It was a week of the good, the bad and the ugly (mostly ugly). The week started well enough with a win at Fulham to entrench us in third in the table, but yet another player went down to injury with Dele doing his hamstring. Georges Kevin Nkoudou turned out to be the unlikely hero, coming on for Dele and making his only meaningful contribution in a Spurs shirt when he set up Winksy's last second winner. That was about as good as his and our week was going to get. The second leg of the League Cup semi-final was so typical of our performances in big games with the concession of a sloppy goal and then an unlikely rally in the second half. But once again we sealed our reputation as bottlers when Dier skied his penalty onto the Fulham high road and Moura had his easily saved by Kepa. It would get worse at Selhurst Park as England World Cup hero Kieren Trippier sent his penalty a mile wide. In all, we missed 3 of 5 penalties; embarrassing is the only word to describe it. So out of the FA Cup again and Palace really only had to show up to win the tie once Poch handed in his team sheet. He may as well have sent a white flag over to Roy Hodgson as the Tottenham XI would have been lucky to beat a pub side. Once again schoolboy errors did us in as Sanchez was beaten easily by Schlupp in the build up to the first goal and Walker-Peters did his best impression of a wide receiver to concede a penalty for the second. Poch gave his usual tiresome speech about how the cups are not important. Unfortunately, the more he does it, the more the players believe him, and it gives them a nice excuse when they come up empty. But the real reason we don't win trophies is the men at the top. Why are players like Nkoudou, Skipp and Walker-Peters featuring in the first team? Because the chairman sat on his arse in the summer and didn't improve the squad. Poch goes on and on about that the league and the CL are the ones to win and he's right, but if you don't improve your squad, you have no chance to win those either. And it's not going to get any easier. Our best defender, Alderweireld is going to get plucked away for 25 million because the chairman was too cheap to give him the wages he deserves and our best playmaker, Eriksen, is off to Barcelona if they want him. So not only will we have to improve the squad next summer, we will have to try to find replacements for those who are leaving. I mentioned in my season review from last year that we would get an idea of Levy's ambition in the summer transfer window. Well, zero signings equals zero ambition. At least in a week of misery, there was some good news. Amazingly, South Korea lost to a rubbish Qatari side in the quarter-finals of the Asian Cup, which means that Son is heading back to London on Joe Lewis's private jet (at least he better be).
NKoudou does not seem to have developed much in his time at the club. Rather disappointing. Yesterday should have been Moura's time to shine, but he did not have a good game. Walker Peters has talent, but he needs to break the habit of giving away goals in big games. On the positive side, Gazzaniga is quite good and Lamela was probably our best player once he came in. And Wanyama is back.
Agreed about Nkoudou, that is disappointing as he had potential. KWP is still a bit raw, but now that he is getting some playing time, improvement should happen. Same for Skipp. Wanyama is a question, though, Seems to not really have been the same as prior to his first injury last season. But, agreed with Levy not bringing in talented, new players. He needs to start thinking of Spurs as a possible CL contender rather than a CL hopeful. I also am skeptical that Eriksen will leave unless Barca part with money greater than they gave Cortinho.
From the reports I have read, Eriksen is happy with the wages Tottenham have offered him, but he wants to have a new experience in his career and Barcelona would be the one club he would leave to join, so it is just a question of whether Barcelona want him and we know money is no object for them. The only question is would Levy reinvest the money in the squad? As for Nkoudou, I was shocked when I saw his name on the team sheet for the Fulham match, as I thought we had unloaded him long ago, but then, who would actually want to buy him, he is pure rubbish.
Two (or three?) years ago, Wanyama started something like all but one PL match. He was awesome that year. If he can get back to that level, fantastic. Too soon to tell, that's for sure. I would love for him to displace Dier, who seems to be committing too many brain farts out there.
Yes, in the 2016-17 season (the best Tottenham team I have seen, 86 points, a goal difference of +60, undefeated at WHL), he and Dembele were the preferred midfield 2 in front of a defence that only conceded 26 goals in 38 games. They were beasts and simply overran opposing midfields with their combination of physical and technical ability. Fast forward to today, and our best midfield 2 is any 2 from Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko, Eric Dier and Oliver Skipp. That is why you must constantly look to improve your squad if you are at the CL level, or you end up with what we saw on Sunday.
Sean Dyche took him on loan last January and promptly returned to sender. I have an image of Nkoudou arriving at Turf Moor and meeting Sean Dyche for the first time: DYCHE: Who the hell are you? NKOUDOU: I am Georges-Kevin from the Tottenham... DYCHE: From the what? What do you want? NKOUDOU: Mauricio sent me here to play for great English manager... DYCHE: You're a footballer? You look more like a lost exchange student! Tottenham you say? Is Daniel Levy mugging us off again? We already gave you lot Trippier, what more do you want? NKOUDOU: What is Trippier? DYCHE: Oh bloody hell, come inside...can you at least make a cup of tea, what's your name again? NKOUDOU: Georges-Kevin, and I make good tea, that is what Mauricio always asks me to do...