Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Fiorentina

Agreed - win the tie in the first leg on Thursday.

 

Because Spurs have such a great history of winning ties in the first leg...
League Cup semi-final second leg 2009: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/7824257.stm
Europa League last 16 match 2013: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21696151

 

The last time I saw Fiorentina was:
The Bill Nicholson Testimonial

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/the-bill-nicholson-testimonial-070801/


We won that 3 - 1 if I remember correctly.

 

So we are favourites on current form?

 

I would say so.

 

I think that we need to pick our strongest side for this game and then make minimal changes for West Ham.
The second leg can be dealt with later, depending on this result.

 

I’m with you and Morpheus, barring some kind of unusual result in the first leg. In any case, it’s a tough choice. On the face of it, I wouldn’t want us to abandon the heavy rotation we’ve used fairly successfully so far. In the end, games are decided by low probability events, so the chances for slightly weaker teams winning are always decent. I’m not sure how much starting a second choice team in the second leg affects the likelihood of getting through. I feel more certain that starting a team on two days rest against a fresh Chelsea team may amount to giving away our one decent chance of a trophy this year.

In any case, if worst comes to worst, we’ll be out of all the cups, and can concentrate on the league. The problem with the Europa at this point is that, given the chances of winning any tie are perilously near 50%, we really only have a very small chance of winning.

 

3-0. Goals from Iversen, Les Ferdinand and Poyet.

 

Thanks OS I was there for that one it was good to see the warm reception for Bill Nich.

 

Stambouli discusses why he chose us over Fiorentina last summer: http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/foo...-he-chose-spurs-over-fiorentina-10053447.html

 

If you offered me a League Cup win and a win over West Ham in exchange for going out vs.Fiorentina, I'd bite your hand off.

 

I've just read "Emmanuel Adebayor will have a new look as Spurs take on Fiorentina when he 'll show off his new hairdo." No ,please Noooooooooooooooooo!

 

Relax TMT he needs to look good sitting on the bench behind the subs

 

Mo Po says he has a role to play perryman, exactly what?

 

fashion icon?

 

He's playing Bill Bonstay in the Spurs production of HMS Pinafore. He wanted to play Dick Deadeye, but then Poch reminded him about his goalscoring stats this season.

 

At least it's on television over here in the DRC. The previous league thing wasn't. 22:00 local time though, I have to get up for work at 04:00. Play a strong team I say, put the tie to bed tonight. COYS

 

Lloris (c), Walker, Fazio, Vertonghen, Davies; Bentaleb, Paulinho; Chadli, Eriksen, Townsend; Soldado.
Subs: Vorm, Dier, Rose, Dembele, Lamela, Mason, Kane.

Ok. Not the lineup that I was expecting.

 

• 01 Lloris
• 02 Walker
• 21 Fazio
• 05 Vertonghen
• 33 Davies
• 08 Paulinho
• 42 Bentaleb
• 17 Townsend
• 23 Eriksen
• 22 Chadli
• 09 Soldado

Substitutes

• 03 Rose
• 11 Lamela
• 13 Vorm
• 15 Dier
• 18 Kane
• 19 Dembélé
• 38 Mason

I'm a little surprised Pochettino has changed six from Liverpool. Kane not starting is a bit of a shock. My guess is that Pochettino didn't want to feel like he was carting all the second choicers to Italy next week. So half the first choice play today, the other half in a week, and in theory everyone will remain fresh enough during the fixture pileup.

COYS!

 

please not Townsend play Rose wide left he is not the best but better and some defensive cover for Davies and he does have the ability to get the ball ito the box