Is trickery afoot? And the previews of WBA v Spurs Sunday 8th 12 noon
Venue: The Hawthorns
Jose Mourinho is very annoyed with Arsenal coach Albert Stuivenberg’s being put in charge of our players.
Yes, the enemy – our enemy – is going to be put in charge of Bale, Ben Davies and Joe Rodon as they are in Wales’ latest squad. Of course, I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that something untoward is going on here (heavens above!!), however, it does look sinister.
The Wales Boss Ryan Giggs will not be involved so Robert Page will be in charge, supported by Stuivenberg. The Arsenal man.
Mourinho’s comments on the Arsenal man coaching Wales, “National team matches should have coaches that are exclusively for them and not coaches that work for other clubs. From what I am reading, it’s not Giggs that is responsible for these matches. I’m sorry about it because on the previous fixtures he called me and we spoke about Ben Davies, not Gareth because Gareth was not there. We shared opinions and the situation, which probably isn’t going to happen this time and the fact that one of the coaches is an Arsenal coach doesn’t make me very comfortable. Honestly. It doesn’t make me very comfortable.”
Also, the Dutchman, Stuivenberg, and Giggs worked together under Louis van Gaal at Manchester United from 2014 to 2016. Very concerning. The more you delve into it, the worse it becomes.
Bale has been included in Wales’ squad for the friendly against the United States and the Nations League games against the Republic of Ireland and Finland. He was left out of the national team for October’s games as Bale recovered from injury and club boss Mourinho praised Giggs, saying that he “cares for the player”.
Mourinho also added, “I expect him to play, but if they care as much about him as we do, they have to manage the recovery – how many days difference between one match and another. Manage the minutes that he plays, and they should not let him get into fatigue levels. He is a player who has had enough problems in the past. He is working so much, we are all working so much and so carefully with him. [It’s important] that we don’t destroy the work that everybody is doing for the past couple of months.”
If Mourinho is concerned, then every Tottenham supporter throughout the world should be worried. Can you feel an injury coming along here, just when we could play Arsenal or one of the others? Of course, if you are an Arsenal lover then no doubt you won’t see anything wrong… but disturbances of the mind come in many shapes and sizes.
I will let that sink in for a while but for now, something completely different… (I hear the tune of Monty Python being played here) as we quickly go into Sunday’s game.
WBA v Spurs
After our positive last two games, we will be going into the Albion match on a high. Of course, we can’t take any games for granted, but at the same time, certain matches should be doable, and WBA is one of those games. I am expecting a few goals, well, enough to make your mouth drip with saliva and your eyes bulge with excitement.
TEAM NEWS
WBA
West Brom will evaluate their defender Dara O’Shea, who has missed their past two matches because of an ankle injury. Sam Field and Hal Robson-Kanu remain sidelined.
Spurs
Sergio Reguillon missed the midweek trip to Ludogorets through illness but has returned to training and should be available. The club will check Serge Aurier, who did not play in Bulgaria as he had a minor injury, while Erik Lamela is ruled out because of a niggling problem.
My thoughts and prediction
We beat Brighton last week, just, however, we are getting better as the games go by, and, we are getting positive results as well. And don’t forget we sit third in the league, and if we win against WBA, then we go on top. Whether we stay on top will depend on the other results that Sunday.
As for West Brom. They will need something special if they are going to stay up, plus 36 points or more. They must be one of the favourites to go straight back down. In previous games, they seem to have bursts of 15 or 40 minutes, but then quickly die away.
I know I like predicting high scores (for us)… but this time I am going for more than my usual 3 or 4 nil scoreline. Think big, is my attitude. Even if we don’t achieve that, we need to win this game.
Prediction: 0-5
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
We have won just two of our past 10 league fixtures against West Brom (D6, L2).
The Baggies won their most recent game against us in May 2018 and can record back-to-back league victories against us for the first time since 1984.
West Bromwich Albion
West Brom are winless in eight Premier League matches since beating Tottenham 1-0 in their penultimate game of the 2017-18 season (D3, L5).
The Baggies’ tally of three points from seven matches is their worst start to a league season since 1985 when they had just one point at the same stage.
The previous time they failed to win any of their opening seven Premier League games was in 2004-05. They beat Bolton 2-1 in their eighth match and ultimately avoided relegation on the final day of the season.
Slaven Billic has won three of his four home matches against Tottenham as a manager in all competitions – those victories (two with West Ham, one with Besiktas) were all by a 1-0 scoreline.
Tottenham Hotspur
We could win our opening four away matches in a league season for the fourth time in our history.
If we avoid defeat in a seventh consecutive league game, it will be our longest unbeaten run under Jose Mourinho, and our best since Mauricio Pochettino oversaw a 14-match sequence between December 2017 and April 2018.
Our tally of 12 goals from our opening three away games is the highest by a top-flight side since 1935 when Middlesbrough had 14 goals at the same stage.
We are the Premier League’s top scorers before the latest round of matches, with 18 goals.
Defeat by Sheffield United in July means we could lose back-to-back league matches against newly-promoted sides for the first time since 2012.
That is it, folks! My next outing will be to review our victory against WBA (hopefully!) unless something comes up that forces me again to put pen to paper.
Take care, look after yourselves and drink wisely… as you know I do!
Glenn
COYS!!!
My name is Glenn Renshaw.
I am currently a Premium Season Ticket holder (West Stand) in the new stadium. Before that – at White Hart Lane – a season ticket holder in various parts of the ground (mainly in the North stand).
Before becoming a season ticket holder, I stood on the shelf and various other parts of the ground since the 1960s (the season of the double). In 1987 I became one of the first to hold a Spurs Membership card. I was also a life long member of the Spurs supporters club (now defunct).
I go to all home, away and abroad matches.
I was born in 1955, Edgware, London. I currently live in Berkshire.
I also collect all Spurs books, Spurs handbooks, Spurs programmes etc.
Previously, I wrote for Spurs Fanzines: The Spur, Spur of the Moment, My Eyes have seen the Glory and various other Spurs fanzines’. I also wrote for the SpursWeb app & its website.
I currently write and work for spursnetwork.com and its website. I write its Reviews & Match reports and a lot more.
My other interests are; reading, history, social history, Politics, going to the gym, wine, going out for a meal, music (all sorts), writing, theatre, concerts, going on holidays, socialising etc.
I have been writing blogs/ articles since 1989
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