Tottenham Vs Antwerp, Europa League - Thursday 10th Dec 8pm.

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TheSpurEst said:
Hmm, I still feel that subbing out Bale, Winks and Vinicus after they fought us into the lead was bit of a slap into face.

I get Ndombele in - some match sharpness after he missed a game. But Son and Kane were kind of needless. How can we expect such players to cope under pressure... if they are not trusted to see out even such game.

I trust and support Jose, but just feel that maybe 2 out of the 3 subs were kind of uncalled for at that point in time.
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I feel that way too, but on reflection I don’t think it was to send a message, I think it’s just Jose is more conservative than maybe we are and REALLY wants to secure a win while we might not be too fussed about topping the group. He hasn’t spoken negatively at all about the performance or any player like he did against Antwerp first time or LASK, he just said he wanted to guarantee a win and 30min is barely anything, if you hear his postmatch comments:

You went ahead and still brought on the key guys after the first goal, was there a temptation to rest them? What was your thinking behind that?

The thinking was to win the match, a match that we were always in control despite them not creating any chance that I remember, the game was still open and to play 30 minutes is not an accumulation of fatigue.

To play 30 minutes is less than 90 minutes, 100 minutes training session so it was not a problem at all and I decided after the 1-0 to bring fresh people and to bring people who could give a last kick in the story of the game and game over since Gio score the second goal.
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I’d still like us to trust our squad players a bit more because they’re not going to develop match fitness or familiarity without playing together, but let’s see how it goes over the season because it’s early days.
 
I think Jose was trying to test how we do when we are up 1-0.

Not parking the bus but being dangerous going forward and having more possession.

Maybe we will see it against Palace.
 
Joe Thompson said:
It was a UEFA initiative, not our responsibility. It would have been churlish in the extreme to have refused.

Let’s see what happens around the the grounds this weekend. I think you’re forgetting that this was a European match.
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My query was based around quality as much as anything, ie. At what level is the bar set. 120 goals in 300 games, half of which were scored in the Italian 2nd division.
But yes, Euro match etc but if we keep having these memorials for every Tom, dick and harry then it diminishes the impact of them for players of genuine significance within the game.
 
TheSpurEst said:
Hmm, I still feel that subbing out Bale, Winks and Vinicus after they fought us into the lead was bit of a slap into face.

I get Ndombele in - some match sharpness after he missed a game. But Son and Kane were kind of needless. How can we expect such players to cope under pressure... if they are not trusted to see out even such game.

I trust and support Jose, but just feel that maybe 2 out of the 3 subs were kind of uncalled for at that point in time.
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I think Jose is planning to utilise both in the coming week with 3 PL matches coming fast
 
Anyone else feel sorry Mick Cooper for having his life ruined because a footballing icon was given a few seconds respect in death before a football match the day after he died?

I do. I truly feel sorry for Mick Cooper.
I hope Mick Cooper can bounce back one day. They say it takes time.
 
Job done. Palace feels massive now .

Strangely felt more confident against Woolwich than I do for this one. It’ll be a real test and require a tweak to the tactics we’ve had over the last few weeks.

This is where the title will be won and lost for me. Jose manages the big games very well and we have too much quality for the sides in the bottom 6, it’s the games against Palace, Wolves, Everton etc that worry me more.

Consistently pick up 3 points in those and we are gonna go close this season....
 
Mick Cooper said:
My query was based around quality as much as anything, ie. At what level is the bar set. 120 goals in 300 games, half of which were scored in the Italian 2nd division.
But yes, Euro match etc but if we keep having these memorials for every Tom, dick and harry then it diminishes the impact of them for players of genuine significance within the game.
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I don’t think that Paulo Rossi counts as any Tom, Dick or Harry. He’s a legend in Italy despite all his shenanigans. His goals to games ratio is not the issue here. He was the World Cup’s top scorer that year, and his goals helped his country win the World Cup.

I would have looked at the ground and kept my mouth shut for 60 seconds. Not too hard.
 
Making those - probably unnecessary- substitutions last night is a very positive sign of where Jose’s head is at. He is entirely focussed on winning and has the very significant quality of being impatient about it.
That might be the difference that’ll get us silverware this season.
 
bus-conductor said:
But scoring wasn't immaterial, it changed everything, because it meant we were winning, not drawing and therefore did not have to risk our most important players to achieve that outcome.

Even if it was still 0-0, plenty of us wouldn't have been happy risking Kane, Son & Nnombele for so much of the game to try and chase that win, when we had effectively already qualified, especially when the second half we were well on top anyway.
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Yes we were winning, but we hadn't won! There's a difference... assuming it was 'job done' after scoring on 55minutes doesn't take into account that mentally, the players on the pitch may have felt the same way and taken their foot off the gas... it was only one goal... an equaliser, and we were back where we started.
I think Jose (and many fans) realised after the West Ham game, it's NEVER over... 1-0 certainly isn't 3-0, and i'd wager that Antwerp were on a par (quality wise) with West Ham... so if they could claw back a 3-goal lead, I'm sure Antwerp had it in them to conjure up one!
Besides, did you see the visible deflation in them when we made the subs... that in itself was worth another goal!

Of course it woulda been nice to be 4-0 up and not had to bring on anyone, but we weren't, it was 1-0, and 1-0 is precarious!

Added to the fact, half an hour for our front two won't do them any harm, and will keep them sharp for Sunday.... a full 90minutes is another matter.... but going a goal up, bringing them on for 30 mins, and scoring another is pretty much Plan executed as far as I can see.
 
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