Dortmund v Spurs- Ropey League Last 16.

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trifficTotnum said:
You keep underestimating the impact of fatigue on the squad. We play away to villa who are fighting for their lives. They will not roll over for us. They are in the pressure cooker now . Every single fucking year we shoot ourselves in the foot this time of the year dropping points to team we should have beat. I dont want that team to be villa or bournemouth.
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Dude I support Spurs. I am happy to agree on our ability to shoot ourselves in foot.

But this Villa team is awful. Seriously awful. Their heads have dropped, they are not in a pressure cooker they are in the Championship. Anything less than 3 points even with a weaker team than we played tonight would astound me. They gave up the fight in December.

If it did happen then not only would we not win the league we would not deserve to
 
Don't shoot me for this I just have one question really.

It's apparent he picked the kids and whilst for Dortmund away I disagree that we should have, that's the path he took, so my question is why play the reserve side essentially but still pick Toby, Lloris and Eriksen?

Seems a half and half approach that's in no man's land really. If we were resting Dier then why not Toby who's played every minute of the PL.

Just a bit disappointed to wake up at 4:45 to watch us wave the white flag.
 
Potch was doomed either way here. Fans are so fickle. It's been clear this squad is suffering from serious fatigue. Our game over the last couple matches has deteriorated to a point where even our passing was off point. If he played a full squad here our team would be finished in 3 weeks from now and then everything would be gone from us. We still have 9 odd games in the PL to play and I honestly think that comes first, especially considering the position we find ourselves in on the log. We haven't a massive squad and Potch made the decision and I think it was a good call. Next year is Champions league so the job is actually done for this season as that was our main goal. Now we have a serious chance to do what we did in 61 in 2016. I've supported Spurs since 1990 and I never thought we were ever capable of taking the league but just maybe, just maybe we can do it and swop 61 around and make it our year this year - 16.
 
Has always been a criticism levelled at Poch and Bielsa disciples. That of overtraining and fatigue. Think some of that is to do with the age of the team also, older bodies might be able to cope better. I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as last season. We might need a bigger squad
 
If we can't beat the Villa with this squad today, then we shouldn't bother worrying about the title.

Fact of the matter is that all this aim for top 4, Champions League, even the title, it leads us to facing teams like Dortmund. It's a place we want to be. But, when we've had the chance, we play the tie as if it was against Scunthorpe.

There are no excuses to be had. This was a perplexingly stupid decision by Poch.

Put out a full strength side here and get a result, rest against an abject Villa, then try our luck at WHL (could even rest players if we had got a good result here) and then they'd still be up to face Bournemouth who are on a streak and much harder opposition than the Villa.

Now it is presumably a full strength side against Villa, a dead fixture at the Lane which after today's bullshit, he can't get away with as terrible a side, leaving us unprepared for Bournemouth.

This focus on the worst side of the four, was without ambition and shows us to be fools.

But, Son Heung Min, was even worse than Poch. Out of his depth. Doesn't work hard, when that is the only thing he can do, so what's the point of him? Has hardly control of the ball, is too selfish, loses the ball most of the time, runs into blind alleys, takes ridiculously zero reward shots. Don't know how he can get away with the same mistakes game after game.
 
therealITK said:
If we can't beat the Villa with this squad today, then we shouldn't bother worrying about the title.

But, Son Heung Min, was even worse than Poch. Out of his depth. Doesn't work hard, when that is the only thing he can do, so what's the point of him? Has hardly control of the ball, is too selfish, loses the ball most of the time, runs into blind alleys, takes ridiculously zero reward shots. Don't know how he can get away with the same mistakes game after game.
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Because his name isn't Andros Townsend
 
trifficTotnum said:
You keep underestimating the impact of fatigue on the squad. We play away to villa who are fighting for their lives. They will not roll over for us. They are in the pressure cooker now . Every single fucking year we shoot ourselves in the foot this time of the year dropping points to team we should have beat. I dont want that team to be villa or bournemouth.
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This is not an 'every year' season? We have been beating the lower teams and we should expect this to continue .
We should expect a win against Villa which we need the points and the morale boast .
 
I think the game last night showed how much we miss Dier when he's out. They were able to get in behind our wing-backs because Toby and Wimmer had to stay more central.

Mason and Carroll are both good players, useful to have in the squad, but neither of them (or Bentaleb for that matter) bring what Dier does to the table. Perhaps we would have got away with it playing against some teams - against one of the most in-form teams in Europe, no chance.

More than the inexperienced side (who, individually as players really aren't bad no matter how much people were slating them last night) it was the change to our system and style of play which really let us down.

We need more cover for the DM position - whether we buy it or whether we promote someone like Ball to the team, we just need someone who can play the same role in the team.
 
gajt said:
I think the game last night showed how much we miss Dier when he's out. They were able to get in behind our wing-backs because Toby and Wimmer had to stay more central.

Mason and Carroll are both good players, useful to have in the squad, but neither of them (or Bentaleb for that matter) bring what Dier does to the table. Perhaps we would have got away with it playing against some teams - against one of the most in-form teams in Europe, no chance.

More than the inexperienced side (who, individually as players really aren't bad no matter how much people were slating them last night) it was the change to our system and style of play which really let us down.

We need more cover for the DM position - whether we buy it or whether we promote someone like Ball to the team, we just need someone who can play the same role in the team.
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I agree. We didn't fail because "Chadli sucks" or "Son is terrible" or "[insert fringe player] is shit". Our backup players ranges from very good to very capable.

But when you put too many fringe players in one team, players who haven't had the time to build on-the-pitch in-game relationships, you're gonna struggle. Add to that that you miss certain types/qualities, such as Dier and what he brings to the midfield, and the tactics are a bit creative (looked as though we played a kind of 4-3-3 at times, with no forwards and with Onomah as a right midfielder rather than a AMR) you might get fucked by one of the better teams in Europe, a team that gets to play significantly weaker sides for 30+ games a season in their league.

We didn't stand a chance, but Poch made the right call.
 
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NSFB said:
Don't shoot me for this I just have one question really.

It's apparent he picked the kids and whilst for Dortmund away I disagree that we should have, that's the path he took, so my question is why play the reserve side essentially but still pick Toby, Lloris and Eriksen?

Seems a half and half approach that's in no man's land really. If we were resting Dier then why not Toby who's played every minute of the PL.

Just a bit disappointed to wake up at 4:45 to watch us wave the white flag.
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And why bring Kane on at 3 nil down, absolute buffoonery.

"We picked the starting XI to try and win the game."

Of course you did Maurice, of course you did.
 
Audere said:
Except we are playing arguably the second worst, possibly even the worst team ever in the history of the premiership on Sunday. Surely it would have made sense to have given the top team a rest against those clowns?

Then made a call next Thursday on what team to play. Hellfire some players could have had week and half off had tonights result been the same. Who knows? Couple that with the international break next week and they could have had 2 and a half weeks off!

It's not rocket science mate.

Keep up.
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We struggled against Swansea. Poch got annoyed, cause we didn't take them seriously. Do you really think that he was gonna put up a second string team against Villa and say "Relax Boys, it's just Villa. You won't have to Apple yourselves today, it's a free win". It's not how the Premier League works. We will most likely win the game, IF we're not out of energy and we take the game seriously.

And a two week break due to internationals?

Hugo: France
Toby, Mousa, Nacer (?): Belgium
Danny(?), Kyle, Harry, Eric, Dele, Ryan(?): England
Kevin: Austria
Nabil: Algeria
Ben: Wales
Christian: Denmark
Erik: Argentina
Son: South Korea
Joshua: England U21

I guess maybe Tom and Michel gets to rest, along with Clinton and Jan.
 
The Ropey Cup is a shit tournament . A parasite that drains any club of
limited funds .the club have shown that Silverware will always play second to
a top 4 position.
What I don't understand is why the club just doesn't show it the disrespect that it
deserves from the beginning . Playing youth and B players advoiding the slow
draining effect and the eventual Feb/March demoralising collapse .
I feel most sorry for the 3500 who had taken precious time and hard earned money to watch that shit .
 
Audere said:
Poch was right and I'm glad. Son is awesome, Chadli is easily the match of Kane and Clinton will make the difference when he returns.

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Audere said:
Dude I support Spurs. I am happy to agree on our ability to shoot ourselves in foot.

But this Villa team is awful. Seriously awful. Their heads have dropped, they are not in a pressure cooker they are in the Championship. Anything less than 3 points even with a weaker team than we played tonight would astound me. They gave up the fight in December.

If it did happen then not only would we not win the league we would not deserve to
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If Poch thinks we need to rest players for Villa, then you can bet we need to rest players for Villa. He's seeing the team flag and he's making the right call. It's tough to take, and I certainly feel for the fans who make the trip, but I don't want our league chances, however small, being compromised by a manager trying to be "respectful".
 
Eskimo said:
And why bring Kane on at 3 nil down, absolute buffoonery.

"We picked the starting XI to try and win the game."

Of course you did Maurice, of course you did.
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He actually said that. Wow, he'd be the only one with that appraisal.

If that were true we would have had Mason and Carroll as a partnership
 
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