Yeh, what a wank club we are!
Wind yourself in FFS, we are not a wank club, but we aren't the great integrator of youth we are made out to be either.
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Match Tottenham Hotspur v Ajax, Champions League Semi-Final, Tue 30th April
- Thread starter bunburyist
- Start date
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Wind yourself in FFS, we are not a wank club, but we aren't the great integrator of youth we are made out to be either.
Cattermole has got a contract until 2021, probably too expensive.
So Roles should leave cos he hasn't been fast-tracked into the squad at the business end of the season?
Fuck off, you stat-munching knob-end.
"I bet I'm a better footballer than you"
....Fucking state of you.
You wouldn't know how to put your boots on without a 10minute tactics video.
No, what's bad about this site is intolerant wankers who seem to think only their version of football and how to enjoy it should be tolerated and all others should be shouted down.
Or they just think you're a bit of a knob....
There's always a sheepish return to SC under a new name if this place hasn't transpired to be of your liking.....
I also forgot to mention that Dele is playing with a broken hand/ wrist at the moment so really we won't be getting 100% out of him at the moment as well, not to mention the lack of rest Eriksen has been able to get due to these injuries.
Any team in the world would suffer with these injuries throughout a season yet here we are, 3rd and in the semi finals of the Champions League and instead of getting lauded for it, we get ridiculed and mocked as being not good enough. It's shocking how greedy and entitled some supporters can be. Wins against Bournemouth & Ajax in our next two games secures top 4 & the most glorious club final a team can experience. We go again regardless of the walking wounded and bile some regurgitate after a loss.
Anyone associated with the club would take where we are right now in both competitions at the start of the season even with a fully fit squad so people need a reality check. It's been an uphill task yet here we are, still fighting, still with a chance of making history despite having to play a 34 year old up front in our biggest game in modern era. Yesterday could have gone better but it could have and probably should have gone a lot worse with arguably all of our nominations for player of the season (Son, Vertonghen, Kane, Winks & Sissoko) not able to play 90 minutes. Literally all of our star men this season out yet people still stick the knife in. Poor return from a fair few supporters
If it was up to you we’d have a team full of Eriksens and be relegated by Christmas
At last!! A piece that reflects the game that I watched last night:
Was this ultimately a first leg which left both sides disappointed? Tottenham will shoulder most of that regret, of course, but the mood of Donny van de Beek’s interview after the game betrayed that, for Ajax, this was an opportunity not quite taken.
Speed, directness, crosses: How Spurs can beat Ajax - Football365
There is no mountain to climb now for Tottenham, only a game to win.www.football365.com
At the half-hour mark at White Hart Lane, the visitors had enjoyed 67% possession, had fashioned six shots to Spurs’ one, and had fortressed themselves inside the home half for long periods, knifing their way through their hosts’ midfield at will. They had a one-goal lead, beautifully constructed and well-taken too, but it was inadequate reward for their early superiority. Post-game, Mauricio Pochettino bemoaned his side’s lethargic start and, while his players have been physically wilting for some time, that was only a partial diagnosis.
Early on, Ajax were just better. Brighter, smarter, full of creativity, intent and, sadly, a life that Tottenham just didn’t possess. At that stage of the game, they should have been on their way to building an insurmountable lead. But they weren’t. The second goal never arrived and while Spurs never came close to equalising, the flow of the rest of the match betrayed flaws within a team which has spent the last few months being praised to the heavens.
Matt Stead referenced this in his post-match piece, mentioning Moussa Sissoko’s dramatic effect on the game and also the fractures created by Pochettino’s pivot to a more physical and direct style.
It was a telling and instructive tweak. Ajax have earned their plaudits this season, but they are not invulnerable. Tottenham did not carry enough energy into the game, clearly, but perhaps the bigger mistake was to begin the tie with such an obvious inferiority complex. They tiptoed into the game. They played in a passive, deferential way which was always likely to suit their opposition’s strengths and they very nearly paid a heavy price.
What will have alarmed Erik ten Hag is how awkwardly his side adapted to Tottenham’s change in approach. From a stylistic perspective, the second 45 minutes was ugly and blunt, with Spurs no longer attempting to finesse their way through the midfield, opting instead to skip the press, aim long for their forwards, and attempt to create opportunities from the fragments. It was hardly compelling, but gradually the pressure did begin to build; Ajax are a socks-up, clean-shirt kind of side in midfield and attack, and that began to show.
After the break, Tottenham had 60% of possession, ten shots, and actually passed the ball with greater accuracy than their opponents. They weren’t very good at all, but they were still somehow in the ascendency.
And in so doing, Pochettino’s players exposed their dirty little secret: as attractive as they can be and as cultured as they are, Spurs are a very effective long-ball side. Admittedly less so without Harry Kane, but – still – when they’ve found difficulty this season, it’s that tactic that has often provided sanctuary. It’s delivered goals, too. Against Burnley at Wembley, twice against PSV in the Champions League group stage, and once more, late on, against Inter Milan.
It’s hardly pure, Route One football, registering just one or two on the Fashanu-Jones Scale. Instead of repeatedly aiming long for a target man, the approach seems to be characterised by a more eclectic force, mixing traditional long passes with direct, vertical running with the ball and a generalised haste. One of the reasons why Sissoko has been so important to this side, for instance, is not just because he’s able to cover so much space, but because when receiving possession his next move is nearly always to head north at top speed.
There were signs of that working on Tuesday night. Dele Alli had a snap shot right at the beginning of the half and, after Llorente had spidered around a few challenges, a second half-chance fell to him shortly after. Both Danny Rose and Lucas Moura might also have done better with balls that fell to them in space. Those moves all featured a degree of finesse somewhere, either at their genesis or end, but they all depended on short, sharp pulses of play and a state of relative chaos.
And that troubled Ajax. If in the first half they had looked every inch the team who brushed aside Madrid and Juventus, in the second it became easier to understand how they have kept just one clean sheet in their last eight Eredivisie games. Their individual parts were absolutely as advertised and their attacking play, collectively, was exactly as billed, but when the conditions of the game changed and the match became about something other than who could construct the sharpest triangles, their control loosened. That didn’t make them undeserving, they were clearly the better side and they conceded just a single shot on target, but the nature of that second half and what its rhythm seemed to show makes their one-goal lead appear very slender indeed.
The goals conceded by Ajax in 2019 also show encouraging trends for Tottenham. They have difficulty defending crosses and tracking runners who move late into the box – Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo showed that – but even domestically they’ve demonstrated a sporadic inability to protect the area in front of their defence, and also exhibited issues at the back post and inability to prevent crossing opportunities. Many of those league games have been one-sided, Ajax have scored four goals or more in four of their last five, but the way they concede and the weaknesses which exist either side of the outstanding Matthijs de Ligt should make the return leg very tricky indeed.
Of course, Pochettino will have Son Heung-Min available in a week’s time. Son’s goal threat is of critical importance given the deficit that Spurs will be chasing, but he also aligns conveniently with those Ajax issues. From a structural perspective, his mobility offers a waspish pressing option that Tottenham didn’t have in London and his speed will restore the counter-attacking threat that proved so invaluable against Manchester City. More importantly, though, he offers a direct challenge to any isolated full-back, forcing a defence to compensate and leave space somewhere else within the attacking zone. Son is two-footed, he can beat his man on either side, and one defender alone can’t mark him.
Logically, he should replace Alli. Pochettino is incredibly loyal to his young midfielder, but he will surely have recognised that Alli is not comfortable playing with a cast on his wrist and should also have noticed that, in the game at the Etihad and again on Tuesday night, many moves died at his feet. His touch has vanished, the instinct in his passing has been mislaid; if Spurs are to make Ajax uncomfortable, then everything they do in the second leg has to be done much, much quicker. Son will grease their gears, no doubt about it, but a Champions League semi-final isn’t the right time to allow anyone else to play their way into form.
To claim Spurs as a favourites is clearly too optimistic. It would be disrespectful, too, because Ajax earned their lead and haven’t progressed to this stage of the competition via a series of anomalies. They’re excellent, but they’re also now being over-estimated. The pundits, the press and perhaps even Tottenham themselves have been a little blinded by the translucent light around these players and are guilty of ignoring their minor, but significant imperfections.
There is no mountain to climb now, only a game to win.
Seb Stafford-Bloor is on Twitter.
Agree with most of that, but there is no way we should drop Alli whilst Llorente is still starting.
A quick one for the negative posters out there. Check out the link below on who people feel are our players of the season:
www.thefightingcock.co.uk
Son, Sissoko, Vertonghen & Winks lead the list. All 4 couldn't play 90 minutes for us yesterday. Add Kane into the mix and it should tell you all you need to know about how ridiculous you're being shaking your stick at the club for a turgid display.
A little perspective required from time to time,we were bang out of luck when it comes to showing our true colours on the big stage. Get behind the team and accept there's not much we can do to miracle heal our 4-5 best players this year when we could have done with them the most.
Player - TFC - POTY nomination
I don't think Sissoko has been our best player but we all seem to agree he has turned into a reliable assets that we want to stay. This time last year we wanted him out. I personally am willing him to score when he plays as we can see what it means to him and it would be deserved with the...
www.thefightingcock.co.uk
Son, Sissoko, Vertonghen & Winks lead the list. All 4 couldn't play 90 minutes for us yesterday. Add Kane into the mix and it should tell you all you need to know about how ridiculous you're being shaking your stick at the club for a turgid display.
A little perspective required from time to time,we were bang out of luck when it comes to showing our true colours on the big stage. Get behind the team and accept there's not much we can do to miracle heal our 4-5 best players this year when we could have done with them the most.
Had similar down front behind North goal.
Steward did not want to remove them as they hadn't "been offensive" when someone pointed them out but a senior one took it up and when one didn't have ID to match the stadium card, "can we do this after...?" the three got taken out.
This was after they nearly scored 75/80 mins ish?
One set of rules for home fans.... Another for away.
Then invert when you get out of the UK and away fans get a pasting just for funzies.
'Nice.'
So who do we want in the final then? Think I rather face Barca, wanna see sissoko basking in the tears of Messi! 
I'd replace those 7 with 5 quality players tbh but I think Dier will probably stay as a squad player so maybe 6 out and 5 in.
1) Starring RB to replace Tripper and Aurier and Kwp as back up.
2) Starting LB to replace Davies and Rose as back up.
3) Starting CM.
4) Rotation attacking mid/wide player
And maybe a young promising forward.
Lloris
Gazzaniga
Third choice Gk
New rb
KWP
New LB
Rose
Toby
Jan
Sanchez
Foyth
New CM
Winks
Sissoko
Dier
Skipp
Alli
Eriksen
New Attacking mid
Lucas
Kane
Son
New promising St
I think that's a pretty good squad really (of course I'm hoping Toby and Eriksen stay).
Agree.
Ajax fans I was talking to in Dirty Dicks before the game seemed to know all about the on-sale dates, membership structures and also the doughnut/ring of doom.
Ah, the ring of doom. The internationally reknowned symbol of
It pounced on me today. Need to try again tomorrow.
Let's stick with what you ACTUALLY said previously.
Minutia aside. Yes, apparently you DO want a smaller squad.
I'd have thought the injury horrors of this season might deter one from such a view, but thanks for answering.
Dirty Dicks
A blast from the past>We use to get in the basement bar on a Sunday during my misspent youth.
Before any promising young forward is bought we definitely need a DM and a CM. One CM wouldn’t cut it if you ask me.
Apart from that I agree.
Anyway back to the 2nd leg, we have been so unlucky with injuries this season, I just can’t help but think it will be our downfall.
I’m trying to stay positive but to go there and actually out score them we are going to need a massive lift from somewhere.
Whether that is Son putting in a city away type performance, or Kane making the bench, or dele reverting to his old self. I just don’t know but we need something to go our way, we have been so unlucky this season.
I just look at our decimated squad and think why can’t other teams have these problems? Why does it have to be us with out 4 of our best players when our first CL semi final ever rolls around.
No surprise whatsoever. Bottom line is very simple: Spurs do not 'police' the situation with any real intent and would still be in bed with Stubb-Hub if there wasn't such a backlash. All they care for is 'sold out' asap.
As alluded to earlier; can't tell me it's beyond the club to hire a couple of sprogs on minimum wage to surf the web buying up 'illegal' tickets and reporting the sellers back to the clubs for punishment.... The ripple effect would soon act as a deterrent for those worried about losing an ST or traceable via their memberships.
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Spurs Community's back that way