please log in to view this image Wednesday 2nd November 7.45pm Champions League Group Stage Wembley Stadium Our sixth game since the international break and our sixth different venue. Bit strange. I wonder what the record for that sort of thing is? Still to register a win and we really could do with one in this game. It's a tight group and we need to pick up points at home. Our visitors haven't been pulling up trees since club games resumed, either. Losses to Bremen and Hoffenheim sandwiched our draw at the BayArena. They followed those up with a penalty shoot-out loss to third tier Sportfreunde Lotte in the DFB Pokal. That's the German equivalent of the FA Cup, apparently. Leverkusen returned to winning ways on the weekend with a victory in Wolfsburg, though. They trailed to a first half goal from Maximilian Arnold and there was a little over ten minutes left when they equalised. Mehmedi leveled things up before Tin Jedvaj put them ahead from a corner. The young Croatian was heavily linked with us, before joining Roma, where he made only two appearances. They won both, rather strangely. He was moved on the following summer. They showed us what they could do in the second half of our game over there. We were by far the better team in the first half though, so we need to build on that. Pochettino will introduce some fresh legs, I think, but the new faces need to make an impact. I suspect that Sissoko will be one of them, due to his domestic ban. No bans for this one, as Sissoko's doesn't include European games. Kane and Alderweireld will miss out again, though. Lamela may also miss out, having picked up a hip problem in training today. Leverkusen also have no suspensions. Pohjanpalo and Bellarabi are still unavailable, while they appear to have quite a few knocks, too. Bender, Tah and Toprak will all be assessed. Lineups for each team's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Walker, Dier, Vertoghen, Rose; Wanyama, Dembele; Eriksen, Alli, Son; Janssen. Subs: Vorm, Trippier, Davies, Carter-Vickers, Winks, Onomah, N'Koudou. League form: WWWDDD. Leverkusen: Leno; Heinrichs, Jedvaj, Dragovic, Wendell; Mehmedi, Bender, Aranguiz, Brandt; Kampl, Hernandez. Subs: Ozcan, Boeder, Da Costa, Havertz, Baumgartlinger, Kiessling, Kruse. League form: DWWLLW. Referee: Jonas Eriksson (SWE). A multi-millionaire who took charge of Liverpool v Seville last season. We've looked a bit toothless in recent games and I think that changes will be made. Should Sissoko or N'Koudou get a start, hopefully taking advantage of Wembley's open spaces? Do we risk resting Rose and Walker, especially with the North London derby on the weekend?
We really need a win tomorrow to put ourselves in with a good chance of qualifying, but at least we've got 2 home CL games, so another draw won't be the end of the world! Once again we have to ask ourselves where the goals are coming from. Part of me wants to see the likes of GKN getting some more game time, which also helps our squad rotation. I know he was poor against Liverpool, but so was nearly everyone. Just about all other cameo appearances have been impressive and I think it's time we mixed things up. I also see sissoko coming back into contention, but don't see the two of them starting. Possible line up: Lloris Trippier Dier Vertonghen Davies Dembele Wanyama Sissoko Alli Eriksen Son Not particularly what I want to see, as I think that playing Son furthest forward doesn't work effectively in our attacking four, but I wouldn't be surprised to see something similar to this from Poch. A win would be massive for us tomorrow, not just because of the CL group, but the confidence leading into Sunday. COYS
http://metro.co.uk/2016/11/01/mark-clattenburg-to-referee-arsenals-clash-with-tottenham-6228002/ ...and there goes our confidence for Sunday.
Am going with my girls tomorrow...can not wait! I would go for; Lloris Walker Dier Vertongen Rose Wanyama Lamela Dembele Dele Son Janssen Eriksen needs to be dropped imo...I have kept Lamela in as his work rate is massively better than Eriksen's. I would tell Janssen to play to the width of the penalty area and let Lamela and Son to go out wide when we are attacking. If he is in the box and gets service he can either get chances or create chances and or space for Alli, Son and Lamela. This is the team I think should start the NLD if it looks good tomorrow night. I know Kane might be available for the NLD but would rather he came off the bench after 60 mins in the NLD.
Whilst I agree with most of this, I think we'll see some rotation tomorrow, especially with the full backs. So much pride is at stake on Sunday, and I just can't see us playing the same players for both. Tomorrow is important for progression and putting ourselves on the front foot, but Poch will know how much Sunday means to the fans.
Can't disagree with the sense you make but I think that the players could cope with both matches ... maybe!
"But Poch will know much Sunday means to the fans" He showed sweet FA regard to what a NLD means to the fans when he picked our reserves in the League Cup last season against the goons.
So you're saying he gave as much regard as what a NLD means to the fans as Harry Redknapp? It's more than a little rich criticising one coach for playing the reserves in a League Cup NLD when Redknapp did the exact same thing: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/9009940.stm
What about the other bloke who played reserves in a NLD League Cup match? Doesn't he deserve criticism for the exact same thing?
Agree with the sentiment, disagree with the evidence. I would've pointed to the way we finished off the season as irrefutable proof that he doesn't understand the importance of the NL Power Shift, and probably never will. Ultimately, qualification from the group stages is worth far more to the men in the ivory towers than bragging rights down the pub.
Fair point spurcat, as a number of fans will always want to see a result in a NLD. But at the same time, some of those same fans moan about how the league cup is not worth risking our best players in as we have other priorities!
Buzzing for the match, even though I hated getting home from Wembley it's always great to play there regardless of occasion. I don't think we'll need much rotation for tonight, we're playing on Sunday so have practically 4 days of recovery, we'd have to be weary of injuries but fatigue shouldn't be an issue. Arsenal travelling back from Ludogorets last night is also a bit of a bonus for us, they've got an extra day's recovery but the travelling won't have helped. Hugo Walker, Dier, Kev, Rose Wanyama, Dembele Sissoko, Alli, Son Janssen Vorm, Tripps, CCV, Davies, Winks, Eriksen, GKN Want to keep Jan fresh as he's been superb at CB in Toby's absence and if Toby is still touch and go for Arsenal, we can't afford to be risking Jan tonight in my opinion. COYS!
Think both are brilliant, both would probably be in the club's top ten managers of all time I'd say. Harry produced the best football-playing side I've seen at Spurs, we were spoiled when we were able to watch guys like King, Modric, van der Vaart and Bale all in the same team. Then braking into that top four for the first time was something I'll never forget, along with the CL season that followed. With Poch he, like Harry, took over a **** show but turned it around with young hungry players that are desperate to play for this club and who have a real affinity with the fans, I personally haven't felt as close to a team as I do now and Poch is the main factor in that. He's produced a defence to proud of which isn't usually associated with this club and we also play superb football for the most part. Also achieved our highest ever Prem position.
This week there is no possible ambiguity in the manager or player mindset. A win tonight in the CL and a non-loss in the NLD is essential, not optional. It really is that simple.