rosenthal

Sounds made up by Nixon/Mirror, can't see Spurs offering a good deal on a Vlaar transfer given his age and contract. If Spurs come in it will be to take advantage of the situation, not to give away young-ish 10m rated players (Holtby, Capoue)

Celso Borges is another one from that Costa Rica team, versatile, very strong character. Shouldn't be too expensive playing his football in Sweden.

Approaching his 30s I don't think it's that big a deal that he decide to retire, throwing away most of the six years prior to it however ...

New one year contract for Brad Friedel at Spurs, he'll be 44 at the end of the season !! If he get pitch time after october he'll be the oldest ever Premier League player.

You can register the youngsters even though you don't have to, they can also leave gaps It's no point in registering a player that is U21. He can play even if he isn't registered, and a club isn't forced to have 8 home grown players - just if they want a full 25 man squad of senior players. Registered or a gap as you say, makes no difference

If I'm not missing anyone, I think they've only got Gerrard and Martin Kelly. Sterling, Flanagan, Wisdom are all too young to be registered. Johnsen, Sturridge, Allen, Henderson the four they need from other english/welsh clubs. Ricky Lambert won't count as a Liverpool academy product, as he was there between the age of 10-15, while 15-21 is what decide it (not that I agree with that rule) So they'll only be allowed 24 man squad in the Premier League, and a 23 man in CL?

Think Spain is the only european side that have a chance of winning over there, Brasil or Argentina likely champions - gave my vote to Brasil.

Hart Forster Foster Johnson Jones Jagielka Cahill Caulker Baines Shaw Gerrard Huddlestone Henderson Wilshere Milner Barkley Lallana Oxlade Chamberlain Sterling Rooney Welbeck Sturridge Lambert standby: Ruddy, C.Davies, Flanagan, Cole, Barry, A.Johnson, Defoe Think Kyle Walker will miss out, struggle with his injuries. Perhaps won't be back for Spurs before season end and he haven't played for a while, poorly with low fitness in his games prior to that as well.

Is this the time one mention that it evens itself out over the season? Seem to remember a ridiculous Ramires dive earlier that gave them 3 points on the day.

Isn't it more correct to say that Lerner gave up on top 4 when he realised how much it would cost, and that O'Neill left due to the financial corrections Lerner planned to introduce? Uwe Rosler and Steve McClaren strikes me as the best fit for Villa if new manager is on the agenda, but then again I thought Lambert would be a great choice as well looking at what he'd done at Norwich. You just never can tell how it turns out, I'm sure Lambert can do a great job elsewhere and even could have at Villa. But he does seem to have gone a bit stale and worked himself into a corner with this team of his. I'd actually question his transfer activities more than his performance as coach and match leader, a jewel or two aside, he has spent a fair amount of money on what must be said to be very average players. A tight wage budget does make it difficult though, wages are far more important when it comes to building a squad than how much money is spent on transfer fees. Villa fans being all out of patience doesn't help much neither, will a manager ever be given time again?

Shame they couldnt keep the Nextgen series going anyway, more than enough clubs from outside of the Champions League that has excellent academy teams.

One season doesn't matter much, Everton would have to be in CL every year to build the club into something Villa can't potentially match. Villa aren't going to compete with Everton the coming 2-3 seasons anyway. Just be happy for them if they get there, unlike other clubs they at least deserve it, and see it as motivation for what Villa as well could achieve against the giants and the doped clubs out there.

Everton has been fairly consistent ever since the years they fought Villa for 5th, don't think they'll drop to much next season. Maybe they're peaking a bit at the moment, but I think they'll remain competiive - they run the club too well to drop. Martinez is a great manager, they'll lose some players most likely, but replacmenst will come in as well. No reason for them not to get new players on loan, bet Barcelona is happy with Deulofeu's experience this season. Can see them sending more players Everton's way.

Yes it is, we've developed that transfer policy from his leadership. He needs to learn and change his ways. Manager/Head Coach need to have more to say in the transfer dealings, his position must be stronger, and when he leaves we need to look for a new man with similiar philosophy that can build on the work of his predecessor. That said, Levy's positive sides far outweigh his negative ones. We've grown and gone so far as we have due to him.

Something that's become obvious in recent years at Spurs is that it's pointless to sign expensive quality players to be 3rd or 4th choice. Cause without game time and faith those players are quickly turned sour and look a shadow of themselves when they eventually get on the pitch. Confidence and flow is so important for a footballer. 100m spent on squad players in the summer, could have signed Suarez for 60m and given the squad roles to youth players and been better off. To be fair, there's been a lot of injuries this season, start and stop season for many players - especially for newcomers to the league this is a challenge. Not coming into a settled team, and not getting a run of games ... Big issue with the transfer policy is that there are too many people involved in the signings pulling in different directions. Plus the habit of not being able to avoid signing a player that we're likely to make a profit on (bosmans and players on expiring contracts). Players often signed not to fill the needs of the manager, if a player is quality and available at the right price he'll be signed no matter what the manager want. This has been a problem for a decade now. Martin Jol and Juande Ramos both gave a list of types and role they needed for their team, Comolli signed players with other qualities and the managers had to pay with their job. Comolli's signings were extremely good though, and the successor (Redknapp) reaped the benefits. Hope is that history reapeat itself and that the squad is good enough to perform under a new manager with a couple of changes. Now like then, there's question around the attitude of many of the players. "They are soft" "Not suitable for the Premier League"

He probably would have, but what do you do when three of those are unavailable and further two aren't fit enough to play a full game? Back up players in central midfield injured as well. People are questioning Sherwood why he didn't start Dembele against Liverpool, one week ago against Southampton he tried to play Dembele despite not 100% fit and he wasn't up for it - game changed when Sigurdsson came on. Sherwood shouldn't be manager for a team like Spurs, clearly out of his depth and learning on the job, but in defence of him he's also in a situation where he can't win whatever he does. It's a mess at the moment, can only hope that Levy is learning from all the mistakes done this season and leading up untill it. Need stronger leadership both on the side line and on the pitch. No lack of talent in the team, but that doesn't help when there's no direction, plan, stability and desire. Players have given up now, the best ones are totally focused on the world cup and their next transfer move. However, the fixtures coming up are all winnable, and there's enough talent in the squad to win against the lesser teams in the league even on half machine. Been very boring season, we've hardly scored goals, but there's been more positive results against most of the league than in even our best seasons. It's games against the top teams that are keeping us out of the top 4, actually, positive results against Arsenal alone would have taken us past them.

It doesn't surprise me that Defoe is a success in MLS. When the level of opponents are lower than the top level, there are hardly any better strikers in the world than Defoe. He's the ultimate flat truck bully. His goal ratio in the cup against inferior teams, not to mention in the Europa League is excellent. Defoe is clearly not as good a player as for example Robin van Persie, but I'd be confident in Defoe scoring the most of them in a league like MLS. Defoe scored 7 goals in 5 Europa League games this season, and I think he'll stay close to a 1:1 ratio for Toronto.

32 man squad? Are there that many englishmen in the Premier League? They'll prepare for the game at Spurs' training ground btw.

Early on they were picking up the points, however they were on a downward spiral and it has just continued under OGS. It's not that much down to either manager, they are just where they are due to the quality of their squad. Players are the most significant impact on results. Difference between them are that Mackay park the buss, while OGS want the team to play - which perhaps is a bit naive considering their position, quality and the short time he has at his disposal David Marshall, Steven Caulker, Gary Medel, Mats Daehli, Craig Noone have all been good

Norway has gone in a new direction, sacked Olsen last fall and has hired a manager in Hogmo that want the team to have more of the ball and dominate play (tactics arent that far off how City line up these days). Remain to be seen whether that style will also bring results, his team has looked very bright so far but luck haven't been on his side. Been open and soft in defence and not clinical enough infront of the oppositions goal. Mats Daehli from Cardiff and Per Ciljan Skjelbred from Hertha Berlin as their creative midfielders gives hope for the future, however they need to find more goals as their strikers tend to struggle for game time at club level. Pedersen who you mention could be good, but he struggle with injuries and has a poor attitude to follow. More likely is Stuttgart striker Abdellaoue to find the net again, his move from Hannover to Stuttgart set him back a bit, Stuttgart only played with one up front - Ibisevic. But he's playing again now. Norway will aim for the third spot and play offs, while hoping they can push Croatia who obviously have more talent in them.

Wales should aim for third place and play off, I actually think they got a good group for them. Yes Bosnia and Belgium are strong, but in Israel they've got a team from pot 3 they can compete with. If Gareth Bale (and Ramsey) stay fit and motivated, I think they've got an outside chance to qualify.

Same as Lamela, Sigurdsson, Chadli and Capoue. Holtby hasn't been given a fair chance due to the number of of midfielders available for selection. Never a run of games in same position and role. Always chopping and changing. Mostly coming on as a sub, changing position from game to game, playing in Europa League then immediately dropped for the league, complete system change from AVB to Sherwood. It hasn't been easy for this group of players to show their abilities this season. Proves there's a downside to having the luxuary of a huge squad as well. Hardly any Spurs fan want to see Holtby leave on a permanent deal, it's clear he's a quality player that will shine as soon as he settle, and many want to wait untill the summer in case there'll be a managerial change again so that the new guy will have an opportunity to have a look at Holtby before making a final decision. Already a crowd favourite due to his passion for the game, club and Premier League. Work rate and skill level is excellent - but has looked a bit of a headless chicken at times. Will come good if he stays on in the Premier League, but his Spurs career doesn't look too good at the moment. Tim Sherwood want to get rid of a couple of players to balance out the squad, but it seem mental to toss Holtby away at a cheap price when there's a loan offer from Dortmund that could raise his value significantly. Loan deal at Villa would be perfect in my opinion, needs a run of Premier League games to settle and prove himself. Think he'd excell and reign the Villa midfield from the go. Definitely available for a permanent transfer, cheap transfer fee but high wage.

Just now read that from Bild, mental. If Schalke sell Draxler to Arsenal then I imagine they will buy him back but for now I can't see that happening. €6m is what, £4.5m? Maybe his wage demands are too high. His wages are believed to be rather high, was in a good negotiation position when he joined Spurs as his contract was expiring and only cost £1.5m despite being rated as a £10m player. .Reckon 60-70k