One thing that has to be said was that Juve clearly had a plan to rile Alli so he'd do something stupid to get himself sent off, but while that tactic certainly worked in the past couple of seasons (West Brom at the end of 2015-16 and Gent last season both spring to mind) this time he didn't bite. Now it's over to Poch to lift the players up instead of having them wallow in defeat.
The irony after the criticism of Winks last week is that he is just the type of player you needed in the second half! A few sideways passes to retain possession and keep Juventus chasing the ball were the order of the day 3-2 ahead on agg with the opposition needing to score twice. The only issue here is how you played to defend what was effectively a two goal advantage for 45 minutes. Surrendering the lead showed inexperience and tactical naivety on the part of both players and manager. This was a situation where Mourinho would have killed the game; it wouldn't have been pretty, there wouldn't have been any awards for artistic merit, but you would probably be in the Q-F draw today.
Having slept on it, I'm still disappointed. I think it's more how we lost that I'm having trouble comprehending. I know and it is true that we had a good campaign but that shouldn't hide the fact that we ****ed up majorly in a few minutes. You say it's a lack of experience but even you and I knew what needed to be done once we conceded the first goal. Plus these are footballers and Poch should have gathered them or switched them on by passing instructions onto the field. I don't think it's anything to do with experience from the players but Poch should have reacted. That's not a lack of experience from Poch more a lack of self belief. Plus as much as we can pat ourselves for what we did, we got knocked out in the last 16 in careless fashion and that's another seed of doubt planted into this squad of players and if the pressure of a game crumbles them in 2 minutes then God help them to deal with the pressure of doubts cast by the media which are all angled at dismantling the squad. We need the FA Cup, no pat's on the back for having a good run.
We were happy to draw Real it's great to test yourselves against the best in Europe. Would have been nice to get an easier draw after that as reward for topping our group but we didn't have that luck and we were always going to have to play top sides if we wanted to go far. I'm pleased with how we've performed and it was ultimately only fine margins that saw us go out against Juve, having beaten Real and Dortmund.
Without a doubt you need a bit of luck and that certainly didn't help last night. Hope you get the FA Cup.
Poch has had this test in the past...where we need to quickly gather ourselves in game. He has thus far frozen and had what I believe to be a mini meltdown at these cross roads. He threw Son as a wing back in the semi last year, that was strange because he over thought the fear factor. Last night he lacked the bravery to change the system and personal at an important stage. We lost that game to Lesta at home the season they won it and I believe if we had won that we would have won a psychological battle and possibly won the league. I love Poch but he needs to be brave
My reaction to some of these posts is exaggerated by having to listen to an absolute bellend who sits in the row behind me at Wembley and spouts rubbish at top volume. Some gems from yesterday: When Dier went down injured: Get Wanyama warming up (Not noticing that he already was). Kane and Dembele are massively over rated apparently And various other inanities. If we don't score for 15 mins or if the opposition score he berates Pochettino to 'change it'
How was picking Son as a wing back not brave? I don't believe this psychology stuff really. There is no doubt that winning increases confidence and makes more wins more likely but anything more than that is reading too much into the data.
Exactly right, as I said earlier, the supposed maturity of the lads will be shown by how we respond at the weekend. Do we put last nights disappoint behind us and get right back at it on Sunday, or do we weakly turn up feeling sorry for ourselves. Will say a helluva lot about both the team and individuals. Personally think there will be a positive reaction
They also did it to Son, for some reason. Really pissed me off, as he's about the most harmless player I can think of.
We needed to do what Juventus would've done. Cheat, basically. Get a free-kick and pretend to be injured, time waste as much as possible and just prevent the game from being played. The problem is that we get stick for that sort of thing, while other teams are praised for being smart and cynical. This is one of my issues about how we progress. The only way to do it appears to be by mastering the dark arts. I don't like to watch that kind of crap but I'm at a loss at how we get any better without embracing nasty bits of the game.
I'd be interested to learn about the number of red cards in CL fixtures in recent years. There seems to be a fairly lax attitude from officials with regard to persistent fouling and diving is never punished. The primary intention seems to be to keep 22 players on the pitch. Juve definitely play on that with their persistent fouling.
I haven't found that to be the case with Spurs. A lot of the narrative is decided by the match commentators and pundits and we tend to end up getting slaughtered by them. I haven't watched any of our home games on BT, as I've been at the matches, but the away ones have been awful for it. Owen Hargreaves seems to have a real issue with us, for some reason, and he's had a lot of them.
the persistent fouling , as long as not too serious , has been allowed for years and years see Mourinhos Porto team for a (very) blatant example .
He over thought the fear factor and as a result nullified the strengths of one of our on form players. He should have been brave enough to have picked a proper wing back and put Son where he belongs. For me, that move had an aspect of caution about it.
ah well I was referring to fans as have to admit i never listen to pundits during and after game as they talk such utter ****e it makes my ears bleed.
