Having brought an end to four successive defeats with a point against Burnley last weekend, Tottenham Hotspur face another quick turnaround in the fixture list as we are back in Champions League action on Tuesday, heading to Germany for the second leg of the RB Leipzig tie.
The first leg was a mixed affair, if we’re trying to be polite here, and despite our improvement as the game wore on, the fact we only trail 1-0 is a minor miracle.
RB Leipzig...
Win
Draw
Lose
You can somewhat forgive thoughts of impending doom given our recent form and performance levels, but the simple fact is we have to be a hell of a lot better than we have been if we are going to avoid an embarrassment here and there will definitely be those who are simply looking for positives to take from the game, as opposed to strict progression in the tournament.
Whilst there is a line of thought that says focusing on improvement and our potential Premier League finish should now be our priority, the whole club could do with a boost and victory here would certainly provide that, especially as it feels so unlikely.
We’ve pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat previously though – we just have to see if Tuesday is one of those days.
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Have Your Say – Reasons To Be Grateful Despite Four Defeats On The Spin For Spurs
In spite of my recent negativity in the light of our gaffers negativity… I reckon our players will be up for this and will do their very best to win it.
My optimism is based on the players wanting it. Wanting to win. And bloody well trying to win! But my optimism is only stretching to me thinking they will make a good go of it but more than likely lose it anyway.
There you go! Even I can’t bring myself to predict a win even though I know we are good enough to get the win… But, I’m not sure that that even makes any logical kind of sense… Ha Ha Ha!
Up the Spurs!
HT….I suspect the players want to win every game, my worry is that they unable to express themselves to best effect owing to the instructions given by the head coach which they are expected to follow, and do, for fear of public humiliation.
This game in Germany will be the definitive game of our season. If the players can be up for this and get through, Jose will need to be at his best tactical system and players to follow. A shape of 4231 if really our best shape in games., IMO.
So the pressure is on the manager and players… as rumour is Levy has said if we do not qualify for CL next season, will mean changes at the club. So as publicised… Levy refinanced the stadium loans using projected income of CL etc. he will be embarrassed / annoyed and have to ensure the Banks are still supporting Enic / THFC. As to what the changes will be is debatable…… COYS
Not just that block 108, he may also have to factor in playing some games without any gate receipts due to coronavirus. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that!
What if we get to half time and we are to need at least as many as 3 goals to win it and go through without resorting to extra time and pens?
I wonder, is it at all possible or even realistic that without Harry and Son that we have just 1 player at Spurs that is capable of scoring a second half hat -trick!
Don’t be silly HT…….where are we going to find a player capable of scoring a CL hat-trick with Kane and Son out? :- )
No doubt we will have to wait until the summer TW to find out if we have indeed been able to find and buy that elusive type of striker, TQ2.
THEN: Play Parrott just sitting on the new guys shoulder and “Pretty Boy” Son will not be missed. And Harry the “Don’t Hurry Back” Kane won’t be needed!
Argh Ha, Me Hearty’s!
HT…in answer to your reply to me on the other thread regards “pressure on shoulders” I also believe this pressure is brought on by the negative tactics, thus afraid to lose = more pressure.
As for tomorrow, if the lads ain’t up for it, something is really wrong, but as others I believe they will be up for it and we might be pleasantly surprised.
The second half of Sat’s game might just be the turning point of our season, I have a feeling in my water this is the case, mind I might just have drunk to much lol! Still COYS
Certainly the 2nd half display vs Burnley has provided a degree of optimism taking us into the game vs RBL .
However realism has to come into it as
a) We have to score more goals than them ( a 2-1 win won’t be sufficient ) and
b)The defence cannot allow them to score
With the recent history of our results and RBLs attacking ability I am afraid unfortunately see us being eliminated .
As to the debate ref criticism of players
While I sympathise with don’t criticise in public lobby I cannot believe that great efforts have not been taken behind closed doors to try and understand why a player is not functioning to his ability .
It is sheer frustration on Joses part that we are not seeing the best from a potentially excellent player .
Money may not bring you happiness and if he can’t fit in perhaps ought to be returned to France ?
But a 2-1 win will be sufficient Allan…
And, it is never unrealistic to say that we are able to and can beat another football team. Of course we can.
It may seem unlikely but it’s perfectly realistic. We are only 1-0 down and with at least 90 minutes of football to play… But, if we were 5-0 down?! 🙂
Alla, I’ve been following a debate on the radio this morning about whether it was right for Jose to criticise Ndombele in such a public way. The overall consensus amongst the pundits and former players was that the coaches should be sitting down with him at the training ground and talking through the issues.
It is very worrying that we might have spent so much money on a guy who is clearly talented but may not be able to settle into a new environment in a new country. If this is the case you have to wonder whether this aspect of his character was fully explored before we made the purchase.
We are possibly seeing a similar situation arising with Sessegnon, albeit most likely for different reasons, and possibly more to do with his ability to reach the level required for PL and CL football. I appreciate he is still young when when compared to the likes of Wan-Bissaka, TAA, and Reece James at Chelsea he doesn’t look like he is going to make it in my opinion.
I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t the reason behind Poch’s departure? I refuse to believe that he had no hand in identifying these guys as transfer targets and Levy may have concluded that we have made very poor use of our transfer budget on two or three players (you can likely include Clarke in this) that aren’t going to fit in or be good enough.
*Allan
The public dressing down of a player is quite simply unnecessary, unthinking and unprofessional…
What does it achieve other than highlighting yet another negative for the current situation that Spurs are currently in?
The thing about that first leg was whatever the stats say we only lost because we gave away a stupid penalty. For all the praise Leipzig get I suspect Bayern will end up winning the Bundesliga comfortably for the seventh year in a row, that seems to be how German football works. Personally I’m not going to lose any sleep over this game. The state we are in at the moment going down to one game a week would be very welcome.
I’m inclined to agree Jod and that’s all the more reason why we should have prioritised Saturdays game and played our strongest line-up from the start. Getting top 5 is the only sensible possibility we have of salvaging anything from this season after surrendering to Norwich in the cup.
This time last season (and as many supporters will keep reminding us), we were also playing poor football under Poch.
I was told time and again that we were highly unlikely to finish in the PL top 4 and/or progress further in the CL. What happened next?
The thing is that even though we were fading as a team I still felt my optimism was worthy and realistic. In retrospect it was.
This time around Im not so sure. I have no real confidence even though I am clinging to the fact that top 4 and a a win tomorrow is of course still possible.
Even so, I would’ve preferred to see Jose go all out for a win in the PL and then just go for broke in the CL. But with a team that features Parrot maybe. Skipp possibly. Tanguy?! In other words what have we got to lose tomorrow. Our pride? Our pride will come from giving it a damn good go even if we fail. And that is regardless of who plays…
The players will want to win. But Man U on the weekend surely must be our priority. Win both and we’re high. Lose to Leipzig and that won’t be the end of the world. But lose to both Leipzig and United whilst making some half-baked effort to defend our goal as a priority and just hope for the best up top…. Well that will anger me, whatever the likely results might be…
Go ahead Jose (punk), make my day!
Score 2 concede 1, nah concede none, what ever, both scores we go through.
Its simple lads, underdogs! nout to lose, go for broke and win, then again, even if you give it all and lose, fair enough, just make us proud.
As for Sat’s game v MU ditto above. COYS 4ever.
How about if we start all 3 keepers at least 1 of them will cover the mistakes of the other 2.lol.
We are at least 20 points behind where we were in the 17/18and18/19 seasons we should now throw caution to the wind we are safe from relegation and should play with some freedom, flar and penache.
Do what we did in the 2nd half on Saturday, do it better and do it for the whole blo%dy game ff sake.
Just managed to catch up on the Sunday games……blooming heck, is Ederson on United’s payroll? Talk about a weekend of goalkeeping errors. Manu are on a roll now, I’m worried how we are going to get on against them!
Meant to say….no doubt United will be out to get one over on Jose, at least we have more rest than our opponents for a change for the weekend game, that said they don’t exactly have a tough opponent on Thursday.
With HK10 back training with the ball outside you’ve go to think he stands a good chance of being back by the end of the month or sooner.