A Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links March 29, 2016

Good morning!

Anyone else bored yet?

Last week was fun enough with England playing Germany and a few other big matches, but it feels like it can't hold one way or the other. Either England are going to play terribly and the newly appointed kings of Europe will get torn down, or they will play better and be built up even more.

International football results aren't really my thing compared to some, but I would like for our Spurs boys to come out of the national team experience without scares, thank you; honestly, though, I don't see that happening short of a miracle run.

As for the American melodrama and all the shouts for Jurgen Klinsmann's job, it's all a bit of hilarity masking the real issue. The players aren't good enough and short of being the scrappy, pragmatic bunch they used to be, the US won't be turning any heads in real tournaments. His reign will probably make the US better 20 years from now, but all that seems remote at the moment, but I'm sure some fans think putting DeAndre Yedlin at right back again solves this all. I wish I could see things through those rose tinted lenses. My goodness what a laugh life must be then.

And on a final note, I can't wait for the retrospectives in ten years that act like it's news that Dempsey and Donovan at their peaks (2010) weren't replaceable and Michael Bradley was a perfect water carrier, but an imperfect playmaker. Like it should take a genius to work that angle.

I now hate the break a little bit more for making these seem like interesting topics. Dammit, international break.

And now for the "news":

Dele Alli and Ross Barkley should emulate Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, says Bryan Robson| Squawka

It's not just Robson, but my goodness do people actually think about who they are comparing players to? Paul Scholes and Dele Alli are not alike at all. Scholes would make horrible tackles. Alli is a wind up merchant after the whistle. Two different manifestations of the dark arts.

Seriously, the media and people who don't watch him every week talking about Dele Alli make me want to pull out my hair.

Laudrup: new manager can get the best of Christian Eriksen for Denmark| BBC

There are lots of stale Danish jokes here but I have too much respect for you, dear reader, so I will write nothing instead in the ultimate show of respect.

Erik Lamela still watches River Plate| Sport Witness

Yes, I do believe the scientific word for the thing transmitting and receiving transatlantic television signals is "gizmo". Shout out to the crack research squad and line editors over there at Sport Witness.

Chris Eubanks Sr. told his son to kill the body instead| SB Nation

People will take this as an opportunity to rail on boxing, but this was a pretty cool thing Eubanks did. We need more informed third parties having influence in these matches, not just doctors and referees who are paid to be there and may feel pressure to make a call one way or the other.

I boxed and as much as people will put the sport down, there were plenty of guys in the gym who turned their life around by going to a gym every day instead of what they were doing. I could go on, but this isn't a boxing site, so I won't. I just think in this instance, people would do well to focus on the good in this story.