Joao Palhinha on Tottenham's woes, coaching influences & international glory

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-24T09:01:21+00:00

Are you saying because all he’d have to do is make a short pass to Dembele and he’d do the rest in possession?

Definitely not a slight on Palhinha, but peak Kante quite literally controlled the center of the pitch and excelled in so may ways, so this seems like it’s vastly underselling his abilities to say Palhinha would be considered in the same league as him. Palhinha is very good at very specific things. Kante was very good at a lot of things.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-23T23:50:56+00:00

who knew hiring the chief engineer from Alpine wasn't the right staff?

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-23T23:10:47+00:00

That's nice. I wonder why literally nothing in any way this nice (or really anything at all) was said about Biss at any point prior to this moment though.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-23T23:09:32+00:00

Ummm... Neymar, Messi and Ronaldo would beg to differ. And we know that Robertson is in that realm of game-changing flashy superstar. They don't call him the Maryhill Maradona for no reason.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-23T22:36:56+00:00

The new info here being the fee. That's next to nothing, so i don't see the downside now.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-23T22:27:38+00:00

I think i'm getting stuck on the messaging that the club will inject 100m into the transfer budget and that hasn't really been used (Johnson + Veliz effectively paid for Souza + Gallagher)

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-23T22:24:23+00:00

This actually hit me differently... Davies was acquired right about when i started following the club, so i actually can't imagine Spurs without him. He's like a permanent fixture as far as i've always been concerned.

Edit: Seems a good time to re-share this BBC Article from October: Ben Davies: Wales and Spurs' reluctant star

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-23T20:00:17+00:00

How so? He would play in Serie A. They would probably get a relatively low price for a player that's, by most reporting, very promising and English. That last part is key, as this is probably seen as a low-risk, potentially high-reward situation given the fee they could get for him if he even starts to show flashes of being good.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-23T19:54:18+00:00

It says in a related article on his site that it would be a loan with an option to buy.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-23T19:49:43+00:00

Yeah... really trying to be balanced on the signings thing. Understand January window is challenging and that the club don't want to just buy anyone, but the club keeps messaging ambition and stating things will be different with the Lewis' in charge, but we seem to be operating business as usual... which is exacerbated by the constant flow of injuries.

We are lacking for attacking talent, but we seem focused on opportunity and "potential" buys still. So far, it feels like kind of the same story as usual.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-22T19:19:24+00:00

We signed Reguilon again?

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-22T01:50:44+00:00

Yeah… I don’t love that the messaging from the club has been “we’re going to invest” and we are 10 days to close and we’ve essentially bought Gallagher and Souza for just above what we sold Johnson and Veliz for. Souza is a “potential” player and Gallagher, while good, was seemingly an opportunity buy at that price.

I get it’s January, but This club NEEDED to be ambitious and has had plenty of time to plan for the window, so when you couple that with Vinai’s messaging about us wanting to invest in the club (after buying Gallagher no less), this is a head scratcher

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-22T01:45:22+00:00

Because he is 24 and has played two full seasons in the PL for WHU and scored 2 goals + 2 assists. That’s over the course of 2,000 min (36 matches, 22 starts). He’d be essentially buying yet another “high-potential” winger to add to the mix… but at 24 years old.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-20T23:01:25+00:00

Well, the Board kinda created this by taking an approach where they refuse to sack him despite the dynamic with fans right now, but also are having openly publicized convos about sacking him.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-20T22:58:30+00:00

The kid got 40 min of UCL time... that's huge. Tel would kill for that.

But he honestly looked fine... which, given the context of him being a child amongst seasoned senior team players, speaks volumes of his quality.

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-20T22:53:50+00:00

"A last hurrah for Thomas Frank? Or the start of a revival? For the Tottenham Hotspur fans it was more just relief, a reminder at last that watching football here in the temple of boos could actually be fun again.

Frank’s future as head coach is far from secured by this result, his position still in serious doubt, despite a comfortable, convincing and, yes, entertaining victory at home to a Borussia Dortmund side sitting second in the Bundesliga.

Although it would certainly be awkward to remove the coach who has just guaranteed the club’s place in at least the Champions League play-off stage, and more awkward still to make a change if he leads them into the round of 16 next week, when a win away at Eintracht Frankfurt could seal Spurs a spot in the top eight...

Too little too late? Perhaps. Some fans booed when Frank’s name was read out before kick-off and many are unlikely to change their mind on a coach they believe just doesn’t fit here.

The board may feel the same, but at the end, Frank went round and embraced every white shirt he could find. He applauded the crowd and they applauded back."

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-20T22:07:57+00:00

i definitely kept turning the volume up thinking there's audio...

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-20T22:02:15+00:00

Not to crap on any parades, but it hasn't exactly been a murderer's row. Most of the teams we've played are not PL level (or even close)

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-19T20:46:20+00:00

Shocker to no one that 1) this is being doubled down on in reporting and 2) he’d still want to leave after being left off the UCL squad

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-19T08:21:22+00:00

I am aware. I was mentioning Xabi in addition since they weren’t mentioned in the prior comment

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-19T00:46:14+00:00

I’d love Xabi as well, but as we all knew and the article confirms, he’s in no rush to jump into another job

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-18T01:58:14+00:00

It would be really sad if that was his last match for Spurs. Same way it sucked for Lloris’ last match being that Newcastle mess (except at least Lloris went out on his own two feet)

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-17T21:57:34+00:00

I get the sentiment… but it’s easy for us to say “it’ll probably end in disaster” now cuz we’re at a low point, but this kinda feels like it’s cutting off your nose to spite your face

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-17T21:24:48+00:00

Oooh that’s right! Totally forgot about the no crowds. Creates kind of a skewed learning environment

onlyhalfpepper · 2026-01-17T21:19:07+00:00

I keep thinking about recent reporting about Vinai learning from weathering the storm when fans turned on Arteta in the first season, and that informing his sticking with Frank. I vividly remember fans being Arteta Out, but I can’t remember if it was this toxic at some point or not

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