Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v RB Leipzig

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Wednesday 19th February 8pm
Champions League Round of 16
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium​

The late, late win against Villa appears to have come at some cost, as Son's out injured for a while.
Not ideal timing, by any means, as we have a packed fixture list full of important games.
First up is our first match against RasenBallsport Leipzig, who currently sit in 2nd in the Bundesliga.
They're having a very good season and are coached by one of the most highly rated young managers around.
Can Mourinho make his experience count or will we face another lesson from a German team?

RB Leipzig are one of the most hated sides in their native country, for a variety of reasons.
Here's a short video explaing a lot of it:

The club brought in a new manager for this campaign, replacing Ralf Rangnick, who moved upstairs.
Julian Nagelsmann joined from Hoffenheim, where he'd achieved two top-four finishes in three seasons.
Pretty impressive for anyone, but quite unheard of for someone who was 28 years old when he started.
Nagelsmann had a promising youth career cut short by injuries, which prompted his switch.
He earned a Sports Science degree before stints as a youth coach at Ausburg and Hoffenheim.

His first season with Leipzig has been going very well, both domestically and in Europe.
They've only lost 3 league games and won a tricky Champions League group, which was hotly contested.
Lyon narrowly finished runners up, pushing Benfica into the Europa League and eliminating Zenit St Petersburg.
The Russians lost their final game to the Portuguese, leaving them both a point behind 2nd place.
A draw between the top two teams was enough for the French to sneak through.

Leipzig's main threat is Timo Werner, who has scored 25 goals this season already.
Marcel Sabitzer, Patrick Schick and Emil Forsberg are their next most prolific goalscorers.
They've managed 26 goals between them and were joined in January by Dani Olmo from Zagreb.
Dayot Upamecano is their best defender, but he misses the first leg through suspension.
He may be replaced by Chelsea loanee Ethan Ampadu, due to other players' injuries.

There have been no previous meetings between the sides, so have a video of our group stage, instead:

Kane, Sissoko and Son are out injured, while Foyth and Lamela are both doubts.
Adams, Kampl, Konate and Orban are out for the visitors, while Upamecano is suspended.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Aurier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Davies; Dier, Winks; Moura, Alli, Bergwijn; Son.
Subs: Gazzaniga, Vertonghen, Tanganga, Skipp, Fernandes, Lo Celso, Ndombele.
League form: LLDWWW.

Leipzig: Gulacsi; Upamecano, Halstenberg, Klostermann; Muklele, Laimer, Sabitzer, Angelino; Olmo; Schick, Werner.
Subs: Mvogo, Ampadu, Krauss, Haidara, Wolf, Nkunku, Forsberg, Lookman, Poulsen.
League form: WWLDDW.

Ref: Cüneyt Çakır (TUR). VAR: Mete Kalkavan (TUR).
This ref has taken charge of quite a lot of our recent Champions League fixtures, including some notable ones.
He did the 4-3 at City, the 1-0 late win over Inter at Wembley and our 3-1 win against Real Madrid.

TV: BT Sport 2.

How would you like to line up for this one and what would you change from the Villa game?
Would you stick with much of the same lineup, make a few changes or go for a wholesale switch?
Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting Leipzig to go with?

 

They don't have any centre backs
We don't have any strikers

This is going to be a strange one, isn't it?

 

Jose has just pretty much confirmed that it will be surprising if Son plays again this season. We are cursed. This goes well beyond ENIC's lack of ambition. It's full blown voodoo.

Lamela being assessed ahead of the game. IF the guy can manage to stay fit for the rest of the season (ain't happening I know), we might have a chance to compete on 2 fronts. 3 is out of the question. Parrott and Sess are clearly seen as works in progress (Jose confirmed this too), so will rarely feature beyond the bench. The fitness of Lamela and Ndombele will now define our season, I feel. I'd imagine Lo Celso will be pushed further up the pitch and Lucas or Alli will play as a makeshift ST with Bergwijn behind them and Lamela/Sess as options to rotate. This will however mean we see a lot more of Eric Dier (should be Gedson) since Tanguy can't manage more than a game a week. So...

Hugo
Aurier Dave Toby Davies
Tanguy Winks
Lucas Lo Celso Bergwijn
Alli

Subs/rotation: Gazza, Tanganga, Jan, Gedson, Dier, Sess, Lamela

Is now probably our strongest match day squad. I think it's pretty clear that Skipp and Parrott aren't getting many minutes this season.

 

By keeping them at the club and not playing them, Mourinho's turning them into first team players....








for a League One side or some foreign club that I've never heard of.

"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose."

 

I am hopeful that this will be a good game for Tanguy, he looked good in the champions league last season, and whilst I expect Leipzig to be energetic and full of running, the game is unlikely to be as intense and physical as a premier league game so that hopefully that will be good for him. Winks is another player who appears to thrive in champions league (and international) football where the game is less full on so I hope that he will be putting in the sort of match that made him a favourite of Poch.

I can see Lo Celso playing with Winks and Tanguy as a 3 in the middle tomorrow night, with Ali as a false 9 between Lucas and Bergwyn, but the actual XI certainly looks the best we can put out right now - Need a big game from Sanchez as he is the only 1 who might be able to match Werners pace.

But now is the time for Jose to show us that big match mentality to set up the team and get them motivated to play from minute one, because a slow start and giving them an early away goal tomorrow is likely to prove one mountain too many for this team who have actually dealt pretty well with adversity of late to climb.

 

He's smiling, but he's clearly fuming.

 

Would now be a bad time to mention that I am going tomorrow and I haven't been since the Bayern match!

 

I am going...and I will find you if I have to

 

Don't expend too much energy on that.
We need a fully fit and strategically used rcl now for the season run-in.

 

You see that bit of wall where that bloke from r/coys was standing? Yes, the one where there's a large red stain about halfway up it...

 

A few youth players in there, but I don't think that Parrott was one of them.

 

But Coco is
and Cirkin

 

BURN HIM ,BURN HIM ,HE IS CURSED

 

The same conference as earlier, but with Winks at the end, which I've linked it to:

Does reasonably well, if a little too by the book and unremarkable.

 

Hello Narrative my old friend...

 

I didn't realise that Parrott is an Old Etonian..

 

I've had a bit of time to think things through and have found my peace in the belief that we have been cursed since the moment of BMJ's dismissal.

I think we have to be brutally self honest: we don't have the quality to go much further in this competition. In a way, it would be an act of mercy to be knocked out by Leipzig. We saw last season how much we struggled to juggle the PL and CL in the business end of the season. Fast forward a year, our squad is in worse shape, injuries are worse and above all we don't have a 14 point cushion on our nearest rivals for top 4. To the contrary, we are playing a high risk game of catch up with 5 other teams doing the same.

As injury ravaged as we are, the match day squad I think we've both settled on is still enough to scrape a result against most opposition. It won't be pretty at all, and our forwards will now need Villa levels of chances to put a game to bed, but IF Lo Celso and Tanguy can stay fit, we have the players to create those chances.

But the CL is simply a bridge too far. I get the importance of prize money but ultimately now that top 4 (might even be top 5) is unexpectedly in reach, I think we have to sacrifice short term achievement for long term strategy and go all-out in the league. There is no question that we can attract a higher calibre of player if we can offer CL football next year.

I know this opinion is unlikely to be popular, and recognise that it goes against the Game is About the Glory, but being brutally honest our immediate time to achieve said glory has been and gone, through a squad that stagnated and a manager who ran out of steam. Right now, the Game is About Pragmatism.

To Do is to Plan. Daring will have to wait for sunnier days.

 

Wow that was a big read on a school night but I sadly have to agree wholeheartedly

 

Interesting as City might be thinking exactly the opposite. No point in them concentrating on the PL as 'pool have already won the title and top 4 has no point for them-so they should fully concentrate on winning the CL.