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Tottenham have been continually praised for their strength of squad, the ability for Andre Villas-Boas to maintain the good start to the season across all competitions.

Football, funnily, has a way of looking at the black or white, rather than the grey area in between. There’s always the assumption from football supporters that X player would be a misguided transfer due to the strength of the starting XI, completely neglecting the need for a strong squad as opposed to just eleven good players.

Jermain Defoe seems to be Tottenham’s designated backup and Europa League striker. No problem, it’s still only October. The England international’s competitive nature will see him attempt to force his way in ahead of new signing Roberto Soldado, but the Spaniard’s reputation and scoring record in La Liga places him, for now, firmly ahead of Defoe.

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The thing is, Tottenham want silverware and they want progression. Defoe is a good name to keep on board when the pressure mounts. Such is his own scoring instinct that many teams would fear the probability of a Defoe goal if he were to replace Soldado midway through a match. His movement and pace is adaptable to the European game, where size and strength aren’t as emphasised as they are in England.

But beyond Defoe, what do Tottenham have? A striker in Emmanuel Adebayor whose ambition for the prizes of football are limited to just one aspect. To top that off, he’s not too reliable either.

So in spite of the World Cup approaching, where is the sense in toying with the idea of moving Defoe on in January? Defoe himself may wish to take that path, but for the good of Tottenham’s campaign, they’d obviously be advised to hang on to what they have. Like them, their north London rivals have a strong group of midfielders, and yet Arsenal are regularly condemned for having one senior striker in Olivier Giroud. Though how so many people forget that Lukas Podolski is a striker is beyond me. Tottenham don’t want to find themselves in a similar situation.

Thus far into the season, the fixtures have already been taxing, with the September domestic schedule being broken up by international weeks and European excursions. More of the same will take place this month and through Christmas, by which time Tottenham’s new recruits may start to feel the strain of fixture congestion and no midway break. Defoe is used to these demands where Soldado isn’t. Defoe is an experienced Premier League forward who can be rotated with the former Valencia man when Spurs are forced to play three league games in a week.

The short-sighted nature of football is to look at the next fixture, the strongest XI and the nonexistent problems of a squad that is ‘too strong.’ Where’s the balance? The perfect harmony of keeping everyone happy while also remaining competitive throughout a campaign. Where’s the need and acceptance of the grey area?

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Will the lack of action in a World Cup year ensure a January move for Defoe?

Join the debate below

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Tottenham goalkeeper Brad Friedel will continue to be Spurs’ number one goalkeeper after an impressive display in the 1-1 draw against Norwich on Saturday, according to The Guardian.

Lloris, who is sixteen years the junior to his goalkeeping colleague and rival at Tottenham Brad Friedel, is number one choice goalkeeper for the French national side.

Lloris wasn’t signed in time to be eligible for the Norwich game. Regardless of this, and perhaps to many people’s surprise, Villas-Boas revealed that Lloris is likely to be a signing for a few years down the line, “the Premier League’s a specific league and we want to build for the future, so we decided to bring in Hugo now as he can be our keeper in the future. We have to work with that and he will have to adapt to the Premier League.”

What Villas-Boas can rely on is the sort of professionalism from Hugo Lloris which has earned him the privilege of being the French captain. Lloris accepts that he may have to be patient before he can stamp his authority in the Tottenham goal, “I’m here because I believe in Tottenham. There are a lot of great players here and a great manager. Everything is in place to qualify for the Champions League. But the most important thing for me is to show I am up for the challenge on the pitch. I’m ready to do the utmost for the team and the supporters.”

Former Tottenham defender Sebastian Bassong believes that Lloris will learn a lot from studying Friedel at White Hart Lane, “I think he’ll learn a lot. He’s [Lloris] a really good goalkeeper but now he’s in a new competition and a new country, he’ll need Brad’s help.”

Lloris is one of a number of arrivals who is a part of a transition period at White Hart Lane following the key departures of Luka Modric to Real Madrid and Rafael van der Vaart to Hamburg. Another one of the arrivals at Spurs, Moussa Dembele, did manage to make an appearance for his new side and subsequently made an immediate impact scoring the opening goal in the 1-1 draw to Norwich.

Dembele said after the game that he has been impressed by Villas-Boas’ management style thus far, “the manager is very clear what he wants me to do and he just told me to play my game the same way I always play.”

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Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat to Leicester City wasn’t an easy night for youngster Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Making only his second Premier League appearance of the season at right-back, the Foxes clearly targeted the youngster due to his inexperience; 47% of their attacking play came down the left flank, which was essentially the source for Leicester’s first two goals.

A looped cross travelled from left to right before being finished off by Kelechi Iheanacho, while Maitland-Niles’ failure to contain Demarai Gray eventually saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan foul the English winger for a penalty kick.

And yet, despite the 20-year-old’s difficulties, there were still moments of individual quality that really shone through at the King Power Stadium. He actually created the joint-most chances, completed the most dribbles and made the joint-second-most tackles of any Gunners player, although the England U21’s 16 possession losses served as a key reminder that he still suffers from the inconsistency of youth.

Whoever replaces Arsene Wenger at the Emirates Stadium this summer will be desperate to make his mark on the squad via the transfer market, but the glimmers of huge potential Maitland-Niles has shown during his short Arsenal career suggest he could be even more valuable than a new signing for the north Londoners.

Rather than investing money in big names, Arsenal’s next manager should be investing his time in Arsenal’s promising young players instead – starting with Maitland-Niles. Not only will it help preserve the distinct Arsenal DNA Wenger will leave behind once he officially steps down, but it will also save the club a fortune in transfer fees.

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The past two seasons haven’t been the best for Manchester United fans, finishing seventh during the 2013-2014 campaign and only scraping into the top four last term, despite spending a massive £150million on new players.

Yet, club captain Wayne Rooney continued his incredible consistency in front of goal, with the England international once again reaching double digits in goals scored, a feat he has accomplished ever since joining the Red Devils from Everton back in 2004.

But last season it was tough to keep 29-year-old in your Fantasy Premier League roster, as manager Louis van Gaal deployed the player in midfield for a majority of the campaign due to the arrival of Radamel Falcao and the presence of Robin van Persie, diminishing his returns that did not justify his rather hefty 11.5 price tag.

However, that is all about to change. With the two aforementioned strikers leaving Old Trafford and United purchasing some solid central midfielders in Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger, Van Gaal has named Rooney as his main front man and the England man is expected to lead the line for the upcoming campaign in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 set-up.

Statistically, Rooney had the best conversion rate of any of Manchester United’s strikers last season, converting 15.2% of his opportunities compared to RVP’s 13.2% and Falcao’s 10.8%.

Rooney also has an amazing potential to garner assists, making the second most key passes (45) among forwards last season. He did, however, finish with only five, but it was his lowest tally since 2006 and is expected to fare much better this time around.

Rooney may also earn a fair share of set pieces and penalties, with the club captain expected to return to spot-kick duties following Van Persie’s departure to Fenerbahce. But with the signing of Memphis Depay, and now that Juan Mata is a permanent fixture in Van Gaal’s plans, the former Toffees star may be forced to share dead-ball duties.

The thing that could prove the tipping point to have Rooney in your squad is United’s opening set of fixtures. The Red Devils have a favourable run of seven games (Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Swansea, Liverpool, Southampton and Sunderland) that give the Three Lions captain a great chance to get your squad some early points.

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By the time United face Arsenal in Gameweek 8, Rooney may be the top performing forward… making his price of 10.5 suddenly seem like absolute peanuts.

Written by Football FanCast and commissioned by Fantasy Football Scout, the tips, news and views site for those who don’t just play Fantasy Football.

Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio is closing in on the signing of Vito Mannone from Arsenal, according to Sky Sports.

The Black Cats sold their number one Simon Mignolet to Liverpool earlier this week and Mannone has been eyed as the ready-made replacement.

The 25 year old has failed to break into the first team at Arsenal since his move from Atalanta eight years ago but impressed on loan at both Hull and Barnsley in the Championship.

Di Canio wants his compatriot to be the man between the stick at the Stadium of Light in a deal that will see Sunderland save a sizeable fee in that department.

The North East club are also in talks with Argentinean right back Gino Peruzzi over a switch to England from South America.

Peruzzi was the man that kept Brazilian hot-shot Neymar quiet over two legs of the Copa Libertadores semi-finals earlier this year and was expected to make a move to big European club this summer.

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Highly rated South Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng has become Swansea City’s record signing after putting pen to paper on a three-year deal from Celtic.

Ki, 23, will not be able to play for the Swans as they take on West Ham in today’s lunchtime kick off but he is clearly excited to have arrived.

“When I look at Swansea I see a club that is growing and growing, and the style here is very attractive to me,” he told the club’s official website.

“Last year I watched them a lot in the Premier League and they did things very differently to a lot of the other teams. They wanted to keep the ball and pass it around, which I love to do. When they didn’t have the ball they worked so hard to get it back quickly.”

“This is something I have dreamt about since I was a child – playing in the Premier League against the best players in the world. I can’t wait to play my first game.”

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Arsene Wenger’s fairytale ending to life as Arsenal manager has turned into a nightmare.

The Frenchman had hoped to lead the club to Europa League glory before signing off permanently, but it was not to be.

Pressure was on the Gunners’ shoulders heading into Thursday night’s semi-final second leg against Atletico Madrid in Spain due to the fact that they conceded an away goal in the Emirates tie.

The match sat at 1-1, with Arsenal knowing that they needed to score at Atletico’s ground to have any hope of progressing into the final.

It was a painful encounter for Wenger’s men as they were the better side for large parts of the game, but ended up losing 1-0 on the night following Diego Costa’s goal.

Arsenal fans were crushed by the result, and many aimed criticism at Hector Bellerin for his performance during the encounter.

While the Gunners support were suffering, their arch rivals Tottenham Hotspur were not feeling the pain as strongly.

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In fact, plenty of the club’s supporters took to Twitter to mock Arsenal’s failings, because not only will Wenger’s reign end without silverware, they will also fail to qualify for a place in next season’s Champions League.

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Following Luis Suarez’s departure to Barcelona last summer Daniel Sturridge was poised to be Liverpool’s main striker and potentially their new hero. But it is difficult to see how this season could have gone any worse for the 25-year-old, who has made just 12 appearances in a campaign which has been dogged by injuries.

Just a few days ago it was announced that Sturridge will be missing the start of next season as he continues to recover from hip surgery. He is unable to train fully for the next four months and will also miss England’s games – although Brendan Rodgers will be happy about that. He should be available for the Reds around October but with so much time spent getting injured, recovering and then getting injured again it seems that Sturridge’s body has really struggled this year and it is hard to see how he can get back his best next term.

There are numerous occasions where players have had persistent thigh injuries, and even once they have recovered it’s still restricted their future impact on the pitch. After all part of what makes Sturridge so lethal is his pace so if he can’t rely on that he may find it difficult to thrive in our very physically demanding league.

You only have to look at a player like Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere or Manchester United’s Radamel Falcao. Both have suffered lengthy lay-offs and where the Englishman has resembled glass at times, hurt from the slightest of knocks, Falcao no longer looks as dangerous as he once was.

Liverpool are relying on Sturridge to spearhead their charge into the top four next season so if he ends up unable to recreate last year’s 20+ goals then the task will have to fall to misfiring Mario Balotelli. It is absolutely possible that the Italian will have finally found his shooting boots by then or the club may once again try to sign a striker in the summer transfer window, but all at Liverpool will be hoping is that Sturridge eventually comes back stronger than ever.

What makes the forward’s situation appear so uncertain is not only how much of the season he’s missed, but also the fact that despite being given ample time to recover once he did return to the first team he couldn’t hack it. Most injured players may come back a bit slower but they tend to make it through the rest of the year.

If Liverpool want last season’s Premier League title near miss to be chalked up to more than just a fluke then they will need a seriously strong campaign next year. The competition for those precious four places gets fiercer each year and teams like Southampton and Tottenham will continue to throw their hats into the ring. The Reds can’t afford to be without a prolific striker so a dip into the transfer window is their best bet as relying on Sturridge is too much of a risk. For now he needs to rest and get his body back to full strength, then we’ll have to wait to see if his injuries come back to haunt him.

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To illustrate just how tight the Premier League bottom-half is: a win for 17th placed Sunderland would move them level on points with 11th placed Stoke and still wouldn’t guarantee top-flight football next season. What Paolo Di Canio needs is a reaction from his players if they’re to kick-off amongst the elite again in August. After a two-game winning streak Di Canio was brought back down to Earth with a thump following the 6-1 mauling suffered at Aston Villa last week. To make matters worse his side dropped back to 17th over the weekend and could be in the bottom three by Wednesday should Wigan win their game in hand.

The Potters, despite their mid-table position, aren’t deluded enough to believe they’re safe just yet. Back-to-back wins lifted Tony Pulis’ men to 40-points but the usual survival threshold doesn’t offer the security as it has done in previous years. That leaves them needing to leave Wearside with maximum points if they’re going to finally confirm their Premier League place for 2013/14 and heap even further pressure on the teams below them.

Team News

Sunderland are without Stephane Sessegnon for the remainder of the season after he was sent off against Aston Villa last time out. Connor Wickham (calf) is unlikely to feature meaning Paolo Di Canio isn’t dealing with any fresh injury concerns.

Defenders Marc Wilson (hamstring) and Andy Wilkinson (back), as well as midfielder Glenn Whelan (groin), are all doubts for Stoke. Matthew Etherington could feature from the start after returning from a back complaint last week.

What the managers said…

“When I arrived, in my opinion, Danny wasn’t really fit enough in terms of playing in the Premier League. He had a long face during my first two or three training sessions and I thought ‘can he play football?’ I wondered what was going on so I spoke to him. Now he is confident. He is not down. He feels part of the cause and is always active, encouraging the other players in the training drills. He is intelligent and now he is ready, which is why I feel confident that he can score.” Paolo Di Canio is confident Danny Graham can fire Sunderland to safety (Guardian)

“There has been nothing from the club that suggests anything other than I want to continue and they are happy for me to continue. I still feel there is stuff to be done, certain aspects within the club that can be improved. I would like to be given the opportunity to do that. There are aspects we have learned from this year. There are certain things that you look back on and think you could have dealt with that better. That’s for me to discuss with the powers that be, to learn from one or two mistakes.” Tony Pulis concedes mistakes have been made at Stoke this season (Daily Mail)

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Pre-match Statistic: Sunderland have won three and kept four clean sheets in the previous four Premier League meetings with Stoke. 

Prediction: Sunderland 1-1 Stoke City

Footballers are often accused of being many things – egotistic, arrogant and self-centered – and for the most part, you would be right for thinking those things, but is part of the problem the way young players are hyped up from an early age? And should more be done to stop players switching clubs every other season while they are still too young to make such weighty decisions?

Manchester United have been bitten this summer by the departure of 19 year-old French international Paul Pogba, who departed to Juventus citing a lack of first-team opportunities at Old Trafford as the motivating factor behind the move. Setting aside the fact that the ranks at Juventus are swelled with Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Kwadwo Asamoah, Mauricio Isla and Claudio Marchisio among others, which seems like a far better depth of talent than is currently occupying the squad at Manchester United, it should really come as no surprise to many in the way that he left the club, for without trying to be too patronising, it’s part and parcel of the game these days with younger players.

Upon completing his reported £20,000 per week move to the Italian champions, Ferguson slammed the player in question stating: “Pogba signed for Juventus a long time ago as far as we’re aware. It’s a bit disappointing because I don’t think he should us any respect at all. To be honest, if they carry on that way, I’m quite happy that he’s away from me anyway.”

The reaction is completely understandable, a naive young man has had his head turned by an agent, in this instance, the clearly detestable Mino Raiola, but we shouldn’t forget the circumstances in which Manchester United were allowed to sign the youngster in the first place, with any genuine outrage surely bordering on the hypocritical.

Signed as a 16 year-old from French club Le Havre, Manchester United were immediately accused of ‘tapping up’ the youngster and both clubs become embroiled in a bitter war of words.  Le Havre released the following statement after it appeared the then 16 year-old had move to England: “Le Havre want to express their indignation at the actions of Manchester United officials and their pursuit of Paul Pogba.

“Paul Pogba, his parents and Le Havre were bound to a contract called a ‘non-solicitation agreement’ from autumn 2006. At the end of that contract, the three parties agreed to sign a trainee contract when the player matched certain age and scholarship criteria, taking him through to the end of the 2009/10 season. However, the player and his parents have refused to fulfil the agreement because Manchester United have offered big money to the parents to get their son to England. While a lot of voices have started to be heard coming out of the EU, governments, Fifa and Uefa against ‘minor slave trade’, Manchester United have not hesitated to uproot a 16-year-old kid.”

Strong words indeed but the crux of their argument is sound, the rush for talent and the next big thing means that many major club all across Europe can often be accused of lacking morals in their pursuit of top young talent, this in turn creates an unrivalled and unwarranted sense of entitlement in the player. They think they have made it before they have even kicked a ball, you could call them big-time Charlie’s if you will, but the fact of the matter is what talented young kid would turn a huge club like United down?

It renders the investment that clubs at all levels all across Europe make with concerns to their academies somewhat pointless if a big club can swoop in at the eleventh hour and purchase a prodigious talent in such a manner. While I wouldn’t quite go down the ‘minor slave trade’ route that Le Havre clearly went for, it’s not too far off and these players need to be protected at such an impressionable age.

Ultimately, the decision will come down to them, not their parents or guardians or whoever else may be involved, but I can’t remember when I was 16 years old being of sound enough mind to make an objective and long-term decision about my career, so footballers should be no different. Freedom of movement laws obviously dictate that these players are well within their rights to make such moves, but at the end of the day, it’s not for the good of the game or even themselves, it’s for the vested interests whispering in their ears looking to make a quick buck. Smaller clubs are getting squeezed more and more financially, so to deny them the payday they richly deserve for developing and harnessing such a player seems a tad harsh.

The only proposition that I can think of that could potentially work as a blanket rule would be to raise the age by which footballers sign their first professional contract from 16 to 18 in the hope that extra two years experience, both on and off the pitch would act as a factor in their decision-making process and counter-balance their previous lack of maturity. I’ll be the first to admit, though, that while this may potentially take a degree of power away from those hegemonic clubs to an extent, it’s still a deeply flawed idea as the knock-on effect means it just then increases player power even further and the smaller club in question could be set to miss out on a payday still, just a couple of years further down the line.

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Money is the predominant reason for such moves, with the requirement of guaranteed first-team football usually a secondary requirement. Pogba serves as a prime example of the ‘evils’ of the modern game to an extent and he’s now left two successive clubs under a cloud even though he has just seven professional appearances under his belt. Gambling on potential is fine, it’s done in all walks of life and various industries every day, but for the figures bandied about, it’s simply got into silly territory now and needs to be seriously looked at and addressed by people far smarter than myself.

You can follow me on Twitter @JamesMcManus1

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