"and to think we gave them half of their midfield." If you think them paying 115m quid for two players is "giving" , you must be Levy.
Bournemouth game is much more important. They are playing very well, but will be open enough for us to take advantage hopefully. Arsenal have to face Lukaku away, City face a Manchester derby and Leicester face a (possibly) rejuvenated Newcastle and a not safe Crystal Palace away. So after next weekend we could be top and 9 points clear of Arsenal. Nothing else matters I'm afraid. I hate seeing us beaten easily, but the likes of Chadli, Onomah, Son, Mason, Bentaleb, Carroll need to be fit and ready if needed. All I care about Thursday is that we keep it reasonable (don't want a 0-5 drubbing or worse). Other than that, rest the first team.
Earlier in the season the Europa was a better chance of getting CL qualification than the PL. Now it isn't so priorities change. I do think we needed to rotate more throughout though and never go with seven changes. It would be nice to have another striker and another centre-half but not at the expense of diluting our squad's togetherness. We need to aim high for new signings and not to sign stopgaps.
Today, UEFA charged the Bundesliga club with having “stairways blocked”, which is in contravention of article 38 of their safety and security regulations. The case will be heard by UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body on May 19. I guess they won't be ousted from the competition then? UEFA having an Ethics Body is a puzzling concept too!
I wonder if there's any chance Dortmund will play their reserves on Thursday? Seriously speaking I just hope Poch doesn't play a full strength team now, I'd love to go through more than anyone but there's not a team on the planet that can do Dortmund 4-0 to qualify as we're talking about arguably the 5th best team in European football (Barca, Real, Bayern, Juve, Dortmund). Lets just solely focus on the Prem and hope it pays off in the long run with a league title , even if it does mean the team we put out Thursday gets another embarrassing battering. Vorm Tripps, CCV, Wimmer, Davies Mason, Bentaleb Onomah, Carroll, Chadli Son McGee, Maghoma, Walker-Peters, Winks, Amos, Edwards, Harrison
I was wondering how Seville had won the Europa several times.Then it occurred to me.....they usually have no chance to win the Spanish League with Real's,Barcelona's and Atletico's,so they play their strongest team for their Europa games.....while we.........
They also get help from the Spanish League postponing their league fixture in favour of their EL cup tie.
There is no way we are scoring 4 (or probably more) to get past Dortmund, I think they will score at least once so Spurs will need 5 at least..... no chance. Use the squad and save our key players for Bournemouth.
Its a shame really as I would have loved to see the full 1st team go toe-to-to with Dortmund under the lights in Europe at the Lane. Even in the EL it would have been a great occasion and I suspect, one hell of a match. But under the circumstances I entirely agree with you.
Initially I was hoping for a strong team out against Dortmund this week but as Leicester continue to keep winning games, I believe Spurs should just focus on the PL. This is Spurs' best opportunity in 50+ years to challenge for the title - they simply have to put 100% effort into the PL. Only because of this unique circumstances, do I think Spurs ought to focus on Bournemouth, who are flying at the moment.
Totally agree. Playing first-teamers now makes no sense at all. Only by letting this go do we make any sense of the selection in Dortmund. Bournemouth will come pumped up and we cannot drop points.
Once again, I repeat "To Dare Is To Do". So why not start with our strongest side, who knows what might happen if we score early on and with the crowd behind us get another ? If that fails to happen, then reassess at half time and if the game does seem to be beyond our reach, then start thinking about the Bournemouth game. At least this way, we will have given it a go.
Intriguing bit of trivia but our home and away records are now identical bar a single goal: HOME W8 D5 L2 : F27 A:12 AWAY W8 D5 L2: F26 A12 I don't remember ever seeing us so consistent across a season irrespective of the venue, and it is mightily encouraging for the future
"Once again, I repeat "To Dare Is To Do". So why not start with our strongest side, who knows what might happen if we score early on and with the crowd behind us get another ? If that fails to happen, then reassess at half time and if the game does seem to be beyond our reach, then start thinking about the Bournemouth game." As I said the other day, if a good performance is put in and a fair strength Dortmund get turned over, then regardless of progressing in the Europa, it could do wonders for the morale of the squad. Eight PL opponents to come, and NONE of them are a Dortmund.
"I don't remember ever seeing us so consistent across a season irrespective of the venue, and it is mightily encouraging for the future" Spurs have won at least half their away PL games more than once (2013 and 2015) . This stat is an ok 'trait KPI' for the PL clubs who get the CL slots.
I like your thinking and trust me, I was aligned with this until Leicester beat Newcastle on Monday. I just worry about the players picking up injuries and also fatigue. It's all well and good putting the strongest team out and reassessing at half time against Dortmund but in all reality, there is still the risk of injuries and fatigue in the second half. Toby and Eric, to name a few, certainly don't need to be risked for this game. They are pivotal to Spurs in the PL at this critical run-in.
