please log in to view this image Tuesday 2nd February 7.45pm Carrow Road Premier League A relatively routine victory over an unfortunate Colchester side and we're back to the league, again. Norwich fell at the first hurdle to Man City, so they've had a bit of a break. Their last fixture was something of a kick in the nuts though, as they lost to a very late goal to Liverpool. It hasn't been that long since the reverse of this fixture, but our opponent's form has been pretty rocky. They won the next two games, beating Villa and Southampton, then lost the following four. Defeats to City, Stoke, Bournemouth and the Scouse has seen them drop to just above the relegation zone. Our last visit to Carrow Road was a frustrating loss, almost exactly two years ago. Tim Sherwood and Chris Hughton were in the dugouts and it was the former defender that came out on top. A Robert Snodgrass goal was the difference, as John Ruddy saved the few chances that we created. Both sides were in similar league positions to now and will be hoping to avoid similar fates in this campaign. It was another heavily rotated side for the FA Cup, so I expect more changes for this one. Vertonghen's the obvious one from the Palace game, but there'll be several others. Lloris should come back in for Vorm and Alderweireld will return, too. Nice to have some competition elsewhere in the side, though. Lineups for the last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Dembele, Dier; Son, Eriksen, Alli; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Wimmer, Davies, Bentaleb, Carroll, Lamela, Chadli. League form: WWDLWW. Norwich: Rudd; Pinto, Martin, Bassong, Brady; Dorans, Howson; Redmond, Naismith, Hoolahan; Mbokani. Subs: Ruddy, Klose, Olsson, Mulumbu, Jarvis, Odjidja-Ofoe, Jerome. League form: LWWLLL. Referee: Kevin Friend. Did the FA Cup tie give anyone enough of a chance to break into the first XI for this game? Is anyone looking leggy enough to be given a rest? Should we be looking at any tactical changes to deal with Norwich?
Pretty confident about tomorrow night although that's probably a bad thing! Wonder if Berahino or Dembele II will be included? I'd go with: Hugo Tripps, Toby, Wimmer, Rose Dier, Dembele Son, Alli, Chadli Kane Vorm, Walker, Davies, Carroll, Lamela, Eriksen, Onomah
Interesting you wouldn’t start Erikson. He’s certainly been playing a lot, but he’s looked great lately. I’d keep playing him. Son over Chadli because Son is fresh. Son may need to play a brilliant game to be first choice over Chadli in the future. I agree about everyone else.
Purely just for rotation and rest reasons, he's finding his form again which is great but I also think he's tired near the end of games at around 70 minutes so I wouldn't want him burning out too quickly and then only playing well for 50/60 mins. Chadli and Son are both pretty fresh and Chadli's been in great form the last few games so I'd hope he can carry that momentum into tonight's match.
I agree that Eriksen needs a rest or his gradual return to form could be interrupted and ruined by cramp or a sprain. I like the look of SOS' team but I worry that playing Chadli and Son at the same time doesn't give us enough cover defensively on the flanks as neither of them is much good defending. I also still see Chadli as more of an impact sub than a starter so Lamela, despite slowly returning to his form of two seasons ago, gets the nod from me. I also think it would be good to give Kane a rest. Being as it's apparently so easy to play up front, I'll go for: Lloris Walker Toby Kev Rose Dier Dembele Lamela Alli Son Levy
With Alli and Dembele in the team, surely we are playing more 4-3-3. Alli and Dembele seem to rotate on the forward runs and a 3 in the middle describes it better,imo?
Norwich should be made for us. They need a win and have to come to us. Liverpool tore them apart on the break. We can do the same if we stay defensively strong. Whilst we aren't the best under the high ball, we don't dissolve like the Mousers. It would be very 'Old Spursy' to bottle this. We must make sure that the games against the top teams determine our season. No more draws against teams below us. We must chuck it all in during the second half like we did at Palace if we're level. COYS!
There is no way they will be as defensively inept as they were v Liverpool. ..think they will pack the defence and hope to hit us on the break imo. I would start start with Trippier as he gives us real width and provides good crosses.
I really hope Tripps does start, he's really impressed me the past few games and was possibly MOTM against Colchester the other day. His crossing is superb. Though the fact he faced Colchester leads me to believe Walker will get the nod for tonight.
People lose their faculties when assessing crosses. Pundits are always saying that no-one got on the end of a brilliant cross. I say its the same as anywhere else on the pitch: its the job of the crosser to pick out a team mate, not to punt it hopefully through the six yard box.
Can't think of many apart from the winner at Watford and Chadli's second against Colchester, both crossed in by Trippier. EDIT: Realised you were already talking about Trippier, I initially read your post as "how many goals have we scored from crosses?".
Every chance Colchester had was in part down to Trippier being either caught too square or being dragged into an area where he shouldn't have been. For me, he is good enough going forward, but defensively he is not up to it at the moment.
I have to agree with this. It's a gamble that seems to be worthwhile in some games. Rose and Trippier give us more going forward, but I feel more comfortable with Walker and Davies in the back four. It's interesting to see Pochettino mixing up the pairings a bit recently, though.
There's a load of stuff going around on Twitter about a rumour of illness sweeping through the Norwich squad. People are acting like this is some stunning insight, as some random journalist brought it up as if it was a state secret. Their bloody manager mentioned it in a press conference yesterday. Inda brought it up at the time.
