As you all know, I have said that Kane is not a top 4 striker, and that I have serious doubts that he is a long-term solution for us. I still have those doubts. Yes, he played very well last night, but let's keep this all in perspective - we played a team, at home, that is at the same level as Nottingham Forest. If Kane - or any other player, for that matter - cannot look good against these kinds of teams then there is no chance for him. Let's see how Kane (and the others) perform against the likes of 'Pool, Chavs, and Arsenal, before we get too carried away. We are top of the league, and if we are to push-on from here we need all our lads to up their game.
Final Group Spurs Besiktas (Turkey) Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) Asteras (Greece) Not too bad on the travelling front, and nowhere too cold
Group C TottenhamTottenham(ENG) BeşiktaşBeşiktaş(TUR) PartizanPartizan(SRB) AsterasAsteras(GRE) Thoughts ?
Don't forget, though lads, that they have to come to us. Even a goal down to any of those sides away, I'd be confident about progressing to the knock-outs.
"Thoughts ?" Besiktas will ensure that at least two quite strong sides (2nd string or not) are fielded by Spurs. Already the Europa this season is shaping up to ensure our squad is not merely going through the motions.
Seems a far more competitive comp than last season. As you say RDBD will make all players step up their individual games.
A convincing win over Besiktas would certainly prove a point. Two of them would nail it home. It's a good mix to test our players: Besiktas are the main threat and on the level of a mid-table PL team so if the team stays focused it should be an indicator of how our team is coming together, Partizan away will test our players' mental strength as their crowd will be up for it, while on paper Asteras is the easiest team so we need to make sure our players don't get complacent.
Partizan have quite a good history of playing in Europe and I'm looking forward to it. If the Goons can beat Besiktas then so can we and I have never heard of the other one, I think we'll progress but would prefer to wait until we've met one of the teams both home and away before predicting. I prefer away first then home.
Wikipedia says that Greek team beat Tel Aviva and Mainz (7th in Bundesliga) to qualify this year; for the worst team in the group definitely a massive step up from last years relegated Norwegian team et al!
They finished fifth in the Greek Super League last season, before entering the play-offs...which has to be the most confusing competition I have ever seen. Here's the Wikipedia entry for it: In the play-off for Champions League, the four qualified teams play each other in a home and away round robin. However, they do not all start with 0 points. Instead, a weighting system applies to the teams' standing at the start of the play-off mini-league. The team finishing fifth in the Super League will start the play-off with 0 points. The fifth placed team's end of season tally of points is subtracted from the sum of the points that other teams have. This number is then divided by five. So based on that, the playoffs started like this: PAOK (finished second on 69 points) Atromitos (finished third on 66 points) Panathinaikos (finished fourth on 66 points) Asteras in fifth (finished fifth on 58 points) It then got completely surreal when you look at the table for the playoffs... Panathinaikos P6 W2 D3 L1 = 11 points PAOK P6 W3 D2 L1 = 10 points Atromitos P6 W1 D2 L3 = 7 points Asteras P6 W2 D1 L3 = 7 points This means the team that finished fourth gained a place in the Champions League qualifying round, the team that finished second in the league and had the best set of results in the playoffs instead qualified for the Europa League playoffs, while the team with the worst set of results qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round while Asteras were dumped into the second qualifying round. I doubt it is possible to make sense of that system if you thought about it while walking between WHL and Asteras' ground in Arcadia.
Besiktas is quite a special draw for me and some mates. A very good friend of mine is a huge Fener fan (also a Yid) and runs a collective group of the English GFB, I've been to their social club a couple of times in Dalston and recently I went with them by coach along with a few of my mates up to Sheffield Utd in pre-season (Fener & Blades are building some sort of footballing relationship I think) and it was an awesome atmosphere, which included them lighting up a number of flares in sync which caught the attention of Sky Sports News, along with continuous chanting in line with the drummer. Because of the friendly connection and great experiences I've had with them, I have soft spot for Fener and keep an eye out for their results. Seeing as Besiktas is one of their man rivals, I'm hoping we can put a smile on the Fener fans' faces (and ours of course!) with a couple of victories. I've already had 3 texts from some of the other Fener boys asking if I can help them get tickets for the game at WHL when they go on sale
At HBIC: Can't get my head round that, I'm supposed to be relaxing at lunch! Anyway looks like they're not total rubbish.
W. T. F?! Maybe our FA aren't that bad, after all? That should suit us. We need our non-starters to fight for places and stay sharp, so this group gives them a challenge and an opportunity. If everyone's fit then I think that our first XI is this at the moment: Lloris; Walker, Kaboul, Vertonghen, Rose; Capoue, Bentaleb; Lamela, Eriksen, Chadli; Adebayor. Leaving all of them at home for the Europa and League Cup, we can still pick the following, assuming that nobody leaves: Vorm Dier Chiriches Fazio Davies Sandro Dembele Lennon Paulinho Townsend Soldado Subs: Friedel, Naughton, Veljkovic, Fryers, Holtby, Ceballos, Kane. Throw in a bunch of youngsters to fill out the travelling squad and we're set, in my opinion. That's better than a lot of Premier League teams' first choice sides.
There is a Champions League spot at stake now as well remember? Do you think you guys will have a real push for the Europa this year. Would be nice to see someone other than us pulling their weight in Europe , and I think you guys and Everton could go far if you both tried.
