Very strange decision to omit Stambouli. He's looked good whenever he's played, so far. Paulinho can't even make the 18, despite Bentaleb's injury and various players being left out. Not good.
No Paulinho. Good. Odd not to see Vorm but clearly the management feel that Lloris isn't being affected by playing twice a week, especially at home. As a keeper you wouldn't expect it to hit him too hard anyway. I'd have liked to have seen Stambouli start but hey ho. Kane and Ade starting surely means a Soldado start coming at the weekend.
It'll also be interesting to see whether we see Pochettino's 4-2-3-1 with Kane, Lamela and Townsend swapping behind Ade or more of a 4-4-2 with Lamela and Townsend staying wide. Although I feel that if it was really to be the latter then Lennon would have been the better choice than Lamela surely.
I would have played some kind of second 11. If our second 11 can't get us out of the group, the Europa is more trouble than it's worth. We're not going to win it, so it's useful only for providing games for the second 11, I think.
All about being professional now. Kill this game off, allow the manager to make subs to give others game time.
We're seeing the good and the bad of much of this Spurs side tonight. Lamela for example, has provided a demonstration of the kind of skill that prompted us to fork out on him with the goal, has also put in quite a shift, and we've seen the silky drawbacks and stepovers too. However he has looked indecisive at times, is clearly very left-footed (what a foot though...) and can get a little carried away in the challenge. Dembele started with a couple of misplaced passes but has since imposed himself well in the game. Our defenders can go from looking assured to being opened up at the drop of a hat, although it is a little unrealistic of us not to expect some chances from the opposition. Townsend has tried hard but looks as ever like he wants to do it all on his own. Ade hasn't really been in the game. Capoue, Kane and Lamela all need to be taken off as soon as we look safe enough because we need them for starting on Sunday IMO. Lets kill this off and go to bed
