Whoah that's some real inside info - 100% solid? £7m seems a bit steep. Drop downs from Prem U23 to Championship usually somewhere around £2-4 M (e.g. Tosin, Reed). I can't see anyone paying anywhere near £7m. Don't think there is anyone interested except us also?

We do need a LB/LWB though....

Still personally don't think Pickering is that bad, the way things are is there is one player whose picked out and everyone piles on for a while and he's that guy at the moment. For a while last season Travis was getting a lot of stick... it moves around. Two of the goals yesterday from Reading actually all came down our right, and only one from the left. Would I like a better left back? Yes. But he's not like Douglas who was a total liability.

Sheffield Utd have played three at the back all this season, and like under Mowbray I can see playing teams in 343 or 352 is going to be a big issue for us. We tend to be very top heavy with a lot of attackers, and what Reading did so well was strangling us in midfield and across the back line. The players up front were isolated, and not physical enough to retain the ball the few times they got it. It will be more of the same by Sheffield Utd I think.... We really need to match them up in my opinion. We can just about do it with the players in the squad but it means 1) leaving quite a few attacking players on the bench or out of the squad, 2) hoping no defenders get injured as there is literally no one to come on... Kaminski Phillips Ayala Pickering Britain Buckley Travis Morton Edun Hedges Brereton Subs : Pears, U23 defender?!, JRC, A Wharton, Gallagher, Dack, Sammie/Dolan Already lack of flexibility in the squad very clear

Will be very interesting wgat we do against Sheff Utd. Mowbray would probably stick with the same system despite the one loss... I wonder if JDT and Remy will go for an instant switch? I think they will want to. I'm sure Utd will mimic Readings tactics, they've got all the players to do so.... Only got two days to prepare though. And no defenders for a 352/343. Tricky

Yeah - I think that's probably what will come out in the post mortem... Probably Morton should have come on to have an extra body in the middle to compete. Issue with 532 though is we've got so many forwards (8*) to just play two leaves a lot on the bench. The temptation is to play 4231 to get 4 forwards on at a time. And as you say we would be sacrificing one of those established forwards to play Pickering at LCB... Tough sell. *BBD, Gallagher, Hedges, Sammie, Dolan, Vale, Dack, Markanday

Yeah - him, Vale and Dolan identical really. Relatively small, not that quick, couldn't get the ball to stick. Playing all three of them at once seemed odd. With Sammie I am a bit surprised we signed him given he is a very similar player as far as I can see to Dolan - while Markanday and Vale in a similar bracket also.

Agree Vale looks a long way off, but thought Phillips looks solid personally. Not worried about him.

Really poor performance all game. Terrible. That said tactically we struggled all game. We never got any sort of control in midfield - Buckley and Travis totally crowded out but we never game them any additional support. We definitely improved second half but never could be said to be in control of a spell of the game. The concern from me is how we respond, every team we play now will watch this game back and mimic how Reading setup and dominated us.

Totally got the tactics wrong.... Dolan, Vale, Smodics all very similar, the ball not sticking to them at all... Gallagher and Hedges on. Also feel like maybe we need to match them 343. Kaminski Philips Ayala Pickering Brittain. Travis. Buckley. Edun Dolan. Gallagher. Brereton

Did he come for less money though? I don't think he did. We paid him a competitive wage as he moved into our first team squad while he was still viewed as an U23 player at Spurs.

I know I've said it a bunch of times, but I still don't believe Spurs pay their u23s significantly more than our first team. If we want to pay him as a first team player I think we can compete with Spurs. It comes down to do we see him as someone who will start for the first team regularly, and pay him commensurately, or not imo.

Well if he plays 30 games now to end of season that gets it up to £1.5M (£250k basic + 30 appearences) To be honest I still think if give him first team football we have a chance of keeping him.

Its obvious give what happened no one would pay money for Nyambe. Bizarre as he was a quality players for us, but he could only barely give himself away. Still don't get it. Must be something more to it than we can see. Lenihan though I am sure we could have got quite a few million if he was on a contract .

SG was defo given a first team contract by Southampton- after his loan spell with us coincidentally .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Gallagher_(footballer,_born_1995) AA made11 appearences for Newcastle in 2014, so again was a first team player and would be compensated as such. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Armstrong_(footballer) I don't think either are indicative of the level of pay Spurs will afford a youth player who has one game in the Championship during an injury crisis.

Do'h your right, I was calculating 10k for some reason.

I'd imagine if the coaches are of the view he will play 20+ first team games an offer of around £5k a week would seem reasonable. Thats around half a million a year (up from probably around £25k a year scholars wages?)... Maybe Spurs would pay a bit more than 0.5M if they were desperate to add him to their 23s but I can't see them paying much more tbh. They've got a lot of money but paying scholars huge sums is not something I can imagine Levy going for. The trade off I can see coming is the money people at Venkys/Ewood saying - "okay we will pay him a first team wage but we will now sign one less defender". So it may come down to whether JDT and Broughton want to recognise him as a full first team player or not.

I don't think so really if we view him as a first team player. We pay our first team players more than Prem teams pay their U23s.

I just don't think Spurs are offering him anything like that. @JoeHis I think in the know on this one - are Spurs looking at Phillips as a development player (i.e. U23s) or as a genuine first squad? If they want him for the first squad obviously we don't stand a chance. But if it's a choice between first team with us and U23s with Spurs we will have a good shout imo.

Tricky selection with injuries. Sounds from the injury update that we could potentially start the same XI as against WBA... But I think given the injuries we already have not pushing Brittain and Phillips may be the call... Could look pretty makeshift at the back (Edun-Pickering-Ayala-Buckley?) Playing Ayala three games in a week also sounds to me like an accident waiting to happen... But really no other choice. Need this Sepp lad and 2 more

If he gets signed to go into the spurs first team squad this is true, but I don't think that's what this is about. They want to poach him for their academy. That he's playing first team football for us is a game changer imo, and puts us back in the driving seat.

I don't think anyones got a problem with putting him on a decent first team wage. The issue would be putting him on more or equivalent money than our best performers - the likes of Travis, Buckley, Brereton, Ayala, Kaminski - which would be bizarre imo.. If you were any of those players you would be absolutely livid. I sincerely doubt Spurs are going to offer him that much more to go into the U21s than we currently pay Wharton etc. We've shown we are competitive with Spurs academy by signing Markanday, who was - like Phillips - marked as an exceptional talent . Maybe I'm wrong but as long as we play him we've got a great chance of signing him.

Absolutely, would sow absolute chaos in the dressing room if a player who has played one professional game is put on Ayala money... That said offer him the same money as Wharton and first team football. Spurs can offer the money but they can't offer football. No player I've heard of has given up first team Championship football for academy football. If we give him games we are in a very strong position in negotiations. I'm sure he will sign.

Like em or loath em everything about Venkys suggests BBD isn't going for less than £15m come hell or high water.

If we play Phillips next few games getting him to sign a contract should be pretty straightforward. He isn't going to start first team games at Spurs.