Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

As SoS pointed out - we had the EL last year, where we were willing to rotate and/or blood youngsters. Most of those players that played yesterday don't have a hope in hell (as current things stand) of getting significant time in the CL

 

Except when we put 6 past real Madrid in the knockouts first leg and are 3-0 up in the second leg?

 

If we're really being honest though....
It will probably take us until 75+ mins to get 6 against a team like Real. So my "significant time" still stands there. We could probably get 3 by HT in the 2nd leg but then it's still only 45mins each.

 

Some of them need significant game time (Wimmer etc) to be ready for the
second half of the season. Pochettino knew that the EL luxury was going this season.

 

Exactly, so it would have made more sense to try a bit harder to remain in the competition, no?

 

As I said, an extra game 4 weeks down the line buys those players nothing
before the Christmas schedules. The roster of PL/CL games before then, is where
Pochettino has the first rotation problem (if he hopes that Wimmer et al will front up
as they did 12 months ago when called upon) .

 

Going back to Janssen for a moment, I'm seeing some parallels between his teething troubles and Kaboul's first stint at the club: neither were signed as players who'd start every match immediately but as players to be introduced into the team in time, i.e. Kaboul was Ledders' understudy who'd be a first teamer a season or two later, while Janssen was signed as an understudy and sometime partner to Kane. However, in both cases, those plans went out the window due to injury, meaning that Kaboul and Janssen were starting more regularly than intended, so rather than a smooth transition into the first team we had no other choice but to see if they could sink or swim - and more often than not, the former option is what happens.

A similar situation appears to be the case for Wimmer at the moment, too: as Poch prefers to have one left-footed and one right-footed centre back, that means Verts and Toby is first choice while Wimmer and Dier/CCV is the second choice, and it seems likely the plan for this season was to occasionally cycle one of those players out so we'd have Verts and Dier/CCV or Wimmer and Toby in some games - but with Toby getting the West Brom treatment, that made Verts pretty much undroppable except for matches such as the other night where we rested our entire first-choice lineup.

 

The whole right foot-left foot centre back dogma is annoying as it will limit the number of appearances Wimmer and CCV can make in a season, but it is tactically sound. When the FB's push forward and the DM drops back into defence, the two CB's often spilt so far wide that it could be dangerous having a player out on his weaker foot as wingers will easily skin him.

Having said that, is it me or are players becoming alarmingly one-footed these days? I don't ever recall seeing players back in the day who were so predominantly reliant on their stronger foot yet still commanding enormous transfer fees (Lamela immediately springs to mind).

 

Probably just you.

If anything you would think a far greater number of current players should be
able to pass/shoot better with both feet than they do, given the limitations it gives
to players actually starting in a game.

 

Alan Shearer was as one-footed as they come, yet Newcastle happily splurged £15m on him - which, adjusted for inflation, is £26m

Be warned, using the site I used (http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/...tion-calculator-value-money-changed-1900.html) can lead to bouts of existential dread, such as discovering we paid what amounts to £12.6m for Helder Postiga...

 

Les Ferdinand was even more one-footed

 

To be honest it would take us 75 years to put 6 past Real Madrid!

 

True. We'd probably only win 5-0 and then not get to play them again for 74 years. Personally i can't see how we wouldn't put at least 4 passed them in a single game.

 

Actually I fancied our chances in Spain until a long gangly center forward I won't name got sent off early in our first venture in the CL.

 

It's one of my biggest gripes with professional football for as long as I can remember. So it's not a modern phenomenon. Actually, my opinion of one of Spurs so-called 'journeyman' pros from the '70's, John Pratt, went up over a couple of seasons as he had clearly developed into a two footed player.

 

John Pratt couldn't put a pass together to save his life! Well,that was with a football of course.He may have been luckier with a lady????!

 

Former Liverpool academy coach Karl Robinson says the Anfield club "kidnapped" 18-year-old full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold from rivals Everton.

So that explains his two-footed lunge on Davies. it wasn't a cynical challenge, it was a desperate plea for help.

 

Will have to disagree there in part at least. In a period where we lost a number of top players who were never really replaced, JP was at least a devoted workhorse. He wasn't ever going to set the world alight but he did improve immensely and deserves credit for that.

 

John Pratt drove me crazy.Couldn't pass a ball but could run all over the pitch without stopping,all day. He did score some good goals.