30 mins of his usual ferocious MF pressing will be useful (assuming he can keep it UEFA ref friendly) .
Could be worse: Jordie Van der Laan of second tier Telstar was sacked by his club for calling in sick for training...and then being seen in the crowd for the first leg On the plus side, that does mean Chelsea will have no problem signing him...
Does "returned to training" mean ready? They use on field rehabilitation as well. I'm guessing that is over the injury but not yet fit?
please log in to view this image Wednesday 8th May 8pm Champions League Semi-final 2nd Leg Johan Cruyff Arena Another poor performance on the weekend and another poor result, mitigated by other teams being equally poor or even worse. We have either two or three games left in the season and need to stop the rot, somehow. Our opponents have only had one game since our meeting and it was a cup final that they won 4-0. A narrow victory away from home doesn't sound like an impossible task, but with our respective form it appears unlikely. What can Pochettino do to pull our campaign out of the fire and take us to Madrid? Sanchez, Kane and Winks are out, while it appears that Aurier, Lamela and Vertonghen may be available. Janssen is ineligible. Son returns from suspension after the first leg. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Trippier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Rose; Sissoko, Dier; Eriksen, Alli, Son; Moura. Subs: Gazzaniga, Foyth, Davies, Wanyama, Skipp, Janssen, Llorente. League form: WWLWLL. Ajax: Onana; Veltman, De Ligt, Blind, Tagliafico; Schone, van de Beek, De Jong; Ziyech, Dolberg, Tadic. Subs: Lamprou, Varela, Magallan, Kristensen, Schuurs, Labyad, de Wit, Ekkelenkamp, Neres, Traore. League form: WWWWWW. Referee: Felix Brych (GER). Was in charge of Ajax's 4-1 win in Madrid and our 2-2 draw in Turin last season. TV: BT Sport 2. Who starts, who's left out and which system should we use? Do we try to dominate the midfield, load up the frontline or keep it tight til late? Should we try to surprise them or stick with what's worked well for us in the past?
Tell the selected players that : 1. they are also playing for a slot on a team sheet for a CL final, and INDIVIDUAL performances not a team win will be the judge of that 2. if they have any self-pride, and respect for the travelling faithful, they will put in a performance that casts last saturday into distant memory.
Given our history of players being 90% fit for months on end, it's hard to say - although the fact that Lamela was seen boarding the plane indicates he may have a part to play
I hope our team watched that performance from Liverpool and took something from it. Im not bothered about the money spent etc etc because that is irrelevent to my point. Liverpool have alot of heart and desire and they approached that game with the belief that they were definately overturning that deficit tonight. 2 quick second half goals after an epic HT team talk kind of proves that they were on a mission. I hope that we are just as focused and hungry and not just content with getting to the semi final Its about time we delieverd to take us to another level...if we can pull it off then it could start something for us as a club so please please please!!! do it for our Club...i dont care about what people say about our spending or the Spursy piss taking etc...we deserve some reward for our endevours under Poch and tommorow is the time. COYS!
'I'll go home' if Spurs win the Champions League this season - Pochettino Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino hinted he could leave the club if they win the Champions League this year. He says he could not "repeat the miracle" of winning it with Spurs, who face Ajax on Wednesday trailing 1-0 from the semi-final first leg. "To win in these circumstances this season, maybe I need to think about maybe doing something different in the future," said Pochettino. Asked if he was serious about possibly leaving, he said: "It's not a joke." He added: "Winning the Champions League? It should be fantastic, no? Close the five-year chapter and go home. "We are living a dream. Five years ago when we arrived it was to reduce the gap to the top four, and then to have the possibility to play in the Champions League. "I think nobody would believe we would be playing in the Champions League three seasons in a row and competing at this stage." The Argentine has established Tottenham in the Champions League since arriving from Southampton in the summer of 2014. They are all but certain to qualify for the competition for a fourth successive season, with only an unlikely set of results on the final day of the Premier League this weekend preventing them from finishing in the top four. Asked whether he was serious about his plans to leave if Tottenham lifted the trophy, Pochettino added: "It's not a joke. Winning the Champions League? It should be fantastic, no? Close the five-year chapter and go home. "We are living a dream. Five years ago when we arrived it was to reduce the gap to the top four, and then to have the possibility to play in the Champions League. "I think nobody would believe we would be playing in the Champions League three seasons in a row and competing at this stage." WTF im sure someone will tell me he means that he will go home to visit his family or that the reporter asked the question in a certain way etc but to me i dont like hearing this we are lucky to get here bollocks like anything else is just a bonus FFS!!!
Yep. I didn't like that either. Not very well considered statement. Played right into the journalists hands with that. Lost in translation, or not, it's still not a great way to motivate the players to win, is it? I sure hope Levy comes correct with the transfer window budget and also makes whatever changes might be necessary both in recruitment and in youth training, to ensure that Pochettino has what he needs to push on and up to the next level. He is definitely not sounding like someone who sees himself as one with the club.
I have listened to his press conferences for five years. He is the master of disinformation so I am not worried about this at all. The efforts of UEFA and the media to engineer a Pep v Barcelona final have been ruined by Klopp and Poch so they are confused as to how the narrative will work out now. Poch throws in a comment to confuse them and they all fall for it. Gullible hacks will always be gullible hacks.
I don't think that anything said in these conferences means jack ****. , especially when it's Mauricio Pochettino. He hates hacks and there's a zero percent chance of him giving them something like that before sorting it with the club and DL. He's probably just shifting the attention off the players. I thought Klopp's pre-match conference was very low key and almost defeatist before last night. Behind closed doors he must have said something to get the goods out of Origi and the others. That's all that matters. When the players leave the dressing room, do they have it in their minds and hearts that a win is the only possible outcome and will they give everything? That doesn't come from hollow words in a press conference or social media bollocks.
The Poool literally had nothing to lose from the start. The complacency of a team defending a 3-0 and not 1-0 lead evidently showed. Having players who do not front up or remain calm when it becomes a "rattled" game (opposition or ref - seen a game like that recently ?? ) merely compounded it. Ajax are in a very different position, and will play accordingly.
Mauricio Pochettino hints at Tottenham exit if club win 'miracle' Champions League Pochettino: "Winning the Champions League? It should be fantastic, no? Close the five-year chapter and go home" Last Updated: 08/05/19 8:50am Not sure what to make of this. If we win he'll leave and if we lose he'll stay. The club's bigger so let's hope we win.
No excuses and micro dissecting. We have a game to go out there and win...the rest is up to the players and manager
No b*llocks then about another team whose fate and required performance in a CL 2nd leg is completely different to that of another.
