Pre-Season 2023/24

[agrdavidsfan]

Really worried we are going to be undercooked

 

[Saoirse]

We've gone on tour to a part of the world during it's rainy season. We absolutely could have looked at that and gone somewhere it's doesn't rain quite so much at this time of year.

Sure, and then permanently miss out on the SE Asia market. Or go there during the winter break instead which would be really popular. Everyone wishes we could go back to local fans being prioritised, players earning a good but not huge wage and going to the pub afterwards, and none of the commercialisation. But it's simply not possible to do that and hope to compete any more. If that's what you want you need to go and find a non-league club (which honestly I highly recommend)

 

[TheWook]

Don't worry lads...

Our next game is against Lion City Sailors... who work part time Mariners.

Weather is a Brilliant 'Thunder Showers' on 26July when we play them

View attachment 129345

Are they part time mariners or part time footballers?

 

[Yid-ol]

No not you Yid-ol, the rest of us.

Should have checked those terms & conditions more before I signed! Damnit

 

[Sweech]

Disappointed but can't really get pissed off seeing that some fans travelled and spent shit loads of cash to get there when my only inconvenience was waking up at 5am.

Genuinely do feel for the thai and other local fans (believe there's quite the South Korean contingent) as I know what it's like living on the other side of the world from your team where you really cherish even the sliver of getting to see them live.

 

[George94]

If there's risk of Wednesday's game facing similar weather problems, surely the sensible thing to do would be bring the team back to the UK and arrange some friendlies here?

 

[Yiddo100]

Really worried we are going to be undercooked

We’ve got about 30 players, we can easily have a game between our own squad if needed.

 

[Azza1985]

So between the 18th July and the 6th August we're playing 1 Game against Lion City Sailors! Whoever planned this preseason needs their role at the club reviewed!

 

[Liamyid28]

There was a time when pre season used to be about getting ready for the season but as with everything else in the game today it’s all about money.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

If there's risk of Wednesday's game facing similar weather problems, surely the sensible thing to do would be bring the team back to the UK and arrange some friendlies here?

Sounds like too much planning for this club

 

[agrdavidsfan]

Are they part time mariners or part time footballers?

They are a professional football team with some ex European stars like Lestienne (Kazan), Zivikovic (Ajax - once an FM wonder kid)

 

[nferno]

Teams go to Bangkok almost ever year for pre-season.

Last year Liverpool played Man Utd there. It’s just the luck of the weather.

Yes you have a higher chance of rain - but most of the time it’s not to the extent that it would impact a game going ahead.

You think the tour organisers would splash huge amounts of money on this if that was the case?

but why not select stadiums with roofs to mitigate bad weather? It’s still amateur hour, especially when there are other locations available which you can get similar money for going to with less risk. Singapore and Jakarta are Asian cities which experience monsoon too, but they each have a national stadium with a roof so you could understand why we might’ve chosen to still go there in monsoon season.

And to be clear, I’m not bashing Thailand or Asia. I’m bashing people who organised this tour.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

If there's risk of Wednesday's game facing similar weather problems, surely the sensible thing to do would be bring the team back to the UK and arrange some friendlies here?

Different country, different sponsor responsibilities.

These tours are rarely great for pre-season preparation, but a necessary evil in the chase for global money.

 

[agrdavidsfan]

We’ve got about 30 players, we can easily have a game between our own squad if needed.

Still don’t think you’ll get the game intensity you need though, plus players need certain minutes you can’t just split the squad and make them play 90. Football at this level isn’t that simple they will all be on individual plans efc

 

[tevezito]

Not in an official capacity, it is possible both teams could arrange a behind closed doors friendly

I think you mean an under closed roof friendly.

 

[TheWook]

They are a professional football team with some ex European stars like Lestienne (Kazan), Zivikovic (Ajax - once an FM wonder kid)

So are they mariners aswell or just the local players?

 

[EQP]

If there's risk of Wednesday's game facing similar weather problems, surely the sensible thing to do would be bring the team back to the UK and arrange some friendlies here?

The Singapore National stadium features a retractable roof that’s able to fully open and close in 25 minutes if it rains, while also creating a cooler indoor temperature during daytime events by providing ample shade.

 

[strader]

Three pre season games left. One against a local team and the two against quality opposition are so close together that no one should play more than 90 min across those games.

Not going to get the most out of flying 46h in pre season.

Was just thinking the same, is getting to a point that our preseason preparation is not looking great in terms of getting that match fitness ready for the start of the new season.

When we played westham, it was our first but westham 3rd.

Not blaming anyone though.

 

[delawarespur]

If there's risk of Wednesday's game facing similar weather problems, surely the sensible thing to do would be bring the team back to the UK and arrange some friendlies here?

Think the stadium has a roof

 

[TommyGee]

If this game is cancelled , this tour will be (or one of) the worst preseason tour for us already.

Spurs will be the most travelling PL side this preseason (13000+miles)

Already, Roma friendly got cancelled and replaced with a club with a fake pirate name - Lion City Sailors

Aug 6 - we play a depleted Shaktar at home
Aug 8 - less than 48hrs, we travel away to play Barca in final preseason game.

This means, there wont be recovery time between games...which could mean we would be forced to play with 2 XIs to protect the players.

13 Aug - Brentford away in PL , which means we give ourself just 4 days prior to the 1st PL game.

All this, there is Kane issue & CBs issues to be sorted.

Shambles FC

I swear we're slowly turning into AFTV sometimes with all the hyperbolic posts these days.

City, Liverpool, West Ham, Leicester and others all have very similar Asian tours, dates and fixtures.

Spurs aren't an exception here, this is standard. These fixtures are largely exhibition and commercial focused.

If you're seriously expecting that Ange's pre-season is reliant on a series of 2x 45min halves of full-squad-rotated friendly games then I think you might be a bit out of touch. We have a 30 player squad travelling. We are not constrained by having an opposition to have a competitive training game.

The squad and Ange will be getting the most benefits on the training pitch as would our rivals who are all also travelling. Sure it would be more optimal to scrap it all and do pre-season in-house and back at home, but this isn't the reality of modern football.

Kane's contract saga and any pending CB transfers have no real relevance to where the current squad are travelling. We are not the only club still looking for players in/out. Fans across nearly every single PL club have the same transfer frustrations that we do. It's all relative.

Look outside of the Spurs fishbowl and touch grass once in awhile and you may feel a bit better with some perspective.

Cancelling this fixture is a shame, but it's the right call and we move on.