Welshspur60
John Gorman
It is like playing with 9. Both need to go.
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***Spurs vs Saudi Sportswashing Machine***, League Cup, 29th October 2025 at St James Park
- Thread starter glorygloryeze
- Start date
braineclipse
Garth Crooks
I'm saying the ref saw it as a yellow card tackle. Everything after that is "standard" and imo stupid. The player making the tackle gets rewarded for everything that happens after that.
thfcsteff
Teddy Sheringham
Would you have started VdV tonight? Kudus? Vicario? All in need of rest?
I think that if we want to push on and get back to thew Champions League Final we did reach in 2019 when (frankly) no-one ever thought we would that year let alone ever, then we have to get back into it. Yes. So a 5th place (or better, 4th place) finish is important. So as we can hopefully actually have a board who makes the correct signings once back at that level.
If we beat Chelski and Copenhagen in the coming week, that's what matters.
This comes from someone who believes last season's Europa League triumph is actually one of the most extraordinary things to have happened in professional football for well over two decades. It was the ultimate 'double or nothing' high-stakes gambling for high rewards. And given the fudgery which took place around it, twas all the better. However yes, count me in the group that thinks the Carabao Cup is a tinpot rubbish tournament which our injury-soaked squad did not need.
thfcsteff
Teddy Sheringham
Appalling. We are very, very lucky he is as robust as he is.
braineclipse
Garth Crooks
Agreed.
Winning the LC would have been great.
Though no doubt the Chelsea and Copenhagen games are also really important.
If we don't rotate sufficiently we're sitting around waiting for a full blown injury crisis which would making competing in all competitions close to impossible.
To me, the gamble that a somewhat weakened team can get you through the early stages, then start prioritising it seems like a solid plan that quite frequently won't work out. But the alternative would probably be worse most of the time.
tommysvr
Paul Stalteri
No, I don't have any complaint with the team selection -- just surprised by the reaction that very few people seem bothered to go out of the cup.
I would place more importance on this match than Copenhagen for sure. I've no problem with the eventual goal being success in the CL but you'd be crazy to believe it's any more than a remote possibility this season.
thfcsteff
Teddy Sheringham
I think for where we are as a club, and where the game is these days, it is important we try to at the very least make the knock-outs of the CL this season.
What I did appreciate was that Frank and the team took the game seriously and were, IMO, unlucky.
Robspur12
Pedro Mendes
As was winning the League Cup. But at least progressing in the CL and PL gives us the financial benefits of continuing to build our squad. So we are right to prioritise those tournaments.
tommysvr
Paul Stalteri
Winning the League Cup is a remote possibility?? It's 4 games!
Bishop
Chris Perry
All true but then I don't know what people expect when they say Premier League proven. We are never going to buy the very best players that Arsenal, Emirates Marketing Project, Chelsea, Man Utd and Liverpool etc already have. Nor are we even going to prise the best players away from the likes of Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Villa or even Nottingham Forest it appears. So when people ask for PL proven what are they expecting exactly? PL proven for us means exactly the standard of player we've been buying from the PL in recent years.
Robspur12
Pedro Mendes
Against PL opposition. Have you seen the teams left?
tommysvr
Paul Stalteri
Again, I'm not criticising Frank! Just surprised that the general reaction is "oh well"
thfcsteff
Teddy Sheringham
I did not think you were criticising him. I just made the point as a general observation on the game in a ganme thread...
...in fairness, my reaction at the end (other than being annoyed at such a brick ref) was 'thank fudge we have no more injuries and thank fudge Kudus is built like a tank, because that was a disgraceful challenge by Joelinton)...
Daisuk
Chris Jones
Looks like an MMA move. A violent attempt at a BJJ guard ffs. If you're not sent off for that, then. If Kudus got a yellow for that sequence of events, how did Joelinton not get a red? Makes no sense. This lunatic keeps getting away with brick like this again and again.
Daisuk
Chris Jones
Bit of a defense mechanism when you're disappointed, isn't it? I know it is for me.
tommysvr
Paul Stalteri
Ok Robin, the League Cup and Champions League are the same level of difficulty.
Robspur12
Pedro Mendes
Huh where have I said that? Or rather I thought I said winning both are a remote possibility given the quality of teams in the LC. That's a harsh reality of where we are currently in this manager 's cycle and given our injuries. So yes I prioritise money at this stage to buy better players.
tommysvr
Paul Stalteri
So the same?
Muttley
Ruel Fox
I've said this over and over but all football stakeholders (players, managers, fans, pundits etc) should never stop talking about the state of refereeing until we see change. We see so many RIP Football moments because of them. Football history rewrites itself all the time because of them.
Kavanagh was an absolute disgrace. If you measured his performance against the pure laws of the game, he wouldn't have broken 60% last night. They need to be above 90% before we'll see the game back. 10% to allow for some subjectivity, and technology supporting them achieves this easy.
I would take Howard Webb and give him his P45. He's made it a lot worse since taking over.
Muttley
Ruel Fox
I hear everyone, but would also ask what would have been our line-up with a fully fit squad? Would it have deviated much from what we saw last night?
For me, Dragusin plays with the other 4 of the back 5. I have a feeling Gray may have started over Bentancur and there is a case for Muani in the left forward or number 9 positions. Richi may have played as well though even in that scenario.
Clearly the bench may have been stronger to impact the game. What I'm basically saying is that there are clearly other natural root causes other than just squad availability for what we saw last night. Root causes that come with a change in the guard and the start of a new manager's journey.
The good news is that you could see the work-in-progress pieces quite prominently. We clearly had big phases of that game where we were in the ascendency. We had a few breathtaking moves that could have resulted in goals. It wasn't all bad.
I'm not as arrogant to think that this current Spurs going away to the league cup winners and 5th place league CL qualifiers made us anything other than underdogs last night. The biggest consequence might be for some of the peripheral players not getting game time in future rounds but even that might not be an issue if we are never going to exit this injury cycle we seem to be in.
For me, Dragusin plays with the other 4 of the back 5. I have a feeling Gray may have started over Bentancur and there is a case for Muani in the left forward or number 9 positions. Richi may have played as well though even in that scenario.
Clearly the bench may have been stronger to impact the game. What I'm basically saying is that there are clearly other natural root causes other than just squad availability for what we saw last night. Root causes that come with a change in the guard and the start of a new manager's journey.
The good news is that you could see the work-in-progress pieces quite prominently. We clearly had big phases of that game where we were in the ascendency. We had a few breathtaking moves that could have resulted in goals. It wasn't all bad.
I'm not as arrogant to think that this current Spurs going away to the league cup winners and 5th place league CL qualifiers made us anything other than underdogs last night. The biggest consequence might be for some of the peripheral players not getting game time in future rounds but even that might not be an issue if we are never going to exit this injury cycle we seem to be in.