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Good Week/Bad Week

Krafty

Well-Known Member
May 26, 2004
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Good Week

Gareth Bale

Another long-range world-class game-winning strike from our flying Welshman. I don’t think I need to say how important it is we keep him next season, so I won’t.

Scott Parker

I thought Parker had his best game of the season on Sunday. He was back to somewhere near his bustling best, chasing players down, tackling, and starting an attack.

Souleymane Coulibaly

Another goal for the little Ivorian on loan in Italy.

The U21s

Through to the final, which is tonight (Monday) at Old Trafford vs United. Be nice to see a few of them get some game time in the Europa League next season.

Bad Week

Daniel Levy

He’ll get a lot of stick for as long as we fail to consistently qualify for the Champions League, even more so when there are quite clearly some holes in the squad that would have been addressed had Levy not buggered about with the negotiations.

I said he’ll get stick for as long as we don’t qualify for the CL because even if he splashed the cash and we came up short, people would say ‘why is he spending that much on those players?’. Sometimes you can’t win, but this summer is a prime opportunity for Levy to convince his biggest doubters.

Tom Huddlestone

After some decent cameos, Hudd had a bit of stinker here. He did a lot of good stuff, and the way he falls back into a centre back/quarter back position which allows our centre backs to split and the full backs to really bomb on is very nice, but he was caught in possession a few times and for someone operating so deep, with so little pace to help him recover, getting caught in possession was criminal.

The feeling prevails that he is a ‘special team’ player – someone who comes onto the pitch in a certain match scenario, but not someone who starts and plays game in, game out. Ultimately I feel he isn’t good enough for what we want, which is a shame because I’m a fan of him but at some point you have to accept that some potential will remain unfulfilled.


Andre Mariner

What a muppet. He is lucky that Bale scored and Newcastle didn’t, otherwise there would have been hell to pay.


There will be an Good Season/Bad Season column next week. You can also be one of the now eight people who read my blog http://block31.blogspot.co.uk/
 

Sweetsman

Well-Known Member
Jan 30, 2011
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According to Tom Collomosse, Bale's signed or about the sign a £130k/year deal, but will be sold next year if mega-bucks are offered.
Huddlestone's dawdling that almost gifted Sunderland a goal was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. He has not progressed and if he was a true professional he would have done something about his weight. He will drift along at Fulham.
I think that AVB will be targeting top three and a cup next year, but I truly he's going to take a punt for the top spot.
 

guate

Well-Known Member
May 12, 2005
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IMHO Levy's buggering about with the transfer negotiations, as Krafty says, particularly during those first three games of the season where we only managed 2 points out of 9 quite clearly cost us a Champions League spot.
Difficult juggling act to balance our books while competing at this level and the man deserves credit as he's obviously Spurs through and through but the quicker we get the Director of Sports in the better, particularly so as AVB is also in agreement.
 

DreadySpur

Well-Known Member
Dec 15, 2006
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According to Tom Collomosse, Bale's signed or about the sign a £130k/year deal, but will be sold next year if mega-bucks are offered.
Huddlestone's dawdling that almost gifted Sunderland a goal was the straw that broke the camel's back for me. He has not progressed and if he was a true professional he would have done something about his weight. He will drift along at Fulham.
I think that AVB will be targeting top three and a cup next year, but I truly he's going to take a punt for the top spot.

The thing that annoyed me about Hudd losing the ball, was the almost petulant and childlike reaction, rather than busting his balls to get back and atone for his error.

I am hoping the second part of Bale's deal is just rumour, as that would be a ridiculously stupid thing for Levy to agree to. It would surely be more a case of if we again fail to qualify for the champions league again, then.... Even still, £50m would still be very low and we would not want to sell to another EPL team either. Therefore I smell the distinct whiff of B/S....
 

minesadouble

Drove my Chevy to the Levy
Jul 27, 2006
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Krafty, I really enjoy your concisely written, well observed columns. Keep'em coming.

Yes, Mariner's truly dreadful decision could have been a £20m+ blunder. I reckon Levy might have sued him! Mariner should get down on his knees to apologise to Bale and above all to thank him for scoring.

Sadly I agree about Big Tom too. We will have only 25 adult slots in our squad, with wage budget to match, and I can't see that we can allocate 'special team' Tom a place. He's a good PL mid-table player at a Stoke/Fulham level but not top 6 material, certainly not a first team regular. We need a minimum of new LB (assuming Benny's going), a Wing (LW and cover RW), a top Striker and at least one top advanced, creative midfielder. I think most first team squad will stay so big Tom looks one to move on, especially with our strong U-21s looking to get game time too.
 

WhiteHeartLowe

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2004
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1,452
The thing that really gets me about Hudd at the mo, especially for someone who has a rep for being able to "ping a pass", is just how atrocious his corners have become of late, they sail over everyone in the box and practically go out for an oposition throw in on the far side of the pitch!
 

Mance Rayder

New Member
May 19, 2013
6
2
Good Work again Krafty!

Completely agree with you on Huddlestone. Sadly for all his passing ability, his lack of mobility will mean he'll never get in ahead of Sandro or Dembeler when fit.

Good to see Coulibally getting goals whilst out on loan. From what's been written about him on this site and others, he has the ability and potential to succeed in the first team. But time will tell as always.
 

spud

Well-Known Member
Sep 2, 2003
5,850
8,794
Huddlestone's dawdling that almost gifted Sunderland a goal was the straw that broke the camel's back for me.
He lost the ball to a player who came from behind him. He had three close teammates with a clear view who failed to give him a shout to warn him, and the fault is was much theirs as his.

Wasn't there a Mariner who used to play for the Goons? Could he be related? :eek:
He would presumably have to have the same surname. Mariner (Paul) is different from Marriner (Andre). They're both twats though.
 

Sweetsman

Well-Known Member
Jan 30, 2011
6,673
6,588
He lost the ball to a player who came from behind him. He had three close teammates with a clear view who failed to give him a shout to warn him, and the fault is was much theirs as his.


And then he stood there. He took the ball off Vertonghen as if he was going to do something with it, but did nothing. I don't know what was going on with his corners: perhaps he expected the opposition defence to fall asleep as the cross floated slowly over to no one in particular. At Stoke I thought it was the wind, but there was no excuse yesterday.
 

rupsmith

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2006
1,714
2,328
Great column Krafty. Appreciate the work you put in - please keep em coming.

However, I have to say I disagree about Tom Huddlestone. Tom is a vital cog in our wheel - his game is not about tackling or killer through balls or spectacular goals - it's making sure we retain possession, distribute the ball into areas of space and sustain pressure. It's the job Carrick does for United and did for us - the issue with that role/position is that it is hugely reliant on how your team mates move off the ball. A team that moves well off the ball like United results in Carrick being nominated for player of the season. A team that has Defoe in it results in people criticizing the Hudd for seemingly ponderous play. I remember when Hudd and Luka were our main CMs under Harry. Teams spent most of their time running and running and running...

I think AVB has realized this which is why he is starting regularly now
 

DreadySpur

Well-Known Member
Dec 15, 2006
1,037
642
Great column Krafty. Appreciate the work you put in - please keep em coming.

However, I have to say I disagree about Tom Huddlestone. Tom is a vital cog in our wheel - his game is not about tackling or killer through balls or spectacular goals - it's making sure we retain possession, distribute the ball into areas of space and sustain pressure. It's the job Carrick does for United and did for us - the issue with that role/position is that it is hugely reliant on how your team mates move off the ball. A team that moves well off the ball like United results in Carrick being nominated for player of the season. A team that has Defoe in it results in people criticizing the Hudd for seemingly ponderous play. I remember when Hudd and Luka were our main CMs under Harry. Teams spent most of their time running and running and running...

I think AVB has realized this which is why he is starting regularly now

I think Tom Carroll would be a better bet in this role
 
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