Mauricio Pochettino: "Danny continues to recover and rehabilitate, but remains a number of weeks away from full training. "Erik is making progress and is now working on the field. No date is yet confirmed for a return to full training and his recovery continues to be monitored." Looks like Rose will be out for a bit more than the initially mooted month. PhysioRoom has changed his return date from March 6th to the 11th, so looks like he'll be missing the games against Stoke, Everton and possibly Millwall. The Everton one will be a really tough game but at least all three are at home. Looking at the fixture list, we've actually got 5 home games on the trot starting tomorrow - don't think I've ever seen that before! As for Lamela, he has been 'making progress' since the beginning of January. Rumours of his return this week look to have been wildly inaccurate if he hasn't even resumed full training yet. I doubt we'll be seeing him again this season, which is a real shame as we have missed him badly in certain games.
Depends on whether Spurs beat Gent + the draw for the Europa last 16 KO round. Actually need the Palace game re-scheduled such that there are not 3 consecutive PL away games after Soton.
In a recent press conference, Poch has claimed he knows if we'll play well within fifty seconds of kick-off...which begs the question why he doesn't even look at the subs bench until the 60th minute, or for that matter how he was at least ten minutes behind the rest of us when we saw the lineup for the first leg.
**** news about Danny, was hoping he'd be back in a week or two. Like another Toby situation, Poch kept saying it didn't look too badly and it ended up being a lengthy one... And don't even get me started on Lamela's "progression" for the 10th week running. **** knows what side we'll field tonight though. Will Wimmer/ CCV get any sort of chance to redeem themselves after the Wycombe horror show? I wouldn't mind seeing Tripps keep his place for the game and save Walker for Stoke, Winks can play over one of Wanyama/ Dembele (preferably Wanyama seeing as he's not had a break) while the likes of GKN and Janssen will need a bit of game time to keep fresh, I pray to the footballing Gods we won't need to heavily rely on them (and Siss-oh-no) for the remainder of the season but it's probably worth keeping them as match fit as possible just in case we get hit with another **** storm of injuries.
Dier will probably play in Wanyama's place as he didn't against Fulham (or in a back 3?). Hopefully Winks keeps his place, and Dembele is kept fresh for the league. Vorm Dier Alderweireld Vertonghen Trippier Winks Wanyama (as it's a back 3. Replace with Dier if a 4-4-2 is played) Davies Eriksen Kane Son (rest Dele - looked leggy) or Vorm Trippier Alderweireld Vertonghen Davies Eriksen Dier Winks Son Janssen (with Trippier's crosses, could be the kick start he needs) Kane
That first formation looks good, although do you reckon Jan will play again so quickly after coming back on Sunday? Might be worth giving Wimmer a shot, though the fact he's not played in either the away trip or Fulham doesn't bode well for him. Unless he has a drastic change in luck and form, we may lose him in the summer, which will be a shame. Agree about Dele, definitely could do with a rest.
I know it won't happen but how about a 4-4-2 where the defenders do their job and stay back to defend. That way we won't need a DM. But we do need wingers so I would propose Lloris Walker, Toby, Jan, Davies Trippier, Eriksen, Dele, GKN Kane, Jansenn I see plenty of goal threat ( and hopefully goals ) and like I said if the defenders do their job, then we are strong at the back.
Rose was the basis of a Spurs meme a couple of seasons ago, as he was always quoted as being 90% fit for about six straight weeks
I think we'll see the 3-4 players rested for Fulham rotated back into the team. Jan looked surprisingly sharp so I think he'll get the nod over Wimmer, who is as good as gone this summer. I'd also like to see Alli rested for this game as he has looked quite jaded for weeks now. However, this means that my favourite Spurs player of all time will have to play... Hugo Walker Toby Jan Davies Dier Dembele Sissoko (c) Eriksen Son Kane Jan's return has allowed us to be able to switch to a wing-back system mid-game as we did last year, which in turn stops things from becoming as stale and turgid as we've seen in recent weeks. When the 2 CB's are Toby and Dier, it seems that Poch doesn't allow Wanyama to drop back into the 3,as we would have 3 right-footers across the back line. Jan provides that balance on the left that allows for the DM-CB conversion and for the FB's to press on. We were doing it frequently against Fulham and it was one of the reasons why Trippier had such a good game. Of greater concern has been the fact that Poch's trust in Wimmer is so deflated that he will sacrifice our entire system just to keep him off the pitch.
I'd go: Vorm Dier, Toby, Davies Walker, Winks Dembele, Trippier Eriksen, Alli Son Trippier needs more time and can't be worse than Davies or Sissoko on the left. Might as well see if we can manage without Kane and the bigger pitch should suit Son as there will be more space for him to run into. If Wanyama doesn't need a rest alreay he will soon, he works his socks off every game so I'd sit him out of this one.
Strong team, I don't have faith in the back ups too much....plus I won't be defending the team if we go out to some shower of **** who are sat 10th in the mighty Belgian league.
Let's not mess about put a strong side out get the game won and make changes then .we should be able to overcome this deficit with ease but this is spurs after all .
Be careful what you wish for, because the current FIFA is convinced our strongest team has a Dembele/Sissoko pivot...
