their foreign counter-parts when it comes to technique and ball retention), but for now, it's a fact. Ergo, they are less likely to be courted by a top club like Madrid or Bayern, which will give them a greater chance of staying with us than a foreign player would have. And even if they do turn out to be good, English players are usually overpriced in the market anyway, which should further put off any potential suitors from making an approach.

Ideally, I would want the majority of any match-day eleven to come from our youth system. That is my dream. It doesn't matter if they're all Belgian or Congolese or Ukrainian, as long as those six players (out of eleven) have come through the youth ranks of our club, learned about our traditions and history, and owe their professional careers to the care and guidance of the staff at our club alone. That would engender true loyalty, I feel... and that would give me the greatest satisfaction I could hope to have. But until then, wanting more Englishmen in the side is a logical reaction to a game that is fast losing its appeal to a whole lot of people by way of its sordid impermanence and rush to grab whatever dollar it is offered. It isn't xenophobic in any way, shape or form.

Thats it, in a nutshell, but put far better than I could ever write

 

[Nigeyman]

Xenophobia my ****. We're not a world-renowned club every young boy dreams of playing for: we're well known in England, but not that well known internationally. Therefore, there is a greater chance that a player from England would have a connection with the club that a foreign player would not, simply because players in England would have grown up at least hearing about the likes of Hoddle, Lineker and Gascoigne, something that cannot be said for foreign players. If Barca decide to create a team of Barca fans they have the luxury of being able to look across the world for players simply because of their global appeal: everyone has heard about the likes of Cruyff, Ronaldinho and Messi. The same cannot be said for us, making acquiring English players a sensible way to at least gain a greater chance of one of them having an attachment to the club.

Secondly, English players aren't as good as foreign players, full stop. That will change (the new generation of young Englishmen coming through (Carroll, Barkley et al) are at least as skillful as their foreign counter-parts when it comes to technique and ball retention), but for now, it's a fact. Ergo, they are less likely to be courted by a top club like Madrid or Bayern, which will give them a greater chance of staying with us than a foreign player would have. And even if they do turn out to be good, English players are usually overpriced in the market anyway, which should further put off any potential suitors from making an approach.

Ideally, I would want the majority of any match-day eleven to come from our youth system. That is my dream. It doesn't matter if they're all Belgian or Congolese or Ukrainian, as long as those six players (out of eleven) have come through the youth ranks of our club, learned about our traditions and history, and owe their professional careers to the care and guidance of the staff at our club alone. That would engender true loyalty, I feel... and that would give me the greatest satisfaction I could hope to have. But until then, wanting more Englishmen in the side is a logical reaction to a game that is fast losing its appeal to a whole lot of people by way of its sordid impermanence and rush to grab whatever dollar it is offered. It isn't xenophobic in any way, shape or form.

Amazing post, couldnt agree more.

Bentaleb & Carrol driving us on...If thats your dream I reckon there is a far better chance it will be realised under Sherwood...perhaps im still too angry, I will say however that some of our English old guard should move on.

 

[Enzo Francescoli]

I want to know who is to blame for a lack of movement, the slow build up play, the poor decision making, the **** **** **** delivery of corners, the lack of motivation in the players and our lack of signings in the jan window if this crop are so ****?

Why let Defoe go too if soldado is a dud? This is not all about bottlers, **** players etc. This is about the ethos currently at the club. How I wish I could go back two seasons and forgive Harry his misgivings after the England job bollox. He gave us the direction we have lost!

The mentality of this club is one of failure and it is so apparent even in us fans. It makes me sick!

went on a stadium tour a few months ago with a mate of mine and was utterly astonished that the letters A and N were missing from the players entrance sign. It might sound small or something about nothing, but it felt shocking to me, first British club to win a European trophy, first to do the double etc etc, it felt so wrong to me. " there used to be a football club over there " sometimes I wonder, how can we expect the players to respect the club when the hierarchy clearly don't.

 

[shaney]

Some of you saying we could win the Europa League, wake up. If we're not good enough for Top 4 then we're not good enough to win a cup competition, not with defending like ours. We haven't gone past the quarter finals in any European competition since the 80s. You have to be able to nick tight games in the Europa just like you have to in the CL.

Even Fulham and Middlesborough have made it to the Europa final. Telling ourselves we we not capable of winning it is the exact defeatest Spurs mindset that riddles our club from top to bottom. We CAN win it, but we dont have the mentality or balls to actually do it.

 

[Mr_B]

just saw the sherwood interview, while its refreshing to hear someone speak so candidly, its also troubling to hear what we already know that vertongen and the like are just after their next payday, and am i right that none of our 7 "big" signings this year started today.

oh and tim hasnt been getting a lot of sleep by the looks of it

 

[Jurgen the German]

Even Fulham and Middlesborough have made it to the Europa final. Telling ourselves we we not capable of winning it is the exact defeatest Spurs mindset that riddles our club from top to bottom. We CAN win it, but we dont have the mentality or balls to actually do it.

Those sides were well organised. Of course we COULD win it, Greece won the Euros. But realistically with the way we defend I just can't see us stopping teams from scoring and we're hardly a free scoring side like Liverpool who can simply approach a game with a you score 3 we'll score 4 mentality.

 

[DubaiSpur]

Thats it, in a nutshell, but put far better than I could ever write

Thank you.

Amazing post, couldnt agree more.

Bentaleb & Carrol driving us on...If thats your dream I reckon there is a far better chance it will be realised under Sherwood...perhaps im still too angry, I will say however that some of our English old guard should move on.

Bentaleb and Carroll are too similar to play in the same side, imo: at least in terms of their propensity for slide-rule passes. I would like both to be part of our squad, but only one of them should play at any given time, at least in a three-man midfield.

In general, the philosophy is one I would like to see us consistently stick to. I agree with Sherwood being the most likely man to make that happen, but equally I also want a side that doesn't f*cking surrender like we did today, youth products or otherwise, and I'm not sure whether Sherwood or LvG would be the right man to achieve that atm.

 

[SteveAWOL]

How we mocked when we saw Mertesacker rollicking Ozil for not going over to applaud their away fans after ARSEnal' loss at the Etihad...

@AddictedtoSpurs: As the players start to walk down the tunnel, Tim Sherwood points to the away support. #THFC

@AddictedtoSpurs: Steffen echoes Tim's gesture.

 

[shaney]

Xenophobia my ****. We're not a world-renowned club every young boy dreams of playing for: we're well known in England, but not that well known internationally. Therefore, there is a greater chance that a player from England would have a connection with the club that a foreign player would not, simply because players in England would have grown up at least hearing about the likes of Hoddle, Lineker and Gascoigne, something that cannot be said for foreign players. If Barca decide to create a team of Barca fans they have the luxury of being able to look across the world for players simply because of their global appeal: everyone has heard about the likes of Cruyff, Ronaldinho and Messi. The same cannot be said for us, making acquiring English players a sensible way to at least gain a greater chance of one of them having an attachment to the club.

Secondly, English players aren't as good as foreign players, full stop. That will change (the new generation of young Englishmen coming through (Carroll, Barkley et al) are at least as skillful as their foreign counter-parts when it comes to technique and ball retention), but for now, it's a fact. Ergo, they are less likely to be courted by a top club like Madrid or Bayern, which will give them a greater chance of staying with us than a foreign player would have. And even if they do turn out to be good, English players are usually overpriced in the market anyway, which should further put off any potential suitors from making an approach.

Ideally, I would want the majority of any match-day eleven to come from our youth system. That is my dream. It doesn't matter if they're all Belgian or Congolese or Ukrainian, as long as those six players (out of eleven) have come through the youth ranks of our club, learned about our traditions and history, and owe their professional careers to the care and guidance of the staff at our club alone. That would engender true loyalty, I feel... and that would give me the greatest satisfaction I could hope to have. But until then, wanting more Englishmen in the side is a logical reaction to a game that is fast losing its appeal to a whole lot of people by way of its sordid impermanence and rush to grab whatever dollar it is offered. It isn't xenophobic in any way, shape or form.

Nice thought in principal, but frankly its pure fantasy. With the premiership of today it will never ever happen, so whats the point if pineing for something that will never happen.

This has'nt happened overnight. When was the last time a quality English player or youth player established themselves in our first team who we could all get excited about ? (Dont get me started on the likes of Rose, Naughton, Walker and Dawson as not a single one of them are good enough for us now).

In recent years our best and most loved players have been the likes of Berbatov, Bale, VDV, Modric - not english, and not through our youth ranks.

 

[Baleforce]

Ledders

although I disagree about Walker, I think he's great

 

[jurgen lineker]

Very probable that we would have still lost, but with the aim to build on the momentum we had been gathering recently it would have been nice to have seen how we would have fared with the same positive approach we took in our previous two games which saw us return to decent form. Not the same degree of positivity of recent games due to the opposition but a little more gutsy nonetheless. Whenever we revert back to this inferiority mentality we seem to have whenever we face anyone half-decent we stumble pretty badly.

 

[shaney]

How we mocked when we saw Mertesacker rollicking Ozil for not going over to applaud their away fans after ARSEnal' loss at the Etihad...

@AddictedtoSpurs: As the players start to walk down the tunnel, Tim Sherwood points to the away support. #THFC

@AddictedtoSpurs: Steffen echoes Tim's gesture.

The fact they had to be told tells you all you need to know. Lennon, in particular doesnt suprise me one bit., but Im ashamed and disappointed in all of them to be honest.

 

[Gutter Boy]

How we mocked when we saw Mertesacker rollicking Ozil for not going over to applaud their away fans after ARSEnal' loss at the Etihad...

@AddictedtoSpurs: As the players start to walk down the tunnel, Tim Sherwood points to the away support. #THFC

@AddictedtoSpurs: Steffen echoes Tim's gesture.

This isn't uncommon (not just at our club).

Dawson often leads our lot over - perhaps him not being there at the end was a contributing factor.

 

[mclovin]

If anyone would like to enter the tardis, this was Tottenham's last league win at Stamford Bridge..... !!!!!

[video=youtube;hdoxrZ5Y1Rk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdoxrZ5Y1Rk[/video]

 

[thfcsteff]

Only thing I can hope now is Tim does not let us down in the post match interview going on about how this scummy team are the best team on the planet.

:lol:

…well…he didn't let us down in that regard...

 

[thfcsteff]

could anyone ever, ever even remotely imagine the same thing happening the other way around? not on your fuucking life.

goals given that weren't over the line, offside goals, penalties for nothing (today, hasselbaink), funded by a crook, plastic cuunthead kids waving giant plastic flags when pay day etoo scores a fuucking blag.

takes the piiss. fuucking absolute cuunts. ivanovic looks like an absilute cuunt, terry a wideboy fuucking cuunt, lampard fat pasty munching thundercuunt, cole absolute disgrace a filthy fuucking cuunt of a bloke. ramires such a fuucking ***** and a rocket cuunt of an *******. willian, etoo all pay day cuunts.

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh


Last edited by Armchair Expert; Today at 19:15.

:ross:
Oh what I would've given to have seen the UNEDITED version!!!!

I feel your pain...

 

[DubaiSpur]

Nice thought in principal, but frankly its pure fantasy. With the premiership of today it will never ever happen, so whats the point if pineing for something that will never happen.

This has'nt happened overnight. When was the last time a quality English player or youth player established themselves in our first team who we could all get excited about ? (Dont get me started on the likes of Rose, Naughton, Walker and Dawson as not a single one of them are good enough for us now).

In recent years our best and most loved players have been the likes of Berbatov, Bale, VDV, Modric - not english, and not through our youth ranks.

Again, pure fantasy my ****.

----------------------------------Ade/Soldado/Kane-------------------------------

Townsend/Eriksen----------------------------------------------------Lamela/Lennon


--------------------Paulinho/Dembele------------Carroll/Bentaleb-----------------


---------------------------------Sandro/Livermore-------------------------------



Rose/Smith-----Chiriches/Veljkovic--------------Dawson/Caulker-------Walker/Naughton


------------------------------Lloris/new GK/Archer----------------------------------


Out of that bunch, Townsend, Kane, Lennon, Carroll, Bentaleb, Livermore, Caulker, Rose, Smith, Veljkovic, Walker, Naughton, Dawson and Archer I would classify as either having risen through our youth system or having been brought in at a young enough age to qualify as being raised by our youth system, at least for a season or two. That's 14 players, the majority of that 23 man squad I put up. Apart from Caulker, all those players are either already at the club or have been loaned out by the club with the option to recall them.

It is eminently achievable if we decide to go down that avenue. I'm not calling for every player in our squad to come from our youth ranks, just the majority of the squad, and the majority of any starting eleven.

Look at this:


----------------------------------Ade--------------------------------


Townsend------------------------------------------------------Lamela



----------------------Dembele------------Bentaleb-------------------


---------------------------------Sandro----------------------------


Rose---------------Veljkovic------------------Dawson----------Walker


----------------------------------Lloris-----------------------------


That's an achievable first eleven right now. So where does the extreme difficulty come in?

And, as a concluding remark, VDV, Bale, Lennon, Sandro, Townsend and Defoe have been my favorite Spurs players over the last few years. Bale and Lennon were bought as 16 year olds and came up through our youth tutoring system (while being first-team fixtures, but still), VDV, Sandro and Defoe all evidently bled (and in Sandro's case, continue to bleed) blue and white while in our colours, and Townsend is so 'Spurs' it hurts in terms of his previously stated desire to end his career playing for the club and his gratitude at being given a chance at the club he loves and grew up supporting.

I love players that give a f*ck about the club. There is a greater chance of that being the case with our youth players. Hence my fervent desire to see them turn out in numbers for our institution. And it isn't even that far-fetched, when you look at the possibilities I've listed above.

 

[thfcsteff]

So you shouldn't be allowed to be depressed when we just been tonked by our second bitterest rivals?

I think the point, quite fairly too, is that wallowing in the past is not helpful. Discussing it? Great. Repeatedly, all the time, everything-leading-back-to-'that'-moment? Not so much.

Frankly, I'd suggest that your depression over the tonking would be better directed in several other areas before you get to management on this particular occasion.

I'd suggest that your desire for Louis Van Gaal, added to your contempt for Sherwood, are clear enough for everyone to see. Perhaps it's time to look at other issues within the club as points of discussion, because the truth is, your gold child (who for all we know might be using us to get a better gig come-summer) will suffer the same fate unless other deeper issues are dealt with...