His name is Tom.
He's not 8 years old anymore.
He's not 8 years old anymore.
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Looks like Dele is holding his child's hand as they cross the road.
I'm not Carroll's biggest fan by any means, but I think he's done well since being introduced into the first team.
My favourite trait of his is his preference to pick a forward (or more attacking) pass, which is often riskier. We've don't have many players like that.
His weight does seem to be an issue if he pushes forward too far and has to chase back, he won very few, if any, psychical battles yesterday.
But he's positive on the ball, has a nice weight of pass and he's one of ours boys. If we can't give him 30 or 40 games before writing off one of our academy products there's something wrong with us.
I do think he'd be better suited further forward.
My favourite trait of his is his preference to pick a forward (or more attacking) pass, which is often riskier. We've don't have many players like that.
His weight does seem to be an issue if he pushes forward too far and has to chase back, he won very few, if any, psychical battles yesterday.
But he's positive on the ball, has a nice weight of pass and he's one of ours boys. If we can't give him 30 or 40 games before writing off one of our academy products there's something wrong with us.
I do think he'd be better suited further forward.
One positive of note is that on the occasions he misplaced a pass, he almost always won it back again by chasing it down. Bit like Lamela does.
I think that he's not given credit because he's over the fan favourites like Mason and Bentaleb and his style is totally different to that of a Dembele who is obviously important to our overall play. I don't think Carroll was bad at all yesterday, thought he made us tick in the first half and absolutely helped boss midfield with Dier.
In the second half when everyone looked dead on their feet, so did he. He still didn't put a foot wrong and as mentioned when he did lose the ball (because he tried ambitious passes), he worked like a horse, despite being worn out, to win it back or cause a 'clever' foul to prevent a counter attack. I can certainly see why Pochettino has played Carroll, he likes to pass forward, works hard and had earned his spot after previous performances. Wouldn't surprise me to see him keep his spot against Leicester in the FA Cup.
In the second half when everyone looked dead on their feet, so did he. He still didn't put a foot wrong and as mentioned when he did lose the ball (because he tried ambitious passes), he worked like a horse, despite being worn out, to win it back or cause a 'clever' foul to prevent a counter attack. I can certainly see why Pochettino has played Carroll, he likes to pass forward, works hard and had earned his spot after previous performances. Wouldn't surprise me to see him keep his spot against Leicester in the FA Cup.
From what I saw yesterday he looked good.
I'm not a fan of him but he's growing in confidence in his performance, I still have a feeling we're putting him in the shop window though.
Is Pochettino the sort of manager to do that though? If he doesn't rate them any more they don't play...look at Townsend scraping by on U21 games.
I'm not sure I ever buy into the shop window thing, not for the sort of club we are. It would surely be better for the club to be playing Bentaleb and put Carroll on the bench than shun Bentaleb for an extra £1m or so on a potential Carroll transfer? It makes no sense to me.
I believe Pochettino likes Carroll and is playing him in Dembele's absence, with Bentaleb & Mason not yet 100% since their injuries. Nothing more to it than that, to me.
I don't think he'll keep his place, as either Bentaleb will return or Dembele will, but I don't think we're selling him in January either.
I believe Pochettino likes Carroll and is playing him in Dembele's absence, with Bentaleb & Mason not yet 100% since their injuries. Nothing more to it than that, to me.
I don't think he'll keep his place, as either Bentaleb will return or Dembele will, but I don't think we're selling him in January either.
Who knows, end of the day, football is a business. It's a weak theory but I can't help but think that. Playing him over Bentaleb, Mason and even Winks seems odd.
The Townsend situation is another strange one, it would appear he played for the U21s voluntarily.
I wouldn't say he is necessarily being played for the sole reason of being shopped around, but with Mason and Bentaleb both struggling to regain match fitness, Carroll has been given the reins as they recover - if that happens to lead to an increased offer for Tommy, well.. happy coincidence (for some 
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I'm not sure. In my opinion Poch has always struck me as a fair manager, if you train hard and play well you will be given opportunity to play. So it's not surprising to me that after scoring coming off the bench against Norwich and then playing well in previous starts that he's been given game time. Poch knows his squad better than any of us. Look what he's done with Mason and Dier, I'm sure he see's potential in Carroll and that's why he's being played.
Paulinho was deffinatly in the shop window. Never has there been a more pathetic excuse of a footballer to don the Lilywhite shirt than him, he was the first out the door. It was my biggest concern over Poch the fact he was selected, the moment he was sold I've been able to look at Poch in a positive light.
I think Carroll is in the team on merit, but I just don't see a future for him at Spurs beyond summer. Hence why I think there is an element of putting him in the shop window, similar to when Paulinho played towards the end of last season.
I'm undecided about him but I have to say he is slowly winning me over. Every sub appearance he has put in this year has been very good and in one game he excelled. Maybe my doubts over him are because he is so lightweight and is so easy to knock off the ball.
Think
Thelonious
might have a point.
It appears Poch has a talent for making players and getting them to be highly effective within a team. To illustrate this, take a look at Southampton and their players, everyone was waxing lyrically about Lalanna, Shaw, Font, Clyne, J-Rod, Lambert, Wanyama and Schniderlin there are probably others. It is fare to say that none of them have been remotely like the player today as they were under Poch, but Southampton achieved approx £100m for those that they sold and those that remain don't look all that anymore (I know a couple are injured).
My point is that there could be a bunch of players that may not be all that as players but he has them playing very well in a highly motivated well drilled team and thus has them looking better than they are and therefore inflating their value. I guess time will tell.
Think
Thelonious
might have a point.It appears Poch has a talent for making players and getting them to be highly effective within a team. To illustrate this, take a look at Southampton and their players, everyone was waxing lyrically about Lalanna, Shaw, Font, Clyne, J-Rod, Lambert, Wanyama and Schniderlin there are probably others. It is fare to say that none of them have been remotely like the player today as they were under Poch, but Southampton achieved approx £100m for those that they sold and those that remain don't look all that anymore (I know a couple are injured).
My point is that there could be a bunch of players that may not be all that as players but he has them playing very well in a highly motivated well drilled team and thus has them looking better than they are and therefore inflating their value. I guess time will tell.
I'm also on the fence about him, but 23 is no age for a midfielder
Maybe Poch is trying to motivate Mason or Bentaleb post injury, make them earn it. Carroll has been decent to good, but the former two have both been great in spurts. Feels weird thinking that just last year there were games Bentaleb completely bossed.
Glad we have depth in Carroll, though.
Glad we have depth in Carroll, though.