So it’s that time of the week again and Tottenham Hotspur fans can look forward to another Europa League evening at White Hart Lane. Our task this week is to simply beat Royal Antwerp and take our place at the top of Group J.
Easier said than done with the way our form has wobbled in Europe with manager Jose Mourinho taking full advantage to rotate the first team squad and give other players minutes as well as resting others, and we know Antwerp won’t be a rollover following our 1-0 defeat to them back at the end of October in the away leg.
Home comforts, along with a significant morale boost from last weekend’s comfortable victory over North London Rivals Arsenal – as well as our little gap at the top of the Premier League table – should play in our advantage though.
Injury wise, I believe Erik Lamela remains out, but Tanguy Ndombele could come back into contention for this one.
Royal Antwerp
Win
Draw
Lose
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TK there was a time I may have agreed with your statements.
However probably since some ManU titles and definately the Leicester Title, unfortunately I no longer share your quite valid thoughts on this.
Much as I would love to win in a swashbuckling way. I am content and even happy to win in an efficient way, providing we are (and I do think we are) progressing.
It is just a different way to win.
It’s not if you score 4 we’ll score 5
Its more we’ll score 2 you won’t get any.
We’ve tried the ManC, Barcelona style, and guess what, when we faced them they were better than us.
But look at how far we have came. We are getting better to watch m8.
As we get more successful we will get better players in, playing a more attractive style naturally.
For me just enjoying the ride. We’re in the mix top of the league, I’m not saying we’ll stay there but it’s a good place to be.
We are still at a period of transition, look at who has left us lately, Dembele, Wanyama, Verts, Tripps, Ericsson, “Rose”
Arguably the back bone of any good team.
Did anyone think we could replace them and be top of the league.
Just enjoy where we are whilst we are there.
Some good posts on here…
All I will say now in reply to the thoughts onJose winning stuff or not and/or finishing in the top 4 etc. My posts were not about Levy, club finances, backing Jose etc. I was talking about that thing called football. How it’s played and how we as supporters view it. Also, what the players themselves want from playing the game.
It’s not all about pleasing the chairman and owners via cups and top 4 finishes. It’s about pleasing the hard-core supporters too. The paying customers. Not just in the grounds but worldwide. And it’s always about the long term. Not just about now and being top of the league or whatever… And believe it or not, chairman and owners like to keep the supporters on their side. Managers will come and go…
Also, owners/chairman, might just like to enjoy their football as well… 🙂 I doubt very much that Poch would have been held onto for as long as he was, if the results were just as consistent but the football was mostly dire. Not even Jose has managed any long stints to match Pochettino’s at Spurs. And that is after winning stuff… The CL and league titles, no less…
Also BS, I would suggest that there have been many, many managers at many, many clubs that have complained about not getting the right backing from their owners and chairman. Didn’t Jose do it at United? And are United not extremely wealthy? And didn’t United spend a small fortune on players in the short time that he was there? ………………….
Anyway, this is a match thread. But, I don’t have much to say on this match right now, to be honest. Other than I would like to see us win. But it ain’t crucial to me if we don’t. But, playing some neat and tidy football will please me. Win lose or draw.
Up the Spurs!
ND …. I can’t agree with you that we are better to watch, particularly compared to five or six years ago. The ‘trophies v style’ saga will probably never end because supporters want different things. But as TK says, at the moment I am more on Danny Blanchflower’s side of the fence …. the game is about glory. Supporters, of course, define Glory in many ways. Therein lies the rub.
Let’s have a good win with style and a slice of glory tonight. 3-0!
HT – I take your point about managers complaining in generalabout not being backed.
I don’t recall Mourinho complaining about the spending at United, I remember him complaining about not getting his preferred targets (ie his role and the amount of weight his opinion had in transfers). But regardless of what Jose might have said, he was in the minority. None of the managers before or after him complained about United’s lack of spending, which makes his words hold less value.
On the other hand, if there is a recurrent theme about not spending, over a prolonged period of time, with the chairman the only common denominator, it paints a slightly different picture.
I also remember spurs from the 1960’s football was a harder game then, no big tv money, satellite worldwide coverage, and multi millionaire players, VAR etc. So yes we have a history of stylish football, BUT not won anything serious since 2008 and a league title since 1960’s.
Jose has transformed spurs from the downwards (14th place) we were a year ago, and this is what spurs have been missing… solid team defending which underpins the goal scoring we have. So fans who are disappointed we are not the swashbuckling game pleasers now, will have to decide which is better… poch style and nil trophies or jose’s effective title winning tactical methods? IMO we are in need of wining silverware…. at least 3 of them.
TQ2Spurs – I am not disputing your last post. You may well strive to be as balanced as possible on all things, football related or not.
I wil simply point out that it’s human nature to believe that your personal opinion is always fair and balanced.
Regardless of age, standing, profession – in the end it is nothing more than a personal opinion, which others may or may not agree with.
In French we say “la vérité des uns n’est pas celle des autres” – the truth of some isn’t the truth of others. Something to ponder in general.
Block 108 – It’s probably worse than that -We haven’t won anything since 2008, and whether you consider the League Cup serious or not, nothing serious since 1991.
Having read all the posts, the majority being non thread I may add, but it seems to me that no matter the point of the posts, everybody/fan sees things so differently, differences to each other are pointed most eloquently I further add, but here is the point, no matter the discussion/pov, no matter what Spurs do there will always be differences in opinion, it all just goes round n round in circles, but it does result some very interesting reading.
On wards to a Win tonight. COYS
I’m going to re-test a superstition theory today, we usually play crap and lose when I wear my Spurs polo shirt so haven’t worn it for a while. I’ve decided to give it another go today so if it goes badly tonight you can blame it on me! :- )
Morning folks, trust you are all safe and well.
Geof,
In reply to your post, I think either I may have put my point across wrong, or you have not got my point.
I wasn’t saying we are better to watch than 4/5 years ago.
I meant we are getting better to watch than around this time last season, perhaps the results make it better, it’s probably a different type of “appreciation” rather than entertainment.
As many have said this is a match thread
I would’ve loved to have seen the N’Dom/LoCeslo mix again to see if it works.
But would love to see a few of the younger guys given a chance with Vinny and Dele getting a good run out.
Probably my misunderstanding, mate. I do agree with you.
Block, you use the term swashbuckling to describe playing ‘crowd-pleasing’ football. Supporters, pundits managers etc., will often defend defensive football by suggesting that the only alternative is some kind of carefree soccer whereby defending doesn’t matter but scoring a lot of goals does. This is obviously not so. The best teams tend to score loads and concede little. Not all but most… See City and Pool and others these past few seasons…
Terms like yours and others such as that is not the alternative game of playing that we saw with Pochettino when Spurs were at their best with him. For a couple of seasons, our defence was as good as any other PL club and we were scoring plenty too. Pochettino also worked and drilled his players very hard. In fact he has been all too often accused of over-working them. He wanted them strong in defence and in attack. Of course he did.
People have spoken about Jose’s Spurs now managing to win games ‘ugly’ against the bus-parkers etc. And at least a ‘boring’ 1-0 is better than losing or drawing etc. But MP’s Spurs often beat these bus-parkers by 2, 3 goals or more… And at other times also by just a last gasp winner to make it 1-0!
There is no need to justify Jose’s way against MP’s way until he has actually won something with Spurs. And the point that no one ever seems to get that I’m making about JM is not about winning stuff but about how he has won… And he has left all of his previous clubs with the owners/chairman and more importantly the supporters, wanting more from his style of football. Thanks Jose they will say but no thanks, no more….
This fascinates me. It is a great contradiction in terms. And I’m sorry to point this out to you block, but as long as MP was the boss, you backed him and his football. Much as you are now with Jose now… And, Jose has not won anything with Spurs just yet…
Ah but he will you say. 😉 Then again, so do I 😉
Up the Spurs!
Well TQ ought you to re think your possible actions please ???
Haven’t worn either my sweater or shirt for ages so not quite sure what to do ? Perhaps wear them to impress my girlfriend who will be studying her reflexology book while listening to some of my disgruntled comments !!!
Allan…..I wore my Spurs socks for the NLD and that worked out OK! 🙂
HT
I was (and to a degree still am) a bit lost with your last post.
All I seem to remember ref JM at Chelsea, was that it wasn’t playing style or trophies that lost him his job, but it was his attitude. Which for me really started with a very public fallout with a female doctor and involved the much loved (at the time) Hazard.
This I think along with other, perhaps smaller, incidents started his down fall at Chelsea.
His time at Man U for me was blighted by previous managers, Van Al was playing a terrible style of football there even before he came. But Mourinho at Man U just didn’t fit, they didn’t want him.
I feel he does have fewer detractors here at Tottenham, probably because if what he brought trophy wise to ManU was seen as failure, it would be seen as success at Spurs.
Amazingly they accepted far less from the much loved “Ole”
So (for me) it wasn’t so much the playing style, but perhaps the man himself, his attitude, responses, his demeanour that (perhaps) saw him lose his job often with a bitter taste in the mouth.
Perhaps it’s partially why there are quite a few who don’t like the man at Spurs.
Just my thoughts m8.
I’d say it was all pf those things as well as the football itself, Niall. But ultimately, he couldn’t motivate his players to continue with the form that saw them PL champions the season before.
The football was poor and so were the results. And it was from out of these poor performances and poor results that Jose showed his bad side. Bragging his own worth whilst laying into his own players. Not just the team doctor.
Players stopped listening to him and that hurt. But why did they stop following orders? Why did they lose their motivation?
Anyhow, it’s all just chitter chatter on my part… No big deal as long as we are winning and he is smiling… 😉
Back to the Future!
Strong line-up with Kane, Son or both. Or, Vinicius and Bale? Dier and Toby? Or Tanguy and Sanchez? Winks? Dele or Bergwijn? Lo Celso or Tanguy or both? Hart or Hugo?
I’ll take a punt…
Hart
Doherty Sanchez Tanganga Davies
Winks White
Bale Ndombele Dele
Vinicius
Tottenham Hotspur 0-0 Royal Antwerp!
I mean…
Spurs 4-0 RA!
I’ll go the same lineup HT except Ndombele moving deeper to replace White and Lucas joining Bale and Dele in the three.
Hmmm……not sure about starting both left backs, I guess it’s a back 3 with Doherty and Reguilon either side of Winks and Lo Celso.
Hart
Tangy Sanchez Davies Doherty Reggie
Winks Lo Celso
Bale Vinnie Lucas
Could someone please explain this line up ? Defensive or what ??
Maybe Jose is thinking of playing Rose on Saturday! 🙂
I guess it’s 541 defending and 343 attacking?