Tottenham improvements, Wilson Odobert and the rest of the transfer window | Gold & Guest

Hello everyone, Rob Guest from Football.London here and welcome to the latest episode of Gold and Guest Tottenham, sponsored by NordVPN. Joining me as ever, it's Alistair Gold. You well? I am. Are you okay though? Yeah, I am. Alright. Kind of expected the defeat on Saturday. Maybe not 4-0, but everyone knew it was coming. so many people after the game on social media asking if you were okay it was actually quite sweet you know people were genuinely concerned for your welfare after the game did you have to like kind of go and hide away or how did you deal with that you know I've had to deal with many such uh kind of issues after spurs games and stuff how did you cope what was your coping mechanisms I had to carry on working. I had no other option. But I'm used to it anyway. At least it wasn't another 5-0 a couple of years ago, but there you go. Yeah, I mean... You're probably best placed to kind of tell us what kind of Everton team were Spurs facing? I mean, how bad were the problems with the unavailability, injuries, things like that? Well, there's some key players out. We had three right-backs missing. Two of those, you know, getting on quite a bit now. One of them, Nathan Patterson, is a really young lad. But I thought Roman Dixon, who came in at right-back, I thought he did really well. And missing Jared Brantwaite at centre-back, who's a huge, huge miss. Obviously, I mean, to put it in Spurs terms, it's like if Van de Ven was out missing and you saw... how big he was last season when he was out of the team. James Garner usually starts in midfield when he's fitting available. So, yeah, there were certainly some injury issues right across the park for us. But I think a lot of fans will probably point to the fact that, you know, the new signings aren't starting, except for Tim Iribunim in the middle of the park, who's a really good player. So, yeah. Yeah, it was slightly depleted, Everton side, and I think everyone, you know, went into the game thinking we weren't going to get anything out of it. But, you know, full credit to Spurs, they were, you know, I thought, very good on the day and deservedly got the three points. Yeah, they played well. They did. It was weird. I was looking back at the stats from the Leicester game. Spurs actually had created more chances, had more shots at goal in the Leicester game. It's just funny the way it works. It's no shock. If you put the ball in the net, suddenly everything looks far better than it does. Yeah, I kind of from the outside of the Everton camp looking in kind of thing, you could definitely see defensively they weren't as organised maybe and compact as they normally would be. Yeah, I kind of felt with the right back. He had a tough day in that he was kind of up against that trio almost of Odubera, Dogi and Maddison all constantly forming these little triangles, which worked really well on the day. So, yeah, tough day for him. And I would say, I mean, probably fair to say, though, in terms of attacking things, It was probably the same Everton you would have faced normally anyway, wouldn't it? They weren't really missing any members of the attacking element. No, no. It's usually McNeil, Harrison and DCL up front. But we've brought in a couple of new players this summer in Jesper Lindström and Illermann and Dye. And I think fans just want them to start just to freshen things up. And Lindström went close in the second half. He forced... Vicario into a save. Other than that, it was only really a couple of half chances. I think Harrison was unmarked at the back post there, what was that, about 15, 20 minutes into the game. So there were a few chances here and there, but just never really threatened Spurs. I think there were times when DCL had the ball in decent positions, but then there was just no support there. And when it's one against four, you just kind of, turn the ball over and Spurs are just going to go up the other end with it. Yeah, I should point out to anyone that isn't a big Everton fan that DCL isn't like a knee injury. Probably it is Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Yeah, I think the reason I was kind of going towards the attacker and asking whether he was there was the set pieces. That for me, I thought... I saw some people, funny enough, saying that they didn't think Spurs were that good. I actually thought Spurs defending set pieces was really good. I mean, if you go back to comparing at Goodison, that was horrendous for Spurs. They were all over the place. They didn't know how to deal with what Everton were kind of putting into the box. And I felt that was always going to be probably the main avenue you were going to get something out of the game, Everton, on Saturday. And... I felt Spurs, they've got this, they've got the new coaching staff, a new couple of coaches in Nick Montgomery and Sergio Raimondo have come in. They brought a lot of discipline, which they were kind of known for. They've both got military background. Sergio in terms of Raimondo in terms of actually serving, but also Nick Montgomery's family, I think, maybe his dad, I think it was, was involved in the armed forces. And they've kind of, it's a bit of a stereotype, I guess, but they've brought that discipline, they've brought that kind of structured way of life into the Tottenham camp. Not that it wasn't entirely there before, but they've just brought extra and... And I think Nick Montgomery has also taken a bigger role in, it's a collective thing. I think a lot of the training stuff and especially set pieces as well. But from what I understand, Nick Montgomery is coming in and taking quite a big portion of set piece work, attacking and defending. And I don't think it's any surprise that I thought they looked quite good from set pieces defending-wise against Leicester. And they've carried that into the Everton game. And lo and behold, they've scored their first attacking set-piece goal as well, Romero heading in in the second half. So did you feel that the defending from the set pieces was better against the Sean Dyche team, which obviously that's one of their big kind of threats? Yeah, I think you've got to go into a game knowing what to expect against Sean Dyche's teams because they are really, really good on set pieces. That was evident at Goodison Park back in February. And you know when Everton might not be at their very best, have injuries, if they're getting corners and free kicks, there's still going to be a threat and you've got to deal with those. And I mean, that was a massive problem for Spurs last season and clubs were, you know, targeting Spurs in the final few months of the season, especially Vicario. So everyone will be pleased it's something they've been working on because, I mean, it's still evident in pre-season, especially the Bayern Munich home game. They conceded a few from set pieces and some Spurs have had to remedy and it looks like they're taking the steps forward to doing that. Yeah, it's a slightly different system now. It seems like it's a zonal system, but with a couple of players handed man-marking tasks as well. So you're kind of getting the best of both worlds. Well, that's the idea. You're going to get the best of both worlds. I'm sure in some games we'll end up seeing the worst of both worlds, but... The idea, I suppose, is that some of the more dominant threats that you'll face will be man-marked and everyone else is taking certain zones. But yeah, no, I thought that was a pleasing part. It's the first clean sheet of the season as well. And just the game itself was... There was so little, other than the scare for Van Der Ven, so little drama to it in terms of worries and fears. As a journalist, it was beautiful. Not obviously for yourself, but for myself. Knowing what I was going to be writing about, I don't know, midway early in the second half. Whereas the amount of times you and I have been writing about games and had to rip up everything we've written because something has happened in the second half. that has either blown the result or changed everything. And this was just a very comfortable, comprehensive 4-0 win. Lots of positives, lots of performances there. We can talk about a debut that was a bright one as well. Yeah, loads that we can really kind of dive into beyond the set pieces. Yeah, so Ange made three changes to the team without Rodrigo Bentenker, obviously because of the concussion protocol after that knock in the closing minutes of the 1-1 draw against Leicester. Pat Matassar dropped to the bench and there was no Dominic Solanke through injury. Typical Spurs, really. Played every game for Bournemouth last season and then after one game, he's on the sidelines for Spurs, but In came Dejan Kulosevski. Wilson Odeberg came in and then Yves Bissouma as well on his return to the team. And those coming in had the big, big impact. Most notably, Yves Bissouma, who scored the first goal of the game. Yeah, that was a big call. That was a big call to bring him in. We obviously spoke at length over the previous two podcasts, I think, about Bissouma and what to do. Because ultimately, you've kind of got two options, haven't you, really? You can either keep punishing him, keep him on the sidelines, make him watch Archie Gray out there, an 18-year-old doing the job, or you say, right, okay, well, Bentacur's out. We're going to need you because we're going to play with two quite attacking players in Madison and Kurusevsky, so it might be a bit much to throw on Archie Gray. Oh, yeah, you're going to have to mop up everything behind these guys. Um... And I guess it worked. There's no way around it. It worked. It worked on the day. He has carried this whole kind of mentality of, it's almost like the Yuzbusuma apology tour this week. There was nice quotes from Ange in the press conference the day before, essentially saying that, He said something along the lines of, you know when you tell your kid off or you punish them, I can't remember exactly what he said, and then for the next two days they're at their best behaviour. And he said, and he's been like that. He's first to meetings, first to training, everything like that. And obviously you don't judge him on that. You'll judge him on how he goes when everything kind of goes back to normal. um he's been really honest about basuma he kind of led into the fact that there's been lots of little bits and pieces that haven't been great discipline wise from basuma behind the scenes and he said not major stuff not like really bad things he said this one was for him he felt this latest incident was a really kind of big incident but he said that there's all these little bits I presume it's maybe previous stuff we've heard with basuma maybe about timekeeping I don't know or just little bits and pieces and he said it was also um in games you could see it that he would have a terrific performance for much of it and he just concentration laps suddenly or he would do something that wasn't um fully being switched on and having the perfect attitude so Yeah, it was, this was very much, yeah, like I said, the Basuma apology tour, we got an absolutely wonderful goal. In the moment, I thought he just smashed a rocket of a shot, but it was. But when I watched it back in kind of slow-mo and close range, it's like an in-step curling shot. It's actually a ridiculously good shot. There's a lot of kind of control and technique involved in it. And that was, yeah, beautiful. And then his celebration involved kind of bowing and apologising to the fans, lots of grabbing of the club badge on his shirt. And then this kind of like a funny hug with Postacoglu. He kind of like bent over. It was almost like, yeah, it was. It was like a kid kind of grabbing their parent and giving them a hug, like hunched over slightly. And you can see, you know, I think Postacoglu is probably the biggest hugger of his players. But there's something about that dynamic, isn't there, between Basuma and Postacoglu, that Basuma sees him as like a real kind of a football father figure type. I think he's also called him his uncle at one point. But that probably only makes it even more disappointing when he does stuff like he's done and kind of goes in the bad books. But yeah, I thought he was excellent, actually. There's probably maybe one, at the most, two misplaced passes. But on the whole, I thought he was very, very disciplined. Like I say, it had to be because of the two midfielders he had alongside him. Here's a question for you. Is he the best at the club in taking the ball off the defence, twisting and turning and putting it out to the sides? That beating the press kind of move that the midfielder has to do? Or is that Benton Kerr? Tough one. I think you probably need to see a bit more of Benton Kerr in that role for Spurs because we've mainly seen him as a number eight in Anja's team. But Basuma, when he's on top of his game, he can be a big, big asset in the middle of the pack, which he was against Everton on Saturday. So it's actually going to be interesting if he keeps his place in the team at Newcastle now, if you imagine that. If we're thinking Bensker's going to be back for it after almost a two-week break, really, from the Leicester game, you would imagine he does keep his place in there. Difficult. It is a difficult one. Well, I mean, this is the selection dilemma Ange wants, and you've got Kolaszewski coming into the team and making a big impact as well, and then your subs coming on and doing well. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, we saw last season when Yves Bissouma was starting in that number six position, the first couple of months of the season, he was fantastic. Before then, he got the, what was it, about three separate suspensions, and then he was away for AFCON, and he just wasn't the same player after that. But yeah, I was surprised he started. Just going on what Andrew was saying in his press conference. It was like, Basuma's back, but we've got other options. And to me, that sounded like, yeah, Basuma's back, but the other options might be starting ahead of him. But I mean, that's all he can do for Basuma. Once he's on the pitch, just let his football do the talking. And that's exactly what he did on Saturday. Yeah, this was only the start. You know, this is his first step kind of thing. And yeah, Paul Scroggins was very clear on that after the game. I think he even joked to the BBC, didn't he, where it clearly worked. Maybe I need to ban him again. And he can kind of come back in a week's time and be really good. Yeah, I... This is it with Basuma. And, you know, he's not 18, he's not 21, he's not even 25. He's going to be 28 on Friday. This is an experienced player. This shouldn't be someone that discipline is an issue for. It really shouldn't. So I think... this is going to be one of, it's going to go one of two ways. Now it's either going to be the kind of the ignition, like the, the spark that he needs to kind of a bit of a, a public, um, thing about his career that has been examined and maybe moves on from that. And he's better, or it's just like a part of a pattern. And then this continues down the same road, but, um, he can't allow that to happen for two reasons. First off, because as we said, Benton has looked very good in the role and I think he can do that excellently. And I think Archie Gray is going to be a superstar. So Archie Gray is going to end up, I think, potentially being Spurs number six for the long term. And Postacoglu was very clear that there's only so much thread you can kind of give him if he's just going to not accept what he's got. Because he's an incredibly talented player. When he is performing, Spurs are performing. They are absolutely brilliant with him at his best. But ultimately, there's a point where you become more of a liability than a plus to a team. And if he keeps going down this inconsistent road where he can't really be trusted, and that's in games and out of games, then... Yeah, I think Postakoglu is the type that this is why he doesn't get too attached to players, because if he has to make decisions like this and chop them, essentially, he will. But this was a positive first step, but he's got a lot more steps to take. One player who was influential in the first goal was Kulosevsky back in the team, starting centrally. I mean, it was kind of a hint from Postacoglio now that he views Deci as a midfielder rather than on the wing because I think we both said he should be coming back in on the right instead of Brendan Johnson and instead he was in central instead of Pat Matasar and linked to well with Brendan Johnson for the goal. I think that's what Spurs were missing at Leicester. Someone who can just produce those, you know, flicks and tricks in the final third. Just, you know, create something when you need it most. And then, you know, put it on the plate for Bissouma. And I mean, again, he's really made a case for a starting spot against Newcastle. Kulaseski, uh, Whether or not he remains in there, we'll have to wait and see with the game at St. James' Park on Sunday. But, I mean, that's exactly what you want to see from him on a weekly basis. I really like Kulishevsky. I think sometimes he gets scapegoated a little bit and people don't look at the amount of chances he creates. Just on Saturday alone, he played more key passes than anyone else on the pitch. He had four key passes. The feat he showed for that first goal, the Everton defenders got nowhere near him. They were just kind of watching him, just absolutely bewitched by what he was doing. um and then tease it up on a plate for basuma to kind of smash in and like you said just before that a little interplay with um brennan johnson was really good um I like him in the eight role. I think that really suits a lot of his skill set. I think he's strong. He battles back. He's got that box-to-box energy that we've seen him use over and over again. So sometimes you kind of think, oh, if I play like a normal, a number 10, let's say, or a winger in the central midfield, they're going to be a bit lightweight. They're maybe not going to be able to do a lot of the defensive stuff. He does that as well. um so yeah Spurs have kind of suddenly got quite a lot of options in the eight roles um wingers and eight roles and uh yeah I thought he was he was very very good um it's such a difficult choice for Newcastle because you've got the mobility of Sarr he's very good in that respect and also gives you a lot of uh defensive cover as well but Kudasevsky for me is it's kind of the informed player at Spurs over recent months. And it's a big call to kind of not put him into that lineup. And yeah, I like the fact that he's, rather than Postakoglu just thinking, he doesn't fit my winger system, he's out. I like the fact that he's saying, well, actually, he could be a really valuable asset in the midfield. We'll get another winger in, we'll bring Odebeer in, and now they've got like six, seven different choices of wingers. um which could have says he could still play on the right over the course of the season but we are going to use him in these deeper roles and that bolsters our midfield options as well and yeah I think he's going to be very dangerous in that position yeah I mean that's where he was playing uh when he was going through the system at atalanta uh before he ended up going to juventus and Palmer on loan, he was playing in the central areas and I know he said to you on the pre-season, so was it two years ago? Yeah. That's where he prefers playing and we saw it last season when he was operating there, just how influential he can be and Spurs do, I think they did against Leicester, miss such a technical player in there just to open things up and yeah, nice to see him making impacts back in the team. Wilson Odebeer as well, he was another starter. Really positive performance. And I think he probably just shows you how much of an impression he made on the training pitch during the week. Because, I mean, compare it to Everton. Sean Dyche, you know, maybe not starting. Jesper Lindström and Illermann and Dijk straight away in the team, despite a decent pre-season from them both. But Postakoglu, on the other hand, seeing something, you know, the bearing training. And he's straight in there. Because, I mean, there's still some good options on the bench for Spurs on the wings. You've got Timo Werner as well. Richarlison can play wide. Son could have played left wing instead with Richarlison through the middle. But Odebeer looked really good on the ball. Positive from the first whistle. Tricky player. Used his pace. Tried to make things happen. It was a really positive performance from him. One that certainly left Tottenham fans wanting more. Yeah, he's a get-you-out-of-your-seat kind of player. He is. You can see that. To have that combination of pace and skill and brilliant technical ability, every time that ball was pinged to him, he stopped it dead. Every time. It was like, that's such a huge thing for a winger, especially to be able to take it into your run with you as well. I would say... Tracked back quite well as well. Did a lot of the defending side of the game. There was one lovely tackle. I can't remember who it was against, but he put it against the player and it went out for like a deep throw for Spurs. I think he was knackered come second half. I think you could see that. He's probably had a lot more added responsibilities than he had at Burnley, even though he would be match fit because he was, you know, started the championship season with them. I would say the only showings of his youth were maybe the final ball. I don't think. It's one of those where you analyse performance. It was very exciting. It created space for others, took people on, which is brilliant. But if you probably analyse what he actually did with the ball, it was either quite a simple layoff or an attempt to get a ball through to someone that didn't quite work. But that will come. And I think a lot of that is also... understanding the movement of your fellow attackers. That's something he won't know yet. And where players, which players often pull back to the edge of the six yard box, which throw themselves in the goal line and, and the things like that. And, uh, that will come, but it was, yeah, it was as well. The word Postakoglu used when I asked about it afterwards, exciting. And he said, he loves the fact that even if he hasn't, um, beaten his man on one occasion, um, And it hasn't worked at all or he's lost the ball, he goes back and does it. Ten seconds later or a minute later or whatever, he'll keep going at it. And yeah, from what I understand, I've been really impressed with him in training as well. He's really caught the eye. And the fact that he can play left or right or he can play as a number eight or a ten as well, it's a very versatile, talented young player. I think Burnley really were trying to keep holding him this summer. That was their kind of aim. They weren't really looking to let him move on this summer. And I think... There was a fair bit of interest. I think Spurs were probably fortunate that Vincent Kompany and Bayern had already got Alisa and have got quite a few wingers because I do wonder whether they would have gone in for him because Kompany loved him. He thinks he's going to be one of the best. But yeah, eventually Spurs... wore them down with a with a bid that they can offer they couldn't refuse in a way and um he's a Spurs player and it was a good start very promising start I think it puts a lot of pressure on the likes of Brendan Johnson who was disappointing again overall because ultimately if he doesn't perform there's so many players that can come into these roles now um yeah, but that's what it's all about. It's about raising the quality of the group and, uh, through competition. And, uh, yeah, it's, uh, I thought he was good. I thought it was good. That was what I mean about your young, uh, right back. His name's gone completely out of my head, even though I wrote about him earlier, Roman Dixon, Roman Dixon. That was it. Um, The bit I most felt sorry for Roman Dixon was when he bounced off Van de Ven for the run at the end. He like tried to stop him and it's just like Van de Ven, his size, flying through the centre of pitch. You essentially like, it's like trying to grab onto like a Japanese bullet train or something. It's just not going to happen kind of thing. But yeah, I think Odebeer gave him some real kind of troubles over the course of the game. He had to be really switched on as a 19-year-old. Actually, two 19-year-olds. They're up against each other, weren't they? Both 19. But yeah, very promising. Very promising start. Not bad at all for a player who, you know, some fans may have questioned the transfer when it was announced on that Friday, especially when there was links with Pedro Neto from Wolves, who was now at Chelsea earlier. In the summer, but I think it probably just highlights there's some excellent players in the Championship. We've seen Elise and Eze step up at Crystal Palace. Adam Watson as well. There's some gems there. And as you were saying, Vance and company, you know, really, really liked Odebear at Burnley. Didn't want to... You know, maybe wax lyrical about him too much, wanting to play it down. He just didn't want to have these really sky-high expectations. But, you know, you can see what Ange has done with a number of the Tottenham players and when he was at Celtic, just extracting the very best out of them. And he can do the same with Odebe over this season and beyond. before we speak a bit more of what happened in tottenham's win over everton we'll discuss uh now ali the benefits of using nordvpn yeah no you were going there you kind of looked like you were taking me there and then I thought we were going to start talking about something else tottenham related I mean it is tottenham related in the way because I've used it so many times for various spurs adventures across the world but uh yes of course nordvpn is the fastest vpn in the world you know I've said it before it means no buffering no lagging and you can stream your favorite shows from anywhere in the world without your bandwidth throttling it is a service that is just so so helpful if you're heading off to another country and you want to switch your device phone tablet whatever it may be um computer to thinking it's in a completely different country it can be back home you can be over there and make it think it's back in the UK so you can watch your shows and things that you want to watch or you could be in the UK and switch your device to thinking it's in a foreign country in case you wanted to book I don't know flights or something for a holiday and you're booking it as if you're in that country sometimes you can get better prices if you're doing it from the place it originates and security wise very helpful if you're using public Wi-Fi which can be very dodgy at times and this certainly goes some way to stopping people coming on and taking loads of stuff off of your devices and um yeah it's you know I've said this enough times and any new listeners that haven't heard it before is something I've used so many times both for work and recreation a massively helpful service and yeah if you're heading abroad and you're thinking that you might want to be able to still watch something that you watch back home uh it's nordvpn is a great way of being able to do that And not only that, but because of their partnership with the Golden Guest Tottenham podcast, you can get the best discount off your NordVPN plan by going to nordvpn.com forward slash gold guest. And our exclusive link will give you four extra months on the two year plan. And there's no risk with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee. And the link, in case you missed it, is in the episode description box. Yep, we'll discuss Son Heung-min now. Decent game for him at the double. First goal, rather fortuitous, we'll say. I mean, good play. I think he made it. I mean, fortuitous in really bad touch from Jordan Pickford, which opened up, you know, a bit of space for Son. But I mean, that's all he can do in that situation. Just go full pelt at Pickford, try and, you know, unsteady him and terrible touch, like what, four or five yards away from him. And that's the last thing you want to do when you've got a player of Son's quality and pace coming at you and You know, got that vital touch on it and finished it well. Second goal, another good finish. But I mean, that second goal was just all about Mickey van de Ven and that incredible run from the edge of his own area to the edge of Everton's box and then just put the ball on the plate for Son to finish it. Yeah, I'm going to push back a bit on the first goal. I don't think it was as fortuitous as you say it was. I think that's the point of pressing. Pressing forces mistakes like that. So I kind of feel like it was a deliberate result of what he did because he was down the left flank. He was pressing the right back and then the ball gets played across to Pickford and then he just does this insane sprint. It's incredible across. And yeah, like you say, Pickford panics because of the press. dreadful touch, turns his back to one of the fastest players on the pitch and kind of then gives Sonny a whack as he's trying to get it. I thought Sonny would go. And that was actually something we were discussing in the press box. Sonny goes down. Pickford's off. It's a penalty and he's off, I think. So actually, I say it could have been worse. You end up losing 4-0. It isn't really in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't particularly matter in that aspect. But yeah, I suppose you would have lost him for the next game as well. But Yeah, it was... Sonny, I thought, was brilliant. You know, there's this kind of strange belief that he's like... Some people will come out with saying, like, he's on the slide, he's on the decline. It's like, wow, if I could decline like Sonny, that'd be amazing. I would love that. I think a lot of most players in the world would take that kind of decline. His, you know, that's two goals now in the first two games. I know they both came in the same... game, but the ability to have the pace and energy to press like he does, and the pace at 32 years old is not slowing. He kept up with Van de Ven. Van de Ven clocks as the fastest Premier League player, and Sonny kept up with him on that run. I thought he was, yeah, he was excellent. I love the fact that he kind of wants to be a legend at the club. And I think he's pretty much almost there. I mean, I was looking at his goal. He's got 248 goal involvements in 410 games. It's a huge amount that he's done. That's 164 goals, 84 assists. He, and even the finish for the second one. Have you seen that footage of him being interviewed by Spurs after the game? No, I've not seen that. It's very good. So the interview itself is very good. But there's this funny, very funny little moment where Ben Haynes, the presenter, says to him, like, in that moment with Pickford, like, do you ever get nervous when you've got the ball and it's like an open goal and you've got like a split second to get it in? And he just turned to me and went, Ben, I'm Sonny. And it was so funny. It was like, he's such a humble guy. And it was like a proper like, that was really cool. He did very quickly kind of laugh and say, I'm joking, I'm joking. But it was just like, I love that. I love that he's got that little touch of confidence that I think the best players need to have about themselves. Yeah, he was very good. And also... scored through the central role and scored on the left wing. So he kind of put to bed the kind of notion that he maybe isn't as good on the left wing or that he isn't as good in the centre forward role. It clearly is just a brilliant option in both. And I think he is, we talked about Bissouma earlier, I think Sonny is just such a great example of those young players. Like Odeberg, coming in for his first game, just watching Sonny and the way he goes about everything he's a hundred percent from minute one to the end and he does that on the training pitches every single day and he's a bit like Basuma he's kind of like the joker of the group as well but doesn't mean that you can't still be the most disciplined hard-working person it's you know it's not mutually exclusive so yeah I thought Sonny was superb and um he you know with Kurusevsky they probably were the two sharpest players maybe with Poro as well during the summer And hopefully that's going to lead into a really big season. And like I said, he's not immune from the competition either. There's a lot of players looking for places, and I think that's going to keep pushing him to higher standards. And the flip side is Sonny's been running to the ground in recent seasons, and now he can have a rest. There'll be times in Europa League games and Carabao Cup games and things like that when he doesn't have to even play a minute because of the amount of wingers. And I think that means we'll get to see the best version of Sonny this season. Yeah, hopefully there's no more situations like we saw against like Morecambe in the Cup, where you're expecting Spurs to win and then with like 20 minutes, half an hour remaining, so I've got to bring Son and Kane on now to get the job done because they're not getting it. But yeah, there's going to be plenty of options to rotate in the Europa League. Still going to be some tough fixtures in there because Spurs will be in pot one and then coming up against two more teams from pot one. But yeah, a bit more rest and rotation, I think, for Son. And second goal, finished it well at the near post. But I mean, that was all about the run from Mickey van de Ven. Van de Ven, I mean. he was still on the pitch at that point because you were thinking when he went down five minutes before half-time, he's coming off it because he looked in absolute agony, holding his knee. And when you watch the replays, he goes with his right foot to try and hook the ball away from Dwight McNeil. And then when he goes down, he just like jazzed and straight to the ground. And Dragasin had gone to warm up and he was called back at one point to get ready. And then Van de Ven... somehow managed to play on I thought it was going to be one of those scenarios where it's player manages to play until halftime then they assess the injury at the break and then he doesn't return but he was just like stronger than ever second half uh because he snuffed out a couple of everton attacks as well when they were looking to break down the right and then big impact in uh everton's final further as well what would you have done at halftime would you have taken him off If it was that bad, yeah, but clearly it was the right call from a Spurs perspective. Showed no signs of the issue after the break. But yeah, I mean, sometimes it's maybe one of those, given what happened last season when he was injured, you don't want to push him too much and aggravate it. And let's be honest, I think the game was done at 2-0. There's always a chance, yeah, there's a chance everyone can come back into it. But they showed nothing in the first half to really trouble Spurs. But I think it's just good from a Spurs perspective now that you've got someone like Radu Dragosin who can come on if required. Yeah, well, that's why I was surprised he didn't come off the break anyway, just as a precaution. And you've got Randy Dragoshin, who, especially with Everton, has set peace for it. He's a great kind of player in the air. But yeah, of course, as long as it led to no further issues or later issues in the days after, it seemed like the right choice because he was magnificent the second half. He made a couple of terrific interceptions there. And yeah, the moment it actually happened, the injury was horrible. It was like I saw him down on the pitch and a lot of pain. I was having to kind of do the live updates about it. And he's not someone to go down easily. He's quite a tough character. So to see him going down and he was like, Yeah, he was one of those where you kind of think, oh my goodness, it looked similar-ish. Not quite to how loud we could hear him after the injury against Chelsea last year, but it looked like it could be a serious one. And watching the footage then back, it hyperextended. His knee properly went the wrong direction, like back towards him. But yeah, I think he just got it moving again and it just seems to free up. And obviously the worry with these kind of things is in the days after, whether the knee then kind of balloons or does anything else. We'll see. Hopefully that's not the case. He spoke after the game. He said it feels absolutely fine now, but we'll see, obviously. But to have that physical ability as well, at the end of the game in the last 10 minutes or so to make that run that he did. It was just There was no way that they were ever going to get near him. And like I say, Dixon bouncing off him. And Sonny said afterwards, I was running alongside him just thinking and essentially saying, if you pass this to me early, I'm going to kill you. You know, this has to be the right time. And he did. He just waited till Tarkovsky was slightly drawn in and then just played it off to Sonny, who was a nice finish between Pickford's legs as well. But Van der Veen is just an incredible player. player I thought he and romero were brilliant uh romero and his hundredth performance I thought he was magnificent yesterday sorry saturday as well um but van der veen it's just I mean we can't say enough times he just makes the whole back line work because of his pace it's such a crucial element to it that's the only thing that surprises me that while draggerson I think he's a fantastic young defender I don't think they've been able to replicate the pace that van de Ven brings you that that's that's always the worry for me is if he's not playing where is that in the back line um and I think for me I just feel that a little bit more comfortable if they could find another very pacey player to kind of play that role um but yeah he's terrific and uh He's just got such a high ceiling as well. Postacoglu was asked about him afterwards, and he's just like a special footballer. He can be everything he wants to be. He's 23 years old, brilliant technique, great going forward. Postacoglu gives him the licence to go forward, but he's also a magnificent defender as well. Probably in the air is one of the things he's got to improve as well. For a very, very big guy, he's maybe not as dominant in the air as he could be. We want him to be like Romero, the goal he scored. That's strength. He's up against Tarkovsky, who is someone who's known for that himself, and he absolutely smashes that in. But yeah, a good day, thankfully, for Van de Ven when it could have been far worse. What did you think of Romero this Saturday? Yeah. performed well. I don't think he had that much to do defensively on the whole. Severson weren't really troubling Spurs, but I think his goal just demonstrated everything that he brings to the team, that aggression, the want and desire to get on the end of the ball, because it came between Tarkowski and Keane, and this was bang in the middle of the goal, a couple of yards away. In fairness, I think it's one Everton should really deal with. You would expect the Sean Dyche side to completely deal with that ball, but... think Romero just wanted it and he was, you know, intent on meeting the ball and really good header and He's proved to be quite a handy player in the opposition box over the past 12 months. He's got quite a few headers now. One at Brentford opening day, West Ham at home in December when they lost. Edge of the box against Burnley probably 12 months ago now. Top-scoring Premier League defender, wasn't he? What was it? Yeah, I think so, yeah. Yeah, did he get what? About four, maybe? I think it was five. I think it was five in the end, yeah. Yeah. No, he's just a big, big player for Spurs. Maybe he doesn't get the credit he deserves from, you know, other Premier League fans. I think the view on him is... He's rash and careless at times. And some will say that after seeing the Chelsea sending off last November where he kicked through and caught Enzo Fernandes. But even before that and after that, he was really good defensively. He wasn't picking up as many yellow cards as his first couple of seasons at the club. World Cup winner, won the Copa America twice. Spurs have a really good player on their hands. Yeah, Postakoglu loves him. He just keeps saying, you know, if he could transfer a lot of what Romero's got into the others, he would have, like, just a winning, winning team. And he's a great example. Again, we talk about examples and stuff, and I think he is becoming a great example. I think the disciplinary stuff on the pitch is kind of I'm sure he'll have the odd game when these things will happen. But on the whole, he's definitely far more measured in what he does while not taking that aggression out of it. He's also a playmaker. Played a couple of balls over to Madison, which were brilliant. Madison probably could have got a couple of goals out of them. I just think Romero's top class. I think he is. I think, again, I like the fact that other people kind of underrate him. I think his partnership with Van de Ven is just a perfect balance, the real yin and yang thing of kind of their different skill sets. And I think, yeah, he's the kind of really becoming one of the leaders of the group. I know he's the vice captain already, but I think he's taken that on board. And he's still only 26. He's nowhere near his prime yet as a centre-back. But I think he's... I hope Spurs can keep him around for the long term because I think they're going to have a bit of a fight next summer. But let's see what he does this summer. Sorry, this season, because he could be a huge part of what Postakoglu wants to do. Yeah, I think clubs are going to come in for him next summer and I think the key to keeping him at the club is going to be competing towards the top and winning silverware because he's been linked with Real Madrid already and I think he's destined for the top. You just want him to stick about in the Spurs shirt Right. Someone else who was in the headlines on Saturday, Dominic Solanke. Of course, he was watching on from one of the executive boxes at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and spoke about him on Friday in his pre-match press conference. So is he going to be available for this weekend's game to Newcastle or is it a case of it'll be the North London derby when he's potentially back? I think it's just going to be a case of see how this week plays out. He didn't rule him out of the Newcastle game. He said, you know, he's in contention for that and it doesn't seem to, or it hadn't changed by the time the game came around on Saturday. Like you said, it's just ridiculous. it spurs way isn't it it's like not a single injury like didn't miss a single game last season and in his first game he ends up picking up it's an unfortunate one I think a defender kind of fell on his ankle um and I think it was maybe quite early on in the game as well and he played on and from what I understand I think it was it was fine and then uh I think they had a couple of days off and he came back it just didn't feel quite right so they've obviously uh Had to take precautionary measures with him. Postacoglu was very clear to say it's not a serious thing. He's not going to be out for ages. He expects him to be back for North London Derby at the least. It would be lovely if he could be involved against Newcastle because I think he is such a good fit for this system. I think the concern it might not be is why we didn't see Richarlison start on Saturday. I think having only played a few minutes, I think the idea more is let's play it careful with Richarlison, give him 20, 25 minutes or so, start building up that fitness and then he'll be at a stage if we need him to start against Newcastle, then maybe he can. um because yeah he's uh it's just the worry isn't it around Richarlison of kind of him breaking down or having any issues at all with with previous injuries the calf one that's been the main one recently um I mean I'm sure we'll probably do a another pod before it but would you start Richarlison against Newcastle if Solanke is not available to start? I think he'll probably go with the same team. I'd imagine the same attacking trio, unless you take Johnson out, put Richie in. That's what I think. Or the bear to the right. I thought Richie might have started on Saturday, but I think it probably makes sense for a player who's not had the pre-season. I know Ange had said... that he wasn't really showing no signs at all of the injury when he's been training. But you just don't want to push him too much too soon. And I think getting another 20, 25 minutes under his belt is only going to help him. So I don't know. It's a tough one, really, whether you bring him in or not. I think he'll play a part, whether it's from the beginning, I'm not sure. Yeah, I would, personally. Like you say, I think he would be way behind the others in terms of fitness because people forget maybe he's been out since April and he's only just returned to training a couple of weeks ago. But if he, with a half an hour or so in his legs... then you can start to look at maybe getting an hour against Newcastle. I think aerially, I think that's quite important as well, to have him both at one end of the pitch and the other. Because that was another thing that Spurs, even though the defenders set pieces well, it didn't have the big front man to come back and also help out too. Yeah, I probably would. I probably would put him back in. And yeah, Johnson, I think... it just hasn't worked for him these first couple of games. I think it's, he got all of the game because Odeberg tired. Otherwise, I think Odeberg probably been a little bit fitter and able to see out that game. I think probably Johnson would have been the one that came off. Yeah, we'll see. I mean, we'll discuss that in the second part of the week, but I would probably bring with Charleston back in as well. busy week should be at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium we've got the Europa League draw coming up I think 1pm on midday maybe on Friday and then it's also I think it's morning isn't it I think Europa League draws quite early isn't it I can't remember but there's Conference League as well so I imagine that might be one It might be lunchtime, midday for the Europa League, but we'll check up on that. Also, transfer deadline on Friday, 11pm. I think since the last pod, Ashley Phillips has gone out of the door. He's joined Stoke City on a season-long loan, was in the squad on Saturday as they lost at home to West Brom. Didn't come off the bench though, but you'd imagine there should be some minutes for him coming soon. I'm not sure if they've got a Carabao Cup game Tuesday or Wednesday, but a good week on the training pitch. You'd like to think he's in the team for Saturday's game. Any other deals then? What can we expect? I mean, you've got to imagine Alfie Devine gets a loan move, Lo Celso and Reggie on the permanent moves just because of the contract status. And then Manar Solomon as well, who looks to be on the way to Leeds. What's going to happen then? Well, we're hoping Man of Solomon ends up going to Leeds. It's kind of been a bit of a drawn-out, prolonged one thus far. It still seems to be a little bit of going back and forward between the two clubs. Yeah, we'll have to see exactly how that ends up. But Reguilon and Lo Celso are kind of the more difficult ones because they shouldn't be in terms of the quality of the players. I think both players could play in many teams across the continent. But it's exactly what you said. It's the issue that you can't really loan them. You can't unless you do some kind of Eric Dier type deal where there's a loan fee that becomes active over the course of the season. Or a contract extension, what I'm sure would go down really well with fans. Yes, probably won't be. You never know. That would be a hell of a left field option. But yeah, you've got to find a place that they're willing to... It's so difficult. Because any club knows that Spurs are in the weaker position because of the year left. And it's not like someone like Hoibier, let's say, who was... You could see that he was playing weaker. He was getting a lot of game time. Reguilon wasn't wanted. He was put out on loan. The Celso clearly isn't wanted either. Yeah, it's... I think they're probably the key two senior ones you're looking to head out the door. You never know. There could be a surprise one, especially with the squad registration rules that we won't go into. But if you're going to try and register a late arrival, someone is going to have to head out the door. So you might get one more of those. What level would you like to see Alfie Devine at? I think Championship again, to have another crack at the Championship because he was in and out of the Plymouth team, especially when Ian Foster, the manager, got the bullet. Unless there's an opportunity for him to go abroad, I mean, look at Excelsior Rotterdam, how well that loan spell works out for Troy Parrott last year. Surely Excelsior should be looking at Spurs and thinking, what are the good young players they've got? the club to come over to the league and have an impact. But I suppose they went down, didn't they, in the Eredivisie? So maybe not the one, but there might be potential other options abroad. But I think for me personally, you've got to be looking at a championship loan for Alfie. Yeah, I've also got an apology to make. You were absolutely spot on. 12 o'clock Europa League draw on Thursday. Oh yeah, it's Thursday, isn't it? Europa League draw as well. Champions League's Thursday. Oh, they've got it wrong. Sorry, this report's got it wrong. Yeah, of course it's Friday. I know it's Friday because it's all on the same day. We've got Europa League draw on Friday. We've got the Ange press conference on the Friday. It's like one of the busiest transfer deadline days in terms of everything else going on possible. but yeah this this report seems to be saying 12 o'clock I know the seedings and who's in the different pots will be available from half eight I think it is on the day in the morning so yeah we'll know more that day um who else who else I mean what about incomings what do you think incomings wires you think there's likely to be anything You never know with Spurs, do you? I don't think anyone expected the Wilson Odebeer. Signing that just came completely out of the blue. And it seems to say it was from the start of the summer they were trying to get him. Very little talk. I think it was probably only, what, 20 minutes, half an hour before when the first whispers of, oh, the Bears go into Spurs. I think Spurs will probably just be keeping their eye out on potential transfer incomings as they do. I still think they're short at centre-back. Ange made that point clear towards the end of last season, but then was asked again pre-match press conference on Friday before the Everton game. And he seemed to, you know, seem to suggest they're okay in that position. He's happy. Ben Davis and Archie Gray can play there. So, Yeah, no, he was quite clear. The question was quite direct. It was from George from PA. He was asked, do you think that will be an area you'll look to bring someone else in? And he said, no. He was quite clear. And then he said, yeah, exactly all those options you said, which, yeah, I still feel I'd like to see a pacey kind of centre-back come in there as another option. But, yeah, that's interesting. I think the issue on Saturday was if Van de Ven's injured and he's out for an extended spell, then drag us in. And then it's Ben Davies who is, you know, a left-back by trade. But Jed Spence came on ahead of him. I wonder if he is actually seeing him as a centre-back this season. Maybe. And the same with Kolaszewski in midfield. Maybe he's, you know, swapped positions for some players who he thinks are probably better defensively. played elsewhere, maybe than the traditional positions previously. We'll have to wait and see. I think goalkeeper's been possibly mentioned. I understand that. I understand that one, because I'll ask you this question I asked a couple of people on Saturday at the game. Would you be comfortable if Vicario's out for an extended period of time with the other options being your main first-choice goalkeeper? I wouldn't have concerns about Fraser Foster being in that. In the style of play in the system? Maybe not the best one suited, but he's more experienced than Brandon Austin. I think that would just be... big big risk because what's brandon 25 26 might have 20 senior first team appearances to his name the vast majority yeah vast majority of those in denmark and then he might have got what five or six in the mls yeah when he was there you want your goalkeeper to have experience of playing you know first in football uh Yeah, I personally wouldn't have concerns with Foster being in that. So I think he's done well previously when called upon. But I mean, then who would you like to bring in? Well, this is it. And again, I hate now harping on about the whole foreign player kind of domestic thing, but it is an issue in that I could quite easily say I'd like to bring in another goalkeeper personally that would be of a similar vein to Vicara, someone that can come in and play that kind of high line, sweeper roles, got the pace, got the ability on the ball as well with his feet. Was Gallini meant to do that? when he came well yeah yeah let's not go down that road too much um yes yes uh fabio paratici uh masterstroke there of a player who I remember he and nuno were certain that galini was going to be the new number one lorise was on his way and yeah it didn't work out that way did not work out that way um but yeah if you let's say you bring in another goalkeeper We've already got doubts over whether Forster can be registered for the Europa League squad anyway. We're wondering whether he might be one that comes out. Alfie Wightman and Brandon Austin are your two only remaining club-trained players. It becomes very, very awkward if you bring another keeper. I wonder whether maybe they sort that for the future. Maybe they see someone, they bring them in and then loan them out. Or it's someone they bring in in January. I don't know, but just I like forster and he's a brilliant person around the club like an incredible professional and everyone loves him he just apparently is hilarious like the funniest guy everyone says that about him but I don't think that balances out the fact I still don't think he entirely fits the system um which was kind of was a little bit surprising ended up getting an extension to his contract uh last year but Yeah, and he seems to be number two. Bearing in mind he was on the bench as the number two, looks like Brandon Austin hasn't quite taken that off him yet. Austin got that five-year contract, obviously, in the summer or just before the summer. Yeah, I don't know. I think I'd like to see a more system-suiting number two myself, but whether you can do that this summer and actually have them playing in the squad this summer, I don't know. Any other positions you think you'd like to see strengthened? I think that's pretty much it. An alternative to destiny a doggy would be nice, but I don't see the point in buying for buying's sake when Jed Spence did okay there. Again, when he's been played, there's Ben Davies who can play in the position, doesn't offer what a doggy does going forward, but I think that's something maybe look at next summer. or even in January if there's a good option there. I think Spurs, I think there's plenty of cover. Midfield and attack now. You start blocking people, don't you? If you bring in people just for the sake of it, people just can't play. Yeah, I don't think it'll be a hectic window into the window in terms of it incoming, to put it that way. Yeah, I think the key thing is they've got their lists of players that they want in every position. I think if sometimes the market moves a little bit and a player that wasn't previously available becomes available, and that's when you've got your decision, it's like, okay, well, that player is quality. If we can get them in, then we just have to take the hit. That someone further down the pecking order at the club, unfortunately, just doesn't get the game time or we have to move them on because we're able to vastly raise the level of what we're kind of putting out week in, week out. That's the kind of moves I could see. I did think a centre-back would have made sense or a left-back. I absolutely agree with that. Or someone that can play both would have made a lot of sense. But maybe, yeah, maybe he looks at it and thinks, well, Van de Ven can play left-back now as well. You can put Dragason then into the centre. I still don't think Ben Davies fits it perfectly. I think Jed Spence, I think it's a tough role for him. He can play it, but I do think it doesn't fit him naturally. It's going to be very difficult when people are running down that flank at him. But yeah, I think they would be the two main ones I would personally be looking at, defence or left-back, and I could understand the goalkeeper one. Further up the pitch, it would have to be a player that vastly improves your quality. Otherwise, if you're bringing in someone who's just maybe they're a name, but they're actually, you know, let's say, let's talk about a number eight, let's say. Would I bring in someone that is... reasonably decent quality now to push someone like Archie Gray or, I'm going to say this right now, Lucas Bereval, as he pronounced it in his thing. I'm going to come back to that in a second. Would I want to bring in someone who is marginally better for the now than those two, thus blocking their path so Spurs don't end up getting two potentially world-class players? I think they've got that ability in their locker that high as their ceiling. it's like you've got to kind of juggle up not only the now, but also the future. And yeah, going back to the Lucas Berrival thing, Berrival thing. If you haven't seen it, there's been a video that's been put out. Spurs shared it as well. The Premier League did it where every single player in the Premier League, every squad has had to stand there and say their name slowly to the camera so that everyone can pronounce them properly. There's been a few little issues with it. There's been some players that have come out this year with a completely different pronunciation of their surname or their name to last year. Asia, Asia Aya at Brentford appearing to be one of them. And at Spurs, we've had a few interesting little things that Gesty and I are going to have to kind of get our heads around and figuring out to change the way we've said stuff so many times over the past so lucas bergval as we always called him in his video he said lucius berival I've had some swedish people have since said to me that the lucius isn't quite right and it's like that's what he said I can't argue with him. That's kind of what he said. But Barry Val seems to be definitely the part. What else do we have? We had Jamie Donnelly, as we've always called him, tried to call him, only went and said Jamie Donnelly. And it was like, what are you doing? That's how we were kind of... not meaning to but pronouncing it that way um the other one now timo verna we knew it's kind of said like a v um who else the other one oh this one is a bit of a confusing one so pap matasar that is the correct way to say his name however he is the politest loveliest young man and everyone around the club has just called him pape So being this polite, lovely young man, he has just eventually thought, oh, everyone calls me that. I'll just call myself Pape as well. So in his new video, the video of all these people saying their names, he says Pape Mata Sa. despite the fact his name is actually pap but he's just thought it's more it's easier and I think there's been examples of that in the past where players names have been said completely wrongly absolutely butchered and they've just thought you know what that's the anglicized version that's what you want to go with I'll just say that's my name um you know and then certain ways and and when they go back home their name is said completely differently um but yeah it was quite eye-opening so there's a few there was there anyone else I've forgotten about that we've got to pronounce completely differently now uh not from a tottenham perspective I think looking at the video uh there's erling braus harland and yes and a norwegian person in the comments saying that he's pronouncing all three of his names completely wrong another one uh sean dyche not sean dyche So probably the simplest name we've been pronouncing it wrong. I probably pronounced it wrong in today's podcast as well. You did. I was going to pick you up and I thought, oh, I'll leave it to this little bit at the end. But no, I think that was it from a Tottenham perspective. I think you're going to go through the full list now, aren't you? And pronounce them at the end of this podcast. I'm absolutely not. But I have to remember Bury Val. Bury Val is so different to Bergval that I've been saying. It's like when you remember the lyrics of a song and you've always sung it that way. And it's like, it's actually completely wrong. So we're going to have to get ahead around those. But yeah, a little vindication for the Jamie Donnelly thing, although I still don't understand why he pronounced it like that. But there you go. Right, we'll call it a day for today's latest episode of Golden Guest Tottenham. We'll be back later in the week, probably Thursday, I imagine. I mean, Friday's just going to be hectic. So we'll be previewing the Europa League draw and then whatever happens in the transfer window between now and Friday and then also looking ahead to Sunday's trip to St James' Park. So in the meantime, keep with us at football.london for all your latest Tottenham news. To get the best discount off your NordVPN plan, go to nordvpn.com forward slash gold guest. Our link will give you four extra months on the two year plan. There's no risk with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee. The link is in the podcast episode description box.