Mails: Why would any player leave Tottenham?

Daniel Storey

Are you on email? You simply have to be these days. Keep them coming to theeditor@football365.com…

 

Why so much talk of Tottenham players leaving?
It seems every time I read a Tottenham piece, someone is being linked with going somewhere else. Today Alli may be going to City. Or Poch to just about everywhere. Walker to Bayern Munich perhaps. Alderweireld to Inter Milan has legs and Eriksen to Barcelona might take your fancy. So my question is this: Why?

Chelsea are most likely going to win the Double, fair enough. That long winning run has done the job for the league and they found a way to get past Spurs in the cup. Kudos to Conte, he’s done a great job. And he’s made David Luiz actually *good*, not sure how he pulled that off.

But Spurs might very well be the best side in the country. Keeper, defence, midfield and attack – if there’s any flaws there, I can’t see them. Honestly, in the summer, who do they really need? A deeper squad maybe and some cover for Kane, but that’s it.

The manager is young, ambitious, so driven, tactically astute and basically just really, really good. He’s building a team that’s the spine of the England side too, which is decent of him. There’s a new stadium coming up soon, that’s pretty damn exciting. And attractive football too, they’re frequently creaming sides off the park, especially recently.

It just honestly seems like a whole bucket load of success is right round the corner. There’s maybe just some small mental hurdle to get over, particularly at Wembley. And the sides so *young*, it can only get better. Though a more vigorous pre-season might not hurt, stop these costly slow starts. So why in the name of Klopp would anyone want to leave right now?

It *cant* be the money. Sure there are bigger wages out there, but these lads aren’t impoverished. The potential here is so obvious. While not being super envious of what’s going on there, I can’t help but really admire it and seriously enjoy watching Spurs play. And I don’t think I’m alone in that. So I can’t see one single reason why anyone would leave this if they didn’t have to.

And yet every day people are linked away from Tottenham. Are Spurs not perceived as a destination club? Is playing for United or City *really* a more attractive prospect right now? How many more hundreds of thousands of pounds does someone really need?

Or, of course, the stories are complete cobblers and I should stop clicking on them.
James, Liverpool

 

There will be no Rooney statue
Nice to see Rami, Manchester write in to say something positive about Rooney and it is all too easy to forget just what a player he has been for so long and during our most successful period ever. People have plenty to say about United fans, but one thing we are is very loyal to players who have left our club in search of ball elsewhere, unlike the fans of many other clubs.

I can’t imagine Ronaldo getting the reception he got at Old Trafford turning out for Real if he had played for Liverpool or Arsenal. However, United fans won’t put up with players acting the ars*hole with their contracts like Rooney did.

That stuck in a lot of people’s throats. In addition, when he did get his biggest contract ever during one of our most difficult periods he proceeded to play like sh*te. Not even less prolific, just utter sh*te and has continued to do so, that has only compounded the ill feeling.

He was still in his late 20’s at this stage. Speed and desire can wane with age and the physicality of the premiership, not touch, intelligence and finishing. Shearer. Ferdinand, Giggs, Sheringham, Drogba and many others have had far worse injuries and played far better and further into their 30’s than Rooney. Rooney has become the very thing he complained about all those years ago,a hugely underperforming player and not the required standard for a club of that size.

Will there ever be a statue of Rooney at Old Trafford? I don’t think there will be, even though he is the club’s top scorer ever.

Why is that? If you ask people to name their all time Manchester United 11 of the last 30 years, would Rooney make it? Not nearly as often as an all time top scorer should.

If you got people to name their greatest England 11 of the last 30 years, would Rooney feature more often than not? I’m not confident he would, and he is the all time scorer for both teams. It is a strange one.
RowanB

 

Ease off the praise on Chelsea’s defence
According to F365, Chelsea have two of the top three defenders in the league in Cesar Azpilicueta and David Luiz. They also have Gary Cahill, who is regularly picked for the PFA team of the year. Then add in N’Golo Kanté, player of the year and king of defensive midfield. Oh, and Chelsea have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 11 games. What’s wrong with this picture?

In fact, all these great defenders haven’t been playing terribly well lately. In seven of those 11 games, they’ve taken the lead but allowed an equalizing goal. There’s invariably a stretch of the game where the back line looks uncertain. Kanté is racking up good numbers but getting caught out too often. They were superb in the first half of the season, but whether through failures of concentration, or just plain weariness, they’re now relying on the attack to carry the team.

We all know how important a good defence is to winning titles. In the last 30 years (I didn’t check further back), only one team has failed to keep a clean sheet in 11 consecutive games and still topped the table: Arsenal 2001-02. Chelsea will probably win the title, but let’s not go overboard about their defence.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA

 

Alvaro Morata: Not rated
Everyday there is talk of some top EPL club signing Alvaro Morata for 50m+ and I’m baffled by it. Yes he’s a pretty good striker but certainly not world class or good enough to be the No. 1 striker at a top club. He’s 6’2″ but isn’t dominant in the air and he certainly isn’t physically imposing nor that quick. EPL defenders would bully him off the pitch which makes talk of Chelsea signing him to replace Diego Costa ridiculous.

The most damning evidence is his goal record, he’s only got into double figures in league goals once in his career which is this season and again hardy impressive considering the poor quality of all but about six teams in La Liga. In 63 league games over two seasons at Juventus he only scored 15 goals as a regular starter at the league winning side. His CL goals record is a little better but still doesn’t suggest a top class striker price tag.

It was widely reported Real Madrid only bought him back from Juventus as they could at least double the fee they paid by selling him straight to another club however nobody would come up with the ridiculous amount they were requesting.

This summer I feel someone in the EPL with the TV deal cash will pay and be stuck with another Fernando Morientes situation (remember how terrible he was at Liverpool?) while Real laugh themselves all the way to the bank (Or Man Utd’s bank when they use the money to buy De Gea)!

It makes sense for EPL clubs to break the bank this summer to buy Lukaku or Griezmann considering their quality and goal records. However Morata is not in the same class and no longer a promising youngster at 24 so clubs need to wise up and stop p***ing cash down the drain just because a player came through the youth system at Real or Barca.
William, Leicester

 

Rules on nicknames
Sorry no – you can’t call Cahill Mr Chelsea.

The rule is the player must have come through the youth ranks and then only played for other clubs when he was truly past it – he also had to be brilliant.

So Mr Chelsea is Terry – came through the youth ranks – hasn’t played for anyone else thus far – Mr Man Utd is Sir Bobby Charlton – came through the youth ranks – only played for other clubs when he was past it and Mr Arsenal Sir Tony Adams – who only ever played for the one club – his mum’s club.

Cahill had a former career at Bolton – so he doesn’t count anymore than Holding would at Arsenal if he was to go on to captain the club.
Graham Simons

 

A chilling warning
The Premier League don’t often get accused of having a sense of humour, but arranging the Manchester derby for a Thursday night to show both sides what they can look forward to next season if they don’t make the top four is admirably dark stuff. Respect.
Edwin Ambrose

 

A mail on the Darlington mess
Darington have their appeal held today for a potential play-off place. For anyone who doesn’t know, due to financial mismanagement Darlo went out of existence and returned as a new entity many leagues lower as Darlington 1883. Last week we learned that the club could reuse Darlington FC from next season, great news?

Well no. A day later we found that our new stadium (that was rushed – long story) doesn’t meet the requirements for promotion to the Conference. Also due to mismanagement by the new board the fan-owned club needs £500,000 and has a loss of £80,000.

Supporter ran clubs are great in theory but when you don’t have experienced professionals running the club you are just playing the game not managing it. It’s beyond belief they now want supporters to put more dosh in their pockets to waste!!
Lee – Darlington

 

Praise, I think
At risk off getting caught up in the kind of hyperbole the subject of my impending praise excels at, this may be Storey’s magnum opus:

“The result is something truly haunting, a plastic permasmile on what appears to be a mask placed over the fur. Fred the Red’s face has the look of a badly sunburnt obese child, swollen after attempting to eat honey straight from a beehive.”

Evocative.
Rowan Hansberry

 

Not harsh enough on ‘glory hunters’
I really don’t understand why people think Daniel Storey is so great. I read that Manchester United Hall of Shame piece and not once did the words ‘glory’ or ‘hunter’ appear.

The cringe movie tie-ins I can handle, it’s having to listen to Chris from Croydon’s tortured justifications for being a ‘massive Red’ that really does your head in.
Simon CFC

 

Important advice
Quick one for Daniel after his Manyoo piece. Since I heard of the concept of Selfie Stick I have childishly referred to them as a Selfies D*ck. You can get away with saying it in conversation without too many noticing it.

Stupid f*cking things.
Willie, Dublin

 

Massively overestimating the number of staff we have
I guess everyone particularly waits for Winners and Losers, Top 10s and 16 Conclusions and the good bit of analysis and research that goes into it, but what would be really fascinating is having live commentary for big matches or even once in awhile.

It would be way better than BBC asking us to get involved or the expert’s attention seeking analysis. It can really bring a fresh air by complementing the real time match experience. Or maybe I’m just fantasising?
Vaibhav Tiwari