Tottenham Hotspur v Ajax, Champions League Semi-Final, Tue 30th April

[Thin Lilywhite Duke]

I don't believe it to be honest,as it seemed quite serious and running and being able to stand a tackle are two different things.
And not so sure its a good idea(for him)
That said, we need a cutting edge.So even 20 minutes of him would be a plus

Looking to the bench last night and seeing zero attacking substitution options was suicide-inducing.

The slim hope that Kane could make the bench would be massive.

 

[Larry David]

I bet I'm a better footballer than you, but it wouldn't make any difference, I'm probably a better footballer than Mourinho but he's won fucking everything, it proves nothing. You don't have to be a good footballer to understand football, and you can be Maradona and be a fucking shit manager. It's a fucking stupid comment from a stupid cliche'd mindset.

In case you didn't notice, one of the reasons we lost that game was by surrendering the ball completely for the first 30 minutes (it wasn't the only reason obviously, the structure and some components of the side were bad too).

The only way we got back into that game was by - putting an extra body into midfield, pressing them better in midfield and forward areas and getting more control of the ball, to do that we need players that actually want to receive and move the ball - and broadly speaking, this is how we play, this is our ethos - therefore "seeing the ball" may seem a pointless observation to you, and if players do inane or limited stuff with it it is, but it's not like Rose have ever been clever or productive with the ball, and certainly isn't as clever with it as Trippier generally - and last night was just another example of this.

And I could equally question you bullshit "Rose smashing into tackles" comment demonstrates you are the one that doesn't really have the capability to value substance over appearance, once again, Trippier actually tackled (and intercepted) more than Rose (more than anyone in our team in fact), but when your face don't fit it's "smashing" that counts eh?

I'm on record as saying I'd happily have seen KWP or Aurier given a run of games instead of Tripper, who has not been at his best this season for sure, but some of the criticism and scapegoating he gets compared to the lionising of people like Rose is fucking laughable.

And the same with Eriksen, he wasn't great, In said that elsewhere, but at least he never hides form the ball, he moves into space to receive it more intelligently than most, and he is still, by a country fucking mile, the most likely of any of our players to do something intelligent with it.

Do you record how much of the ball you get when you play football? Would you say you’ve played badly if you don’t get it as much?

 

[deadleyledley]

Another big occasion (maybe one of the biggest) in many many years has slipped us by, crowd were up for it, players talked a good pre match fight, as did Pochettino, but when it came down to it we just welted away like a flower in Autumn, I haven't felt this flat in many years.....

Anyway, it’s hard to criticize too much, we are “having” to field players who wouldn’t get regular games in the championship never mind in a CL team, yes we can bemoan not signing anyone the past few transfer windows, and yes injuries have prevented us from showing the real Spurs, but what hurts the most is players who think they can pick their next club and demand a certain wage were probably the worst players out there....
A win on Saturday v Bournemouth is now massive if we want to get back in this thing next season, and then the rebuild must begin !!

Brilliant post

 

[Nutter-Naylor]

Ahh shit. Gutted I missed this meet up. Are you all doing an Everton meet?

Should be mate .

 

[Larry David]

I bet I'm a better footballer than you, but it wouldn't make any difference, I'm probably a better footballer than Mourinho but he's won fucking everything, it proves nothing. You don't have to be a good footballer to understand football, and you can be Maradona and be a fucking shit manager. It's a fucking stupid comment from a stupid cliche'd mindset.

In case you didn't notice, one of the reasons we lost that game was by surrendering the ball completely for the first 30 minutes (it wasn't the only reason obviously, the structure and some components of the side were bad too).

The only way we got back into that game was by - putting an extra body into midfield, pressing them better in midfield and forward areas and getting more control of the ball, to do that we need players that actually want to receive and move the ball - and broadly speaking, this is how we play, this is our ethos - therefore "seeing the ball" may seem a pointless observation to you, and if players do inane or limited stuff with it it is, but it's not like Rose have ever been clever or productive with the ball, and certainly isn't as clever with it as Trippier generally - and last night was just another example of this.

And I could equally question you bullshit "Rose smashing into tackles" comment demonstrates you are the one that doesn't really have the capability to value substance over appearance, once again, Trippier actually tackled (and intercepted) more than Rose (more than anyone in our team in fact), but when your face don't fit it's "smashing" that counts eh?

I'm on record as saying I'd happily have seen KWP or Aurier given a run of games instead of Tripper, who has not been at his best this season for sure, but some of the criticism and scapegoating he gets compared to the lionising of people like Rose is fucking laughable.

And the same with Eriksen, he wasn't great, In said that elsewhere, but at least he never hides form the ball, he moves into space to receive it more intelligently than most, and he is still, by a country fucking mile, the most likely of any of our players to do something intelligent with it.

Seeing Danny Rose work his bollocks off to get the ball, and tackle with aggression gets the other players on the team up for it, footballers are people not computers downloading their latest stats. It’s not all about heat maps and number of touches.

Sissoko has been our best player this season and as you point out his stats are garbage

 

[Airfixx]

Battered them with one shot on target?

Yet, apparently they "battered us" with a massive 2 on target?

 

[Airfixx]

About 20 of them jumped up when Ajax scored in North Upper. Lots of people shouting and swearing at them, stewards went into their row but they weren't removed.
To be honest they were well behaved and I didn't see any further issues. Mate of mine was speaking to one of the stewards at half time and apparently they can't remove them as they have paid and had not done anything 'wrong'.

Surely that makes a complete mockery of the demands that the rules of segregation dictate?


"Any opposition fans found in the home section will be removed"

...Isn't that a thing in the ticket terms & conditions?

 

[RomanzoCriminale]

Brilliant post

Brilliant post apart from the "we're having to play players who wouldn't get game time in the championship" comment you mean?

Which players? Those players that have got us to 3rd in the Prem and Champs league semi aren't good enough for the championship?

Pathetic as always from some of our fans. Absolute melts some of them, imagine if we were shit.

 

[Airfixx]

Who could blame him.

Yeh, what a wank club we are!

 

[Airfixx]

Why did Winks get 8 starts in two years before this season.

I know it somewhat bursts your bubble but prior to this season Winks was injured for a large amount of his previous time as a senior.

Meanwhile he was trusted to play big CL games last year.

 

[deadleyledley]

We stopped getting demolished when Sissoko came on. End of.

That's becuase he didnt show them any respect. He ruffled some feathers as soon as he came on. Youngsters don't like that (which is why de ligt is loved because he'll give as good as he gets). Physically we dominated them which is how we wrestled back more control of the ball. I don't think you can fault the players for not trying. They did give it their all but it was just so disjointed and the tactics didnt help that.

I think we gave them too much respect at the start of the game.
The only difference was we lacked the composure, incisiveness and technique in the final third and they didn't.

The game was a frenzy, highly charged atmosphere, the crowd were on edge. This is where a cool head is gold-dust, that doesnt mean the player has to something extravagant or mind-blowing - simple passing and choosing the right option to pass or shoot is enough. I look around in our squad and I dont really see anyone putting their hand up to be that player. You'd expect Eriksen to do it, but he loves trying the hollywood pass rather than just keeping it simple.

But hey there are 3 potentially 4 HUGE games left for players to start owning up and showing on the world stage that they can be game-changers. It's up to them now....

 

[Airfixx]

We don't need to replace all 7 though.

So you want a SMALLER squad?

 

[Airfixx]

Just need to be physical from the start. Crowd out midfield so they don't have 3 on 1 like the opening 30 minutes of the first half last night and make sure we take chances when they come and with Son, I am confident we will.

Alternatively, they may decide to be shithouses, sit back and waste time knowing that it's something we do tend to struggle with and potentially look to break on the counter.

Should be an interesting encounter. I personally think Ajax know just one way of playing and we bossed them for 60 minutes.

Based on last night, i don't think they've got it in them.

They were proper shook by a bit of route 1 & physicality.

I share your suspicion.

 

[Larry David]

Based on last night, i don't think they've got it in them.

They were proper shook by a bit of route 1 & physicality.

I share your suspicion.

Yeah they’ll never park the bus, not in their ethos. I still think they’ll be jittery, young side and always that threat of away goals

 

[Airfixx]

You do realise that we were unable to have a full 90 minutes worth without Aurier, our clearly obvious number one choice in European games, Vertonghen, Sissoko, Winks, Lamela, Son & Kane don't you?

How many teams in the world are missing that kind of talent at the moment? 7 of our best players in their respective positions yet fans are still slating us? It's fucking ridiculous!

We are so strained for numbers we are having to play Janssen, a footballer not even given a squad number this season in Premier League games. Have a bit of empathy for the situation, a situation that saw us have 7 genuinely key players unable to play 90 minutes for us last night compared to an Ajax team without a blemish or jot on their injury front & one that had an entire football association cancel all games to give them an even bigger advantage than morally they should have been allowed.

A gulf in class? Short sighted and absolutely absurd

Don't understand these types.... Would require so much less mental gymnastics to just fuck off and 'support' another team.

 

[Allejo10]

I don't ever want to see you post on here again

but we can't always get what we want.

Thank you for your apprecation of my posts, Mark.

 

[Mick Cooper]

I bet I'm a better footballer than you, but it wouldn't make any difference, I'm probably a better footballer than Mourinho but he's won fucking everything, it proves nothing. You don't have to be a good footballer to understand football, and you can be Maradona and be a fucking shit manager. It's a fucking stupid comment from a stupid cliche'd mindset.

In case you didn't notice, one of the reasons we lost that game was by surrendering the ball completely for the first 30 minutes (it wasn't the only reason obviously, the structure and some components of the side were bad too).

The only way we got back into that game was by - putting an extra body into midfield, pressing them better in midfield and forward areas and getting more control of the ball, to do that we need players that actually want to receive and move the ball - and broadly speaking, this is how we play, this is our ethos - therefore "seeing the ball" may seem a pointless observation to you, and if players do inane or limited stuff with it it is, but it's not like Rose have ever been clever or productive with the ball, and certainly isn't as clever with it as Trippier generally - and last night was just another example of this.

And I could equally question you bullshit "Rose smashing into tackles" comment demonstrates you are the one that doesn't really have the capability to value substance over appearance, once again, Trippier actually tackled (and intercepted) more than Rose (more than anyone in our team in fact), but when your face don't fit it's "smashing" that counts eh?

I'm on record as saying I'd happily have seen KWP or Aurier given a run of games instead of Tripper, who has not been at his best this season for sure, but some of the criticism and scapegoating he gets compared to the lionising of people like Rose is fucking laughable.

And the same with Eriksen, he wasn't great, In said that elsewhere, but at least he never hides form the ball, he moves into space to receive it more intelligently than most, and he is still, by a country fucking mile, the most likely of any of our players to do something intelligent with it.

what a raging helmet you are
conceit arrogance and ignorance all wrapped up into a crock of shit.
You pretty much everything that's bad about this site at the moment.

 

[deadleyledley]

Instead of the offside, I would rather Dier next to Wanyama instead of Alli. The ball into van de Beek from Ziyech potentially doesnt get played.

Alli has been poor for about 5 games now and part of that is he is not a DM.
He doesn't have the positional sense to play there. It's slightly different to being a CM in a flat 4 midfield like he would have played at MK Dons - You're always going to be 5 yards higher up the pitch. Which is why you have to chase to get back in position and from the picture it looks like he was caught out of position.

 

[Mick Cooper]

A 0-1 is not that odd given the fact that we missed 4 key players (how would Ajax look without Tadic, Ziyech, Van de Beek and De Jong?), we would've seen a completely different match if we had Winks, Sissoko (from the start), Son and Kane available yesterday and it ain't over yet.

Plus we have Blakey as special adviser to the coaching staff. Mr Charisma himself

 

[bus-conductor]

Seeing Danny Rose work his bollocks off to get the ball, and tackle with aggression gets the other players on the team up for it, footballers are people not computers downloading their latest stats. It’s not all about heat maps and number of touches.

Sissoko has been our best player this season and as you point out his stats are garbage

Maybe we can sign Lee Cattermole in the summer, he tackles with aggression and whatnot.