Awol

Ref taking the piss with Billing now

oh. bugger

i'd like to see Guilbert 2nd half

Oh dear.

No that’s not what I mean. Gere’s message is sound, my point is the fact it’s being delivered by an ‘A’ list US celeb’ (seen by many people as raving hypocrites insulated from the problems normal folks face) does more harm than good. As it’s the Italian people pushing back against admitting more illegal migrants, any messages to the contrary would be better received if they came from authentically Italian voices - b/c they are harder for Salvini to dismiss.

Gere’s no doubt gone up in Salvini’s good books, too. The migrant issue is largely the reason he’s top of the polls in Italy. Hollywood celeb’s flying in to berate him only reminds the electorate why they are supporting Salvini in the first place.

Right now I’d go: Heaton Guilbert Mings Engels Targett Luiz SJM (CH as sub) Trez Jota Grealish Wesley SJM with licence to get forward & the fullbacks getting involved in attacks - covered by the 2 DM’s. If Nakamba is as useful as we hope then I’d put him next to Luiz (who can get involved further up the field as necessary), drop Jota, push Grealish to the right, put SJM into the middle & Trez on the left. They can mix it up/swop through the game. We lack & need that solidity in midfield in front of defence. Spurs won’t be the only side to brutalize us there unless we strengthen it.

From his performances so far I could see him working well between Jack & Trezequet in a 4-2-3-1. His lack of pace means he’s got no chance on the wing at this level - imo.

No idea. Fitness maybe?

McDonnell particularly impressed me the other day with his idea of inventing a law to jail Conservatives. Presumably that’ll be expanded as further groups in society are accused of wrong-think & proscribed.

Absolutely. Biggest question from Saturday is what to do with the midfield 3? I see Hourihane now as a sub to replace SJM or Jack in 2nd half if they’ve run their legs off. Either Luiz or Nakamba need to start, get the minutes in & adapt - it’s what they were signed for. That might cost us in the first few games but better than sticking with the current line-up which (imo) isn’t going to work in this league. Rip the plaster off.

Third wave feminism + maximum woke = Caroline Lucas. She’s up there with Lammy in the ‘spouting errant nonsense’ championships.

Jehovah!

We’ve got a Marvelous solution for that.

I thought we played really well! Spurs squad worth maybe 8X ours, with real quality everywhere. Mings, Engels and Heaton were superb, fullbacks worked hard but the gulf in quality told. Hourihane a passenger in midfield carried by McGinn & Grealish today. Luiz not on long enough to say, Jota very average & not convinced about El Ghazi at this level either. That said, Spurs are one of Europe’s best sides & for 70 minutes they couldn’t break us down. We’ll learn from the errors & for this team’s first proper game I’m pretty happy with that.

Safe to get excited about a new striker again!

Agree, think it would rest entirely on his choice, not the money.

I can imagine Luiz playing his way in-front of Hourihane pretty quickly, Hassan taking Jota’s spot & Benrahma surpassing El Ghazi if we do sign him. On the striker front who knows? Depends what they pull out of the hat this week!

Yep and probably Benrahma too. Stunning transformation of the club/team. Will take a while to figure out our best starting XI, but hopefully not too long.

No, but if you imagine a giant pair of scissors closing over his legs that’s pretty much it.

If we signed someone from outside the EU on or before deadline day can the WP be sorted afterwards, or does it need clearance before a player can legally sign?

Yes, he can!

Duvan Zapata? Bit older at 28 (so is Jota) but in 48 starts for Atalanta he’s scored 28 with 8 assists. Him and Wesley together would be frightening. Maybe get JPA to have a word..

Yep, astonishing. When Spurs beat Madrid last night it was a reality check, but I can’t wait to see what that XI above can do!

I can squeeze two more in - one at either end.