please log in to view this image Wednesday 13th September 7.45pm Champions League Group Stage Wembley Stadium Another successful away day oop North out of the way and now our European campaign begins. Not the easiest of starts, as we welcome the side leading the Bundesliga after 3 games. Things don't really get smoother after that though, so we really need a good opening performance. Will this be the game when we finally manage to break our run at Wembley? Dortmund had something of a mixed pre-season campaign, winning three, losing three and drawing one. It seemed to set them up well for the start of the season though, as they hit the ground running. They won their first two, beating Wolfsburg 3-0 and Hertha 2-0, before a goalless draw with Freiburg on the weekend. The latest result was rather costly for them, as they struggled to break down the 10 men of their hosts. Yoric Ravet took an early red card, after the video replay system was used, having initially got a yellow: The foul resulted in Dortmund's captain having to leave the pitch too, due to injury. Schmelzer joined former Barca defender Marc Bartra, who had already gone off with a muscle problem. Both will miss our game as a result and Schmelzer may even miss the return leg, too. Never nice to see players out due to very poor fouls like that one. Our most games against Dortmund were in the 15/16 season, where we met in the Europa League. Pochettino rested players, rather confusingly, as we crashed out to a very impressive side. A thumping in Germany and a narrow, but flattering loss at the Lane were the result. Hopefully the manager will have learned from two of his lowest moments at the club. Dele Alli starts his suspension of three games, following his red card against Gent last season. Rose, Lamela and Wanyama are still out through injury, while N'Koudou is back in training. The aforementioned Bartra and Schmelzer are joined by Reus, Guerriero, Schurrle, Durm and Rode for Dortmund. Quite a significant injury list for them. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen; Trippier, Dier, Sissoko, Davies; Eriksen, Alli; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Aurier, Walker-Peters, Dembele, Winks, Son, Llorente. Dortmund: Burki; Piszczek, Sokratis, Bartra, Schmelzer; Sahin, Castro, Gotze; Pulisic, Aubameyang, Phillip. Subs: Weidenfeller, Zagadou, Toprak, Dahoud, Kagawa, Yarmolenko, Isak. Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (ITA). He took charge of our opening loss to Monaco last season. Great... TV: BT Sport 3. Should we stick with the three at the back that started our win against Everton? Would you like to see Trippier continue at right-back or would you prefer to use one of our other options? Who should replace Alli in the starting lineup and should anyone else make way for this game?
Excellent use of video. Charlie Adam would have to consider retiremement if they brough in that system here.
Yeah, you can see how the ref might miss something like that and only give a yellow. Looks horrible when you see exactly what happened, though.
Another awesome thread. Cheers PNP Their injury list is is quite significant isn't it? Looking at their potential first XI, I think we've got a really good chance of 3 points, but we must keep aubemeyang quiet. I think Aurier needs to start this one. Ben Davies has been superb on the left and seems to be really gaining confidence and even taking a few more risks, but Trippier hasn't been particularly productive so far, IMO. Aurier's CL experience could be vital on Wednesday. My team would be: Hugo Toby Sanchez Vertonghen Aurier Dier Dembele Davies Son Eriksen Kane COYS
I'd go with the Roo-meister's selection. Good looking team that. I'd back Tripps up in terms of not being as productive as Ben purely because he hasn't been fully fit in two of the three games he's played in. Against Chelsea he'd been somewhat rushed back into the side and against Burnley he still wasn't looking fully fit. Everton was the first game where I think Tripps was close to being 100% and I thought he played really well. It's great knowing that Aurier doesn't need to be rushed into the side with a player like Tripps here, that said, I can't wait to see the Ivorian don the lilywhite shirt and think we'll see it on Wednesday. Hopefully Big Dave chucks in another performance like Saturday, too, need his pace on point against the lively Aubameyang.
Defence is probably right but the big change from the weekend is who to play in place of Dele. I see three options: One is as above-simple straight swap with Son. Two is Dembele alongside Dier as above with Sissoku moving forward in the Dele role. Third option is Harry to play in the Dele position and to start with Llorente. What we can't do like Chelski and United are doing tonight and that's make 5 changes. We haven't got the funds to buy such a large squad and we also have the toughest group.
Got a feeling that tomorrow night is going to be the first real indicater of whats in store this season. I said before the Everton game that I didn't expect much of them this season, and the speed their defence crippled on the weekend proved me right. Dortmund, even with that impressive physio room line up, are going to have a much better settled team that won't be anywhere near as easy to break down. With that being said, we need to be expecting to win these games now. We finished second in a much tougher league with a much weaker overall squad last season. Anything less than a win and Poch needs to dole out a few arse kickings. But I don't think that'll be the case.
I'd also go with "Roomeister's team". However, Son really struggled against Burnley and was a late sub against Everton so is clearly still a tad short of match fitness having had zero pre season. I don't think Poch will start him, which presents a problem as starting Sissoko instead of him won't really work as part of a '2'. And for what it's worth, I don't think Poch sees Son as part of a '2' either, which means whenever one of Alli/Eriksen/Lamela is missing we will revert back to a '3'. That said, we may well be subjected to the rather strange shape we saw against Newcastle.
Hmm. Good points. You could well be right. If that's the case, Kane and Eriksen together, and Llorente up top!
It does in a way highlight our relative lack of depth up top. We're pretty solid numerically but tactically - when ideally you'd want everyone on the pitch to properly fit the system - we are never more than 2 absences away from that system buckling. It's pretty clear that going 3 at rhe back with WB's is our strongest tactical approach, and most if not all of our defenders have adapted to the system. The problem is the '2' further up, where none of Son, Sissoko or N'koudou make sense. I can see Lamela adapting well there as I think he's best through the middle anyway, but now that we're unlikely to see him kick a ball until late November it really is essential that Alli and Eriksen keep fit and refrain from studs up challenges. It also goes some way to explaining our interest in Barkley, as he is a player I can see as being able to interchange between a 2 and a 3 pretty easily.
There's a number 8 shirt missing a player to wear it. Just 2 years ago, missing one player brought on panic. Now, we are one player missing. Sure, having even more options would be fabulous. A third striker with real pace and a centre half who's more battle ready than '25%' wouldn't go amiss but given our budget and Barkley's injury, what we've got is remarkable. It's a ****ing shame Dele got himself a walloping great ban. Added to Lamela's injury and Son's lack of a full pre-season and the inability to land Barkley, it's a problem. However, seeing Llorente on the bench is an ENORMOUS boost. We can win this. COYS.
I actually think Son can play in the two. He's a lot different to Alli but he's shown his versatility in the past, having played LW, RW and even leading the line in Harry's absence. His pace and eye for goal is something handy in any area of that final third. The main problem is though - and it's already been highlighted - is he fully match fit to start? Alternatively, there's no reason why we can't play two up top and go with Harry and Llorente.
I thought a pacy defender would make sense to counter their pacy forwards so why no Aurier? Whatever, roll on tonight, we can win this fairly well.
Looking at that team, I have a feeling they may well have predicted our line up. Dier against Gotze and Trippier against Pulisic fills me with minimal confidence though.
If not someone with the accolades of Dier to do a job then who do you think can do one? Personally if Dier cant do a job on Gotze who i find to be hit and miss at best then Dier is extremely over rated.