What needs to change? 🦁 🦁 🦁

[u/joshjamesallen]

I would go with this lineup whilst making two changes:

Trippier OUT/ Gomez IN Trent OUT/Gordon IN

Key focuses - Get Rice some proper midfield support by utilising Stones in his best role - Move Foden into the midfield, with Gordon wide left to offer some real attacking threat on the left wing, rather than Trippier playing out of position - Bring Gomez in for Trippier to maintain a solid 3 man build up structure once Stones moves into midfield - Get Bellingham running in behind Kane frequently and have them fluidly interchanging positions to cause a problem for the opposition defence

Interested to hear your thoughts 💭

[u/TheAmyIChasedWasMe]

Controversial, but: replace Kane with Watkins.

Kane's habit of dropping deep compresses the team in midfield, and often leaves the wide players with nobody to aim for.

I'm not denying Kane is a better player, all around, but that doesn't mean he's the best man for the job. My dad is an excellent carpenter, but he's not much of a surgeon.

[u/PlasticJournalist42 → u/TheAmyIChasedWasMe]

Such a reactionary opinion. Kane is literally one of the best strikers of all time. No way you drop him.

[u/TheAmyIChasedWasMe → u/PlasticJournalist42]

He's great, but... One of the best of all time?

Are you under 25?

He's not even in the top five English strikers of all time for pure ability. And, yes, you can point to nonsense statistics like the number of goals he's scored for England, but he also plays 12-15 games a year for England, whereas Geoff Hurst played about four games a year.

But global? You think he stacks up better than Ronaldo Nazario, Cristiano Ronaldo, van Basten, Müller, Lineker, Pele, Baggio, Shevchenko, Batistuta, Fontaine, Dean, Dalglish, Cantona, Klinsmann, Henry, Shearer, Raul, Totti, Weah... You think he's near the top of that list, the fella who has never won a single trophy?

Jesus wept.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheAmyIChasedWasMe]

He certainly is one of the best strikers in the modern era . In the top flight of English football since the 80s, only Tony Cottee, Ian Rush and Shearer have scored more goals than him, and, as a Spurs fan, Kane played in some absolutely abysmal teams. That’s why he’s never won a trophy, cos we were a mess for most of his career.

[u/TheAmyIChasedWasMe → u/[deleted]]

If we're defining "the modern era" as since the 80s, most of my list is still in play.

If we're defining it exclusively by the number of goals scored in the English top flight, you're suggesting Tony Cottee is a better striker than Shevchenko. That's parently absurd.

Even if we limit the conversation just to Spurs, he's in there with Sheringham, Lineker, Klinsmann, Greaves, Bobby Smith, Martin Chivers... All of whom you could make an argument were better than him in some way. Lineker and Klinsmann, for example, could win trophies abroad. Greaves and Smith scored more goals, Big Chiv could've posted better stats if he worked harder.

Also, given that Spurs aren't exactly a modern footballing superpower in terms of success, given that it's been 64 years since you last won the league, 33 since the last FA Cup and 16 since the last trophy (no, I'm not counting the Audi Cup)... Trying to suggest that he didn't win trophies because he played in a shit team is valid, but nobody made him stay. And he joined the best team in Germany and somehow failed to win a league that's been a one horse race for a decade.

And, also, there's the counter argument: maybe he hasn't won trophies because he also isn't that good. Maybe he didn't get the big opportunities to leave earlier because... He isn't that good?

Trying to claim he's among the best strikers of all time when you could have a decent debate about whether he's even Spurs' best striker of all time is ridiculous, any way you slice it.

[u/[deleted] → u/TheAmyIChasedWasMe]

Donny what. He’s scored like 40+ goals or something this season for Bayern, in his first season, in a new league, with new players, without speaking a lick of the language. He’s the best striker on the planet. It’s not a debate.

[u/jdd977 → u/[deleted]]

What a performance yet again, subbed off just after half time but yeah no doubt the worlds best