Michael Frankel has got in touch: “I would be interested to know how many defensive permutations there have been this season. José has tried everything and none of it works.”
It looks like some kind of three at the back with Sissoko playing as a wing-back.
A reminder of the teams’ places in the table. Neither are exactly where they want to be.
José on Brighton: “They are one team you look at the table and you think the table can be fake because they are much better than where they are. “
Graham Potter speaks.
We have to play well, we have to be smart, we have to be aggressive, we have to be lucky, all the things you need to win a Premier League game. Play well against a good opponent. It’s an opportunity for us, we are very posiitive. Apart from the 0-0 result, we were the better team against Fulham. We are playing against a top opponent.
Solly March speaks.
Of course we need a result, we know teams have won around us, that’s the pressure that’s on us at the moment so we need a home win and maybe today can be the day. Without Kane is a bonus for us but they’ve got quality. We need to be wary of that. We need to show what we can do, work on what we’ve been working on and I think we can get a result. We’ve played well and the chances haven’t been going in. It would be worse if we hadn’t played well. Hopefully today’s the day when we put them away and get the win, yeah.
Brief word from José Mourinho on his attacking lineup.
Harry individually is irreplaceable, but we have good attacking players and tonight we play with three of them and hopefully they can play well.
Mary Waltz on Bareth Gale. “This will be the test of whether Bale still has any magic left in his game. He has had time to get fit, he will not have to be Kane and Son’s caddy. José’s handing him the keys to the car.let’s see if he can still drive.”
Big news at Tottenham. To be fair, Poch Jnr did well to last so long after dad went. Click on the link to see perhaps why.
Tottenham Hotspur(@SpursOfficial)
We have reached agreement with @WatfordFC for the transfer of Maurizio Pochettino.
PA Media’s take on that team news. Aurier’s complete omission raises some questions. He went off at half-time against Liverpool.
Gareth Bale was handed only his second Premier League start since returning to Tottenham. The on-loan Real Madrid forward, who scored the winner against the Seagulls at the start of November, replaced the injured Harry Kane, who suffered an ankle problem in Thursday’s loss to champions Liverpool. Defenders Davinson Sanchez and Toby Alderweireld and midfielder Moussa Sissoko were also recalled by Spurs boss Jose Mourinho, with Serge Aurier not in the squad and Matt Doherty and Eric Dier dropping to the bench. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was selected for his 350th appearance for the north London club.
Brighton boss Graham Potter named an unchanged starting XI, while winger Jose Izquierdo, who has not played since April 2019, was a surprise inclusion on the bench.
If you caught Amazon’s All Or Nothing series on Tottenham, you will know José Mourinho’s reaction to Harry Kane getting injured. Now Kane has injured *both* ankles and his return date is not until the middle of February. So what happens now? Without Kane, Son Heung-min is not quite the same player as he’s asked to play a very different game than suits him. That midweek defeat to Liverpool looks a turning point in the season. What follows? There are two usual routes: José kicks back hard or he hits terminal velocity and the soap opera starts up. Sunday evening on the South Coast could be the first episode of the latter. Brighton have only lost once this year, and that was to Manchester City, a 1-0 loss from which they emerged with great credit. Goals are a problem still, as they might be for Tottenham. Graham Potter will undoubtedly have a plan for Spurs but how the visitors might look in their manager’s attempt to prosper without their main man must be difficult to work out. Does Jose Mourinho even know?
Kick off at 7.15pm UK time. Join me.
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