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Tottenham Hotspur vs AEL Limassol - Top of the League Special

Discussion in 'Tottenham Hotspur' started by No Kane No Gain, Aug 26, 2014.

  1. The RDBD

    The RDBD Well-Known Member

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    You are guaranteed at least one trip to the middle of nowhere in the Europa group stages. :(
     
    #201
  2. humanbeingincroydon

    humanbeingincroydon Well-Known Member

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    As per usual, long away trips to Belgrade and Istanbul - and probably Moscow or Minsk to follow.
     
    #202
  3. Wandering Yid

    Wandering Yid Well-Known Member

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    Need to avoid the Azeri team Qarabag in the final draw. Russians would be a bit crappy too.
     
    #203
  4. 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.
     
    #204
  5. humanbeingincroydon

    humanbeingincroydon Well-Known Member

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    Please not Qarabag - I'd take a trip to Helsinki in mid-December over that!
     
    #205
  6. Wandering Yid

    Wandering Yid Well-Known Member

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    Final Group

    Spurs
    Besiktas (Turkey)
    Partizan Belgrade (Serbia)
    Asteras (Greece)

    Not too bad on the travelling front, and nowhere too cold <ok>
     
    #206
  7. perrymanlegend

    perrymanlegend Well-Known Member

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    Group C
    TottenhamTottenham(ENG)
    Be&#351;ikta&#351;Be&#351;ikta&#351;(TUR)
    PartizanPartizan(SRB)
    AsterasAsteras(GRE)
    Thoughts ?
     
    #207
  8. 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.
     
    #208
  9. perrymanlegend

    perrymanlegend Well-Known Member

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    Group C
    Tottenham(ENG)
    Be&#351;ikta&#351;(TUR)
    Partizan(SRB)
    Asteras(GRE)
    Thoughts ?
     
    #209
  10. The RDBD

    The RDBD Well-Known Member

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    "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.
     
    #210

  11. perrymanlegend

    perrymanlegend Well-Known Member

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    Seems a far more competitive comp than last season.
    As you say RDBD will make all players step up their individual games.
     
    #211
  12. humanbeingincroydon

    humanbeingincroydon Well-Known Member

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    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.
     
    #212
  13. The Mighty Thor

    The Mighty Thor Well-Known Member

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    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.
     
    #213
  14. mothman

    mothman Member

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    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!
     
    #214
  15. humanbeingincroydon

    humanbeingincroydon Well-Known Member

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    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.
     
    #215
  16. Dier Hard

    Dier Hard G'day mate!

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    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 <laugh>
     
    #216
  17. mothman

    mothman Member

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    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.
     
    #217
  18. PleaseNotPoll

    PleaseNotPoll Well-Known Member
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    <yikes> 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.
     
    #218
  19. Spurm

    Spurm Well-Known Member

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    All Greek to me.











    I'm so sorry
     
    #219
  20. Bodinki

    Bodinki You're welcome
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    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 <whistle>, and I think you guys and Everton could go far if you both tried.
     
    #220

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