Spurs Lose to Liverpool But Through To The Champions League Knockouts

I did not take the loss to Liverpool too bad yesterday. Spurs did not play too bad considering. We had so many injuries that Peresic was playing off Harry Kane as a makeshift striker. It was never going to be easy for Spurs but I found there were nice rays of hope and some chances in the second half could have went Tottenham's way. The return of Kuluevski meant that there was finally a link between defence and attack again. Bissouma had his best game in a Spurs shirt and Bentancur was his usual brilliant self. Even though we were defeated we have come a long way from a Winks, Dele and Ndombele midfield. Our team is much better than last year and it is all down to Antonio Conte.

Boos rang out at half time again but this time I thought it was a bit unfair on the manager. He has guided Spurs not only to the Champions League but to the knockout stages however unpretty it was. We are also in 4th place heading into the world cup. Not a bad position at all for a team that is not playing well. Conte is building and it will take 3 years and a few transfer windows before we start seeing his team. Bentancur and Kuluevski were great signings last January and he brought in a better array of talent in the summer but Spurs are still a number of players short. It was Eric Dier's mistake that cost Spurs yesterday against Liverpool. He has been shaky lately with the absence of Romero, who like every other Argentinian international is pulling up injured for some reason. Wonder what that is.

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Spurs have scored the second most goals out of any European team in Europe in 2022 with the exception of one Bayern Munich. This is a mad stat so we have goals in us so which tells us that sometimes the media may influence how Spurs are portrayed. You would swear that we do not score goals but we do.
Chelsea have scored 17 all season in the league which is less than what Haaland has scored.
The January transfer window beckons and Spurs Director of Football Paradici will be hustling to add more talent to the group. Upgrades. Rumour has it that playmaker Malinovskyi is a done deal and we are keeping a close eye on Bastoni with Inter Milan. Spurs have the money. It is just finding the clubs who are willing to separate with their star players in January that is the problem.

Spence, Tananga and Gil will be loaned out for a better quality of player to come in although there is something about Gil that is very promising but he is too light weight.

Conte did reveal he was somewhat disappointed with the booing at half time versus Liverpool and he needs fans to be behind the team. Some of the gameplay has been bad but he needs to be backed and Spurs need to get him the wing backs that he wants. Emerson Royal is shocking at right wing back.
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Peresic is not the player Conte expected he was getting so maybe there is room to improve here as well although Spurs have signed a left wing back in Destiny Udogie purchased to take over from Peresic but he was loaned back to Udinese.
Tottenham have AC Milan in the next round of the Champions League which is not a nightmare fixture. It is actually quite winnable considering Liverpool got Madrid so I do see us moving to the next round. With one game left to the world cup I am hoping we will beat Leeds and then this will set us up nicely for the break and will give players time to recover from injury.

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So overall we haven't played well but we are still in contention in all competitions. The gameplay can only get better with signings if we stick with Conte but for one thing we have a much better squad than we did last year and we are going in the right direction. I think it is not helped by Arsenal having such a great season but they will blow up. They always do. I still think they will get top 4 but the title is still City's to lose.

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Now it's time to turn our attention to the world cup. I am looking forward to it and I am one of the few that quite fancies watching an international competition coming up to Christmas. A nice change.