Lloris

positivenote

Hi all,
after todays selection I have to take my hat off to AVB for showing balls in selecting Ade, there was no way that defoe would have been able to retain possession and fight in the way that he did... just a pity defoe didnt replace dempsey. Anyway back to the subject, I honestly think that we need to play Lloris for consecutive games over a period of time, Brad is a decent keeper and its really only his lack of dominance off hi line thats a fault, but I still feel that Lloris is our long term number one and should be selected from now on, this will build up his game time and confidence and eliminate all the BS that currently surrounds him being on the bench.

franktheplank

Agreed, I felt for Brad when he was dropped and the incredible sequence was ended. Now that that's no longer an issue i think Lloris should be starting but not because of media pressure. He's clearly capable and the long term future. I think Brad is the kind of guy who would understand the reasoning and take the bench for the good of the club.

Leinstersqspur

Agreed, stick Lloris in already, he's the future..

Brad is on great form but Lloris is an all round better (world class) goalkeeper.

oregano

franktheplank wrote: »

Agreed, I felt for Brad when he was dropped and the incredible sequence was ended. Now that that's no longer an issue i think Lloris should be starting but not because of media pressure. He's clearly capable and the long term future. I think Brad is the kind of guy who would understand the reasoning and take the bench for the good of the club.

Really? A professional footballer nearing the end of his career willing to "take the bench for the good of the club"...

franktheplank

oregano wrote: »

Really? A professional footballer nearing the end of his career willing to "take the bench for the good of the club"...

Not all would of course but Brad has the reputation as the consummate professional and has also expressed that sentiment in interviews. I recall him being asked about the consecutive appearances record and he was very matter of fact about his approach which is to work hard and focus on his role, and let the manager focus on picking the team. He's also said things like

"When I signed for Tottenham, I signed as a stop-gap while Tottenham looked for a long term goalkeeper. Tottenham deserve a long-term goalkeeper"

"We are very comfortable with our goalkeepers. We can take into account that there's a future we have to prepare"

I think most reasonable people would also recognize that the goalkeepers role is pretty unique. There's no way to accommodate two in the side. Look at Steve Harper at Newcastle, he's recognized as being a wonderful asset to the club by providing such a high level of backup for years, even though he has started relatively few games. Any outfield player would be seen as having failed to make the grade.

I don't think it's any reflection on Brad's abilities if at 41 he's replaced as first choice by a much younger guy whose considered one of the best in the world and it only adds to his reputation as a top notch guy if he accepts the role of reserve keeper with the good grace he's displayed so far when Lloris has got the nod.

Ormus

Deschamps is at it again:

http://www.football365.com/news/21554/8244953/Oh-Look-Deschamps-Talking-About-Lloris-Again

I wish AVB would come out and publicly ask Deschamps to stop unsettling his goalkeeper and let him have some time and space to settle into his new club. If Lloris just keeps patient and works on his game, it's only a matter of time before he is number one. All going well he could be at Spurs for the next 10 years so it is idiotic for Deschamps to keep moaning about the situation after just 2 months. Fool.

mickman

Ormus wrote: »

Deschamps is at it again:

http://www.football365.com/news/21554/8244953/Oh-Look-Deschamps-Talking-About-Lloris-Again

I wish AVB would come out and publicly ask Deschamps to stop unsettling his goalkeeper and let him have some time and space to settle into his new club. If Lloris just keeps patient and works on his game, it's only a matter of time before he is number one. All going well he could be at Spurs for the next 10 years so it is idiotic for Deschamps to keep moaning about the situation after just 2 months. Fool.

its beginning to get very annoying

yiddo59

Ormus wrote: »

Deschamps is at it again:

http://www.football365.com/news/21554/8244953/Oh-Look-Deschamps-Talking-About-Lloris-Again

I wish AVB would come out and publicly ask Deschamps to stop unsettling his goalkeeper and let him have some time and space to settle into his new club. If Lloris just keeps patient and works on his game, it's only a matter of time before he is number one. All going well he could be at Spurs for the next 10 years so it is idiotic for Deschamps to keep moaning about the situation after just 2 months. Fool.

I just wish AVB would come out and pick Loris every game.

oregano

franktheplank wrote: »

Not all would of course but Brad has the reputation as the consummate professional and has also expressed that sentiment in interviews. I recall him being asked about the consecutive appearances record and he was very matter of fact about his approach which is to work hard and focus on his role, and let the manager focus on picking the team. He's also said things like

"When I signed for Tottenham, I signed as a stop-gap while Tottenham looked for a long term goalkeeper. Tottenham deserve a long-term goalkeeper"

"We are very comfortable with our goalkeepers. We can take into account that there's a future we have to prepare"

I think most reasonable people would also recognize that the goalkeepers role is pretty unique. There's no way to accommodate two in the side. Look at Steve Harper at Newcastle, he's recognized as being a wonderful asset to the club by providing such a high level of backup for years, even though he has started relatively few games. Any outfield player would be seen as having failed to make the grade.

I don't think it's any reflection on Brad's abilities if at 41 he's replaced as first choice by a much younger guy whose considered one of the best in the world and it only adds to his reputation as a top notch guy if he accepts the role of reserve keeper with the good grace he's displayed so far when Lloris has got the nod.

While that's a valid response and kudos to harper, surely mrs brad wants her husband to get a play bonus! But at the end of it all its not down to brad who plays in goal, so he's hardly going to bow out for the good of the club, particularly when the first team coach sees him in nets on merit.

I think we can all say at this stage of the season goalkeeper is not our problem, the stamina and nous of the outfield players at the tail end of our matches is the biggest issue.

Ormus

yiddo59 wrote: »

I just wish AVB would come out and pick Loris every game.

I think AVB has played it perfectly to be honest. He has been patient, recognised Brad's good form, let Lloris settle, given him a few games, let him realise that you don't get picked just cos you're a big name and a big signing.

The papers have been talking about the rotation unsettling them, but really it's the papers and Deschamps that have unsettled them. If they both ignore the noise they'll be fine.

The time will come to play Lloris in every game. Maybe it's now, maybe it's next month. I think it's great to make a keeper compete for his place.

yiddo59

Hugo Lloris beginning to reap reward for remaining patient



The obvious question to ask Hugo Lloris is whether he feared he had done the wrong thing. There is contentment now, but for a time there was concern as, having taken a leap of faith in moving to a strange country, he was living in a hotel, away from his family, while facing up to an unexpected challenge to establish himself as the No 1 goalkeeper at Tottenham Hotspur.
Having completed his £12 million move from Lyons in the final hours before the August 31 transfer deadline and then departed to join up with the France national team, Lloris had been a Tottenham player for 12 days before he even trained with this new team-mates, including Brad Friedel, who was not going to give up his place easily. By the end of October he had played only six times — just once in the Barclays Premier League — and been on the winning side once. In his second Premier League match, in the North London derby against Arsenal on November 17, he let in five goals.
It did not help that Didier Deschamps, the France coach, suggested that Lloris, his captain, had made a bad career move and that the situation seemed “incomprehensible”. Looking back, it probably felt that way for Lloris at the time, particularly when people such as Deschamps were telling him so, but he can reflect on it more lucidly now, aware that his gradual integration into the team by André Villas-Boas might ultimately have helped him, both on and off the pitch, even if it did not feel that way at that time.
“You need mental strength when you are involved in high-level sport,” Lloris says on a sofa at Tottenham’s plush new training ground. “These are situations you have to cope with. You have to keep positive. It’s true that I didn’t play in the Premier League, but I was playing in the Europa League so I had to focus on that and on doing my job.
“I was in a hotel for a month, but then I was able to find a house and bring my family over. So when we talk about adapting to a new country, having your family around you is part of this because it gives you balance in your life.
“It isn’t great spending a month in a hotel but you put up with it. Then the people who work at the club helped me find a house and I’m very grateful to them for that.
“I had to be patient, but I wanted to play and to claim the goalkeeping position as mine.
“But the manager makes his own decisions, even though it wasn’t really what I expected. But it is part of an experience. The important thing was to come out the other side feeling stronger.”
What did Lloris say in his discussions with Villas-Boas at the time? “If anyone is going to speak about that, it should be the manager,” he replied. “I did speak to him, but what was said between us remains between the two of us unless he wants to speak about it. I’m a player and I know my place. The most important thing is that the situation has changed.”
It makes you wonder, though. For a goalkeeper, more than any other player, a sense of security is vital. Lloris is known for a level-headed approach, but he seemed a little less assured in some of those early matches; the 5-2 defeat by Arsenal was not his fault, but errors in earlier outings against Norwich City, in the Capital One Cup, and Maribor, in the Europa League, seemed to suggest that he was either short of confidence or perhaps a little too anxious to stake his claim.
“When you are on the pitch, you give everything you have to give and try to make as few mistakes as possible,” Lloris said. “But when the situation is not very clear, doubts may well begin to creep in. That is something you have to avoid. You have to focus on your own game. The best way to help the team is to concentrate on your own work.”
The conversation moves to David De Gea — naturally, given that Manchester United tracked Lloris for two years before switching their attention to the Spaniard, at 22 three years his junior, who has not yet had the chance to develop continuity or consistency at Old Trafford.
“It’s difficult for me to judge,” Lloris says. “I am here at Tottenham and he is in Manchester. Each time has its own issues, so we have to concentrate on ourselves. But it hasn’t stopped them [United] being top of the league with a few more points than the rest. He is a great keeper. He is very young and has a lot to learn and prove, but he certainly has everything he needs to be a success.”
If we are talking about goalkeeping virtues, Lloris is all about speed — of reflexes, of anticipation and of movement around the penalty area — making him an appropriate choice, perhaps, to promote the Need For Speed: Most Wanted video game.
“Being a keeper isn’t just about being a player,” he says. “It’s about a mindset, being rigorous in your work, brave. I don’t like to wait for the game to come to me, to have it imposed on me. I like to attack the ball, to play quite high up the pitch and to close the attacking players down where possible.”
Attacking the ball will involve different challenges tomorrow, when Lloris and Tottenham come up against the powerful penalty-box presence of Stoke City, but he seems undaunted by the prospect.
“Football is universal,” he says. “There are certain characteristics, such as crosses, high balls, duels on the pitch and fighting spirit [he uses the English term] which are part of English football. Here it is faster, with higher intensity.”
Lloris was speaking before yesterday’s Europa League draw, which set up a reunion with Lyons, his former club. He talks fondly of his time there. “I needed to move on to the next stage in my career,” he says. “Coming to Tottenham was a great opportunity for me. During my time at Lyons I developed as a man and a sportsman into what I am today.”
As a sportsman, Lloris is close to the top of his profession. As a man, he is intelligent, articulate, well-mannered. His has not been the typical footballer upbringing. His father, Luc, is a banker in Monte Carlo and his mother, Marie, was a lawyer who died from cancer four years ago. “When you have experienced this sort of difficult situation,” he says, “it is easier to take a step back and put things in the right context, such as what happened when I first arrived here.
“There are more important things in life, such as one’s family. It is all part of life.
“Every player has his own story. Things are going well for me. I have my wife and my daughter, who is 2½. My family here is now. I am happy — both professionally and personally.”

Hatch99

Seems like a level headed intelligent bloke, and more importantly a very good keeper.