Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea

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Saturday 26th November 5.30pm
Premier League
Stamford Bridge​

Another horrible Champions League performance has wiped away any positivity from last weekend's win.
That aspect of the campaign's over now and we only have the Europa League to play for in our final game.
Probably fitting that we visit our worst away ground on the back of it, really.
It's a very tough test and we need a real statement of intent in this one.

Our opponents have hit top form and the top of the table, in contrast.
They've changed their system and really reaped the rewards, following their tonking by the Goons.
Conte switched to something that he's more comfortable with and it shows.
They've won all six league games since then and not conceded a single goal.

Defensive solidity may well be the order of the day for this fixture.
We're missing Alderweireld pretty badly though, so we need people to step up and options on the bench.
Our set-pieces drastically need work too, as it's gone from a strength to an obvious weakness.
We're conceding far too many on them and rarely threatening at the other end.

Last season's fixture was a massive blow to our campaign, ending any chance of catching Leicester.
We started well and were dominating, but the game descended into violence and it cost us.
Kane and Son's first half goals were cancelled out by Cahill and Hazard in the second period.
Alli was banned from the previous game and Dembele picked one up, to add insult to injury.

The game at WHL was a similarly disappointing draw.
Both sides wasted good chances, though Begovic had more to do in the Chelsea goal.
0-0 was not a good result for either side, nor the neutrals.
The lack of a decent highlights video probably emphasises that!

Danny Rose is suspended for this one, having picked up his fifth yellow card of the season.
Alderweireld, Davies and Lamela are still injured.
Chelsea have no suspensions. John Terry and Mikel will miss out through injury, though.

Lineups for each team's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Eriksen, Wanyama, Dembele, Winks; Kane, Janssen.
Subs: Vorm, Trippier, Carter-Vicker, Wimmer, Onomah, Alli, Son.
League form: WDDDDW.

Chelsea: Courtois; Azpilicueta, Luiz, Cahill; Moses, Kante, Matic, Alonso; Pedro, Costa, Hazard.
Subs: Begovic, Ivanovic, Terry, Chalobah, Fabregas, Oscar, Batshuayi.
League form: WWWWWW.

Referee: Michael Oliver.

TV: BT Sport 1.

How should we address this game tactically? We've changed formation repeatedly in recent matches.
Should we stick with a 4-2-3-1 or use the three centre-back system that we used for Arsenal?
Was the 4-4-2 that we adopted against West Ham the right move, but the wrong personnel?
Who should play left-back in the absence of Rose and Davies?

 

We love Paul Stewart

 

Given we've been playing KWP at left back in recent PL2 matches, I'm starting to wonder if he's one knock in training away from a full debut there.

Meanwhile, which of these players looks most like they wish they had read all the Ts&Cs in their contract...

 

Must not lose game.
A back three as for the Goons will get no complaints from me.

 

Prepare to be owned at the bridge..

 

Need a much better defensive showing than what we saw the other night against Monaco. Like RDBD, I too wouldn't mind seeing 3 CBs, the only problem is who plays as the LWB; A 3 of Dier, Kev and Jan with Tripps being an inverted LWB or do we throw CCV into the cauldron and go CCV, Dier, Kev with Jan at LWB?

Think I'd go with:

Hugo
Walker, Dier, Kev, Jan, Tripps
Wanyama, Dembele
Son, Kane, Alli

Vorm, KWP, CCV, Eriksen, Winks, GKN, Janssen

With so many out and others still not 100%, the reality is it's going to be tough to get anything from the game but if the lads can find that extra derby motivation along with the determination to get Tuesday's disappointment out of the system, then who knows.

COYS!

 

Lloris
Walker Wimmer Vertongen
Dier Wanyama
Son Dele Dembele N'Koudou
Kane

Would not play Trippier as he bottled or pulled out of tackles on Tuesday.we can not have that happening tomorrow at the bridge.
I would make Son and N'Koudou play out wide when we are going forward and to cover back when we are defending. That way we can lessen the attacking threat of their wing backs.
We need to close them down from the start which means our front 5 need to defend from the front.


All that said, we will at best get a respectful defeat and if we play like we did against west ham and Monaco we will be battered.

 

Does anyone think Vorm could do a job at left back?

Could be worse, I could've suggested Sissoko...

 

Seeing Wimmer in the team makes me shudder.

 

Anyone notice how pundits have spent the buildup doing nothing but slag us off while heaping praise on Chelsea? For example, Steve Nicol's been slagging us off today with his usual combination of missing the point and forgetting the facts, and during the week we've had Danny Murphy, Jamie Redknapp, Jason Cundy and Chris Sutton (among others) do the same.

It's getting to the point these days that winning games is more important not because of points or league position, but it stops the pundits reeling off yet another bullshit Narrative about us.

 

It always baffles me how these pundits can trot out the mantra that the PL is a test of endurance, consistency etc over 9 months, yet in the same breath draw conclusions based on form over 4 or 5 games. They might as well roll dice to predict the outcome of games; they have no greater insight than the rest of us.

 

It's also weird when they contradict themselves in the space of a sentence, case in point Nicol's hatchet job reads like this
* Spurs' unbeaten run isn't impressive
* Spurs have drawn some games
* Harry Kane is the only scorer in the team

By that logic, isn't he predicting a 1-1 draw with Harry Kane scoring? And if that's what he's saying, wouldn't that an "impressive" result given we're all supposed to daub ourselves in golden syrup before rolling on a bed of muesli at the magnificence of the all-conquering Chelsea colossus - an all-conquering Chelsea colossus that pundits such as Nicol weren't paying the slightest bit of attention to just three weeks ago as they were too busy smearing themselves with butter and calling themselves Butterkist at the feet of the swaggering magnificence of Liverpool?

 

Agree with this most of all. I thought that he was exposed and in the first half by having no cover, but he was even worse in the 2nd half!!!

 

1. Burn Hollywood burn, I smell a Narrative (TM) going on.

2. Shouldn't this stuff be on the "Hack watch" article ??

 

I don't think we're going to go through the whole PL season unbeaten BUT PLEASE NOT THEM! If we're going to lose lets lose against Bournemouth or a decent team like that.

 

We have got the best ref in the Prem (IMHO) today so we stand a chance. I've probably put the kybosh on it now.

 

It appears to be Michael Oliver, so guess you did!!!

 

Tottenham Hotspur ‏@SpursOfficial 22m22 minutes ago
#THFC team: Lloris (C), Walker, Dier, Vertonghen, Wimmer, Wanyama, Dembele, Eriksen, Dele, Son, Kane. #COYS

 

Subs: Vorm, Trippier, Carter-Vickers, Winks, Onomah, Nkoudou, Janssen. #COYS

 

COYS