Following the national circumstances that have seen this weekend’s domestic action postponed over the weekend, Spurs’ trip to the Estadio Jose Alvalade to take on Sporting Clube de Portugual (CP) this coming Tuesday (kick-off at 5:45 PM BST) looks set to go ahead. This news comes after a bizarre “technical error”, to use the club’s words, that saw an erroneous announcement that the match was going to be postponed, but this is now revealed to be no longer the case:
Due to a technical error, Tuesday’s match against Sporting CP is displaying as postponed on our website.
We can confirm this is incorrect – the match is going ahead as planned. We are looking into the issue urgently and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) September 11, 2022
Although Antonio Conte is yet to confirm our team news, with his pre-match presser yet to come, it is expected that Lucas Moura will be our only absentee, with the Brazilian anticipated to sit the match with the tendon issue that has seen him miss the past four matches. Bearing that in mind, along with the time elapsed since Wednesday’s win over Marseille, we may very well see minimal changes to the side that saw off the Frenchmen in our Group D opener.
The circumstances regarding Her Majesty The Queen’s passing over the weekend have obviously seen Spurs play one game less than their Portuguese opponents since they both last saw midweek European action last week, with our hosts also emerging victorious in their Group D opener in Frankfurt. This rest should hopefully work in our favour, though nothing in football is ever as straightforward as it should be.
That said, Sporting’s record against English opposition in the Champions League isn’t exactly respectable, having failed to win any of their 6 matches against English opponents in the competition. To beat us on Tuesday, they will therefore have to make history.
Moreover, despite their impressive recent run and their upturn in fortunes under Amorim (read more on these in an article I wrote earlier about our opponents here), defensive frailties still remain a feature of Sporting’s fledgling campaign, with last season’s Primeira Liga runners-up shipping 8 goals in 4 league matches so far (via Soccerway).
With all due respect to Eintracht Frankfurt and the Portuguese league, we will undoubtedly be the toughest opponents they will have faced this season (and the Euro Club Index can certainly back me up on that one). It is genuinely up to us to turn up to Lisbon with the right attitude – that is the only thing standing between us and a victory of any sort.
It is also worth noting that, although Marseille were not as aggressive as expected in their pressing in our victory over them last week, they still caused us difficulty to play through them in the first half until the red card. This means that, unless we commit to winning our 50/50s and individual duels, we’ll struggle to play through Sporting Lisbon’s press, as we did for large periods of the Marseille game on Wednesday. Hopefully, this is something Conte and the boys will have been mindful of and working on since.
I’m hoping that our quality, commitment to winning our duels, and newfound mentality under Conte (and of course, our extra rest) will swing the game in our favour. COYS!
Thanks for the thread omar!
Its simple, let em ave it Spurs.
Another win to add to our tally.
Oh yrs! if they are to score, don’t let em score first cos then we will see time wasting, feigning injury at its best, after all their league is well practiced at it.
Hopefully its a bloody good Ref! COYS
Cheers Pompey, agree with the comments here so far…let’s be patient, they WILL give us chances on the break because of how they play, but when we get the ball, we must be fast, aggressive and decisive with it, something that’s been missing in an awful lot of our play. Off the ball we’ve generally been excellent, but we’ve got to improve when we have it. Let’s see how it unfolds tonight, COYS
Same as always, if we move the ball quickly we should win. If we don’t then all bets are off. In some ways playing away may work in our favour. Marseille didn’t create much even before the red card but a point away would have been a good result for them. At home you have to win so Sporting have to attack and hopefully leave spaces.
I always feel that in games against teams from inferior leagues (no disrespect to the French and Portuguese leagues in saying so), it’s a game of patience.
PL teams play at a high intensity week in, week out, and on average PL teams run farther than their opponents. In other words, PL teams tend to be fitter than their European counterparts and tend to finish games better due to superior fitness.
Smaller teams looking to make life difficult for Spurs will be able to do so for 60-70 minutes but will eventually tire, leaving more space for us to exploit later in the game (this was onkly exarcerbated by the red card against Marseille, who fell off a cliff physically around the 70th minute).
It doesn’t make for great watching but if you know you can just be patient and outlast a team, why not do so?
I think the same tactic will happen here.
Agree there BS, patience is the key!
But also the theatrics, time wasting etc!
A Draw would do, but am going for a Win! COYS
We should be beating teams like this if we want to make a statement. Any team will tire if they are down to 10 mem for the whole of the 2nd half. Go out get an early goal
Ex Spur Marcus Edwards playing for them. He had so much potential but like so many of our young players, he just fizzled out.
Maybe Marcus Edwards fizzled out with Spurs, but he looked damned dangerous at the end of the half.
A huffing and puffing first half. Nothing in midfield to support front 3 who are picking up on scraps.
Could be a season of workmanlike, boring football.
Only one creative midfielder in Kane.
Absolute rubbish again. Pigeons coming home to roost finally. Difficult to see how this group can improve when the basic skills are just not there v
Could see that goal coming for some time. Shit performance in so many ways.
Crap piled on Crap.
Conte has his work to do. This lot did not play a cohesive match and took advantage of none of their opportunities.
Big wake up call for conte.
Only 1 attacking option from the bench out all the subs we brought. Same ol predictable shite
Oh dear. Yet another ” watching paint dry performance”. Awful.
Reasonable defence until 89th minute. NO midfield. Bentancur is pretty but what does he do? Can’t pass, can’t dribble can’t shoot.
Hojberg is a workhorse and nothing else.
Emerson Royal tries hard but can’t shoot, can’t pass and can’t cross.
Our coach brings on the only sub who might change things at the 11th hour. ( We have no one else).
Best midfielder on pitch happened to be playing for them. Marcus Edwards…Spurs reject.
Yet another dreadful performance from a boring and uninspiring squad after week’s rest.
Why not give Djed Spence and Harvey White a go? How long must they be gathering cobwebs on the bench from a coach that is scared to break out from his utterly boring plan?
Come back Poch. We missed out on Potter. We have to suffer this dross all season.
We have Romero, Kane and Son. Who else????
?
Kane couldn’t hold the ball today. Never seen him lose it so many times or make that many errant passes. Terrible performance all around and what is the deal with Emerson playing every minute of every game?! We have two other players for that position who can’t be worse than he was today. We need a creative midfielder and friggin Conte won’t play one. Very frustrating, such a gut punch.
To give up two goals in the closing moments like that is pure shit. One must begin to question the character of the lads on the pitch when something like this happens. Good teams do not fold after the 89th minute.
Two bloody goals in the closing moments. Two–bloody–goals in the closing moments. I’m wracking my memory to find something equivalent.
The same team has played all season bar a 1 or 2 changes and subs. Others players never got a look in, and some players have no chance, of all the defenders we had on tje bench he could of swaped and youth player for some experience, this is slowly turning sour. Conte needs to be ruthless and change it up big time or the subs will be passed of like under nuno
Brutal to see Marcus Edwards rip through Spurs and show his incredible ability. He was never provided a proper chance with us. I completely agree with Wentworth in that some young players need to be given opportunities.
We have to face facts. We have a boring, uninspiring coach who is stuck in a rut, hoping for miracles.. Scared to substitute ( mind you we have no one to change the game).
So far we have managed to not lose. But we have not really won either. We can go on pretending that this coach and tactics will win us a trophy. But we are soooo boring.
I have wasted yet another evening being disillusioned and frustrated at our inept play. Should have watched BBC1 (really??).
I have always had doubts about Conte’s methods. We only have workmanlike players at his disposal. Surely we have at least one new face.. Djed Spence, Harvey White? who deserve a chance.
Where are our young players. They have just lost to Sporting.
Best training facilities in world. Best ground in the world.
Worst group of players in top football. Most boring coach in the world.
A long, long way to go to the Glory Glory years.
Marcus Edwards must be loving this moment. FU Spurs! That ought to capture the moment for him.
Seriously, mates. What does it say about our team that it gave up two goals in added time in what had been a scoreless draw. Where did their character go?
A really frustrating display and chickens have finally come home to roost .
I feel that we have been lucky to be 3rd in the league and have struggled to get results .
Why buy players and not use them ?
Why hasn’t the lad from Brighton ( forget his name ) not had a game ?
One of the reasons for buying him was that he could energise the midfield which is lacking at the moment ?
Has Conte over trained the players since many of them just are unable to keep up .
Perisic , while a lovely crosser , just doesn’t have the ability to make any real impact on a game . As for Emerson !! My comments have been mentioned on here last season .
Oh well Leicester at the weekend . 3 points ?
Is Poch still available?
6 defenders on the bench, only 1 sub used.