With three defeats on the spin across all competitions, Tottenham Hotspur are back in action this Wednesday evening as we welcome Norwich City to White Hart Lane for our FA Cup fifth round clash.
Manager Joe Mourinho’s choices will again be limited owing to the injury issues we have at the club, but scoring continues to be the least of our concerns – defensively we simply have to tighten up and improve and many fans continue to question the gaffer’s team selections even if he does have half a hand tied behind his back.
Norwich...
Win
Draw
Lose
Not least the fact that against Wolves he went with neither Toby Alderweireld or Jan Vertonghen.
Norwich have proven themselves to be plucky this year, despite the 20th position they occupy in the top flight, so we will have to be on our toes at the back, but despite the element of round pegs in square holes in our attack, our hope would be to blow them out of sight given how they leak goals themselves.
Whether that proves to be the case or not, we simply have to wait and see, but with ongoing frustration in the fanbase, we simply cannot countenance a fourth possible defeat here.
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“Very Repetitive” – Jose Makes His Point As Spurs Slip To Another Defeat – Match Stats
Any news on Lloris? How long is he out for? Anyway obviously hoping for a win here and expecting it irrespective of who Norwich put out. Concerned as want as to take the game and FA Cup seriously but we have Burnley on Saturday, then Leipzig and Man U the following week so game/squad management crucial.
Toby and Verts should be able to shackle Pukki – do we have a choice but to play Aurier and Davies AGAIN at full-back though?! These 2 will burn out eventually and they’re not THAT good in the first place but they’re the best we’ve got at the moment and need to be managed accordingly. What’s going on with Sessegnon? How long is he out for? Atleast he provides direct cover for Davies. Foyth again – how long is he out for? Could provide direct cover for Aurier.
Up front guess we’ll have to go with Lo Celso, Bergwijn, Moura and Dele again – not a problem for me as rate all 4 so they should be good enough to get us the goals we need – no HK10, no Sonny and Lamela injured as usual means we’ll be relying on these 4 heavily for the matches named above – hope they can be nursed accordingly to arrive at every match as fit as possible and give their best within the obvious limits – harsh to expect them to play and produce for 5 games in a row in less than 2 weeks but that is the situation we find ourselves in – just hope none get injured in the process.
Team I’m expecting from JM:
Gazza
Aurier Toby Verts Davies
Dier Winks
Moura Lo Celso Bergwijn
Dele
Might be a couple of surprises like Tanganga starting at full-back or Fernandes in the middle – let’s wait and see what JM does. Think Toby deserved a rest and same goes for Davy – cannot expect them to play every game would be ridiculous no matter how desperate we are and asking for trouble – not only fatigue wise but injury wise aswell. Just hope we can scrape through this one and arrive on Saturday and against Leipzig and Man U in a decent state as hard as that will be.
EJ….don’t forget Verts can play left back, I sometimes think it’s his best position, Tanganga is naturally right footed and because of his height and speed is probably more suited to right back than centre back.
I think Jose will take the FA cup very seriously and probably sees it as the best option this season for winning the silverware everybody craves.
I think we could see Tanganga, Toby, Sanchez and Verts as the back 4 in this match.
TQ – not bad and it does save Aurier and Davies for Saturday as I said they are our best options available at full-back – that said we’d be playing our 4 CB’s (barring Foyth) all in the same game – what if an injury or 2 occurs – very risky especially with having to play 4 matches in 10 days and every single one of them crucial to the rest of our season!
I think Tanganga at 6ft can make it as a CB, Ake is a top Prem CB and is less at 5ft11 and as for having pace/speed all the better. Foyth at 5ft10 is the 1 that worries me and he’d have to develop a lot of skills to match say a Cannavaro who made it as a top world class CB being only 5ft8 I believe. Foyth is the 1 I hoped would make it as a RB under Poch but so far due to injury initially and then JM’s appointment he has been lacking in appearance’s so do not know what to make of him at the moment. A loan out might just be the perfect solution, similar to KWP.
Ah the FA Cup is here again…slip ups/giant killings etc what will happen regards us.
I went to the Park last night with a few oppo’s to watch Pompey v Gooners, great Fa cup match, sorry Pompey lost, but if they could have crossed better and had a good target man, does this remind you of anything, they could/would have been out of sight in the first, even so they went in at HT 1 down to very late Soccrates (donkey) goal, 2nd half Prem players won it, alas no laughing at the Gooners, though very well played Pompey.
As for us tomorrow, JM will take it seriously so in the hope of us winning the cup, when he jacks it in or gets sacked, he can brag I won Spurs a cup.
V Norwich, lets hope something is finally worked out and players fulfill their requirements, so we go into the hat for the next round. So for me a very close win. COYS
I am of the opinion that us fans, the majority that is, are worried about tomorrow nights game, for me that says it all, how far we have dropped? 2 previous games v them, bankers I seem to recall, draw at their place, narrow if not lucky win at home.
Ah well its the FA cup and anything can happen lol!
I am hoping, pretty sad to hope, for a win. COYS
Just how I thought the season would go, with Jose and the players. Expected more from both sets to be honest, and now with this group of players it’s seems they are in compatible, just because 2 good looking people go on a date doesn’t mean their s perfect match.
In 1959, when I was 9 , I was in the South stand watching the cup against Norwich and because of the massive crowd had to be lifted to the upper level .
We were lucky to come away with a draw . ( I believe Cliff Jones scored late ) and lost the replay .
The crowd was good humoured with no yobbish behaviour and no yiddish chanting . Not sure when this started ?
Sure comments will come my way !!
However it was a great day with my Dad and I just hope history is not repeated on Wednesday .
allan…yidish behaviour as you put it started around the 70’s as a fight back to Wham and their racist/prejudice attitude to our Jewish roots, so “Yid Army” was started, I think I remember correctly, though it could be my age lol! COYS
Perhaps Mourinho is putting his eggs in one basket and going for FA Cup glory. However if we look this season all teams have the capability to beat each other in this league. Look at Watford against Liverpool at the weekend. Westham almost came away with something against them. I think the days are gone when we look at any team in this league and call it a banker. Many “lesser” teams have sufficiently strengthened their squads in an effort to remain in the premiership and, With our new stadium I feel many teams have raised their game for the occasion. And maybe we have underestimated this. Like many I’m clutching at straws.
Over the past few seasons I have looked forward to upcoming games with some anticipation, right now I don’t feel this at all. There is no doubt we have a squad of talented players who just aren’t gelling for some reason and are being let down by poor defending, whether this is largely down to constant changes in formation and squad selection or mostly down to poor individual performances I don’t know.
Just referring to a previous post. Liverpool played tonite without 2 of their main goal scorers Firmino and Salah and without one of their midfield main stays, Henderson. And they were beaten. Could this be a direct coralation to Tottenham with 2 main goal scorers missing and a mid field main stay I dunno.
Liverpool have had Henderson missing for around 3 matches now and have lost each time. That is how losing first team players can affect a teams performance. Only saying.
I don’t know what to think or say anymore.
Recently, I was being negative about our manager but still positive about our players. Before that I was being optimistic for both Jose and the team/squad.I then upped my optimism again, thinking that I was simply over-reacting to a couple of poor results but mostly after playing some poor football. I’m now neither optimistic or pessimistic. Is it apathy on my part?
I don’t want to be proven right about my previous reasons for my aversions to Jose. And I don’t see the point of firing him so soon. Not at all. That would be silly and pointless. So, I’m just going to carry on watching Spurs and hoping for the best but without too much overly positive expectation.
As for tonight, I don’t expect it will be easy. Either easy to defeat Norwich or easy on the eye. Not that it should be easy. But a convincing win would cheer me up a least. (even if it’s for one night only). But even a win that is unconvincing won’t really impress me to be honest.
Come on already!
It’s funny though… There are a few posters that step up their posts only when we lose. And there are other posters that only ever seem to post at all when we lose. Me? I nearly always post less when we lose… I just get lost for words… LOL!
Even this post is me saying I have nothing to say! Haha!
Come on Jose! Come on Spurs! Please!
HT …. I’m as confused as you! But today’s game is winnable. I’ll settle for that right now.
Niall…..I think in the case of Henderson it’s as much his leadership set by example that they have missed rather than footballing ability which they can cover from their squad. We have lost this to some degree in losing Kane who should be captain rather than Lloris, I’d much rather have a strong midfield character as captain personally but we don’t have a suitable candidate currently.
In respect of losing two strikers……they left them out of the starting line-up from choice, presumably as a result of the need to rest players, but clearly a decision which indicates where their priorities lie.
I actually don’t know what to think …. so I’ve stopped thinking. Whatever works …
Just to add to that….you couldn’t really ask for a better back-up captain than VVD!
Too right Geof…
I mean, where and what did thinking ever get anyone in life?
I think that thinking is a thing of the past… Well, I think so… In retrospect and with my (non) thinking cap on… What does everyone else think? To think or not to think?
The big question for me is whether Norwich will prioritise PL survival and put out a weakened side tonight, there is already some doubt over a couple of their preferred starters including Pukki. They might however decide that their fate is already determined and they might as well emulate Wigan by winning the cup while also getting relegated.
To think or not to think? That is the question…….I think.
Isn’t it lovely when you can have a conversation on page 1! :- )
Last night, Liverpool were quite simply outplayed by the better team. As they were vs both Watford and Bayern. More importantly, they were also outscored.
Liverpool have been outplayed or matched against a few teams this season and last. But they have beaten nearly all of them anyway.
I think that they are pretty tired after the sheer effort they have put into the past couple of seasons. Pretty much as Spurs now seem to be… Who knows if Liverpool will keep it up next season? Who knows anything about how Spurs may fair? Or, if they will ever recover? 🙁 Boohoo!