Chelsea sustains a beat-down at Tot. It wasn't that Chelsea played badly, either. That was a Tot team on top of it's game. 2-0 essentially without getting much from Kane. That was an amazing display. Despite the loss, I can admire what Tot did today. Masterful from start to finish.
Now, if Tottenham sells Dele Alli for 50M to Real, I'll invite all Tot fans to my house for condolences. Alli is the real deal. 20 years old, passionate, a knack for positioning, Englishman through and through. I'll throw down the gauntlet right here and now. Tot has the pieces in place, manager and all, to truly compete for the EPL championship for couple years to come. They have all the positions filled with quality and they have good depth. They have young players and believe essentially all on new contracts. Dier, who I once thought, was going to be a loss in DMid, has been glorious. Cam Carter-Vickers can't see the field because their starting CBs have been fantastic if not, suddenly, (I'll go ahead and say it) playing world-class football. Speedy, offensive minded fullbacks. Fast and dangerous midfield and freaking Kane up top. So the gauntlet is this: if they sell perhaps the most promising young midfielder in the game for anything less than it took for ManU get Pogba, I'll be pissed. Pissed for the EPL, pissed for Tot fans worldwide. Dele is worth 70M to me, given the prices last summer window, and the fact that he is British, his EPL value is even more. Tottenham can't let him go. If the number 50M is what Real is really offering and if Tot is seriously considering it, I would hope Chelsea rolls in with 62M and steals him with a thunderous "Thank-you, suckers".
Jika, the newest Tot supporter!
I thought it was a fairly even match, minus the two quality headers by DA. Hazard should have scored in the 5th minute and there were a couple of chances early in the 2nd half before DA got his 2nd where the ball easily could have gone in the back of the net - especially the header at the back post from Hazard again. The Blues just didn't have the killer instinct in the 1st half and lacked that finishing quality we have seen during their 13 game unbeaten streak. I don't want to say this match meant more to Tot then it did to Chelsea as an excuse, but I really believe that to be the case. If Tot lost this one, their hopes were going to be completely done and their chance to finish top 4 would have taken a hit as well - the whole PL was cheering for them to stem the Chelsea tide and they did that for the time being - Chelsea still 5 clear, 7 clear of Tot.
Also yesterday was interesting to see how Chelsea 'went for it' in the 2nd half by bringing on Willian, Michy and Fabs - all attacking players and yet Tot wasn't able to do anything on the counter. Also not sure why Pedro was started ahead of an in-form Willian, but he also lacked the needed finishing quality. Also yesterday was a microcosm of why Fabs is so frustrating as a player - that game, especially in the 2nd half as it was opening up, was the perfect game for his passing skills, but yet once he was inserted, he looked disinterested. Didn't play many balls in, didn't help much on D, just seemed lost in the middle of the pitch.
Will be interested to see what happens in this coming transfer window too... lots of activity being discussed, but really doubtful anything comes of it.
Fabs looks the part against lesser competition. When team press hard and are quick to close down, he really struggles. I think he still has some good years left, but not in the EPL.
Yeah, wonder if he'll get moved before the summer? Kante is a fantastic dmid, but he needs some help in the creative process. And I think we saw the limitations of that back 3 - I'd like to see them out Cahill on the bench, move Azpi to LCB and bring Zouma in at RCB. At least with the current squad... Transfer window could change that.