Graham Potter is eviscerated by a furious West Ham supporter but Cristian Romero is excused for his Spurs cowardice; that is ‘a dog s**t joke’ of a club.
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Cristian belief
Will Ford thinks Romero is contemptible. Personally, I’m not having it.
I’m on my way home from possibly the flattest football match I’ve ever been too. Bank holidays do have a habit of doing that. Games betwixt Christmas and new year can be a lacklustre so 8pm on Easter Monday for Spurs was always going to be a bit of a stretch….but that was soul searchingly flat.
On to Romero. He doesn’t give a s**t about Tottenham. The world cup winner thinks he deserves better. His performances are proof of that. I’d agree with him. He’s been at Spurs since 2001. He’s had 6 managers. And a physio room who can’t fix him. He can only rely on his national team’s medical department to do that. His centre back partner has very nearly been broken by a reckless style of play from a rookie manager ill equipped for his first premier league gig.
I wouldn’t challenge Chris Wood for the header and I don’t blame him for keeping his feet on the floor. If I played for Tottenham I would hide. But not Anderton Redknapphide. Like I was a smidgy bit scared, 85% up for it and sh*tting myself that I was in a 50/50 with Roy Keane. I would hide like my career depended on it. It’s a dog s**t joke of a football club.
Have a good week,
Andrew
Contracts running out
I had generally agreed with all the pundits who were scathing of Liverpool letting 3 first teamer contracts run down.
Now that two have signed on I have to accept that maybe the club know more than me and the pundits especially when it comes to older players. Delaying the extension of older players allows the following:
1. Monitor their progress and fitness levels right up to the last minute. If there is obvious drop off, you can get rid. If they look like they can continue you can offer a new contract.
2. Their attractiveness to other elite clubs will drop. For example, Madrid or Barca are for more likely to want Salah/VvD at 31/32 than at 33/34. So those players might not have as many options by the time the contract runs down rather than if you tried to renegotiate with 2/3 years to go on current deals. So you might get away with not having to pay extortionate wages.
3. If you do think they can continue to compete then yes you will have to pay to keep them. But that extra wedge is only applicable from when they sign the new contract. If the VvD contract is as reported he is staying on the same wage but the bonuses essentially double that. For ease let’s say that’s 200 rising to 400. If he was renewed 2 years ago we might have had to pay 400 regardless of whether he was still top level. And that’s 2 extra years of paying that higher wage. So it is very easy to claim there has been a huge saving in salary by holding off as long as possible. And if there is a big drop in output then we’ve only committed to 2 years of this higher salary.
Obviously all this doesn’t apply for younger players. They can continue to look attractive to other clubs for many years. But reports suggest that Trent was planning on leaving regardless. Maybe Konate has similar plans next year. Or maybe they know that as young players they can hold out for even higher salaries before renewing as they know they continue to look attractive to potential new clubs, making it trickier for a club to hang on to them without overpaying.
I am a big Trent fan but know he is not perfect, and when he is off his game I am more than happy to see him leave (eg that MUFC game). That doesn’t mean I won’t miss him… I suppose it means I wish him well, hope he has plenty of success, but ultimately think we will be fine without him.
I suppose we don’t have to have polarising thoughts on everything. We’re allowed to hold slightly conflicting views. The world isn’t black and white… it’s different shades of grey!!
Joe lfc
Hot take
Call me reckless, call me crazy, heck, call me a fool! But I’m sticking my neck out and calling it now…Liverpool will win the league.
Prescient Hamster
Say grace
Dear Sirs – a quick word on pitiful West Ham. As far as I have been concerned, winning a trophy in 2023 (after 43 years of loyal futility for me) has afforded the club a “complaint-free grace period”. I thought 3-4 years would be fair. As such, I have taken poor play, poor transfer decisions and abysmal results in my stride these past 2 years. Declan leaving was painful but I didn’t/don’t begrudge him the move and I am thankful that he left us with a pot. The Lopetegui disaster was a shame but we were still never in real relegation trouble and so I looked forward to a new manager without feeling troubled. It has been incredibly refreshing.
There have even been some high points. Finally losing David Moyes and his wretched brand of football was a gigantic relief (and no, still absolutely zero regrets). Paqueta didn’t leave and Bowen has developed into one of the best few attacking players in the EPL.
Sadly, and completely unexpectedly, that grace period came to a shuddering end this weekend. Watching the game at home with my boys, I found myself throwing my water bottle across the room and screaming obscenities at Graham Potter for a full 90 seconds as the deserved Saints equalizer went in. I was literally shaking with rage. I told my wife I needed to go out for a drive on my own. It was next-level childish, old school, Moyes era, seeing-red, unadulterated anger. Where did this come from and why? It’s not like I’m fearing relegation or looking at Euro qualification (though going above Spurs in our worst season in recent memory would have been hilarious). No.
Potter has to go. I’m no spoiled, short termist United fan, but there is an undeniable and terrifying realisation that nothing whatsoever has changed. We have replaced like with like with like. The pedestrian attacking build up is one thing. The flat back seven for the last 10 minutes at home vs one of the worst teams in EPL history is quite another. It was the worst of Moyes all over again. Taking off Bowen, Kudus and Fulkrug for defensive players (plus adding one dimensional target man Ferguson after all wide midfield players had been removed) is such a pathetic Year 1 basic coaching move, it’s terrifying. And it’s not unusual for Potter, certainly not for us. Even his breakthrough Brighton teams struggled to score (until he left). Whilst I think it’s fair that any Chelsea manager through the revolving door gets a bit of a pass for managing that train wreck, even by those low standards he failed spectacularly there.
We had near enough 18 months (Christ, it should have been 3 years) to work out Moyes’ replacement. A number of potentially excellent foreign or based overseas managers were touted from time to time. But as per Sullivan’s modus operandi, heaven forbid we ever pay a release clause for a manager who is actually in demand. No, appoint a tried and tested (for which read unwanted), out of work, ex EPL manager who has failed in his most recent jobs. Here we f***ing go again. Please make it stop.
Mike (2 years since last trophy, but grace period over) WHU
READ MORE:David Moyes embarrasses West Ham in table since Potter appointed
Sticky Toffees
Does someone want to tell Tommy that Everton are 13th?
J
