It Begins
Friday, August 13, 2010 at 9:20PM After 3 months of purgatory, we are back. Strap yourselves in. We're about to plunge down the other side of the rollercoaster.
Any discussion of our chances this season seems to be based around how well Man City are going to do. Personally, I think their transfer activity this season is some kind of cruel joke. Has their ever been a more colossal waste of £150 mil? Who exactly has made these transfer decisions? Because you can pretty much guarantee Mancini wouldn't have spent £5 mil on Ray Houghton, let alone £30 mil on James Milner.
I can hardly think this without guffawing out loud, like some nutcase, but is it actually Brian Marwood buying these players? Really? Brian Marwood? Sky Sports League 1 co-commentator extraordinaire? That explains a few things then. Yaya Toure is a poor man's Seydou Keita. James Milner is Steve Guppy on shedloads of creatine. David Silva was only ever any use as David Villa's lickspittle. Jerome Boateng - what are you actually buying here? A right back? A centre back? Helloooo!! Anyone at home??? Balotelli is going to be the black, attacking version of Marco Matterazzi. The PL will be too much for him, and he will be reduced to a foaming bucket of tears with alarming regularity.
Liverpool will be more of a threat. And that's not saying much. Jovanovic is a decent player, but really nowhere near the standard required for what Liverpool want to achieve. He will be like a slightly less clumsy Dirk Kuyt. Everton will be useful, but will ultimately be crippled by their manager’s simplistic, conservative playing style.
This just leaves Super Spurs. Transfer activity has been quiet, but I can't help but feel that's a good thing. The prospect of Micah Richards and Scott Parker left me cold inside. I've seen enough from the Kyles to suggest that both will be pretty decent players for us this season. Naughton looks ridiculously comfortable on the ball, and is a proper defender to boot. Walker looks like a truly awesome product, someone who will probably end up playing CB or CM. With some of Jordsy and Bondsy's magic coaching juice, I can see these players both making great strides this season, and not ending up drifting, aimlessly....like Micah Richards.
Sandro will soon be arriving, and interestingly enough O'Hara remains on the scene. I can't believe there have been no loan offers for him yet, but I also can't believe that Harry plans to actually play him. Maybe he is waiting to use the lad as a makeweight in a future transfer deal.
I like to think that Levy is playing an influential role in transfer dealings. I like to think he has told Harry he's not wasting 10-15 mil on mid-level domestic players. Ultimately, our best players (Gomes, Bale, Modric, Hudd) have not been established, PL players. They have been foreign imports or Championship wunderkids. I like to think Levy has realised this. Having said all that, the more the summer has gone on, the more I've warmed to the idea of getting Bellamy in. But to do so, Keane would have to leave. Levy's business mind probably won't allow him to let Keane leave for less that his value, but I have a feeling he will be off before the window closes.
Harry knows something is missing up top. We heard his slightly uncharacteristic dressing down of Defoe on more than one occasion last season. It's almost fate that Dos Santos played his way back into the reckoning in Africa. I for one, and Harry for two, must be excited about the prospect of pairing him with Big Pav. Expect Defoe to start, but don't be surprised to see him yanked for Dos Santos at the first sign of stagnation. Playing Dos Santos in an inevitably more withdrawn role will also probably necessitate playing Bale on the left, as his penetration up front will be much needed.
But it seems Harry is set on playing young Gareth at left back. Probably they key to all this will be how well Sandro plays in the centre of midfield. If he turns out to be the player we all hope and dream of, then Modric will play on the left, and Bale at left back. If he doesn't, then it's Modric in CM and everyone favourite hairstyle, Benoit, at LB. I have implored Harry to buy another left back, but I suppose if you intend Sandro to be a first team regular, you don't need another left back. But we'll see. One of our strongest aspects last season was our ability to adapt and change and think on our feet, so if Harry has to make some tough choices, he'll make them.
I think a vast majority of our transfer activity will take place after Tuesday night. If we win, expect Crouch, Keane, or even both to leave, and some heavenly being to ride into town to lead us to the Promised Land. I haven't given up hope on Forlan yet. I'm half suspicious that some kind of deal has already been struck. We can dream can't we? Didn't do us any harm last season did it.....
Harry has already laid down his marker for the season, much in the same way as he did last season. We all recoiled in horror when he boldly proclaimed 4th was well within our grasp. I suspect that due to the success of his wild talk last season, we were all slightly less horrified than we might have been to hear him talk up our title chances. But bear in mind, this boast is also a veiled threat to the squad. He's saying 'you lot are good enough to mix it with the best, and if you don't, I'll ruthlessly root out those who are holding us back'. Some players will take it as a threat. Some will use it as motivation. Some will feel the proverbial ten feet tall. This is who it's really aimed at. The likes of Gomes, Bale, Modric, Hudd and King. They know what is expected of them, and to be honest it's no less than they expect of themselves.
Game on.
by guest-blogger Chrisman.
Reader Comments (52)
Good guest blog. Don't think that Crouch will leave, or that Sandro will be immediate player we hope, but anyway, we are in the TOP FOUR and it's ours to lose.
COYS
Solid post mate. No mention of a CB in there though - I'm hearing whisperings that Celtic are signing Swedish CB Majstorovic from AEK - surely he'd be welcome at Spurs??
CB eh? You know what scares me? Sunderland's Ferdinand has NOT been given a squad number.... Harry has had interest before.... I hope that my fears remain in my nightmares.
Harry says he wants 3 players wiuth experience and who have been there done i and got the tee shirt. I think that there is definatelty something in the William Gallas rumours, I'd take him on a free in a shot and I truly hope Craig Bellamy comes in, his pace, charactor and attacking versatility would give us greta options. Really not sure on the 3rd - a big signing up front maybe - I too have feeling that the Forlan or Fabiano fiasco's are not dead in the water.
Really good post. Still believe Harry is after another goal scoring MC, a 20 goal a season FC, and a solid experienced DC as cover. May also be looking at LB
We all know the fitness problems with Woodgate and King, and I don't think Bassong or Kaboul are there yet. Charlie could cover, but that leaves us exposed at RB with only Hutton unless one of the Kyles step in who as you suggest are looking really promising. Just not ready yet
Don't think BAE is CL quality but has done a great job to date. Just worried he will really be found out this season and Bale is just not ready as a LB against the best
Not sure Harry has complete faith in the Hudd which is why I mention a MC. Also believe 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 will be seen more often this season so a goal scoring midfielder (fatfrank anyone??) is a possibilty
It's clear that a striker will be sacrificed this window, and I'm not sure who it should be, but IMO either Keane or Crouch. So the 20 goal a season signing remains a real mystery
Whatever happens in the next 2 weeks or so, I believe that a settled and happy squad can go a long long way, so not too fussed if we stay as we are....COYS
Good read. Yes I have to agree a centre back and left back are required before the window closes. If all four strikers are there after the window closes it won't bother me one bit as they are very good players. I do hope Harry doesn't play brilliant Bale at left back, it would be a waste of talent. I want to see him flying down that wing! Hope we see lots of Dos Santos.
I see we have loaned out Parrett today, Townsend yesterday and of course Bostock is at Hull. I understand it's vital for the young players to gain experience but I was looking forward to see what they could do in the Carling Cup for example. I just hope JJ is not included in the 25 man squad as it would leave me thinking why wasn't Bostock who I think is every bit as good as Wiltshire.
Really hope we get off to a good start tomorrow, I know CIty have a lot of new faces and need time to gel but we are going to have to be right up for this one as they do have talent and we don't want to get caught out.
Good luck Spurs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like what you said till you advocated flogging our BIG goal getter Crouchie and Keane our inform striker . Lets remind you Spooksy scary one 19 players scored Goals last year take four of them off for the four strikers that's 15 we was the third biggest goalscorers till city scored 5 against Burnley on a swimming pool and a shed full at Birmingham without there goal keeper in Goals . .So we never failed upfront Injuries suspensions Defoe Pav enforced bench warming Bales lat discovery Kenes Celtic Loan . Plus some energised goalkeeping and defending by Wolves Stoke Hull and Gomes late start all helped to make our top four go all the way to the wire We struggled against teams who where desperate for points to stay in the premiership. We need to play with a five man midfield when we play some teams with Dosantos we can do this Lennon Hudds palacios Modric Dosantos one oF Crouch Defoe Keane Pav .COYS 3-1
I agree with your writings mate! I would love to see us signing a player with CL experience, a class act. Someone like Huntelaar, ok he has not been the greatest in Milan, but I think he will fit in the way we play. And a CB, maybe the noggie Hangeland? He has proven himself in PL, and has CL experience from FC Copenhagen. Although I like the the idea of keeping the same squad, it's good :)
I'm ready to whoop man cini again!!!
Coys
Would like to know what other Spurs fans think of Falcao as it seems to have gone quiet on that option.Would love to see a signing before the end of transfer window of a prolific goalscorer and a top defender,players of the same quality as when we signed Klinnsman,Ginola or the Argentinians all those years ago.The sheer shock,excitment and quality of those signings i remember it like it was yesterday.We are so close to the final full package its almost painful waiting for the final pieces of the jigsaw.Now we need the coaches to instill in the players the I can,I must,I will mentality.
I don't know if anyone else mentioned this but you're saying it's bale at LM or nothing (well shift modric across) what about Niko and Gio on the left. he played great on the left against Fiorentina and playing opposite lennon and with bale, that would be a hell of alot of pace for one team
Left back is our big weakness and I think we'll be found out there this time around. BAE is brutal, shocking, garbage. He is without redeeming features. Am I watching a completely different player to the internet hoardes who insist on praising this clumsey oaf, who barges into tackles in the penalty area, cannot ever deal with a long bouncing ball over his head, never scores, never sets up goals, never manages to pass to a man in the same colour shirt? I concede he had a good 2nd half at City last season, but City had lost heart by then. He isnt good enough and sitting (as I do) very close to the bench at WHL, it was clear that our manager and coaches were well aware of this last season. I felt certain he'd be replaced - I dreamt of the Mexican LB from the WC - but here we are again with BAE about to trundle out. Its almost as depressing as the year after we'd finished 5th for the second year running under big Martin. It was so clear that Zokora was a fucking big liability the year before, I was sure he would be replaced that summer. I was genuinely depressed to see him trot out at the start of the next season - I knew it would cost us and felt sick as we lost game after game with desperate Didier at the centre of alll that was wrong. Much the same feeling as seeing Heskey, Barry, Miilner, Lampard etc starting for England this summer. And I fear it will be a similar feeling for me when BAE runs out tomorrow He's shite, full stop. Anyhoo, rant over. Come on you Spurs! Make me proud again
Got to be confident this season. Will be harder only because of how hard it was last season, could have slipped away so many time and it didn't because we found a way back into it. Players know what it takes now so why not?
I just wanted a signing cause I was so flippin bored...
but the season starts anew and I couldn't care less anymore. Dawson and Bassong got us through plenty of last season, and Corluka and Kaboul have always been natural CBs. I think Kaboul in particular might end up being the player everyone thought he was when we first signed him (but I might be sticking my neck out on that one.) Also, Bale's sharp rise in form came when Lennon was injured. I am positively salivating with the prospect of those two fullback assassins blazing a trail of destruction down both flanks.
Our squad is already excellent, instead of a bunch of journeymen and a few big name *wow* players, we have a cohesive squad full of talented, mostly young players who've yet to fuck off on us. All of our key players are loyal and contracted for the long term.
I wouldn't mind a sexy new signing, but do we honestly need one? Really? Let's fucking give it a go anyway. As for the whole Keane thing, despite me resenting the ever loving fuck out of him for ditching us, now that we have CL on our doorstep, we might as well give him a go too. If he's shite, then we can always farm him out to Bohemians or some other boyhood club of his.
Stop getting on BAE back ( I'd get on mine for him) he is a smashing player and one of our much improved under Harry. He is up there with the best LB's in the prem. Anyway I'm sooo excited I am having to sit on a towel. See you in the Paxton tomorrow, just look out for me in my Purple Spurs top with 69 Horny helen on the back. I'll probabaly still be sitting on my towel. My knickers are wetter than Pakistan. Sleep well boys, see you soon
Isn't Crouch already 10 feet tall?
BAE has been outstanding for us. Why the negativity?
Is Pav fit for tomorrow? Different reports saying he's got a hamstring problem?,although the Spurs website haven't mentioned it.....
BAE has got unbelievable tekkkkkers!
Horney Hellen you must be desperate for a shag the way he shoved Corluka you would be in for some rough treatment .. Just joking HH you will be climaxing three times tomorrow three times when we score 3-1 to the lads. OHYeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees.
Well said, KP Yid. Ol Harry has said Spurs need to get those 3 players with experience and as I have said on here before i think those players should be - CB = Diego Lugano (Fenerbache cost approx £5m), MC = Diego Perez (Bolonga) / Anthony Annan (Rosenborg) cost approx £8m, FW = Gyan, Falcao, Podolski, cost approx £15m). All have Europoean experience, are relatively cheap, and can handle the hustle and bustle of the EPL. Spurs need more players with grit as we are still a bit too lightweight in the tackle and need more than one (Defoe) 20 gols a season player.
Those fans who feel we need another left back, Fábio Coentrão is quality, has had 2 very good seasons at Benfica, had an impressive World Cup and is being watched by Chelsea, as replacement for Ashley Cole.
.....and am I the only one who worries about Levy's negotional skills as we only buy players at the last minute or players who the big clubs dont want.
If you dont know , get to know!!!
"Liverpool will be more of a threat"
This.
Good write-up.
The only player that worries me is Lennon. His post-WC form and shown poor pre-season confidence doesn't look good. In all the friendliest this summer he didn't deliver more than a handful of crosses, and of that, maybe a couple of good ones. No bold penetrations, just kicking ball back. Also, last years’ shocking months-long struggle with a hamstring injury showed that he is extremely fragile player. He is exciting player to watch when he is on a roll, but I’m afraid we’ll see less and less of that. I wish Harry would bite the bullet and offer him to ManCity for Bellamy and Richards (or Ireland), or to Mr. Red Nose as he seemed interested in Lennon few months ago. I wish Lennon’s games, if he stays, will prove me wrong, but judging by his display at WC and pre-season games, it doesn’t look promising.
Can't say I'm overly enamoured with this piece. Pretty much a bunch of bias nonsense actually.
Another superb article.My personal feeling is that the last thing we need is another striker that comes from abroad, struggles in the premier league and will only score the same amount of goals as crouchy,pav,keane and no brain defoe...please spurs keep gudjonsson...is is actually really important. Yes, we need another left back so Bale can play in LM but if we got Young..then how exciting would our left side be and the other teams know that and won't let it happen. As usual I hate Levy...if we were one signing away from the title he wouldn't do it and besides it would haggle to long and the player would go someplace else.Anyway..my dream this year is to see Jenas leave the club or retire hurt..is that bad of me? The guy is clearly braindead..someone pull that plug out....I'd happily sign a lump of dead cow to be in the team and plant in the centre circle...that would have more effect that woudl have more effect than Jenas...you would notice that dead cow..Jenas...u r awful
chris;
now, could you tell us how you really feel about JJ.....:)
Berbatov's on his way back!!!!
haha...Jenas is truly awful and really better at championship level.I use to be a tennis player and we shared our accomodation with Paris Saint Germain players.These young players all attended school and had to study at least 2 hours every evening. It a real shame we don't take this approach with our players. Look at players like Jenas,Rooney,Stevie G and a number of English players.They clearly are not very bright individuals and would of benefitted from a proper education and schooling. Give these players a choice of 2 and they consistantly choose the wrong one. Anyway moving off the subject, who cares about the national team really...all about your team...COYS
Great post! Really enjoyed it!
Now that the Balotelli deal is done and City have nailed their spending target of 100 million, could they possibly reconsider letting go of Bellamy? To us?
I too would be happy to see him in a Spurs jersey; but I do want Keane to stay. Is that too much to ask for?
I agree with King Paul.
i don't know what people see in BAE, he's utter wank.
Just my own opinion on some of ther players mentioned here.
BAE. Improved tremendously in HR's first season, and maintained it until his injury last season.. At the time, he was playing with confidence, and then along came Bale. Anyone recall that until HR gave him regular games, he was hinting that he wanted to go back to France.
GDS: Wasn't too sure why they paid so much money for him on the basis of a handful of games for Barca. Maybe like Bale he will be our breakthrough player this year.
Bale always rated him highly, and can only see him getting better. I would rather see him at LB, which bearing in mind my comment about BAE, leads me to think that BAE will want away.
Modric. With GDS and Bale, if they play to their best, we will have the best left side in the PL. Remember when we used to cringe at the left sided players we had (or didn't have)/
RK: Any old fool can score a a bucketful of goals in the SPl or in friendles. I'd like to be wrong, but I think he is past it.
Pav: Another player that I have always rated, and feel that if he were to get a run in the team, he would show why we paid so much for him. If you look at his return in cup matches (.875 goals per game), he definitely has the potential to be our top scorer. In theory, we could play 27 cup games this season, without replays.
Lennon: So far, not the same player as he was prior to his injury. I would ignore his world cup showing, as he did not get the service that he would get at Spurs, but when he gets back to his best, the idea of Bale tearing down the left from LB, and Lennon doing the same from MF not only fills me with excitement, but must be the worst nightmare of every defence in the PL.
The Thud: My only regret about him, is that he cannot shoot as accurately as he can pass, because he would stand comparison with Hoddle.
As for new signings, of course I would like to see someone who can improve the team, but I am grateful that we have not lost any of last season's excellent squad. If I could pick one player to buy, it would be Huntelar, and if we could avoid long term injuries, and our strike force played to it's full potential, we would have four 20 goal strikers.
I am extremely concerned by the Gallas link. I am sure he could do a job for someone I just don't want it to be us. He is hardly someone associated with team unity and he is a horrible piece of work. Did I mention he played for the woolwich. Sulking in the centre circle still sticks in the mind.
I have to disagree with Chris. Jenas is quite bright off the pitch, braindead on it.
i don't know what people see in BAE, he's utter wank
He still scares me but I don't think you could call his performance today utter wank. He saved us today with a brilliant tackle and had a great shot on goal.
I saw a lot of positives today. Of course we didn't finish and that does concern me and it's early days with few injuries etc but I was struck by two things.
1. Harry made some smart, relatively bold tactical substitutions that changed the pace of the game substantially.
2. We have a fair amount of depth on this squad. Especially when we were up against a team that has so famously ramped up in signings. Bringing on Gio for Lennon really hammered that home for me.
Clear room to improve. e.g. note to Bale: work on your right foot, son and a win would have really been a great way to start the season but we looked good, had swagger early on and I choose to find the glass half-full (totally uncharacteristic for me).
We need to thrash the Young Boys on Tuesday but I take today to be a good sign of things to come.
COYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have a feeling that it's gonna be a long long season. We need a proper striker to finish off teams and get the 3 points a performance, especially the first half, deserved. Hope we can open more defensive minded teams up because there will be a lot of them at the lane this season. I'm a bit fed up of the out wide to Lennon bit of our play it too obvious what he's gonna do next. When we do the same thing with bale he's a bit more unpredictable. I'd like to see us play through the middle a bit more and perhaps we will.
Shitteh will unfortunately do quite well this season. Sky are already fawning over them too.
No matter what we do we will never get the recognition from them.
I'm just a bit fed up with today so far. Trip to sis-in-laws now. Can't see it getting any better.
Thought we looked good, should have a bundle first half. I'm veryconfident for the season ahead.
Shitteh will unfortunately do quite well this season. Sky are already fawning over them too
I'm not sold on them to be honest. I may live to eat my words and it's clear they have a lot of talent but I never underestimate their ability to f*ck it all up.
We have too many non scoring strikers.
Crouch is the only Spurs striker to score in the past ten games.
We cannot win anything with two passengers on the pitch every game.
i know harry's done a good but we finished fifth before he came twice ,which ment the squad wasn't that bad it was just a matter of getting them to play as a team again ,so you would exspect your team to improve year on year ?so was fourth or third place really that out of the question?
a hell of a lot of negativity on here chaps after today opening game, we tore city to pieces during the first half, yeah the game flattened in the 2nd and if it were not for an absolutely incredible performance from hart, we would have smashed them to pieces.
everyone is banging on about this 20 goals a season striker we need, we have him. Play pav as 1st choice with defoe all season, he will bag a shed load of goals. Crouch has his benefits, replacing Keane with Bellamy would be great.
Something to consider, look how much we improved during the course of last season. We have started of as we finished, so if we continue to improve at the same rate, then we have a very good season in store.
Great start spurs, and a truly historic game to enjoy on tuesday. Stop doubting, our team are fucking awesome.
COYS.
Spurs had a great first half and it was bad luck not to score. It nothing to do with the strikers available. crouch played quite well and Defoe made a great effort for himself. can't complain good performance and decent point. we still had Wilson on the bench and Kranjcar to come in.
Crouch's lack of mobility seriously hinders our forward play. The only ball is long to his head because he is too slow to move into the channels and find space like Pav can. Anyone can see that Pav is far more effective then Crouch. Team did well today, though like so many occasions last season it's clear which area of the team is hindering us....
Trip to sis-in-laws went quite well actually thought it was gonna be all handbags and stuff but no... impromptu bite to eat and a couple of beers. Her other half is a pool fan. Shaking like fuck about tomorrow. Made me laugh and put it in perspective. Decent opener for us pool are gonna struggle. We'll walk 4th i reckon. As nycyid said shitteh will fuck it all up.
Still would love a decent striker though.
Great start of the season! IMO, our best and most exciting opening game I’ve seen in a long time, maybe ever. HR continues to instill great confidence and belief in all the players. He also made right changes and in the right time. ManCity has great individuals but we have better team. Hope we’ll keep the same intensity and desire when we play bottom and middle teams, because that’s where championships are most often won or lost. COYS!!!
oh the tottenham sprayed the ball around beautifully this morning. Loverly. joe hart saved their bacon. we should have had all 3 points. Still I am well pleased. Great display.
Great game , sexy football but a superb performance by Joe Hart ...
Makes the decision to play James and Green even more bonkers again.
3 thoughts from the first day.
1. Our performance clearly shows we need a good (canny) finisher. Someone who can bring us to the next level. We seem to have this problem with good keepers. Last year it was Hull, Stoke and Wolves. A lot has been written about how good Joe Hart is, but has enough been said of the lack of penetrative power of our so-called front man. It was good though to see Dos Santos thrown into the mix. I want to see him tear apart some Young Boys from Switzerland this week.
We seem to be all right in all other departments, except that we have no good cover in the event of long term injuries for certain key areas.
2. Now I have to say I hate teams like Sunderland, West Ham and West Brom for the following reasons.
West Brom are so unprofessional. Go to Stamford Bridge and simply surrender. In the process, perpatuate the myth that Chelski picked up where they left off. It's such a farce. I look at troublemakers like Hull, who gave them a game on the opening day last season in contrast. Such an unnecessary boost to their goal difference. If I didnt know better RDM was doing them a small favour.....
Sunderland are also an annoying bunch of gits. Away to Chelski and Liverpool, they lay down and surrender but not for us. At home they play like devils. Against us Bent has an "axe to grind". Wonderful for the tabloids.
West Ham too, they play like a bunch of strangers to teams like VIlla, Bolton, Everton, but against us, oh no, something extra to prove.
3. It looks as though the same problem resurfaces. Crap referees. The human error would continue to stir debate on injustice, cheating, blindness but the bottom line is Man Utd will continue to remain unbeaten by us. The utterly disgraceful Howard Webb is still around. I sure hope that moron Stuart Attwell will no longer referee. I see that Blackpool were denied a good goal, and so were Wigan. Steve Bruce was not pleased with their sending-off. We were denied a clear penalty. [For those who are unaware of Mr Attwell, I am referring to the ghost goal]
By comparison, the first ever Youth Olympic Games are being held now in Singapore. There was a contentious moment in the Greco-Roman wrestling for boys, they werent sure whether the young Turk (ha!) made an illegal throw and it took the judges some time reviewing the videos to come to a correct and mutually acceptable decision for all.
Definitely an enjoyable spectacle, especially the first half. Can't fault the style of play at all, found myself applauding frequently!--despite the unpleasantly early hour here. Also muttering bloody Joe Hart--seemingly every five minutes. What an impressive display from someone who's really just a kid in keeper years. But at the start of the first half, I thought I hope they've been keeping up the fitness routine, otherwise there's no way they can sustain that pace. And it did slow but still some very pretty movement going on.
Props to 'arry for the subs. Gio looked spritely and useful. Mentioned before, I wanted to see how Pavs and Keane would go together, but with a double sub like that, should it not have come a bit earlier? Not a criticism, but a genuine question, cause it seemed like Bale took a while to get in sync with the two strikers. Another 5 or 10 minutes together and perhaps we would have seen a goal.
Trust all the BAE haters are eating their words. His passing precision rivaled Hudd's yesterday and was the start of numerous promising moves (bloody Joe Hart!) Defended well too (grin) . Modric did some monster defending himself but seemed a little rusty with his passing which I'm sure will improve.
So, yeah, enjoyed it, looks highly promising for the rest of the season, but still ruing the two points dropped.
CEJ & Ziegemonster, well said both of you. Some dubious comments on this thread until you both posted.
City have refused to sell to us so I'm pretty sure we won't see Bellamy and he'll probably go to Fulham. No great loss in my opinion.
Some of you with your 20+ goals-a-season striker demands are just totally unrealistic. For starters do you actually mean 20+ goals in the league or in total? because only 5 players (Tevez, Rooney, Drogba, Lampard & Bent) got over 20 last season in the league and one of them we let go! If you mean in total then Defoe got 21 in all competitions but some of you are slagging him off here? Unbelievable. Anyway...
I think Harry will go for either Remy, or in my preference, Gervinho, but NONE of our targets will be 20 goal a season scorers. Defoe and possibly Pav (if given a proper run out) are our best options there but even that's unlikely. 20 goal a season strikers aren't exactly easy to find, or everyone would have one!
As for yesterday we were immense (especially in the first half) and the clinical finishing of our strikers was not really the problem. On any other day Defoe and BAE would have scored (and probably more), Hart had a blinder and that's it.
Where are all the gooners? Was hoping they'd show up to talk about how great they are ... oh right.