Just been announced that we will play Dinamo Tibilisi in the Europa League prelim round. Away 1st leg 22nd August , return leg a week later. We have played them before I think 6061 help here! Thoughts lads.
Send the youth/reserves away to prevent tiredness for Swansea and then play a weakened first XI to put us through while preparing for Arse
Perryman Spurs played Tibilisi in the UEFA cup 73/74. Not sure of the scores, think we won the home leg, but Spurs went through to the next round.
UEFA accepting teams from Georgia is pretty borderline, but god knows what they were thinking when they accepted the Kazakh team Celtic are playing. Europe, really? We'll be playing Gremio before you know it.
They famously beat Liverpool 3-0 in the 1979-80 European Cup, going through 4-2 on aggregate. http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...1016/match=63613/postmatch/lineups/index.html Strangely that match isn't listed on the Liverpool In Europe website, but the first leg is...
I think the score before was 5-1 at the Lane and 6-2 on aggregate. I just watched 4 of our goals on You Tube, we absolutely murdered them in the air, all came from headers, Chivers, Peters and England were just too strong aerially for them. I was probably at the game, as I went to most home games those days, but TBH I can't remember. From the You Tube clips, Coates had a really good game, as did Ray Evans, besides those already mentioned. To me it sounds one of the toughest draws we could have got today, but I know nowt about them now. Back in the 70s if you got a team with Dinamo in their name you tended to worry, though as I say we smashed this lot at the Lane then. I'd rather us go to Georgia in August than February, and with the home leg second we should win, BUT, here's where our squad will be tested and why we still need another CB and LB IMO, even after Capoue signing, if he does. If we want to win a trophy and finish top 4, it will probably be one longggggg slog of a season. Of course in the early 70s we managed it, in that we won a trophy each season between 71-73, plus other semi-finals too. Although I think only one top 4 finish (3rd 71). Even as decline set in, we still made the UEFA final 74.
Greavsie, why do we need a LB? Are you one of the bae haters? Personally (and i know he divides opinion) i think Benny is possibly the 3rd best LB in the league, and for backup we have Rose who Sunderland fans have been raving about. I don't see LB as a position that needs strengthening unless one leaves. Benny said on twitter he wasn't injured, not sure why he isn't playing, maybe he is on his way? Coentroua (or however you spell it) is better, but Benny isn't our weak point at the mo, imo
Hi Spurm, no I'm not one of the BAE haters. I don't hate any of our players, unlike those I often hear at the Lane abusing and vilifying certain players over the years, or have read on many Spurs forums. I think BAE is a decent Prem LB overall, but I don't think he's a quality LB, that's all. I think he's been massively overrated by many Spurs fans for many years. I've never seen him as on the top 4 LBs in the country, indeed most of the time I don't think he's been in the top 6. When people say stuff like he's 'better than Baines', I shake my head and once again remind myself how people see completely different games to each other when they watch a match. Hansen and Lawrenson who both know more about defending than me and the vast majority of Spurs fans, have pointed out BAE's weaknesses time and again. I'm glad AVB has come to the same conclusion as I reached years ago, that LB is one of our weakest areas and in serious need of an upgrade. Unfortunately, Rose isn't the answer, IMHO. To repeat, Benny isn't a bad LB, to me overall, he's an average/ above average prem LB. A lot of this is personal taste. I love Daws, someteimes for the reasons a lot of people don't like him, and I don't rate Benny, and sometimes for the reasons others like him. Those 'Cruyff turns' do my brain in for example, yet others think they're 'cool'. Incidentally, I think many fans like BAE, because they see him as 'cool'. now he may well be, as a 62 year old bloke I'm out of touch with that stuff, if ever I was 'in touch'. But frankly, I couldn't care less, Baines is probably 'uncool' but put him in our team and we would have had Cl for the last 2 years IMO. Now that is 'cool'. Daws isn't 'cool' but I think he's great, he's my type of no-nonsense defender. I'm still fuming over when one fan wrote about how he met some Spurs players including Daws and the 'legend' Benny. That stuff bursts my blood vessels, BAE is nowhere near a legend, even Daws isn't one of them, but boy he's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much closer to legendary status than BAE.
Fair enough, i'd forgotten about Baines tbh. Cole, Evra and Baines are the top 3 i think. Kolarov/Clichy? Hmmm, tough. I give Benny the benefit of the doubt there, i certainly think he is better than Clichy. We are 5th best team (based on league table last year) so any player who sits in the top 4-5 in the league in a single-position-per-team position (hope that makes sense) is hardly a weakness imo. A LB who was 6-7 best in the league or a central mid/defender who was maybe 12th in the league would be more a weakness for me. Of course that is ignoring the defence as a unit, but i don't wanna complicate my post any further. I'd be more concerned about RB tbh. Walker's defensive performances last year were shocking, but a few seem to have overlooked that based on the previous season, the fact he's young and the fact he's ok going forward.
The problem with rating players is that too many praise a player or have a dig when they haven't seen him play, as how many of you have watched Baines for more then two games, actually seen what he is like as a defender? if you did you would realise as a defender he isn't anything special, its his link up play and attacking instinct which makes him so highly regarded yet he makes many errors in a game. Not that I'm saying overall BAE is in the same class, as he is a weakness, much like most full backs tend to be a weakness these days, yet a lot of fans on here are getting excited by a full back from madrid that by their own admission have never seen play, at least rate players you have watched, not just have been told are good by pundits.
I get where you're coming from GH10, RE Benny. I think he's pretty good, but he has only had 1 really decent season with us, IMO. That was the season before last. Other than that, he's been better than average like you say, but we're competing for top 4 now, so we need players who would get into other top 4 sides. I don't think benny would. However, I don't feel its a problem position and wouldn't be fussed it he was out LB next season. Same goes for Dawson with me too. Love the bloke. great attitude and definitely someone you need at the club, but he's not a top 4 defender IMO. Again, he's just "pretty good".
Fair enough Spurm. I disagree, you won't be surprised. Had we had top class LB like Baines or Cole, we'd have finished 4th orr maybe even third. Certain positions held us back, mainly LB and striker. Are JD or Ade top 4 level, not IMO. Ade can be, but he isn't overall, JD's game is too limited. However, in other positions we had players who brought the team up, most notably Bale, who was not only one in his position but one in the country. If you like going on % - I'd give say Bale 100 - Ade 55, JD 60, BAE 60, the whole averages just short of the 70% we needed. That's very crude, and if we we wanted to debate it further, I'd probably have to think about it more, but that's where I'm coming from, basically. Players like Hugo, Daws, Sandro, Bale, JV, lift the average, others lower it.
