I know him well from his time growing up at Celtic, and he absolutely should have forced his way out a couple of years ago. Instead, he's 26 and should be entering his prime and yet he hasn't played meaningful football in pushing 4 years.
2023-24 Premier League Thread
- Thread starter andyt
- Start date
Raya’s loan deal has an option to buy for about £27 million. Brentford don’t expect him to return.
Montana
Champion
think it’s actually an obligation to buy, £3m for the loan, then the £27m….basically just an end around for FFP I believe.
Montana
Champion
did you watch lots of Postecoglou’s Celtic teams?….so far I’m loving him at Tottenham.
Yeah, I'm a Celtic fan first so I watch the majority of their more competitive matches. It took him about 2 months into his first season to get Celtic settled into that hybrid system he runs, but once they did it was awfully fun to watch. If nothing else, he should eventually get Spurs to where they get more consistent results against teams that aren't as comfortable in possession. That flex-press and fill thing he runs really unsettles weaker opponents but it also let Celtic hang in games against better clubs when they played in Europe. Plus, Ange is just impossible not to like. I love that big lug.
Montana
Champion
yeah I think he’ll have us pretty dominant against mid/bottom tier teams pretty quickly, but it’s going to take some time for us to gel on offence, and find the best way to use Son & Kulusevski who aren’t ideal wingers for his system.
Maddison, Bissouma, Udogie, and Van de Ven have all looked phenomenal in his system tho, and I’m hopeful Richarlison will find a new level under him.
I’ve been real impressed with how quickly the boys are picking it up, given how notoriously slow his teams usually start off….. but it’s pretty clear that even when we stumble early, it’s still going to be entertaining as hell.
glad we gave him a four year deal right out of the gate as well, and showed that extra little commitment to his project. Im pretty confident that if we back him and consistently add players that fit what he needs, he can do great things here.
(I’m praying he can turn Porro into a winger, cause we could really use a wing with his dribbling ability, and he’s too big a detriment as a fullback imo)
Luton v. Burnley scheduled for Saturday has been postponed. The required renovations at Kenilworth Road are not complete. Their next scheduled home match is a League Cup tie against Gillingham on August 29, then a home league match on September 1 against West Ham.
VinatieriDefinesClutch
Well-known member
Villa with a bounce back 4-0 over Everton. Not exactly sure what to make of the first two games as neither showed me too much of what this team actually is. Everton are so bad and obviously it's better to crush those teams convincingly than to not, but it doesn't make me go, well week one was clearly a fluke and this is the team. Watkins is fully back in his normal form other than that awesome goal run he had last season where he's very good at getting into dangerous positions and then has zero end product. Diaby fed him beautifully for what should have been an easy goal and he put it wide.
Coutinho looked to have done his hamstring and that did not look good. I guess he's not moving anywhere this Summer. For a month an a half he was the best player I've ever seen on Villa and he just cannot stay healthy.
Coutinho looked to have done his hamstring and that did not look good. I guess he's not moving anywhere this Summer. For a month an a half he was the best player I've ever seen on Villa and he just cannot stay healthy.
Honestly, Villa played so well for so much of that horrible opening loss to Newcastle that I'm 100% willing to chalk that up to a team reeling from the loss of two influential players in such a short period just not keeping it together in key moments. I doubt anybody's actually reeling from Countinho being hurt yet again, but it must be said that the early stages of the season are feeling a bit snake-bit to me. Still given the way Villa normally play at Goodison, I'll take whatever they get ... even if Everton do still stink. Which they do. This season is gonna be a slog, so collect your points where you can.
VinatieriDefinesClutch
Well-known member
I do hope we see the three center backs with one fullback lineup we saw in pre-season. Diego Carlos needs to be starting as Digne was probably our best areal defender who started the game and he's the only one on the back line that goes forward. I don't love the 3-5-2 we've switched to when Carlos has come in each game. It's okay for seeing out a game like we did in this one, but I don't feel like it provides much of an attacking threat.
Yeah, I feel like they're going to need to drill some more on that stuff now that Mings is out. He was old faithful back there and having him out is a huge loss.
VinatieriDefinesClutch
Well-known member
Oh yeah, final point that I almost forgot. Really happy to not see Watkins step up to the penalty spot. Commentator said that Luiz and McGinn have been taking them in practice and Luiz took a no nonsense penalty and buried it in the corner.
Got what you wanted against Hibs during the week. Villa went with three CBs and put Digne on an island on the left wing. He responded with three assists, but they should come with an asterisk since Hibs are on just a dreadful run to open the season. Classic Hibs. They almost always turn success immediately into failure.
And that's what I'm expecting from Villa early on. They'll be more open and experimental in the Euro games while keeping it fairly buttoned down and cautious in the Prem on the weekends until the more attacking system eventually becomes second nature and they balance it out.
Montana
Champion
Some talk that Jota’s gonna be available on a free, after the deal he struck went sour…..think he’d be capable of making the transition to the Prem if Ange was to come calling?
I suspect he'd be effective in the Prem, but it's far from a given. I think his transition would be a bit like Almiron's at Newcastle. It took him a couple of years to find his level again after discovering that he couldn't just do whatever the heck he wanted at that level. Jota was every bit as much "the man" in terms of driving possession and creating chances at Celtic as Amiron was at Atlanta United when he left. Almiron is a very good winger in the Prem now, but it took a while.
I suspect with the expectations being what they are at Spurs, they'd want someone a little more proven at the highest level.
Montana
Champion
Robbie Williams on Instagram: "COYS @spursofficial"
100K likes, 2,320 comments - robbiewilliams on August 27, 2023: "COYS @spursofficial".
www.instagram.com
It’s been 3 games, and already everyone is loving Big Ange,
VinatieriDefinesClutch
Well-known member
Villa with another very good performance against a more feisty side than last week for sure, but still a bottom of the table side. No nonsense wins against sides you should beat are always great though and something we didn't really do pre Emery so I'm feeling pretty good. Its nice to not be even considering worrying about relegation and just having thoughts of how high can we finish.
I was really happy to finally see the three center back and one fullback formation we had used in preseason and it worked great. Matty "The Polish Cafu" Cash really thrived at the right midfield spot scoring the first two goals and then looked really uncomfortable taking over for Digne and playing left back for what I assume was his first time ever. Not sure why the defense didn't just shift over and let Cash play right back. Really hope that Martinez isn't out long from injury as boy does Olsen look uncomfortable on the ball. He just does not have the right skill set for Emery's system. Also, Watkins missed another sitter. If he was remotely clinical in his end product, he's a 20+ goal scorer a season easily.
I was really happy to finally see the three center back and one fullback formation we had used in preseason and it worked great. Matty "The Polish Cafu" Cash really thrived at the right midfield spot scoring the first two goals and then looked really uncomfortable taking over for Digne and playing left back for what I assume was his first time ever. Not sure why the defense didn't just shift over and let Cash play right back. Really hope that Martinez isn't out long from injury as boy does Olsen look uncomfortable on the ball. He just does not have the right skill set for Emery's system. Also, Watkins missed another sitter. If he was remotely clinical in his end product, he's a 20+ goal scorer a season easily.