Le Tottenham de Hotspurs vs FC Basel of Swiss

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I feel strangely optimistic on returning from that shockingly bad game. The reason is this: We were damn lucky not to lose 5:2. If only Basel had some players who knew where the fucking goal was they would have slaughtered us.

So Lady luck is actually smiling on this Spurs team, even though you might not think it with Bale and Lennon's injuries and Ade's performance.
But all we have to do in Basel is fucking win it. No ambiguity. Plus the players will be able to give it their absolute all because they will have a 10 day break afterwards now that the Chelsea game is moved. I don't know why Lennon was removed but hopefully it's precautionary. And Bale may be able to play against Man City, let's see. Team will be refreshed while they will be hopefully less than a week after beating Chelsea after extra time in the FA Cup.

Keep the faith, we are Spurs, when did we ever make it easy for ourselves?

BTW I hear that the Basel ground can be a tad hostile.....
 
Ade looked interested tonight, however down on confidence. The goal will help, however all the goals he has scored of late have been reasonably scrappy. Whilst they still count on the scoreboard, they may not have gone very far in improving his confidence. He needs to score a belter, and we'll get our old elephant washer back!.

<3 ade
 
I think we'll be fine. I thought Ade played his best game of the season, Holtby played very well, Siggy played very well. With Bale, Lennon, Fellaini, and Pienaar all out this should be a very scrappy game that Dempsey is suited very well for.

Gallas being injuried, not even kidding, could be help us. He will not play another game for Spurs ever. Caulker will fill in any time he might have seen without this injury.

If Bale is out for only 2 games this could a blessing in disguise. This will force Siggy, Holtby, Dempsey and Ade to step up. Siggy, Holtby, and Ade all showed today they are up for the test. Dempsey has shown through his career he will step up.

Staring team vs Everton:
Lloris
Walker - Dawson - Vert - BAE
Parker - Dembele
Holtby - Dempsey - Siggy
Ade

I want to see Holtby on the right wing and Siggy on the left wing. We don't have much pace between the two of them, so i see condensing the middle as our best option. This formation would allow Holtby and Siggy to cut in and condense the middle. Hopefully Siggy can give us another goal. I can see Ade and Dempsey giving us goals. I think Ade will step up and follow this performance with a very good game.
 
I know everybody is pissed that AVB is playing Gallas, but I think he considers Gallas to be in the same as Freidel right now. He has been at this club the last couple seasons and this will probably be his last season with us so AVB is giving him a cup run to sorta thank him for everything. No matter how bad Gallas has been, I think he deserves it. I respect any man that was once an Woolwich player then moves Spurs.
 
I feel strangely optimistic on returning from that shockingly bad game. The reason is this: We were damn lucky not to lose 5:2. If only Basel had some players who knew where the fucking goal was they would have slaughtered us.

So Lady luck is actually smiling on this Spurs team, even though you might not think it with Bale and Lennon's injuries and Ade's performance.
But all we have to do in Basel is fucking win it. No ambiguity. Plus the players will be able to give it their absolute all because they will have a 10 day break afterwards now that the Chelsea game is moved. I don't know why Lennon was removed but hopefully it's precautionary. And Bale may be able to play against Man City, let's see. Team will be refreshed while they will be hopefully less than a week after beating Chelsea after extra time in the FA Cup.

Keep the faith, we are Spurs, when did we ever make it easy for ourselves?

BTW I hear that the Basel ground can be a tad hostile.....
Basel had twice as many chances as us, it was frightening.
 
Basel had twice as many chances as us, it was frightening.
`

Salah made our CBs look silly - we struggle to deal with pace, something which has been exposed in the past this season and was one of the main reasons Chelsea desrtoyed us at the Lane earlier.

Let's hope Benny will prioritise the cups by then and rest his high rollers, else we can be in trouble again. Other than that - the other teams in the run-in we should be able to contain
 
What a depressing night that was, but anyway, could have been worse; could have been all for nothing. Still in the tie and we're more than capable of winning there. Going to be solid as anything though. Time to step up boys.
 
Ade looked interested tonight, however down on confidence. The goal will help, however all the goals he has scored of late have been reasonably scrappy. Whilst they still count on the scoreboard, they may not have gone very far in improving his confidence. He needs to score a belter, and we'll get our old elephant washer back!.

<3 ade
People are seeing something very different to me. I see a player that has very little technical ability, not one down on his confidence.

He can't trap a ball, he can't weight a pass properly under pressure and he can't dribble effectively (He is worse than Keane used to be at breaking down our counter attacks). Add to that he is constantly getting caught offside, being drawn into fouling the opposition with the ball in the air, mistiming his jumps and going down easily without winning the foul.

I have been staggered by the clubs he has played for through his career and the hype that surrounds him, but it is due to the goals he has scored... If he isn't scoring goals, what use is he? I'll never boo a player in a Spurs shirt, but seeing him at the tip of our attack makes me glum.
 
Siggy scoring will boost his confidence and encourage him to take more shots outside the area!
 
So then... Second leg, what do we do?

- Salah was just unstoppable yesterday. He managed to make BAE, Verts and Dawson all look static at points. Do we need to double up on him? I would say yes as the amount of crosses he managed to put across our goal was completely unacceptable and we didn't have anyone to deal with his pace.

- The midfield. We were put under pressure with a high pressing game and too often looked to bypass the midfield, we certainly didn't want to play through the centre. It comes back to the age old discussion of creating passing options. If the opposition are pressing high, they are leaving channels to pass the ball through and can be punished. My main gripe would be with Ade and, actually, Bale on this. When Parker and Dembele dropped off there was too big a gap and they would be left with a pass to the wings (which were overrun) or a hollywood ball to try and find the forwards as they hadn't bothered to drop with the rest of the team.

- Right Wing. Assuming Lennon isn't back, I don't think we can have Holtby out there. He gets an A for effort yesterday, but his first instinct, regardless of how deep he is, is to turn inside. No problem in their final third, but it doesn't really help back at the half way line. Switch him to the left or centre imo.

- The high line. Unless we are using a CB pairing using Kaboul/Verts/Caulker, I think we'd be silly to try it with Basel again. They have three quick, aggressive forwards all looking to get on goal. We've seen what they can do now and we'd better show some respect unless the whole team is going to pick up its tempo.

- Cruising. I don't think it is unfair to say that we came out in 1st gear last night, expecting that we would grow into the game and win. If we want to win this competition then we had better come out fighting like Lazio in the first leg. Fight for every ball and stifle the oppositions own passing game, not allow it to be done to us.
 
That game left me feeling dejected. We were made to look piss poor and came away with injuries to the two players who cause the opposition constant problems.

That we managed to get a draw is something but it was lucky.
 
No we are not out of it: We will survive and move on and win: First Everton and then Basel on their own turf.
 
Huh?

My mind will change with some quality play

Celebrating his crumbs of decent play bc of his horrid run this campaign. Can't go there

Couldn't agree more. Am fed up with people 'apologising' for that lazy bastard's inept displays ALL season by highlighting the occasional good thing he does right. I hate getting on my own players' backs but his sheer lack of interest, drive and generally giving a shit is unforgivable. Loss of form is one thing and is understandable, but not making even the remotest effort isn't. And I fear, given his past CV, there in no improvement on the horizon.

Can't believe some folks thought he played all right last night. Freezed my balls off in the stands enduring his lethargic runs, weak shielding of the ball, terrible touch and sheer inability to win/compete for a fucking header. As some bloke next to me said: "He isn't worth a wank". Tired of contributing to the cunt's wages and seriously don't want to see him here next season.

But given all that, thank God we're still somehow in the tie as we got truly outplayed last night. COYS for the second leg!
 
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