Yarmolenko showing us yet again why we should've signed him years ago. Every single one of our players seems to want 5 touches and 3 minutes on the ball before doing anything with it. One top quality flick and they're through, ball in the back of the net. Aurier and Rose have been piss poor, I'm already losing patience with both of them. Winks has worked hard but is so often surrounded by 4 Dortmund players with no support. Eriksen - a decent 2 minutes aside - has once again done nothing other than shrink away from 50/50 balls. And Kane still doesn't look 100%. The less said about Dier's "Dawson Diagonals" the better. Shocking. But the single greatest problem is the lethargy throughout the side. Why does it so often take an opposition goal to wake us up and inject some urgency into our play? Play with the tempo of the end of that half and we'll win. It really is as simple as that. Burki is having a great game but this Dortmund defense has conceded 14 in their last 5 games.
They both look miles off the pace and their positional sense looks well off, too. Neither of them has played much football in the last six months and it shows.
A good first half by Spurs but we still need to play with a higher tempo. Dortmund are awful defensively. Poor goal to concede, We have got a good defence but theres no hiding from the fact that we always concede against the top sides home and away. This must improve otherwise its going to be another potless season. Davinson Sanchez excellent again. What a player we have with this one. Our midfield has been very powder puff and we need more from Son and Kane. We are more than capable of getting a result here but weve got play with more agression.
Tonight's game counts for nothing provided you beat Apoel at Wembley on 6th December. Is winning the group essential anyway?
But it does. We need a confidence boost, and there are so many key players who don’t look like they are at 100%. It wouldn’t be so hard to take if we’d rested players for Saturday, and had planned to win the group against Apoel. At least we’d have gained something from tonight, even in defeat. Big 45 needed.
I think we have played pretty well. Even if we do lose it’s no great shame at Dortmund away, despite their recent form. If someone had given me this situation before the group stages kicked off, that we would have qualified already after last years shambles, I would have bitten their hand off.
Aurier's had the freedom of his side, but he's not taken advantage of it, for me. Taking too long to pick a pass and he's been caught out of position a couple of times, at least. Made a good tackle or two and he's getting up and down well, but he's miles away from 100%, I think.
Aurier has found some good space and made a couple of decent interceptions, although the final product is poor. While Rose has been out we have got used to the defensive stability that Davies has brought to the team: Rose was sleeping for their goal. But he has to get game time to see if he can recover to the level he was at before his injury.
I agree with the sentiment, but if we had got smashed like the last time we played away here, how would that be for confidence? MP was caught between a bit of a rock and a hard place tonight.
Hate to be a grumpy bastards but we have concede the first goal on 3 occasions this season before tonight...and have lost the lot! WE'RE DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED
True, but if it’d have been with a weak team in the position we are already in, with a plan to beat Apoel, it’d have been easier to understand.
