Tottenham Hotspur Links: Spurs Expect to be Quiet in January
It’s time for another Tottenham Hotspur Links edition.
On today’s Tottenham Hotspur Links, Hotspur HQ will be giving you three stories. The first is about Mauricio Pochettino expecting Tottenham to have a quiet winter transfer window in January. the second story is an injury news round-up involving Nabil Bentaleb, Nacer Chadli, Mousa Dembele and Ryan Mason. And lastly, the FA has charged both West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur for their scuffle during last Saturday’s 1-1 draw on December 5th. These are the links below.
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- Mauricio Pochettino expects Tottenham to be quiet in January
- [via Sky Sports]
At this moment, Pochettino is happy with the current squad and believes there’s not much to add to the squad other than at striker and center-back. And maybe an attacking midfielder and a central/defensive midfielder too. But new signings are mainly for depth and rotational purposes for the second half of the season.
"“There will not be too much in January, or maybe we don’t sign any players,” said Mauricio Pochettino. “It’s not a pressure for me to sign players. We share the responsibility within the club, with the chairman and the head of recruitment.”“If we have the possibility to improve it, be sure, if we can, we will sign the player. We work very hard for that. But now is the moment that there is a lot of rumour and people should know we are very happy with the squad we have.”"
Believing in Tottenham’s youth academy graduates is another reason why the Argentine manager isn’t in a rush to sign any new players this January. Here’s Mauricio Pochettino continuing on:
"“Always we are open to improving our squad but if we have all the squad fit then we have a very good balance in between the positions.”“Maybe the likes of Josh and Harry have the opportunity to play in the next few games, or this season .They show everyday they are ready to play and they have enough quality.”“We have a lot of talent behind them in the academy but they always need time to develop and arrive at maturity in their head to play in the Premier League, and for a team like Tottenham.”"
- Tottenham injury news round-up
- [via Enfield Independent]
On the last injury report before today, Nabil Bentaleb, Nacer Chadli, Ryan Mason and Alex Pritchard were still recovering. Now? Half of them are still out while the other two are back in training: Bentaleb and Chadli.
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In Nabil Bentaleb’s case, he wasn’t supposedly fit to play but was able to be selected for Algeria’s World Cup qualifiers and got re-injured.
It was a slight knock but if he didn’t join his international teammates he could have been fit already.
The last time the 20-year-old Algerian defensive midfielder played for Tottenham was on August 29.
With regards to Nacer Chadli, he hasn’t been able to get back to training until now. His last involvement with Spurs’ first-team was against Liverpool in a goalless draw at White Hart Lane on October 17.
Having both Bentaleb and Chadli back training is perfect timing with the FA Cup and Europa League knockout stages looming in the New Year.
As for Mousa Dembélé he’s unfortunately out with a bad stomach (stomach flu/illness perhaps). Mauricio Pochettino spoke about the recent return of Nabil Bentaleb and Nacer Chadli as well as Dembélé missing out in Wednesday’s practice, plus an update on Ryan Mason on Tottenham’s official site.
“It’s very good news,” said Mauricio. “It makes the team more competitive and pushes everyone. It’s good for us to have everyone fit. Mousa is sick with a bad stomach and he’s out,” added Mauricio. “Ryan may be able to train with the squad next week.”
The English Football Association (FA) has charged both West Brom and Tottenham for “failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion”. The scuffle happened after James McClean produced a dangerous tackle to Mousa Dembélé which also ended up hurting his ankle and causing concern for every Tottenham supporter as well as the entire team.
Of course, McClean wasn’t handed a red card, which would have explained why Spurs players were enraged with both the challenge and decision by referee Jonathan Moss to not send James McClean off the pitch.
Baggies players were protesting that while the tackle was bad, their main issue could have stemmed from Tottenham’s players needing to back off as Moss had initially waved on to continue play. That is until he ultimately decided to call everything back and book McClean after Dembele was obviously hurt.
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Here’s the FA going more into detail about what happened: “West Bromwich Albion and Tottenham Hotspur have both been charged for failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion. The charge relates to an incident which occurred in or around the 84th minute of their fixture on Saturday December 5, 2015. Both clubs have until 6pm on 11 December 2015 to respond to the charge.”
It’s unknown what the FA will charge both clubs, but it’s interesting to note that Tottenham got charged — perhaps — for retaliating and protecting one of their ow players who received a two-footed, studs up, late tackle. How could Spurs not react? In any event, there will be more news regarding this matter in the coming days.