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Ex-Spurs Player Harry Kane

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How many PL strikers are 6'5" like Llorente? How many are as touch as Llorente? I watch Rondon manhandle Liverpools CBs consistently. So much so that there was sentiment on RAWK to pick him up so they didn't have to deal with him 2x a year. They are vulnerable to real old school #9 of which there are few in the PL but Llorente would have been just that type of task for them.

Yeah, my point.

That's assuming the same things would have happened which is not a reasonable thing to do.

The other point was Klopp would have been expecting 1 thing but forced to deal with another. He is not a master tactician and the element of surpise would have been ours. Surprised we didn't take it because even in full health Harry has nothing to concern VVD (or any other athletic CB).

We could not have even imagined winning without Kane.

Try to win without Kane or lose. I thought we had a very good chance at the former. Spurs chose to lose.
 
Pochettino did well on the night?

Really?

In terms of the way we were setup, I thought we did okay. Liverpool didn't expose us much, and we were able to carve out a few decent situations of our own.

He got his substitutions wrong, and some of his team selection was questionable. But I don't think we were tactically inept or anything.
 
In terms of the way we were setup, I thought we did okay. Liverpool didn't expose us much, and we were able to carve out a few decent situations of our own.

He got his substitutions wrong, and some of his team selection was questionable. But I don't think we were tactically inept or anything.
So he didn’t ‘do well’ on the night

He was abysmal and we lost
 
Sorry mate but it was ruined when Kane hobbled on to the field

It was a bad penalty call yes but we had 88 minutes to rectify it and never came close but we were playing with ten men
Yeah that's fair. I do agree he shouldn't have started. That Liverpool team were/are so good that we couldn't afford to give them such an early gift.
Being in Ireland, I was just about the only spurs supporter in the pub, I don't like being reminded of that day 🙈
 
If Kane starts today I think he will have his best game of the season for us or we will start to have to seriously worry.

Today is quite significant for him I feel.

As long as win however is all that matters.
 
You may well be right. Many managers are reluctant to change tactics in any major way for a big final, because it's a huge risk.
Not a huge risk when you are outmanned and outflanked by a superior opponent which Liverpool was and has been since Klopp's arrival. Instead we served them up exactly what they were expecting. And we got what we've mostly gotten from them...but the one time we dusted them we long-balled them to death...and flip-flopped Aurier on Salah. What i'm saying is tactical wrinkles. You can alway go back to how you typically play but if you start that way you lose the element of surprise. We've done it to them and it worked fabulously. Hard to argue against empirical data.

Round these parts if a coach/manager did that (ie did the same ol' same ol' to a team that handled them easily all season only to trot out the same old shit in the big game and expect a different result) they would be fired.

Guardiola tinkering doesn't wash because he is NEVER at a personnel disadvantage so no real reason to look for too great a tactical change to get the upper hand. We were the very clear underdog and needed a wrinkle.

But Llorente had a terrible record of goals to games, and you can see why he was reluctant to throw him for tactical reasons when the reliability wasn't there.
He wouldn't have been there for HIS goals. Sonny and Lucas buzzing off his knockdowns pins TAA and Robertson back. But it's their speed and dynamism that causes the problems. Llorente just gives the CBs something to think about unlike the ragdoll that Harry played that game.

Know the video. You should show one where VVD is wiping his shoes with him in that CL final. Those images are longer-lasting in my mind.
 
Yeah that's fair. I do agree he shouldn't have started. That Liverpool team were/are so good that we couldn't afford to give them such an early gift.
Being in Ireland, I was just about the only spurs supporter in the pub, I don't like being reminded of that day 🙈
Yes I still have it recorded and torment myself with it occasionally!

The Dippers were a good side but didn’t really show up on the night and with a decent line up we could have taken them!
 
He did well in one area. As a manager you're expected to deal with far more than just tactics.

Abysmal is harsh, but you're entitled to that appraisal.
Sorry but I’m struggling to recall what he did well that night and the preceding few months since Xmas that year

He’d had enough and Levy should have sacked him that summer
 
todd1882 todd1882

The main reason we didn't play this way was (as I've stated earlier) Pochettino clearly had a very close relationship with Kane, and when available felt he needed to play him. I imagine he was aware of the potential tactical advantage you've mentioned, but his attachment to the player meant he had, perhaps unjustified, faith in his ability to cause different problems.

It's a shame. Llorente was a severely under utilised weapon in his time at Spurs overall. We deployed him off the bench against Ajax and he had a fantastic impact, but aside from that we barely used him at all. Perhaps because some modern coaches are reluctant to go direct in such a way, but more likely because whilst Kane starts, Llorente doesn't really have a place.

I'm still not fully convined of how much success Llorente would've had up against Van Djik/Matip aerially, but certainly the overwhelming likelihood is that the answer is more success than Kane had on the night. But hey ho .. Poch did what he did.

I may at some point watch the game again (if i can bring myself too) as memories of how it went exactly are hazy. I remember VVD having the better of Son on the occasions he did get some space in behind, and I certainly remember Kane being a non entity. Apparently Alli started .. I had forgotten that entirely.
 
If Kane starts today I think he will have his best game of the season for us or we will start to have to seriously worry.

Today is quite significant for him I feel.

As long as win however is all that matters.
Despite all my rhetoric I hope Kane bangs in a hat trick because I’m Spurs and it’s win at all costs
 
todd1882 todd1882

The main reason we didn't play this way was (as I've stated earlier) Pochettino clearly had a very close relationship with Kane, and when available felt he needed to play him. I imagine he was aware of the potential tactical advantage you've mentioned, but his attachment to the player meant he had, perhaps unjustified, faith in his ability to cause different problems.

It's a shame. Llorente was a severely under utilised weapon in his time at Spurs overall. We deployed him off the bench against Ajax and he had a fantastic impact, but aside from that we barely used him at all. Perhaps because some modern coaches are reluctant to go direct in such a way, but more likely because whilst Kane starts, Llorente doesn't really have a place.

I'm still not fully convined of how much success Llorente would've had up against Van Djik/Matip aerially, but certainly the overwhelming likelihood is that the answer is more success than Kane had on the night. But hey ho .. Poch did what he did.

I may at some point watch the game again (if i can bring myself too) as memories of how it went exactly are hazy. I remember VVD having the better of Son on the occasions he did get some space in behind, and I certainly remember Kane being a non entity. Apparently Alli started .. I had forgotten that entirely.
As someone said previously, you are a rational poster. It was a pleasure!
 
As someone said previously, you are a rational poster. It was a pleasure!

Likewise!

It's a shame some threads get bogged down in the more petty stuff. At the end of the day it's all just football opinions, and it should be enjoyable to discuss them. Whether someone rates Kane or not for example, we all (presumably!) just want the best for Spurs.
 
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