Tottenham Talk on Monday 19th
Tottenham Talk on Monday 19th
Well hello folks on what is a glorious day, hope you are all enjoying the heatwave we, here in the UK, are experiencing.
I have filled the pond with water, didn't see any frogs but did see the adult frog the other day, always a welcome sight.
The bird feeders get emptied, too often by pigeons who have figured out how to feed themselves, while others just walk up and down the getting eating seeds that drop in there.
Plenty of starlings and sparrows, magpies and a grey headed bird I have forgotten the name of.
To hear everything chirping while the patio door is open is pleasant as you lose a lot when it's closed.
The garden is overrun so it is half hour bursts and a rest while I check up on Spurs matters, then back to another half hour.
Yes, even on a day off I write an article for the morning.
Readership
I thank you all for reading, more than 50,000 views last month and now over 38,000 now this month.
- USA
- Australia
- Ireland
- Canada
- Sweden
- Spain
- Norway
- Singapore
You can see why I convert currency to help Spurs supporters around the world and THBN readers, grasp the money involved.
After 8 years of this, others are now following suit I see.
Interesting that the world is moving to mobile communication, accessing the Internet from your mobile, yet my stats tell me you readers prefer not to, probably because it is easier to read the content.
I think fans in the UK forget there are fans all around the world and indeed many fans only see those attending games as important, like the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters Trust (THST), who conduct a survey but do not bother to email a link to all the supporter groups worldwide.
Why not?
It should be standard practice.
How can an organisation claim to represent Tottenham fans when they are not interested in your views.
I have asked them numerous times on your behalf what they do for you, but they refuse to say.
Rather telling that.
Anyway I have rambled on with my thanks enough for today, it's Spurs news you want so Spurs news you shall have.
Pre-Season Friendly
The clue is in the title, pre-season friendly, a meaningless game of football to improve fitness.
The result is immaterial, but was 1-1 with young 17-year-old (18 next March) Dane Scarlett scoring our goal in the first-half.
Spurs only have half a squad training at the moment with a whole host of players yet to return from their holidays after international duty.
Pre-season, especially when you have a new head coach, is to implement what has been passed on in training.
In these early games, where it is all about fitness, the youngsters get used to fill in the gaps.
What did we learn from it though?
Well, one of my bugbears seems to be being addressed.
I have banged on about it for years, but against Leyton Orient we passed the ball around at the back far far quicker than we have for years.
By that, I mean not just how quickly we pass, often first-time, but the power we put behind the pass so it shortens the time it takes for the ball to reach a teammate.
This stops the opposition re-setting.
In our play over several years now, we have passed slow and just allowed the opposition to jog across the pitch to stay in shape and block forward passes.
All over the pitch we were passing faster, there was more one-touch passing as we used to do at the beginning of Pochettino's reign.
It is all about off the ball movement.
Our play has often not created chances because it was too slow and under Mourinho we defended to break quick.
Learning what is coming next, learning to read the game and run to receive the ball while knowing where you are going to pass it, takes time and practice.
It is not as easy at it looks.
Movement is another bugbear, it stops us passing out quickly from the back.
The two are linked so the far better movement we saw against Leyton Orient, coupled with quicker passing from the back are encouraging signs.
This was not the pragmatic football the kids on Twitter predicted, moaned about, although these same people are moaning about the result.
Are we getting fitter, are we applying the tactics asked, are we improving our understanding and application of the skills involves, that's all that matters and the answer to that is yes.
We played more direct football, there was definately lass passing at the back looking for an opening and Winks was looking for forward passes rather than just sideways.
Dele though was tasked with collecting the ball off the centre-backs and beginning play. A quarter-back playmaker rather than a number 10, we'll have to see when others return whether he continues in that role.
That is an important one to know because if he is to play deeper then Lo Celso and or Ndombele will surely move forward into a more attacking role.
If we play 4-3-3 there is only one central midfielder who you would expect to be Højbjerg.
I'm not convinced we will be playing 4-3-3 though, this was a needs must game perhaps, again time will tell and that will affect our transfer window and who we actually go after, rather than who we are reported to be going after.
Harry Winks had a dreadful attitude last season but of course under a new manager he has a new lease of life and can try to impress, that doesn't mean we won't listen to offers of £30m (€35m - US$41.32m - AUS$55.82m).
I know most won't have noticed, but it was his forward pass into Moura that allowed Moura to pass into the stride of Dane Scarlett for our goal.
I have seen Moura get plaudits, but few mention Winks part, indeed I haven't seen one, but one of our vile fans, undoubtedly a anti-Levy anti-ENIC numpty, spat at Winks.
Acts like this, just shows these jokers up for the type of people they are.
Finally from the game, we played a lot of long balls in the first half, not very successfully I might add but the idea to play it behind the defence was there, the execution wasn't.
Does that indicate that we are going to utilise the pace of Son Heung-min and pace from the wide attackers?
Is that a requirement of any new signing?
Time will tell.
Virgil van Dijk Tweet
Did you all see the Tweet from Virgil van Dijk calling a journalist a liar for what he wrote, that he had made it up?
Told ya.
Do not trust what a journalists tells you, they are paid to write to get clicks to raise advertising revenue so sensationalism and controversy and the key words of the day for them.
I won't get everything right but I'll certainly try and steer you in the right direction with a great big dollop of common sense.
Spurs TV
How many years has it been since I suggested we start streaming matches across the Internet and charge the worldwide fanbase to watch?
Well, the club have acted on my suggestion and yes I did write to the club with the idea.
I even repeated it again when I heard about us going down this channel with youth games (because TV contracts don't permit us to show competitive senior games).
Quite frankly there needs to be a huge push on this for several reasons.
1. It's a revenue earner. The figures above show the club earning £3.99 per game per person.
Let's assume 10,000 purchase, that's £39,900 per game.
Three friendly games at £39,900 per game = £119,700
Now the club might not get ten thousand, it might only get a thousand (£11,970) but that's not really the point.
What matters is the club start to earn from an under utilised resource.
With plenty of interest in Troy Parrott (although he is expected to go on loan) and Dane Scarlett for instance, there is a market for people to watch, just as their is for pre-season friendlies.
2. Showing U-23 and U-18 games allows the club the chance to showcase to fans the talent coming through at the club and there will be many who follow their development.
That creates a market to market to, to advertise to, to get commercial sponsorship for, Spurs TV in association with...
It would be an opportunity for the club to market merchandise directly to Tottenham fans.
Personally, specific to the channel subscribers, I'd run a competition for anyone with a child who is Tottenham mad and wants a Tottenham bedroom.
Available worldwide, the lucky winner would not just get everything for their bedroom but a local designer would come round to arrange everything and, when travel permits, a club ambassador visit.
Take marketing photos, video the process and put together an infomercial that shows you how and where to buy the goods, advice etc., to increase product sales.
Alternatively, get a sponsor involved, perhaps AIA in Asia and another sponsor in Europe or North America or Australia.
3. After game interviews would allow youth players the opportunity to develop their skills in speaking to the media and playing in front of cameras.
4. By including any news the club want to release and by holding a 'Transfer Talk' programme, the club can control the narrative.
With journalists making so much up these days, Tottenham could cut through this with a weekly interview with Fabip Paratici to discuss his role and transfer, club direction etc.
A monthly interview with Steve Hitchen about scouting, how it's done, detailed look at each part of the process etc., creates worthwhile content instead of, basically the inane fun and games approach we have now.
Currently it's like kids overawed around their stars, it should be far more professional and far more interesting.
Youth games should all be a part of a subscription package, but there has to be content worth viewing outside of games.
We have had an Amazon documentary, well something similar could easily be done in-house.
Could, after the event, tactics be aired, how we approached the game, Nuno (or his assistant) perhaps explaining the oppositions tactics, if we don't want to air ours.
How they tried to beat us.
That is content people would watch.
College Football (American Football) is huge. That idea is something we need to tap into and streaming games is a start.
The product has to be marketed and developed, because the potential to make a difference.
If we stuck to the per game model, then at £39,900 per game for 24 Premier League 2 games = £957,600
Cut that in half for 24 Premier League U-18 games would be £478,800 and adding the two together gives an income of £1,436,400 (£1.4m)
That's before commercial income and merchandising.
It creates a tidy sum to aid Academy development.
Tottenham Transfer Talk
Let's end with some Tottenham Transfer Talk.
You must know by now that Barcelona are in a financial mess with a wages bill that's too high and more money going out than is coming in.
Unsustainable.
The Spanish club are actively looking to offload some players and another of those that Tottenham have been linked with is centre-back Clément Lenglet.
The 26-year-old (27 next June) French international (13 caps, 1 goal) joined Barcelona from Sevilla, who lost a court case in favour of his former club Nancy.
They had a 12% sell-on clause that Sevilla refused to pay claiming the player paid his release clause (as players, not clubs, have to) so they had no obligation to pay.
And you think Daniel Levy is tight!
You know nothing, the same thing happens the world over.
Anyway, the Court of Arbitration (CAS) and FIFA ruled against Sevilla.
Lenglet is left-footed and is under contract until 2026 having signed a contract extension in October.
His place will be taken by Eric Garcia who has arrived from Manchester City.
To get his wages off their books they are going to need to be sensible over his transfer fee, despite the length of his contract.
It is Spanish paper Sport through reporter Gerard Romero, that claims he could go to Tottenham or Arsenal, who Barcelona have contacted to open negotiations.
Arsenal have just signed Ben White from Brighton so are unlikely now to be interested in Lenglet.
Lenglet doesn't start pre-season training until Tuesday, but I hear he has no intention of leaving the Spanish giants. Indeed I hear his agents are telling everyone who enquires that he is not going anywhere this summer.
Barcelona want to force him out and have told him he will be fifth choice.
Everton have also been mentioned as a possible destination for Lenglet, as has West Ham United. Both are said to want loan deals.
If they loan him out, Barcelona want a mandatory buy clause, not an option, automatically triggered when he makes a certain percentage of performances.
Spurs would want to look at him in the Premier League and then decide, so we would want an option clause, not a mandatory clause.
Enjoy your day folks.
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