Can we have a happy new year?

therecklessone

The transfer window is open, lets hope Harry and Levy are singing from the same hymn sheet for the next month, yeah? The problem we will face is that other sides look far more attractive at this present time: Villa look a good bet to break the top 4 and offer CL football, plus the message sent by keeping Barry when the Mickeys came sniffing signals a real intent for the club to push on, team sheet>balance sheet shows real ambition on the field as opposed to off it. Everton will be in the hunt for a striker with Yakubu out for the season and Saha almost Anderton-like in his fitness, and they are pushing for European football as well. Citeh can offer stupid money, I just hope the Arabs cast their eyes towards the continent rather than around the PL, which might give us all some breathing space.

We are in real danger of relegation, make no bones about it. I thought with the Xmas season approaching we could get maximum points from Fulham and WBA, to be honest 1pt from 6 was unacceptable. Indeed, including Newcastle we should have picked up 7pts in total, instead we settled for 1. To put that in some context, if we had done as I expected we'd be in 9th place, only 1 point behind Hull!!!

IMO, we will need 44+ points to stay up this season, as I believe Blackburn will start to pick up points now that Allardyce is there, which leaves Stoke and WBA floundering and the rest of the bottom half of the table trying to avoid that last relegation spot. That means we need 24 points from our last 18 games, that's 8 wins from the following:



Fixtures

Wigan (A) 1
Portsmouth (H) 3
Stoke (H) 3
Bolton (A) 0
Arsenal (H) 1
Hull (A) 1
Sunderland (A) 1
Middlesbrough (H) 3
Aston Villa (A) 0
Chelsea (H) 0
Blackburn (A) 1
West Ham (H) 3
Newcastle (H) 1
Man Utd (A) 0
West Brom (H) 3
Everton (A) 0
Man City (H) 3
Liverpool (A) 0

That's bang on 24 points :eek:

A lot will depend on how Redknapp manages to perform in the transfer market, but also how other teams do as well. I can see the Goons rolling over us if they recruit in the window, and Citeh might do better in May at the Lane with a new manager...;)

Our season hinges on this coming month, both on and off the field. We absolutely cannot afford to lose to Burnley in the Carling Cup semis, we need European football next year or we will see a lot of agent activity in the months preceeding the summer. And we need 'Arry to get it right with the players who come in, not just players to help us out of our rut but players who can help us develop next season as well.

There's always hope, wouldn't be fun being a Spurs fan if there wasn't.

Happy new year to you all, see all some of you in Wembley on 1st March.

copacetic

hmmm, did you mean this to be in the spurs supporters forum?


either way, sure best of luck..

Xavi6

Personally I think 'arry is a disgrace for talking about other team's players and trying to unsettle them. As long as he's at the helm at Spurs I wish nothing but bad luck on them.

Apologies.

mike65

thewreckedone methinks!

Bobalicious93

Nothing against Spurs in particular, but I hope they get relegated.

The less London teams we have in the PL the better...

therecklessone

copacetic wrote: »

hmmm, did you mean this to be in the spurs supporters forum?

either way, sure best of luck..

I did, apologies. Xavi, can you move it?

And on the 'Arry question, I'm not proud to see our manager talking about other team's players but:

I did say during the ManU/Pool tapping up palarver that Redknapp at Pompey talking about Kaboul as a transfer target was ok with me, as long as the two clubs were in contact and the player aware of the move. I don't have a problem with any manager talking about a transfer target as long as it's not a method to undermine a club's efforts to keep a player at their club, and if discussions have taken place (and the player is aware) then what's the harm?

The only interview I've seen of Redknapp mentioning names is on the Beeb site, where he rubbished certain rumours but confirmed he is interested in Bellamy and Defoe. According to Redknapp West Ham were the first to publically mention Spurs and Bellamy, so he feels he is not in the wrong talking about him. I'm not sure about Defoe tbh, he does acknowledge him as a target but I'm not aware of Pompey making it known he was for sale other than Tony Adams' comments about "Defoe will do what is good for Defoe" or words to that effect. There's also talk of Downing yet again, but the interview I saw made no mention of him.

I do hope Redknapp would shut the fcuk up talking about targets though, subject of course to the first paragraph above. It is embarrassing.

As long as he's at the helm at Spurs I wish nothing but bad luck on them.

Apologies.

Apology accepted. I wish a pox on Citeh most days. Apologies...;)

therecklessone

mike65 wrote: »

thewreckedone methinks!

Was in bed at 10pm last night Mike, have spent the last 6 weeks running to/fro Beaumount where my mum was recovering from surgery and trying to get Christmas organised. Took it's toll.

Thanks fcuk she's on the mend.

mike65

Deffo wrecked then (well exhausted, I know what that /\ sort of thing is like).

Anyway back on topic, the talk about Keane going back is more persistant than I was expecting, dunno what to think myself. Would you take him back? Would he go back (Liverpool failure tag etc)?

therecklessone

mike65 wrote: »

Anyway back on topic, the talk about Keane going back is more persistant than I was expecting, dunno what to think myself. Would you take him back? Would he go back (Liverpool failure tag etc)?

Price would be key, I wouldn't like to see us pay any more than £10m for him.

Xavi6

therecklessone wrote: »

I did, apologies. Xavi, can you move it?

And on the 'Arry question, I'm not proud to see our manager talking about other team's players but:

I did say during the ManU/Pool tapping up palarver that Redknapp at Pompey talking about Kaboul as a transfer target was ok with me, as long as the two clubs were in contact and the player aware of the move. I don't have a problem with any manager talking about a transfer target as long as it's not a method to undermine a club's efforts to keep a player at their club, and if discussions have taken place (and the player is aware) then what's the harm?

The only interview I've seen of Redknapp mentioning names is on the Beeb site, where he rubbished certain rumours but confirmed he is interested in Bellamy and Defoe. According to Redknapp West Ham were the first to publically mention Spurs and Bellamy, so he feels he is not in the wrong talking about him. I'm not sure about Defoe tbh, he does acknowledge him as a target but I'm not aware of Pompey making it known he was for sale other than Tony Adams' comments about "Defoe will do what is good for Defoe" or words to that effect. There's also talk of Downing yet again, but the interview I saw made no mention of him.

I do hope Redknapp would shut the fcuk up talking about targets though, subject of course to the first paragraph above. It is embarrassing.



Apology accepted. I wish a pox on Citeh most days. Apologies...;)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7805852.stm

"I like Stewart Downing but I don't know whether Middlesbrough want to sell him."

That to me is unacceptable.

Anyway, I think this thread could have some decent mileage in here so I'd like to keep it here if that's ok with you.

MementoMori

On the speculation front I think with Bellamy there can't be much harm about him being talked about as a possible target given West Ham seem to have indicated that they are open to all offers? Even if Zola may not like this much.

Also on the points needed to avoid relegation I would expect it to be slightly lower this year given the fact that so many teams seem to be capable of taking (and are taking) points of each other. No-one seems to be cut adrift yet - even if things are looking glumish for West Brom so it looks like it will go down to the wire. Maybe relegation for all three teams decided on the last day?

Cant see Keane moving back in a million years.

therecklessone

Xavi6 wrote: »

Anyway, I think this thread could have some decent mileage in here so I'd like to keep it here if that's ok with you.

Hey, not my forum so you work away. Just puzzled by what sort of mileage you want to extract from it, if it's "lets all bash Spurs cos Redknapp can't keep his gob shut" then rather than drag the thread off-topic I'm sure the recent thread on 'Arry's comments about Defoe could suffice?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=58393985#post58393985

Meanwhile, where do I put this quote?

Ronaldo has said he wants to play for the biggest club in the world, so we will see in January if he is serious.

"Real Madrid were estimating his value at $160m (£90m) but for a player like that, to actually get him, will cost a lot more, I would think $240m (£135m).

"But why not? We are going to be the biggest club in the world, bigger than both Real Madrid and Manchester United.

“We’re not just going to spend money on anyone, but if we can get the biggest players in the world, and of course if the manager wants them, then we will get them.

Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, link

I'll cross-post the OP in the Spurs forum where it was intended.

mike65

News flash on guardian site - Defoe free to leave.

therecklessone

mike65 wrote: »

News flash on guardian site - Defoe free to leave.

To be honest Mike, the dogs on the street knew that both Pompey and West Ham would have to listen to offers for any of their players with the current economic uncertainty meaning their over-spend in previous years was always going to be a problem. IIRC, West Ham's wags bill was 100%+ of turnover and Pompey's was circa 85%. Perceived wisdom is that any club wishing to remain financially secure should be spending no more than 50% of turnover on wages, and ceratinly figures as high as the two clubs mentioned are unsustainable. I believe has provided some of the impetus to Charlie's good friend Mike Ashley in his efforts to cut Newcastle's wage bill.

Xavi6

therecklessone wrote: »

Hey, not my forum so you work away. Just puzzled by what sort of mileage you want to extract from it, if it's "lets all bash Spurs cos Redknapp can't keep his gob shut" then rather than drag the thread off-topic I'm sure the recent thread on 'Arry's comments about Defoe could suffice?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=58393985#post58393985

Meanwhile, where do I put this quote?



Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, link

I'll cross-post the OP in the Spurs forum where it was intended.

Well I had hoped that it wouldn't just be restricted to 'arry bashing as there's more out there guilty of it, us included.

I just thought it might be nice to discuss the dirty side of the transfer window with clubs (not just Spurs) shit stirring. It's something I keep an eye on myself and I'm sure others do.

If it turns into a witch hunt on one particular club/manager then the usual rules will apply.

SuprSi

Well I'm definitely worried. I too had hoped for 6 points over the Christmas period so to come away with just 1 is very poor. I'm not sure how much of a difference Defoe will make but if he's any sort of improvement and starts banging in some goals then I'll be happy.

What worries me is how tempremental the team is. For a few weeks, we were class, good in defence, good in attack, playing attractive and exciting football, but that's all gone now and we can't buy a goal. Our strikers score and our defence is crap, Gomes comes good and we can't score a goal.

Like Harry I'd like a left winger and a striker, but a solid centre mid would be my first choice as we just don't have it and our midfield is rolled over every week. I guess we'll see how this month pans out though.

therecklessone

SuprSi wrote: »

What worries me is how tempremental the team is. For a few weeks, we were class, good in defence, good in attack, playing attractive and exciting football, but that's all gone now and we can't buy a goal. Our strikers score and our defence is crap, Gomes comes good and we can't score a goal.

In fairness, I don't think we were ever class even when we were winning. We got the rub of the green on a few occasions, OK we played well in patches but were often bossed by the opposition (how Liverpool weren't 5 up in the league I'll never know).

I fear that the back injury Woodgate picked up last month might be a recurring problem until seasons' end, and with the "King can play two games in a row" mantra thrown back by the wayside we will struggle to present a consistent back 4. What I think we are really missing is the ability to change the game from the bench, Campbell appears to have lost his spark (natural enough for a young player left sitting on the bench) but dos Santos would be a nice addition when he returns (if he's kept).