OhForAGreavsie

You have to respect a man who understands what's important to his club's fans. They want this match, he's going to try to give it to them. That's all good.

With what effect using our players? You are making the same mistake the criminals in the squad made when the betrayed Jose. You think they are better than they are too. Stupid is a good word but Guus should not be its object.

Let me rephrase it for you then; the best that could be done with what he had.

Those two at Chelsea, with this squad, would be picking the same players and you'd be calling them a waste. It is a truism that if you are good enough then you're old enough. The concept is not commutative however. Just because you are young enough does not make you good enough. Had the players not given up on Jose we'd have done better under him than we have under Guus. The players did give up however so Guus had to do a rescue mission. He has accomplished his task as well as anyone could have done.

Get padded up everyone, E19's gonna be coming in off his long run if we don't perform today!

I agree. I'd have broken up the Mikel/Matic pairing but Guss sees it differently. I can live with what the boss has done and with why he's done it. By the way, I'm not a fan of Baba's so I'm pleased he's out of the side. Kennedy I'd have been happy see get another run at LB.

No, he's picking the best side he can from the players available and deploying them in a way he thinks best. Our problem of course is that our best available team ain't all that great but what on Earth could Guus do about that today?

Like Jose he is a brilliant coach who finds the best solutions possible. Given that the squad is the same it's hardly surprising if those solutions are pretty much the same. P.S. I'm not a fan of Matic or Mikel so I'd probably not have picked that pairing. As confident as I am about my footballing opinions however, there are still moments when I remember that most of the world happens outside, not inside, my head. Just because I think something does not make it so. In the end someone has to choose the team, and Guss is that someone.

Says you.

He's picked what he considers to be his strongest line up for this game. No one can ask any more of him than that. If you or I would have picked a different side then so be it but Guss is the boss so he gets the call.

It is not a meaningless game. Some here may not care about our obligations but Guss should and he does. He is a high class man. In any case the voices now moaning at him for having some integrity, would be the first to cry foul if we needed another team to drop points and their opponents turned up with the beach sandals on and the umbrellas up. Guus is not only trying to do his best in this game, he is making sure he is seen to be trying to do his best. Well played Mr. Hiddink.

What has he done? The best he can with what he had. Once again, thank you GH.

Couldn't disagree with you more. Guus has done a great Job for us. Thank you once more Mr. H. Given the squad, he did what could be done. Other options are just figments of people's imaginations.

As you know, when Guus said fair he meant fair to Newcastle and Norwich. Quite right too Guus. Well played.

Why so eager to criticise without knowledge of the full facts? How do we know, for example, that the agent didn't phone them and ask to be told? Insisted in fact on being told then and there? He may or may not have done that, we don't know. Maybe I should be more accurate and say, I don't know but you take the point. In any case, the agent was not told that there would be no offer. He was told no offer yet. He and JT, mainly the agent I'm sure, then cooked up their media offensive to put pressure on the club. That was not necessary in my opinion. The board have worked with JT closely for years and have been very loyal to him. He and his agent should have found a better way. If I were a club official seeing John behave like that would have saddened and disappointed me.

Don't know, but if they are different then mine is obviously better. I'd talk about twenty-two world class players, made up of the theoretical starter and his backup for each position. If that 'squad' were to be selected, I wonder how many unanimous picks there would be? My guess is two; Suarez being the other one.

If Guus feels obligated to field a passably strong side then I can't say it would seem strange. We did our best for Leicester so we probably have to accept the responsibility to do our best for Newcastle and Norwich.

Higuain is a tremendous player. I'd take him even if it meant Costa left. Diego attracts too much hassle and his mere presence gets oppo fans right up for it against us.

Agreed but let's also pin some of the blame on agents who are only too ready to use Conte's new job to aid their negotiations.

Clearly written by a football fan who forms his opinions by watching the game rather than just clicking to the stats site. I regularly read about how brilliant Kevin was a Werder. Nonsense. I doubt any non Bremen fan saw as many of Kevin's games there as I did. His rave reviews were not merited in my opinion. There were some good games of course but there were more poor ones. I saw him only four times at Wolfsburg. His only good performance in those was against Bayern. In fact it was a brilliant performance because Bayern played right into his hands. They left huge spaces for him to run or pass into and Kevin duly tore them apart in a big VfL win. I often dismiss stats, and I've done so again in this post, but that attitude isn't entirely justified. Statistics do have something to tell us, so the shear weight of goals and assists Kevin contributes can't be ignored. He is clearly a valuable player but people have to keep perspective about what he is and what he isn't.

Unfortunately I think that you are right. Antonio has his work cut out for him.

Ah OK, sorry.

Spurs will be charged automatically. There is no decision for the FA to make. Five or more bookings and you're up before the beak.

It's depressing. Of course the usual tactic was just to ask you the time. I got asked the time by Chelsea fans, at a home game once. I was in the west stand because the non-Chelsea mate I was with that day didn't fancy The Shed. It was first game of the season vs Sunderland. Paul Cannoville scored the winner so the long arm, hairy knuckle, brigade were already wound up. I had the right accent so here I am to tell the tale. Another day I was on my own in the East stand because I'd won a ticket and wanted to give it a try. A group of Chelsea low lifes gathered around me with one in particular egging the others on to have a go. I got up, left the east stand then walked round to The Shed and The White Wall where my mates were. Morons are everywhere.

If it had gone in. If it had not gone in but, instead, had led to a counter from which they scored, then that would have been too horrible to contemplate. I'm just saying that the chance of getting a win, when a win wasn't really necessary, was not worth the risk of defeat, no matter how small that risk was. The things you've gone through are disappointing, upsetting and sad but will sound all too familiar to those of us who lived through those times. No matter who we support. Indeed, I bet there are Tottenham followers who could recount similarly bad experiences suffered at the hands of Chelsea fans. People who behave like that understand tribal behaviour, but they don't understand the fun of rivalry and banter. I'd just like to reiterate that my enjoyment of the Chelsea - Spurs games is nothing to do with ugly attitudes like those you have been unfortunate enough to encounter.