I get that, but my question would still apply though. Just seems a bit of a waste of time, especially since he could have spent that time back at the club working on his fitness.

Meh .. what do i know ?

At least Toby will be back next game. I would of expected Deli to have a return date penciled in by now. even if it is early December.

Interesting how Kane is deemed fit yet we know from him being sent home from international duty, that he hasn't fully recovered.

Southgate obviously rates Kane very highly. If England were desperate for a goal v Scotland, he believed that Kane would be the most liable to get one for us.

If we hadn't declared Kane fit for the Arses game then we could of argued against his call up. But I agree it does seems pointless in hindsight seeing that we won comfortably against Scotland without the need to call on Kane,

Personally I think Defoe should have been in the squad anyway as firstly it was pointless playing a game rusty Kane anyway "if" he had been needed and secondly Vardy has done nothing this season and shouldnt be in the squad.

Its a poor goal return so far for all English strikers in the PL this season. I was surprised to see that on present form, Defoe is the leading English frontman despite playing for bottom of the table Sunderland (though I don't know what percentage have been from open play).

But there appears to be an unwritten rule on not bringing back ex-England players post 30 once they have been 'officially dropped' from the squad, so it would be a very big surprise if Southgate named Defoe.

It's also a hostage to fortune - other clubs pointing to the fact Kane played but didn't get called up.

A new one on the radar: Never played for Spurs and 17 years old - Dylan Duncan called up for England training

The England team are using our facilities at Hotspur Way for training, so a case of which of our talented youngsters was available that they could borrow to make up the numbers. Southgate and Ugo Ehiogu our U21 manager of course played together as a CB pairing at Villa and Middlesbrough, so are old mates.

It also amusingly meant that Kane didn't have far to go when he was 'sent home'

Obviously just popped across the hall from the 'away' dressing room that England are using to the 'Home' dressing room where all his stuff is

Obviously take this as you will ..


http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...y-kane-9261577

IF it's true then I think our supreme overlord has to play it very carefully with Kane, especially if he ends up delivering a third successive 20+ goal season this season. While he may well be playing for the club he supports and won't want to move, he'll realise that he'll be able to command at least three times his salary elsewhere so if he feels the club are try to take advantage of that, it could end up backfiring badly.

As far as Hugo goes, I think every season he stays is a bonus really so I think if he ever did decide to move on he'd do so with the blessing of the majority of the fans - at least i'd like to think that that would happen. The one advantage we might have with him is that he's been clear in the past that he's bought in to "the project" with Poch so he might want to stick around another year or two just to see that through to see if we actually can win the title.

I suspect both probably will sign eventually though. It's probably taking a bit longer as they're senior players at the club and there are likely a few more i's to dot and t's to cross.

This seems to be an annual thing now about Kane and Hugo wanting an increase on their salary!

In Hugo's case how many clubs are there that we would willingly sell him to who would also pay him 120K/week? Incidentally, Lyon receives 20% of any sell on fee as well.

Hugo could, and should, have his pick of the european elite clubs really - he's certainly up there in the top 5 - or even top 3 - keepers in the game.

tbh, the only reason they're on board for 3 more years is because of the 'journey' with Poch and the whole club into the CL and new stadium. It must be pretty consuming to be inside a project like this and there is masses to learn and experience. Hugo in particular s heading for management so you can understand the fascination.

What happens after 18/19. Will Poch move on, will Levy and ENIC sell - why commit beyond the horizon ...

Well I certainly admire the optimism. Players signing contracts does'nt mean they are going to stay. It never has and it never will. It just means you get more money if (when) they leave. Im sure Kane's new deal will be announced just before a game in the usual hope of creating positive spin. Although we have handed out new contracts like sweets these last few months and it certainly has'nt reflected well with performances on the pitch.

£120k is nothing in today's market. I can't think of any top club that would bat an eyelid at paying that for one of the world's very best keepers if they needed one and he were available.

the next player that stays at our or any other club for "the journey" will be the very first in the recorded history of mankind. players generally tend to leave for one of two reasons: more money, and more chance of success....which tends to result in more money anyway.
this idea that they'll ignore all that and stay out of unwavering loyalty to an unproven manager, occasional CL football and a new stadium isn't supported by anything other than blind hope IMO. I'm all for optimism where appropriate, but some of the stuff I read on here at times is in the realm of pure fantasy.

Agreed. The level of delusion on this board knows no bounds. As you say, its pure and utter fantasy. If we dont pay the wages we wont get success. If we dont get success the best players will leave. Dangling the carrot of a "project" is not going to change that.

Delusion.

Based on published salary lists the clubs that are currently paying or can afford to pay those kind of wages to their keepers are: City, Chelsea, Man U, Barca, Real, Bayern and Paris St. Germain. I think Levy would be reluctant to let Lloris go to another English club.

We've lost players to English and overseas clubs under Levy though, so I'm not sure that matters. Besides, more than half of those you've listed aren't English anyway. You left off Arsenal too, whose top earners make way more than that per week, I'd expect. Juve too. basically, he wouldn't be short of options and takers were he ever to decide to leave.

Fwiw, the goons currently pay £1.5 million a week more in wages.

If you add that up over 5 years and add in the difference in transfer fees in and out, we've spent £half a billion less - £500 million in those five years.

That roughly equates to 5 years of CL income plus match day revenues in a London-based 60, 000, corporate friendly stadium.

In other words, by 18/19 we'll be in sight of matching all but 3-4 clubs in the world.

hahahahaha

Poch and Toni Jimenez sort of do the mannequin challenge .. very silly

https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/st...295808/video/1

three massive games coming up in quick succession, and the first two are must-win if we're honest. I'm sure there'll be plenty anyway, but we really can't have any excuses for not beating West Ham tomorrow or qualifying from our CL group. none whatsoever.

Agreed.

Deluded.

it should be unbelievable, but is reflective of the way a significant proportion of our fanbase thinks at the moment. all of us laughed at West Ham's delusion in believing they'd suddenly turn into a massive club because of the Olympic Stadium, yet this isn't that much different. yes we have a massive project going on at the moment, but this belief that we're just going to grow immensely while everyone else in the world stands still is naive in the extreme. 18/19 will come and go, as will seasons after that I shouldn't wonder, and there'll still be more than 3 or 4 clubs on whom we'd have a huge gap to try and close.

Huge pressure on this game to end our terrible run and judging by our recent repsonses to pressure that does'nt fill me with confidence. To be honest, Im not sure where we go from here if we fail to get a positive result today. It will make it 8 games without a win, 7 weeks since our last win, and if we dont score from open play we will be clocking up nearly 13 hours since we last scored one. Figures that would make a relegation zone team blush. Lets hope (pray) that this run ends today.