please log in to view this image Tuesday 17th October 7.45pm Champions League Group Stage Santiago Bernabeu Another week, another Wembley Curse killed off. Bournemouth made it tough for us and it made for another frustrating, tiring game, but 3 points is 3 points. Now for a massive test. Can we maintain our 100% start to this Champions League campaign? It's a really big ask and it looks unlikely, but this is the sort of game that we qualified for, isn't it? Zinedine Zidane's side almost swept the board last season, with only the Copa del Rey escaping their clutches. La Liga, the Champions League, the FIFA World Club Cup and the Super Cup all went into their trophy cabinet. Christian Ronaldo scored 42 goals before swanning off in the summer to add the Euros to his medal count. It was the 33rd time that they lifted their domestic title and the 12th that they've won the European Cup. Our opponents may be illustrious, but we've had an almost identical start to the season, strangely. 8 league games, 5 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. Scored 15 league goals and we're in 3rd place. 2 wins in the Champions League, beating Dortmund 3-1 and APOEL 3-0. Should be a finely balanced game then, right? Right...? The last time that we faced each other was in this competition and it all went horribly wrong, unfortunately. The hero of the previous round, Peter Crouch, made two poor tackles early on and was dismissed. That lead to a 4-0 loss in Spain and a virtually impossible task at White Hart Lane. Despite putting in a more dignified performance, we couldn't breach their defence and lost 1-0. I won't bother putting up videos for those games, as I'm sure we don't need to see that again, do we? Two of the heroes of that campaign will be lining up in opposition colours tomorrow, if they're fit to play. Luka Modric and Gareth Bale both swapped the sunny climes of Tottenham for Madrid and are still there. Don't know what they were thinking, honestly. Strange decisions. Here's a reminder of one of those players putting the UEFA Club Defender of the Year to the sword: N'Koudou, Davies and Wanyama all miss out through injury, while Alli finishes off his suspension. Rose and Dembele return to the match squad and have traveled to Madrid. Kovacic, Carvajal and Bale are on Madrid's treatment table, though Navas is set to return for this game. They have no suspensions. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen; Trippier, Winks, Dier, Son; Eriksen, Alli; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Foyth, Walker-Peters, Aurier, Sissoko, N'Koudou, Llorente. League form: DWDWWW. Real: Casilla; Hakimi, Nacho, S.Ramos, Marcelo; Lucas, Llorente, Kroos, Asensio; Benzema, Ronaldo. Subs: M.Ramos, Vallejo, Hernandez, Ceballos, Modric, Isco, Mayoral. League form: DWLWWW. Referee: Szymon Marciniak (POL). A fairly young ref (36), but he's already been involved at the top level. TV: BT Sport 2. How should we approach this game, given our missing players? Who should play at left-back and should we use a back three or four? Should Alli be directly replaced or should we try something a little different?
Zidane is already making excuses saying what a great player Harry Kane is. He'll be saying what a great player Sissoko is after the match tomorrow night.
Seeing some hack blurb claiming Pochettino is saying Rose will be on the bench. Regardless of what is at stake, I hope this is not a bout of Wengeritus affecting the manager.
Paul Stewart? Well, Steve McManaman (de doo de-do-de) managed to play for them, so why not Paul Stewart?
There's so much to actively dislike bout RM, from their dodgy finances, political posturing and media manipulation. Trouble is that coming up against the likes of Ronaldo, Isco, Benzema & Asensio scares the living bejesus out of me! I hate to be defeatist, but I reckon this is a damage limitation exercise and we should set up in as strong and experienced a defensive unit as possible - and just pray for something from a breakaway or set piece. Mind you, those memories of 2010 show what can be achieved against the odds. Ben missing is a big loss and it's surely too soon for Rose to feature for more than 10-15 mins, so might need a back four of Aurier, Toby, Dave & Verts. Just hope that Sissoko continues his recent form, as he could be very important.
No Davies?! ****. EDIT: maybe we should just play Danny 'man boobs' Rose and let hin utterly embarrass himself up against Ronaldo and Asensio. Decreases the chances of his dream summer move materialising.
I'd like us to use the same tactics as we did v Dortmund. We don't stand a chance going toe to toe with them, but they do have a tendency to switch off at the back and often don't bother tracking back if they're frustrated. Which happens quite a lot when you're a prima donna. Sit back and hit them on the counter... Hugo Aurier Toby Dave Jan Dier Dembele Sissoko Eriksen Son Kane For me. Over to you @Dier Hard .
Liking and agreeing with the game plan though think we need a back five mate. And I'm gonna be brave by taking Dier out of his favoured DM role and have him join Toby and Dave in the central three. I'm hoping the power of the two Mous(s)a's can override the ridiculous skill and vision of Real's midfield. Sucks that Ben is out though, of all games we have to do without a fit LWB and it's against the best team in world football, now if that's not "Spursy" I don't know what is. Unless of course Danny is feeling like he owes us one and gives Poch the thumbs up to start... Though I highly doubt it. Hugo Dier, Dave, Toby Aurier, Sissoko, Dembele, Jan Eriksen, Son Kane
I can't love Real Madrid because of the politics and in Spain they are very much part of football. I also hate to see players that wanted away, even though it's understandable. MP says he will play to win, I wonder. I think he might, we do have a very good defence and it will help if Dembele can feature. I'd love to see us make it a memorable night just as long as they keep their greedy hands of our players
I hate them because in pure football terms, that club are c**ts from top to bottom. Institutional and state-sponsored.
My change would be to play Walker-Peters at left back. It's a big risk, but he has had some success playing there, albeit at a much lower level, he is fast, it would let the rest of our team play their favored positions, and leaving Vertonghen on the left of the three gives us extra help. I'm guessing Dembele won't be ready to start, and hoping the speed of Aurier, Walker-Peters, Sissoko and Son can create chances on the break. Everyone has their work cut out for them, especially Sanchez, Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Dier. Last time we went to their place saw the career lowlights from both the tall, thin Spurs strikers of recent note. Real has mirrored our record to a remarkable degree, but in their case it seems to be a matter of flickering interest, as they've beaten the top clubs they've faced. I look at it that everyone should try to enjoy this game as much as possible, since we don't need a result and no one expects one. We've already beaten Borussia Dortmund and PSG this year, and who thought we'd be saying that a few years ago?
Unfortunately, they've started making things really difficult for our fans. We've been told told (by Tottenham) that we need our passports or copies of them matching the details shown on the tickets (which ours don't) to get into the ground. It's all about making life as difficult as possible for us. What a bunch of lowlife ****ers they are! We're on our way down there from Valencia in just over half an hour. I would love dearly to get something from this game and will be singing my heart out for the shirt tonight. COYS!
With his Catalan connections perhaps Poch should take a Catalan Flag and Kane should have one up his sleeve to be used in the event of him scoring.