Spurs vs Man City 2.45pm Sat Apr 14 @Flannerys

Spurs look to extend their run against the slumping PL champions to be, missing Danny Rose with a calf injury. Aguero, Stones and Fernandinho will be missing for City. Pundits expect a tight game, but I'm betting on a more free scoring match as both teams have the benefit of significant cushions in the standings.

With a Saturday afternoon kickoff in NYC, we're expecting a large crowd and may be forced to limit our numbers. A nearby spill over location is in the process of being arranged. Two cash bars will be serving beer in addition to the main bar at Flannerys. See you boys and girls there. Yidarrrmeee!

Outplayed and outcoached. Not as bad as the away fixture and the preseason debacle but still disappointing.

I've been saying for a couple of years that Hugo is vastly over-rated ( and have been severely criticised for this opinion ) and its already apparent that Sanchez is out of his depth.

I'm not panicking. We got beat by far and away the league's best team, who were not going to lose 4 in a row. (People routinely get it wrong about "form"; I never want to play a quality team after a big loss or losses.) Bottom line is many expected us to drop out of the Top 4 and crash out of the CL in our Wembley season, and we've done neither. Also, either of Liverpool or Chelsea are guaranteed to lose points as they play in May. If we take care of business, we can sure up a CL spot and tops in London, which was the thing I was hoping for as a fan long before we arrived ahead of schedule under Poch.

For next season and beyond, though, we need to be smart in how we build this defense. We continue to be vulnerable to mismatches in speed, which I continue to maintain is the biggest reason we aren't winning the league right now. Trippier (usually) has great delivery but he's always going to be vulnerable against top-notch fliers. He's an ideal FB against non-elite competition but we need better for matches like this. And unless Poch sees something in Aurier that he can coach this summer, I'd consider selling him this year as he seems very poor both in decision making and (shockingly so) in delivery. Davies has grown on me but he's also not elite. Rose is likely gone and I'm mostly fine with that because a Man Utd might overpay for him despite his being injury prone. We need to bring in someone there, too.

There's no way Toby is coming back if he doesn't make the bench yesterday. The rift is real, and it's a damn shame. We've done very well with Sanchez, and the one silver lining of Toby's disappearance has been finding out what we have in DS. That said, we don't have our elite back 3 when we need it, and per our wage structure, we will likely replace him with promising player who won't hit his peak for 2-3 seasons. It'll be a downgrade on Toby no matter what, and that's not even figuring in Toby's passing.

Jan is so, so good. Can't say enough about him this season. I never want to see Eriksen, Dembele, or Jan not in the XI.

If Lloris' challenge is called correctly, we're not talking about him today. I'm not going to trash the guy. He could've left long ago but didn't. And although he's apparently on the decline, when you list the keepers who we can confidently say would be better right now, I think his value is still there. That said, I'm all for bringing in his eventual replacement this summer.

One word on Poch, who I'm quite delighted to have on the sidelines for my club...there've been a few high-profile matches of late where we came out sluggish. That's got to be on him.

So...a CB, FB, FB, GK, and understudies for Eriksen and Kane...not asking too much!

Btw, how come no one talks about our field general, no. 23, as our next captain?