Europa League Match Thread - Tottenham V Lyon

Expect a new rule to be introduced for next season, knockout matches to finish on 89 minutes

 

Freidel returns the Lyon fans' affections:

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I saw Brad giving it back at the end of the match...he really enjoyed it too!

 

He said on Twitter:

"...VERY happy to have last word w the Lyon fans:)"



Funny, but risky... if you ask me. We've had players banned from Europe for less.

 

I get the impression that Benny was quite pleased with events......
Great to see that sort of enthusiasm from the experienced guys like him and Brad.

 

100% Agree

 

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Especially as he famously hates the Europa League!

 

I think that Assou-Ekotto was a little bit annoyed by the Lyon President's pre-match comments, which he alluded to on Twitter.
After suggesting that the ref for the first leg didn't give Gomis a penalty because he shares our managers nationality, he went on to say:
"The Europa League is a competition that is made for clubs like us. This may allow us to pursue a path to the Champions League. I can not imagine how great it will be if that happens.
"I can not imagine for a moment that we will let anything slip against Les Rosbifs."

That's roughly equivalent to Levy saying that we wouldn't get beaten by "that bunch of frogs", which doesn't sound very likely, does it?
Our left-back's spoken out against racism and xenophobia in France in the past, so I think it pissed him off.

 

Benny, potential political activist!!!

On a serious note, for all his eccentricities, the guy has consistently said and done the right things off the pitch since he joined us. Not for the first time, I am proud that Benny is a Spur!!

 

Southgate seemed to think they should've had a pen in that game too, which made me laugh. It was a dive and British pundits, who are supposed to so against the deplorable act of diving as usual come out with "he had a right to go down" crap. If Southgate wasn't a failure as a manager he might have less sympathy for players "winning" penalties.

 

I don't share your love of risky passing., I would much prefer sound, safe, crisp, snappy passing en-route to goal. Risky passing is exactly that...... 'a risk' (of loosing the ball uneccessarily).

In any case, it is not the assessment or appraisal of the 'risk' attached to a pass which makes it a good one.
As far as I'm aware, no-one in football, has ever scored points b'cause one pass was deemed to be more 'risky' then the another. Remember., we are not talking about 'High board' or 'Sky' diving here. Do they even award points for elements of a pass in fantasy football games ?.

What is far more importent, in reality, is that the pass is completed and if a player has the ability to elinimate any such risk factors when executing a pass then surely that makes him a better passer of the ball.

With reference to my last post thou., I'm not saying Dembele is a better passer then Modric or visa-versa., What I'm alluding to is : 'Dembele is a better 'all round' player then Modric'. He offers us so much more then a pass or two.

Spurs are looking at a fourth place finish this season, with Dembele in for Modric. How can this be misinterpreted as missing Modric.

Back in the day (circ 1978-1986) this club delighted us with quick one touch short passing football, for long periods during games, to great efect. It was a joy to watch and we got our fair share of the results.

Well played Levy and the reconnaissance team.

 

You're hiding behind good results on the back of poor performances, so its the safe way to point to our results and suggest we're not missing players, as while safe passing and risky passing both have their place, Dembele doesn't offer the same creative ability as Modric, as essentially they shouldn't even be compared as if you think Dembele is a replacement for Modric then you may need to think again.

Dembele doesn't have the vision of Modric,and 'll be surprised if you think he does, unless you have an issue with Modrics behaviour and prefer to look at his exit rather then ability?

Modric has superior passing and vision to Dembele and the only reason some fans question this, is because we have dembele and Modric left us in a negative way so its natural for fans to favour our player, however if you look at both players and point to their positives

Dembele
- upper Body Strength
- ability to shield and find his team mates
- Safe/possession passing
- short/quick bursts of drive/energy

Modric

- Superb vision
- forward thinking
- technically great with the ability to play it short and long
- will attempt risky passing due to his creative mind to start attacking moves

As you can see, they are different players, so Levy hasn't replaced Modric and yes we're missing him in terms of what he brings to the team.

Just like we're missing VDV and what he brings to the team, unless we want to suggest because we're fourth then any player sold isn't missed, thats not really a sound reason in my book.

Also, just for arguments sake, Bale has been saving our backside recently, take out his individual brilliance and would you be so positive? i very much doubt it.

 

We have been missing other key players though, Boss.
Sandro's injury's been a big blow, our main goalscorer's injured, we haven't had a left-back until recently and Kaboul's still not back in the side.
We've lost or been missing some very important players from the last campaign, but a few others have upped their game, most notably Lennon and Dawson.
Vertonghen's not on King's level yet, but he's available regularly and rarely disappoints and Lloris is an improvement on Friedel, as he would be on virtually any other keeper.

Whilst we haven't replaced van der Vaart yet exactly, I have been surprised at how similar Holtby's game is to his. He even runs out of steam at the same time!
It's a big ask to step into those boots, but the way that he plays is almost identical. There aren't many players with a similar M.O., so it's quite odd.

I agree completely with your assessment of Dembele and Modric. It'd be interesting to see them playing in the same side, annoyingly.
Tom Carroll's a much more similar player to the Croatian, in my opinion. Nowhere near his level yet, of course and he hasn't had a chance to adjust to the physicality of the division yet, but I think it's there.
He seems to have great vision, plays some rather unorthodox passes and shows some real glimpses of a top player, from what I've seen of him.
At the risk of undermining our reserve side's good form, it might be an idea to give him a few months in the championship again, though I'm not sure it's a league that suits him.

 

To be honest, I don't know where all the praise for modric comes from. He's a good player, but one that is massively overrated IMO. He had moments of brilliance which the pundits and media never seemed to shut up about, but I think this constant hype has swayed the views from football fans, especially our own. Every club likes to have a player who is amazing, especially a club like us who in the last 10 years or so have signed some ****e. When a player like modric came along and gave us hope, we got overly excited and jumped on the band wagon, IMO.

Modric would pick out a pass and you'd wonder how on earth he'd do it. But at the same time, he went missing in games, made a hash of basic passes, took too long on the ball and got dispossessed and also didnt score enough goals for a player of his type in a formation that suited him.

For me, modric didn't produce enough of these great moments and as a result I prefer Dembele in his "role". Whether they are the same type of player of not, dembele has made us solid due to his presence. His ball control and first touch is the best we've had since berbatov IMO, and he rarely gives the ball away. I also feel that his partnership with sandro will be stronger and more versatile than that of modric and Parkers, as time goes on.

Don't get me wrong, modric was a good player, but we did very well with the money we got for him. People said he was irreplaceable, but I completely disagree, regardless of whether we've replaced him properly yet or not. - the point is that it's do-able. Bale however is a different kettle of fish. He's a proper winger, who's left footed. Great left sided players are hard to get hold of, so replacing him would be a much harder task than modric. - I do wonder who on earth we'll sign if he leaves, in order to sustain our style of wide, attacking football.

The real problem for us, was losing the double whammy combo of modric and rafa, at once. - who between them offered so much. - hopefully holtby can be the replacement for rafa, but it's a shame it took us 6 months of the season before getting him in.

 

PNP its funny you mention about dembele and modric in the same side as i was just thinking the same and how it would work.

Much like i seemed to be the only one wanting carroll and dembele to play together in the same line up, yet again you also share that view so we must be seeing potential in that type of partnership, yet clearly villas boas doesnt agree as he wont try dembele in a more advanced role.

Am dissapointed Carroll hasn't featured more and we should have him as an option from the bench at the very least.

....Roo, i understand Modric wasn't perfect and went missing, as did VDV, as does Bale, many of our most talented players had periods in which they went missing, however Modric imo grew into a consistant performer and I believe we miss his forward
thinking vision.

I'm surprrised you suggest Moddics over-rated and I don't remember the pundits over praising him, although that could be due to me generally ignoring what they say!

Dembele is a player i have huge hope for yet i still have this nagging feeling that hes going to struggle to perform on a consistant basis.

That doesnt mean I dont rate him, as the qualities he offer, are ones which will benefit us and maybe we wont see the best of him until sandro returns and holtby fully settles.

 

Whilst you have pointed out one or two points in favour of Modric., I must say, the majority of what you are now saying (see above) amounts to complete dross. That should come as no great supprise to you.

 

Ok. nothing I say is "complete dross" , however if you wish to act like an adult and challenge anything i've said then be my guest.

 

Changing the subject..... Another good day for the Ros Bifs!!! England beating France at Twickenham.

 

I refer you to my posts No.466 & 492.