With a short break in the fixture list for Tottenham Hotspur, there was at least a chance for some rest and relaxation for the players after the expected defeat to Manchester City last weekend but this midweek we face a different challenge as it’s back to Europa League action as we travel to Budapest to face Austria Bundesliga side RZ Pellets WAC.
Also known as Wolfsberger AC at their Puskas Arena.
Now I can confidently say what I know about this side could probably fit on the side of a postage stamp, but in some better news, we continue to only have three out on the injury list. Giovani Lo Celso has long been ruled out, and manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed there will be no return for Sergio Reguilon either as he hasn’t travelled. He also revealed that he now expects Serge Aurier to be out for longer.
Jose on @sergio_regui:
"No good news. He's not coming (to Budapest). No setback, just the process is not going as fast as we initially thought. Let's see. Weekend, next Europa League match, let's see."#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/Y4trH69nxc
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 17, 2021
So let’s see what Thursday evening brings and then we can start thinking about the bubble blowers and hopefully getting ourselves back on track after our recent woeful Premier League form.
Definitely issues with delays still, 123….your post has only just appeared for me 35 mins or so after you posted.
Happens at times, not sure whats up with DOH, seemed solid for wolves. Hope a few youngsters get a 20min or so
When are we going to learn how to close out games? Could easily be 2-3 now after cruising into a 3-0 lead.
Well we got the job done, the home leg should be comfortable but we all know how we can make things harder for ourselves than it should be.
1 x 4 is more like it. Now let’s replicate the result in London. Fry the Spam out of their can.
Great first half, not so great second but overall a good performance. The referee wasn’t the best but that happens in Europe. The opposition were a touch suicidal, keep charging forward no matter what, which made it a bit easier for us. Interesting comment from Jenas on Vinicius, that while overall he may not have done much he came alive when he got the ball in the box. My immediate thought was Clive Allen. Clive wasn’t exactly a silky smooth footballer, outside the box he often looked downright clumsy. But give him the ball in the box, any angle, any speed, and he would find a way to score. The difference was he had a whole team feeding him the ball, Vinicius is feeding of scraps. Jose needs to sort that out.
Despite playing the “dynamic” quartet of Doherty, Davies, Winks and Sissoko, we managed to dominate the first half with Dele, Lucas and Bale enjoying good football. Second half was really grim and we had some luck. Our “dynamic” quartet are very weak and all four could be sold with no loss to the club. Bergwijn and Vinicius are not good enough and add very little. Still four goals away from home is a good score but there are still lots of unanswered questions. Pity we didn’t control the second half to give some of the youngsters more than the 45 seconds that Moanino usually gives them. Good goals from Son, Bale and Lucas made an exciting first half but bored to tears again in the second half. Could do better.
Says a lot when your defensive midfielder is putting in better crosses than your right wing back.
Well my dream came true (nearly) we did score 4.
Thought Vinnie and Bergs could’ve adtitioned for the invisible man.
Doh for me was OK, just don’t trust Sissoko with the ball at his feet.
Bale and Dele really good first half.
Not bad I suppose away from home.
Posts on here are a bit disparaging ……… Vinnie scored a strikers goal superbly, and Lucas bale dele did well, sonny sharp too. What we need to remember is these players are not 1st team starters or regulars, as as such and haven’t had the game time to be 100% match fit / sharp. Lloris looked a bit better tonight.
Now sunday is a game we have lost a few times recently, as West Ham will be up for it, and their team are flying high like their bubbles…for 1st time in 10 years or so…..lol. So Jose and players have to be mentally and physically ready for a battle, and no silly mistakes. COYS
B 108
Fully agree with your synopsis, for me just looking at the performance on the night rather than the back story. I suppose I just compared Vinny and Bergs performance to Dele and Bale’s without too much science. I will however argue that Bergs has played as much as many and does look band average.
Re the game I thought we were in control until Sissoko gave away the pen, which gave them some hope.
The ref was a bit partisan at times, but good away result in Europe.
Its the same with Vinicius as it was with Llorente, the team isn’t playing to his strengths. They started last night with a running game, which worked fine with the players on the field. When Vinicius came on they had a target man and needed to change the play, they didn’t. The remarkable thing is Vinicius still managed to score with no service, that’s the frustrating thing he can clearly score goals so why not use him properly.
The 2nd half was extremely frustrating as often we began resorting to long balls perhaps trying to find Vinicius which rarely paid off . How many more soft pens are we going to give away ?
For goodness sake this is a team in 6th position in a league considered to be of secondary standard . . Wouldn’t you expect a team like ours to win well with bit players such as Bale and Dele shining . However Dele appears to go to ground too easily and I wouldn’t have him in the team which may buck opinion on the site . Why was Bale subbed ? Did he have to visit the hairdresser ? He has lost his speed but still produces some lovely play against weak opposition . Put him in against West Ham and see how he performs .
Remember the saying… bad things happen 3times? Well we have had 3 penalties against us in 3 games, so hopefully thats the end of it. Spurs players did the job they had to do and won 4-1 so lets be happy that we didn’t lose !. Jose will now get them ready with a game plan for sunday, and a wet spam team who consider this their season cup final… For sure they will be trying to beat us again. COYS
Ultimately we got the result we needed, so I always find it harsh to bee too critical when the result has gone our way so emphatically.
However, I am still annoyed by the goals we are conceding, and that goal last night… What can be said? Suicidal pass into Sissoko, who has the touch of an elephant. From there, it was only going to go one way…
I can accept conceding well-worked goals, but we keep shooting ourselves in the foot with terrible decision-making. Mistakes that we just shouldn’t see at this level. On the day, it didn’t cost us because of how poor the opposition was and how easily we could score against them, but against better teams, these mistakes always end up costing points.
For the rest, it’s hard to take much out of a game like this, when the opposition is so poor. Vinicius scored again, but every goal he has scored so far has come against rather poor opponents, and it’s been a very different story against PL opponents. Hard to know what to make of it. Same goes for Dele or Bale.
Don’t get me wrong, I would rather be asking those questions than wondering what is so wrong with them that they can’t even shine against an Austrian side. But I am still hesitant to say they have turned the corner, based on a game like that.
BS….it did cost us in a way, at 3-0 up and cruising it should have afforded us the opportunity to blood a couple of youngsters giving rest to some of the regular starters. As it happens we give away a poor penalty then soon after give them an opportunity to make it 2-3 which resulted in Jose bringing on players, who should have been resting, to shore thinks up.
BelgianSpur – The point surely is that if Vinicius can get the goals against weaker opposition in Europe then that means Kane can be rested for the tougher matches. Then we might actually keep him fit. As I’ve already said to me Vinicius is a natural goal scorer (which has nothing to do with football ability, its an instinct) and we’d get more out of him if we actually played to his strengths, crosses into the box not long balls upfield. The trouble seems to be we expect any centre forward we bring in to play like Kane whereas in reality nobody we bring in will be the kind of all round footballer Kane is and we need to adapt.
Having some cover is better than having no cover, but the point of having a second striker is not only to rest Kane, it’s to provide a proper alternative if and when Kane is injured. On that front, Vinicius may or may not be a solution.
Allan. Dele goes to ground because he draws fouls like Grealish. I think he is often too clever for our team and is ahead of the play like a chess player. Vinny is like Llorente… very limited and lacking in mobility. No one should pass to Sissoko anywhere in our half. His contol is shocking. He needs to win the ball not receive it. Doherty looks petrified any time the ball comes near him. He is not a happy player. However, good to see Lucas, Dele and Bale looking sharper and more involved unlike Begwijn who has gone backwards.
Wentworth take your point ref Dele .
However Grealish is a more active and bustling player who is fouled to stop his movement while Dele is a flicky subtle player who draws fouls often sometimes before he has control of the ball and can do damage .
It is a pity Levy messed up not buying Grealish because I think Grealish and Dele would have complimented each other and it would have been exciting to watch .
Some great posts here folks, yep was good to see those performances from Dele, Bale, Lucas.
Agreed re Sissoko (WW), he was terrible for N/Castle but had a good world cop (or Euros) where he ran up the pitch and scored a couple, we fekin bought him on the back of that really. The ball bounces off his shins, he’s awkward, a big lad to get round in defensive mid field, but don’t ask him to do much with the ball when he gets it. I thought Doh was OK not great but not terrible.
Much the same opinion as many, and this has happened time and time again this season, we get a few goals up, usually 2, around the hour mark we think we can rest a couple of players, then our defence gives away a pen or free kick, then we lose concentration and confidence, last night it was similar but instead of bringing players off, we needed to bring the calvary on to keep the result.
On another note I feel that Tobs and Dier are just about our best pairing currently and we should stick with them when possible.