Every so often I like to compile my thoughts and put them down on paper. As a part-time sports writer and full-time Spurs fan, those thoughts are often dominated by what’s happening at Tottenham.
Whether it’s transfer speculation or ridiculous stories described as “sensational” by the press, I generally have an opinion on what’s going on, as I’m sure we all do.
It’s been a fairly typical week in the World of Hotspur and, of course, there are a few news stories that have touched us.
Whether it’s dubious refereeing decisions (or stories), transfer speculation, the possible line-up for our game against APOEL, injuries, suspensions or youngsters breaking through, there’s certainly been enough for us to chew on.
Go to the next page to see what’s been on my mind this week, let me know what you think at the end by voting in the poll.
Mark Clattenburg
While a lot of Spurs fans I know have thrown their hands up in the air with a “How dare he?” expression on their faces. The truth is, this little man had no impact on which way the title went.
It wasn’t the game against Chelsea that lost us the title in 2015/16, it was games against Everton, West Brom, Stoke and Swansea where we didn’t turn one point into three, or games like those against Newcastle United where we lose, twice, against a side that went down that season
Let’s not forget, this guy has tattoo’s of the Champions League and European Championship trophies, as though he won them himself. It’s hardly a surprise he’s trying to insinuate himself into the Leicester story as though he was a big part of it.
All he’s really done is make himself look like a complete idiot in front of his peers for saying he didn’t referee a game in accordance with the rules.
Watford's Physical Nature
When you live by the sword, you die by the sword.
Spurs are not shrinking violets when it comes to being physical, we’re no longer the side with the soft centre. Our team can often dish it out as hard as they get it.
Against Watford though, they were bigger and stronger than us. We allowed them to get into our heads and mess up our game plan. It worked as well as we only picked up a point.
When we went down to ten men, probably rightly so, we rallied and worked harder. It was great to see Dele Alli do so much running for his team. It was great to see him upset at being withdrawn s he wanted to win us the game.
We need to learn from what happened in this game and ensure it doesn’t happen again. When you get kicked, brush yourself off and get back on with the game as though their approach hasn’t bothered you.
Toby Alderweireld
We miss Toby. His presence at the back has been important since he joined and we’ve had a wobble each time he’s been out.
It’s good to know they’re handling him carefully, I noticed a certain tabloid published an article this week stating he would be out for 14 weeks. That’s not what he said at all. He said, if he didn’t look after this injury carefully and tried to come back too soon, then he could damage his hamstring further and be out for up to 14 weeks.
With Sanchez suspended for a game and Toby probably not back before Christmas, we’re going to get a good look at Juan Foyth and see what he brings to the table, maybe starting on Wednesday night against APOEL.
Get this man a new contract, we need him.
Transfer Talk
The press continue to link us to a multitude of names. Over the last week it’s been Yusuf Yazici, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Luke Shaw, Ryan Sessegnon, Jose Giminez and plenty of others.
Get used to it everyone, our stock as a club is rising and we’ll be linked to players all over the shop.
At the same time, our players will be talked about as moving on to “bigger and better” things.
The press need to get their story sorted out, are we a club players want to join because our manager has a fine repuation for developing players and we’ll be in the discussion for most domestic honours?
Or are we the other club they keep talking about that can’t keep hold of their players because everyone with any kind of high profile can double or triple their wages elsewhere?
2 + 2 does seem to equal 5 for some of the tabloids.