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The players are not coached well enough at all in defence and set-pieces, its a huge problem and may well be the death blow. But the common sense of the players too is horrible. Azpi knows he is marking a 7.2 foot giant, why not ask the others to help? Wtf was our tallest player doing in goal? No logic at all.

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The players are not coached well enough at all in defence and set-pieces, its a huge problem and may well be the death blow. But the common sense of the players too is horrible. Azpi knows he is marking a 7.2 foot giant, why not ask the others to help? Wtf was our tallest player doing in goal? No logic at all.
If Conte can't make our team defend well, no coach can. We just have terrible defenders and now with Lampard a coach, who is more of an expert going forward.

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3 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

If Conte can't make our team defend well, no coach can. We just have terrible defenders and now with Lampard a coach, who is more of an expert going forward.

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Its a crap defence done worse by not improving the massive issues there, we really need an astute defence coach here. On top of some bloody good defenders.

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12 minutes ago, Atomiswave said:

Its a crap defence done worse by not improving the massive issues there, we really need an astute defence coach here. On top of some bloody good defenders.

Astute defence coach will do no shit if we keep parading clowns like Rudiger Christensen as defenders....

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16 minutes ago, Alabama said:

Astute defence coach will do no shit if we keep parading clowns like Rudiger Christensen as defenders....

They can def do better than this im sure of it, but that doesnt make them WC no. We will not mount a challange unless we rid ourselves of these amateurish mistakes.

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Its a crap defence done worse by not improving the massive issues there, we really need an astute defence coach here. On top of some bloody good defenders.
If we had Conte as a coach again, I do not think that he can make this team defend well, especially not with 4 at the back. Conte came here, tried 4 defenders at the back and got slaughtered by Arsenal. Conte got sick of it and he tried a 3 men defense,which won us the title. But our defense was that bad that he changed the whole system. Our defense got worse over time. Azpi is not in his prime anymore. Rüdiger and AC are not good enough. Nobody can coach them to be better.

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40 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

If we had Conte as a coach again, I do not think that he can make this team defend well, especially not with 4 at the back. Conte came here, tried 4 defenders at the back and got slaughtered by Arsenal. Conte got sick of it and he tried a 3 men defense,which won us the title. But our defense was that bad that he changed the whole system. Our defense got worse over time. Azpi is not in his prime anymore. Rüdiger and AC are not good enough. Nobody can coach them to be better.

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I def disagree there mate, you have worse defenders in the league doing better, more aware of their surroundings. Conte would most certainly make us much harder to beat, Simeone the same. I agree we have a crappy defence but they can do better than this. What we have witnessed this season is nothing but shambolic in that area. Ask yourself is our defence worse than Arsenal's? Not for me.

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11 minutes ago, Atomiswave said:

I def disagree there mate, you have worse defenders in the league doing better, more aware of their surroundings. Conte would most certainly make us much harder to beat, Simeone the same. I agree we have a crappy defence but they can do better than this. What we have witnessed this season is nothing but shambolic in that area. Ask yourself is our defence worse than Arsenal's? Not for me.

But on the flip side, Conte wouldn't have let us leave our box in the cup game vs Liverpool and would then blame the inevitable defeat on injures, whereas Lamps by comparison adjusted and beat them comfortably.

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Just now, Tomo said:

But on the flip side, Conte wouldn't have let us leave our box in the cup game vs Liverpool and blamed the inevitable defeat on injures, whereas Lamps by comparison adjusted and beat them comfortably.

They all have different styles, but I dare say if Conte has a proper team he can take the game to anyone. As we saw in 16-17. I do like the style of FL make no mistake, I love that he wants fast pacy footy, passion for the badge etc, he just gotta stop changing the lineups every damn game and fix that defence, if we do that we are rolling for sure.

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9 minutes ago, DDA said:

All of a sudden I cannot stand Solskjaers face. 

Soo smug.

How can we let that tinpot manager catch ans overtake us for CL football is beyond my understanding.

 

yep, the Manure cunts in all the chatrooms are now all back to calling every other club (including us) little tiny teams who will soon be steamrolled for a decade plus by the manure machine

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1 minute ago, Vesper said:

yep, the Manure cunts in all the chatrooms are now all back to calling every other club (including us) little tiny teams who will soon be steamrolled for a decade plus by the manure machine

Oh God, I've been reading those comments. They make my blood boil. Reminded me of how fucking annoying Man U fans are when they are winning. 

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Mourinho’s not leaving, so what should Tottenham do now?

https://theathletic.com/1907155/2020/07/03/tottenham-spurs-jose-mourinho-kane-son-ndombele-dier/

spurs-jose-mourinho-tottenham.jpg

After a season spent clinging on to the idea that somehow despite everything, Champions League qualification might somehow be possible, Thursday night felt like the moment the dream died once and for all. Come the end of the season Spurs will surely have failed to reach Europe’s top competition for the first time since finishing fifth in 2014-15. They are seven points off the top five and even the Europa League looks a stretch at the moment for Jose Mourinho’s ninth-placed side.

What then needs to change? How can Tottenham rebuild a dysfunctional side that 13 months ago was contesting the Champions League final?

The first thing to say is that Mourinho is not going anywhere. He is on a lucrative, long-term deal and will be given time to turn this around. So it’s up to him to find solutions, and these are the key areas he must address.


Fix the defence

Tottenham have kept four clean sheets in 28 matches under Mourinho and conceded 38 goals. For a manager who built his reputation on defensive organisation, these are extremely troubling numbers. A month or so after he arrived, some of the squad were surprised by Mourinho’s emphasis on general shape work rather than more specific defensive drills, and whatever he has done on the training ground doesn’t seem to have paid off.

Against Sheffield United, Spurs defended dreadfully, especially for the second and third goals when they allowed their opponents far too much time in the box.

As far as the transfer market goes, Tottenham will listen to offers for Serge Aurier at the end of the season and hope to replace him with Norwich’s Max Aarons, though Mourinho is understood to have reservations that he is too small. But even if a deal for Aarons is possible, he will not be a panacea for a defence that has been shaky for coming up to two years now.

Spurs also need to make a decision on the future of now first-choice centre-back Eric Dier whose contract expires next summer and who wants to stay at the club but only if he is offered a suitable contract.

And what of Toby Alderweireld? From signing a new and unusually long contract for a 30-year-old at Tottenham in December, he hasn’t played a minute since the restart.

In reality, Spurs’ struggles at the back go beyond just the defence, with the team requiring far better overall structure.

Protect the back four

A major reason for the team’s increased vulnerability from the start of last season onwards was the decline and subsequent departure of Mousa Dembele. It is not a coincidence that since he left in mid-January 2019, Spurs have kept one away clean sheet in the Premier League.

Spurs don’t control games in the same way anymore and have been trying to find a central midfield that works ever since. Giovani Lo Celso has been excellent this season, but he would be even better with a partner who allows him to play further forward and worry less about the defensive side of the game. Against Sheffield United, Lo Celso was frequently stationed behind Sissoko, who lacks the Argentine’s composure in the final third.

Tottenham will look to address their lack of defensive midfielder by attempting to sign Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Southampton in the summer. Hojbjerg is a genuine ball-winner — no outfielder in the Premier League tops his 10.6 recoveries per game this season — and so he would give Tottenham something they have been lacking. The Athletic understands no agreement has been reached but there is confidence a deal will be struck.

That though was based on Spurs qualifying for Europe and, even if a deal for Hojbjerg remains possible, failing to do so would change the overall calibre of players they are able to bring in.

Manage a tight budget and motivate the players

Speaking of bringing players in, Mourinho and Spurs will not be able to spend their way out of this slump. The coronavirus crisis, money being paid back to broadcasters and the absence of matchday crowds has already left Tottenham estimating losses of more than £200 million of revenue in the period from the start of lockdown to June 2021. Missing out on the Champions League will be another major financial blow and one that will leave them weakened in the transfer market and at risk of falling further behind their rivals.

Levy has ruled out selling the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli in the summer to fund a squad overhaul, and so Mourinho will have to prove he is still able to maximise the talents of his existing players.

Finding a way to get the most out of record signing Tanguy Ndombele would be a major step in the right direction in this regard, but as The Athletic reported last week he will look to leave if he doesn’t start playing before the end of the campaign. Paris Saint-Germain, who he nearly joined last summer and who are interested in a permanent deal, is his most likely destination. Barcelona also retain an interest but could only afford a loan. Many of Ndombele’s team-mates believe him to be the most talented player in the squad and have noted an increased intensity in training in the past weeks. So all is not lost yet.

A reduced transfer budget might also require Mourinho to promote more of the club’s youngsters. Japhet Tanganga has become a first-team regular this season, and in Oliver Skipp, Troy Parrott and Dennis Cirkin, among others, Spurs do have young talent that could make an impact.

If in the worst-case scenario Spurs have nothing to play for in the last few games of the season, then they may even get their chance in the coming weeks.

Improve the mentality

After Thursday’s defeat at Sheffield United, Mourinho appeared to question the mentality of his players. “You have to be ready to cope with negative moments and go until the last minute,” he said. “In spite of my efforts in the dressing room, now I feel I know more about the profile of my players. I felt that in the second half we wouldn’t be strong enough to cope with a team that when they’re winning just defends and counter-attacks. So congratulations to them.”

Mourinho’s comments drew criticism but the mentality of the team has been an issue all season. The implosions against Bayern Munich and Brighton were painful to watch, and sources close to the dressing room comment on the lack of strong leaders.

It’s also true though that it’s the job of the manager to change the players’ psychology, and this emotional intelligence has traditionally been Mourinho’s great strength. This ties into the question about whether he can connect with the young players of today in the way he could with those of a decade or so ago.

It’s also the case that Spurs’ players displayed the mental fortitude to come back from 3-0 down in a Champions League semi-final 14 months ago so clearly they possess a strength of character when effectively motivated.

Develop a discernible style 

Privately Mourinho has preached evolution not revolution in his first season, and he is said to be conscious of the club’s attacking traditions. This would explain his often uncharacteristically offensive line-ups, including at Bramall Lane on Thursday.

But you would be hard-pressed to define what kind of a style Mourinho’s Spurs play with. Are they a pressing team? A counter-attacking team? One that likes to dominate possession?

Given he joined midway through the season and took over a side going through an identity crisis, he can be forgiven for it taking time for things to come together. And we should remember that even Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola took a while to hit their stride at Liverpool and Manchester City.

That’s why it’s unrealistic to expect these fixes to happen instantly. They won’t. But a day after Spurs’ Champions League hopes for next season surely died, everything must be aimed at getting back there.

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Jimenez is sending flirty messages, but would anyone pay £50m for the divorce?

https://theathletic.com/1906121/2020/07/03/raul-jimenez-wolves-transfer-real-madrid-50-million/

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Raul Jimenez doesn’t come across as your average superstar footballer.

For a guy with 3.3 million Twitter followers (more than Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane and Kevin De Bruyne have) and one of the most famous sportspeople in Mexico, his homeland where he is obsessed over and adored, Jimenez could be forgiven for being a little hubristic or self-important.

Those who know him speak instead of a humble and dedicated professional who is grateful for his financial comfort and hungry to improve his game.

He’s also said to be just about the most settled of all Wolves’ foreign players, enjoying the relative anonymity he receives in his corner of Wolverhampton where he lives with his partner Daniela Basso and their dogs. When he had a week off late last year he went to Salisbury Cathedral, not Dubai.

When lockdown began in March, he and Daniela chose to stay in Wolverhampton while team-mates such as Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves took their families back to Portugal.

His hugely impressive (and perhaps underrated) scoring record for Wolves now reads at 24 goals in 47 appearances this season — an improvement on the 17 in 44 he netted in 2018-19.

For all Adama Traore’s speed-of-light pace, Neves and Moutinho’s midfield artistry, Conor Coady’s militant organisation and Willy Boly’s exceptional defensive strength (they concede a goal-a-game more when Boly doesn’t play) it’s Jimenez who is Wolves’ most important player. Their link-man and their goalscorer, he performs the job of two players.

Given the tremendous success he’s enjoyed, links with some of Europe’s biggest clubs are inevitable — and Jimenez has been linked with just about all of them, chiefly Juventus and Manchester United.

He hasn’t exactly shut down those links when they’ve been put to him during some of the regular interviews he does back home. “I am no stranger to all that,” Jimenez told Telemundo last week. “Every day a new team comes out, every day a new offer comes out — I do not know how many millions.

“It is good to know that they are talking about you, but what I have to do to make that happen is to continue doing my job here with the Wolves.”

We’ll be kind and give Jimenez the benefit of the doubt. Let’s assume that when he says “to make that happen”, he means for the rumours to continue, rather than to make a transfer happen. Either way, he’s fanning the flames to put it kindly.

While it must be difficult coming up with something original and interesting to say when the same questions are repeated ad infinitum, this isn’t the first instance of Jimenez indulging links with other teams.

In June, speaking to Bolavip: “It’s something very cool. I don’t know if they are true, they are rumours. Since they are talking about me, different teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool… they are teams that in the history of football are important.

“It’s an incredible thing to be on the radar, and on the lips, of those teams. It’s something good to continue growing, making an effort and taking it as an incentive so that, if possible, give even more to achieve it.”

OK, but he was probably just bored in lockdown, right?

No, wait. There was this in May, to ESPN Deportes: “If you tell me that tomorrow an offer from Real Madrid or Barcelona comes, it is obvious that you do not let such an opportunity go.

“I have to be calm. If they are talking about me, it is because I am doing things well: I would like to continue in England, I am happy, adapted and I like the idea of staying.

“Leaving the doors open for anything is the most important thing. But if I stay here, I am fighting to qualify for the Champions League, for important things. I think I made the right decision to come here and I do not regret it. With Wolves, we are fighting for the Champions League. I am happy and I am an important player for the fans and the team. I am fine, I do not close any doors, I am open to whatever comes but it does not stop me sleeping.”

Jimenez is part of a very close-knit family and they too have had their say. His father (who is also his agent) told Medio Tiempo: “Raul has always said it’s something very cool (to hear of the interest).

“He’s very happy at his club, hopefully getting into positions for Champions League and Europa League. Always for him, all of that will be very gratifying, very cool to hear those comments.

“Right now is the time of rumours. He’s only commented on what he sees that they publish, but nothing at the moment. Later, if there is something different, we will see. But now, yes, they are mere speculation and rumours.”

And finally, from his cousin Luis Manuel Flores, who told The Athletic that a move to the Bernabeu would be Jimenez’s dream as he grew up supporting them: “He’s always been a Madridista. Raul’s dream is to play for Real Madrid and win with them.”

It’s an expanding tome of tittle-tattle, albeit there is nothing damning in what Jimenez is saying. There’s no smoking gun here. It’s more the notion that he is publicly dabbling with the thought of a move elsewhere.

He’s not having an affair, but he is sending flirty text messages.

Imagine Nuno Espirito Santo reading Jimenez’s phone and finding a text to Zinedine Zidane saying he’s the best manager in the world. He’d be hurt, sure, but it’s not a dumping offence, even if it does neither him nor Wolves many favours to be talking about it.

It should be pointed out Jimenez repeatedly states he’s happy at Wolves — and no one would dispute that. This is a guy who draws the club badge on his pregnant partner’s belly.

JIMENEZ-BABY.png

They are the club who resurrected his career from the relative wilderness of Benfica’s substitutes’ bench to become one of European football’s foremost strikers. Yes, he was playing in the Champions League in Lisbon and winning league titles, but he started just 20 league games in three seasons, coming off the bench 60 times. The perennial sub. Nuno saw his potential and Jimenez has realised it.

“He’s given me the confidence to be an important man at the front of the attack,” Jimenez said this week in yet another interview, during which he again stated how happy he is at Wolves. “That’s what I’d been looking for since coming to Europe — it’s very important to me to have confidence from him and all my team-mates.”

The question for Jimenez is: Can Wolves satisfy his ambitions? Does he want to risk heading back to the bench at an “elite” club, like Real Madrid, like Liverpool, like Juventus? Or would the prestige and money on offer be too hard to turn down?

His age is a factor. After turning 29 in May, he’s probably only got one big move left in him and from his perspective, it’s approaching the now-or-never territory. If that dream move to Real Madrid is ever going to happen, it won’t be when he’s 33.

On the flip side — and in Wolves’ favour (should they not be looking to cash in) — 29 will already be too old for some clubs who, when profiling potential striker targets with a budget of £50 million, won’t be looking in that age bracket. And for a player they paid £32 million to acquire last summer (Jimenez spent his first season at Molineux on loan from Benfica) with three years left on his contract, Wolves surely would demand at least £50 million.

Nuno is aware of Jimenez’s comments and is said to be unconcerned. If Jimenez wasn’t performing on the pitch or in training, that would be different, but the Mexican is almost robotic in his consistent performance levels day after day, week after week. He plays, he eats, he sleeps. That’s his life. He is described as an exemplary professional.

And although he is a deeply intelligent footballer, he has perhaps been a little naive with his Spanish interviews (note: he’s far more guarded when speaking to the English press) in agreeing to do so many. Wolves have been keen to limit Jimenez’s media commitments — it would be his full-time job were he to say yes to every single one, given his popularity back home — and will often turn down requests… only to later find Jimenez ended up doing them anyway. If he can be asked directly, it’s in Jimenez’s nature to say yes. When all’s said and done, he’s a nice bloke who doesn’t like letting people down.

It was described to The Athletic as though Jimenez feels he has a duty to speak to the Mexican press. He wants to be liked back home, where he is ridiculously famous and features in the papers daily. In Wolverhampton, that’s not the case and that is to Jimenez’s liking.

Can we shrug off the interviews as white noise? Or is there a deeper meaning to the flirtation? What can’t be disputed is that he’s happy at Wolves, settled in Wolverhampton and enjoying his football. Would he want to play for Real Madrid? Of course. Are Real Madrid going to offer at least £50 million to try to buy him? Therein lies the true question — and until that happens, Jimenez stays.

“My advice to any of those players is to stick around because good things are happening at Wolves,” former England international Joe Cole said on BT Sport last week. “Those Wolves players are all happy the way they’re playing. My advice is to stay at Wolves.”

If Jimenez wants to play for an exciting, ambitious Champions League club and be guaranteed first-team football and a hefty wage packet week after week… well, how about Wolves?

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19 minutes ago, chelsea_4_eva said:

So apparently both pogba and bruno fernandes are both injured, happened during training.

Man Utd pair Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes both injured after training ground clash

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/breaking-man-utd-pair-paul-22298617

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6 hours ago, DDA said:

All of a sudden I cannot stand Solskjaers face. 

Soo smug.

How can we let that tinpot manager catch ans overtake us for CL football is beyond my understanding.

 

I fucking despise these cunts, an utter embarrassment if we gift these fuckers a CL place ahead of us.

6 hours ago, Vesper said:

yep, the Manure cunts in all the chatrooms are now all back to calling every other club (including us) little tiny teams who will soon be steamrolled for a decade plus by the manure machine

Let them dream....its all they have left. Their bubble will burst sooner than later.

24 minutes ago, chelsea_4_eva said:

So apparently both pogba and bruno fernandes are both injured, happened during training.

Damn good news, trouble is now they will get even more help by the FA.

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