Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Olympiakos

Overseas right now so didn’t see the game. Judging by the general comments I’m reading, it appears old habits die hard for both our coach and performances.

Not going to offer any comments on a match I didn’t see but sooner or later something is going to have to change.

What that change is I wonder but I think a few of us are possibly starting to think that way...

 

For any masochists out there:

 

With that glass half full bullshit I can only conclude one thing...

You ain't no spur bruv

 

I wouldn't be too quick to judge him.

He needs time in a team that's set up properly. Today, he had Dele and Christian Eriksen in front of him, giving the ball away for fun and our full backs were pretty dreadful. Stick him in the team that started against Palace and I'm sure that things would be better, especially if he actually looked fit.

Tonight, he should have been coming off the bench, rather than starting but the management must have reckoned that we could get away with picking players with no form or fitness. They were wrong and we were lucky not to get gubbed.

 

I am going to find a film to watch and forget football for a bit.

BTW I watched Green Book recently, well worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

 

Clearly they don't want Aurier cup tied in January. A few hand picked Prem matches where he can shine to maximise returns methinks.

 

He's our best RB

 

For me, the problem undermining everything is our inability to control the midfield. I'm a fan of Winksy but the more I watch him the more I am resigned to the fact that he just doesn't have the ability to impose that control. He is excellent at turning over possession, Sissoko is excellent driving box to box through the middle...neither of them have the technical ability or footballing brains to prevent the opposition playing through us almost at will. And when there are weaknesses elsewhere in the team (e.g. a CB short on confidence at RB and a semi-fit LB), they end up being exposed repeatedly and brutally.

PNP has picked up on it and I mentioned it a few weeks ago, but I think it is high time we reinstated a proper midfield destroyer to the side and play Tanguy alongside him. If Dier and Wanyama are indeed fully fit, why aren't they playing? Dier in particular needs game time and urgently to get himself up to speed. I'm not a fan of his at all but if by hook or by crook he can rediscover his form of 3 years ago, that will be a huge step towards solving this mess of a situation.

The even bigger worry though is how every single poster on here can predict exactly what will happen when Poch makes certain decisions, yet the man himself - renowned as one of the most astute and attentive in football - cannot.

 

Not sure if you updated later (I'm at 6.30 in reading through) but as the game went on Davies got worse and worse and overall was terrible tonight. The Greeks winger ran him a merry dance.

 

I saved myself by saying “when fully fit”

When he’s 100% I fully expect him take and keep that LB spot. At least until Sess has made the successful transition to LB but I think that could take a season or two.

 

Better than last time, lost 0-1 in 1972 after a 4-0 home win.
Thought we would win at 2-0 but 2-2 away in the CL not a bad result. Chelsea and Liverpool both lost their opening games last night.

 

Superb game of football between Atleti and Juve, a much better 2-2 than the drab one we had to endure.

 

We can't play with wingbacks when neither possess the ability to whip in a decent cross. Same for Rose really...rarely beats the first man with his crossing. Aurore seems to be the only one who can get some height and whip on his ball

 

Topic of conversation on the radio

"Has this Spurs team/manager reached their ceiling"

"The nearly men of football"

 

Last 3 aways have finished 2-2 with us conceding 72 shots in them games

Eriksen lost the ball 22 times in tonight's game...more than any other player on the pitch

 

A pundit remarked that Ericson has had a bad season so far and because he didn't get his move he's sulking. Could be. Pity we couldn't exchange him with PSG's Verratti. That man never stops.

 

Conceding goals before halftime struggling to hold onto 2 goal cushions. Conceding early and always first in the big ones. Conceding goals due to pissin around in and around the area instead of pumping it up the field or out of touch(Rose v Arsenal also). Someone not ironing this out in training.

Everything stinks of weak mind sets to me from top to bottom.

Poch accused the team of not respecting his game plan tonight. Poch doesn't seem to learn from his own mistakes so I can't see the players learning from theirs.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...-5d826fd88f0834740f3bdc56#liveblog-navigation "[Olympiakos's] previous victims in Piraeus include Liverpool, Juventus, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, AC Milan and, yes, Burnley. They have not lost any of their last nine European matches, and the three that they played in this stadium en route to this season’s group stages ended 4-0, 2-0 and 4-0 in their favour. In fact, they’ve only conceded one goal anywhere in any competition this season (in a 2-1 victory at Krasnodor)."

I share everyone's concerns about the quality of football and Pochettino. Only time will tell how both go, but I have no plans on giving up on either any time soon. Last year ran the the squad into the ground--and they somehow got to the CL final. This year the squad began in a highly unsettled state, and have gotten 5 good results in 6 games. Spurs looked sharp last weekend. They were pretty woeful tonight, true, but in a place that's seen very few good performances from visitors.

In any case, this was a good point. Spurs need to finish ahead of Olympiakos and Red Star. Finishing ahead of Bayern Muenchen would be nice but it's not necessary and it won't necessarily help. Holding on for a draw at a place that's been a European fortress is exactly what Spurs needed to do, and they did it.

I think Spurs will win something and have a good year. We'll see.

 

I think we could be happy with a draw if the performance from Spurs had been good, it was not. I read this morning that Pochettino is angry about our performance saying the team did not follow the plan. This is worrying, when managers start criticising their players you have to wonder what is going on. At least he has acknowledged the poor performance