Borussia Dortmund Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

Mr Pink · Mar 10, 2016

EnfieldYiddo said:
For me, this is the first time Poch has 'blinked'

He has realised a lot of players are running on empty and realistically couldn't sustain a challenge on two fronts.

I think for all intents and purposes he wanted to do what we did to Fiorentina, keep it tight away with a weakened team, then make a real match of it in the home tie with all the big guns out.

Although it worked well then, this was superior opposition and the whole approach felt very que sera sera, with us putting an even weaker side out than previously.

Most of all, I think what probably made Poch's mind up were the poor results against West Ham and Arsenal... If we had won them I wouldn't have actually been surprised to see a strong side fielded tonight. Our title challenge isn't look as healthy as it was a week or so ago and our top 4 position is far from cemented.

Fingers crossed we look back at this decision come May and praise it, it may be that we had to sacrifice this to keep the players from completely burning out... We only ever know half the story as fans.

Nice post mate and I think that could be pretty close to the way Poch views it.

But for me it also highlights the problem of not having genuine cover for Kane and Dier, who have looked jaded recently. He's now recognized it but this has been a problem for some weeks now and I just think the nerves got to Poch and he got a bit overzealous with his prioritizing.

Its a pity because we needed a stronger midfield than the one we saw to have any chance of keeping the tie alive for the return leg.

But like you say, if it pushes our league performances upwards perhaps its best. And to be honest it probably will improve our performances.

THFCSPURS19 · Mar 10, 2016

13VanDerBale13 said:
https://twitter.com/btsportfootball/status/708022262998249472

nice touch from the fans

That guy 10 seconds in on the right hand side...

philip · Mar 10, 2016

BuryMeInEngland said:
The problem is that they really didn't get a rest.

I couldn't watch the game here, but apparently Kane still looked tired and bringing him on was pointless. Lamela made no difference, and the same goes for Dembele. So the players that were supposed to be "rested" really didn't.

So what was the point of resting them? As far as I can see nothing. The team knows they're out of the one major competition they were left in and if we're all 100% honest we know we're not going to be the PL champions. It really was a worthless exercise.

Why do we know we're not going to be champions. We're best placed to challenge Leicester for it.

Spurger King · Mar 10, 2016

flannel said:
I get what you're saying but don't agree. Kane played 15 minutes and it's possible he didn't run about all that much partly because the game was gone. Lamela played less than half an hour, Dembele 35 minutes. That's different to going all out from the start.

I'd imagine they'd train longer than that anyway on a normal non-match day Thursday.

SPURSLIFE · Mar 10, 2016

Hazardousman said:
Also I think playing Dortmund just shows how poor the PL is this season in terms of quality, this is the best side I have seen all season by some margin. No wonder Leicester are sitting top.

Even though it was a poor side Poch put out tonight I think it shows we are not ready yet for the top sides in CL. Dortmund are a good side but not in the top 4 or 5 in Europe.

tottenmal · Mar 10, 2016

spursfan77 said:
Makes you worry how knackered our players are.

There was one moment near the end of the game where Kane could have run through 1 on 1 with the goalie but he had zero pace or power. That was concerning.

Dier is obviously knackered so was rested. Poch said Alli has been playing with ankle and knee injuries.

I'm not even sure it was tiredness, I just think there was no belief from kane or the rest of the team that we could get the ball into a goal scoring position. I think the team at that point were just riding the game out.

It was almost like when we finally did have any meaningful possession in there half towards the end the players just went 'oh look I got the ball... Oh wait never mind I see a player in yellow'.

Bulletspur · Mar 10, 2016

I genuinely felt worse losing to 1- 0 to both West Ham and Leicester than I did tonight

Mr Pink · Mar 10, 2016

Spurger King said:
I still think we can win the title. They only need to lose one more and draw one more than us.

Anyway, as other have said it's not just about the title. We need to secure CL qualification, then secure automatic CL qualification. We're in an incredible position in the league, and we need our players as fit as possible if we're going to finish the season well.

That's not going to happen if we're playing strong line-ups against strong opponents in between Prem games.

I understand the criticism Pochettino is receiving, but for me this was an incredibly difficult decision that he got right. He's giving us the best possible chance in the league. Considering the circumstances, he's right to do so.

Totally agree.

Wasn't nice witnessing that tonight at all, but I agreed with the approach - just wish he had opted for a stronger midfield from the outset, at least playing Bentaleb etc.

Tucker · Mar 10, 2016

Spurger King said:
I still think we can win the title. They only need to lose one more and draw one more than us.

Anyway, as other have said it's not just about the title. We need to secure CL qualification, then secure automatic CL qualification. We're in an incredible position in the league, and we need our players as fit as possible if we're going to finish the season well.

That's not going to happen if we're playing strong line-ups against strong opponents in between Prem games.

I understand the criticism Pochettino is receiving, but for me this was an incredibly difficult decision that he got right. He's giving us the best possible chance in the league. Considering the circumstances, he's right to do so.

While I accept there are good points here. If our squad can't cope with strong opponents mid week, then we have no business being in the champions league.

Doctor Dinkey · Mar 10, 2016

spursfan77 said:
I'm very concerned we might lose against them

Oh for Fuck's Sake we're not going to lose to bloody Villa.

Feel free to repost this if the worst happens...

Wellspurs · Mar 10, 2016

Oh well top 3 and I'll be happy!

Danfunkel · Mar 10, 2016

Tucker said:
While I accept there are good points here. If our squad can't cope with strong opponents mid week, then we have no business being in the champions league.

On a footballing side, I agree. But on a financial side, we absolutely have to be in the Champions League. And consistently so. It would probably mean us not doing anything for a few years, much like that lot down the road. But we need that income to invest in the club and in the playing staff to allow us to compete on the pitch.

We can clearly see we have the vision, the setup and the coach now to do it. Now we just need the capital to progress further.

ebzrascal · Mar 10, 2016

Typical Spurs said:
Poch can't win....if we played our strongest 11 we'd be going mad saying players need rest, we're in a title challenge etc and he should've played fringe players.

He does just that and gets hammered for it. I'm a bit perplexed given the sides he's played against other opposition, but at the same time understand we are weeks and months on from them games and the players are more tired. Kane looks fucked every week. As has Dier and his form has dropped. Mousa can't handle too many games without getting injured. I think alli has looked totally out of sorts the last 2 games. I personally trust poch, he knows the players

Poch looked shocked tonight he has done a great job for us but not only to Dortmund have the better players they also had better tactics and Poch did nothing to change the flow of the game..

The thing is we were embarrassed tonight how does a performance like that help the confidence of the squad.. We were setup to hang-on for 90 mins but lack of pace up front and weak centre midfield was disastrous.. BTW how much running did our players have to do tonight I really hope there is no knock on affect against Villa!! It`s never a good idea to get a beating even if the side is weakened..

dricha1 · Mar 10, 2016

spursfan77 said:
Makes you worry how knackered our players are.

There was one moment near the end of the game where Kane could have run through 1 on 1 with the goalie but he had zero pace or power. That was concerning.

Dier is obviously knackered so was rested. Poch said Alli has been playing with ankle and knee injuries.

Worrying to hear that about Kane, he only played for 15mins.

I do think 'unofficially' Poch has thrown the tie and probably decided to as soon as the draw was made. Dortmunds pace and tempo is relentless. Even if 1st team played and we got a credible draw, they would have been knackered on Sunday.

Needs 2 big wins now though otherwise Poch's halo has slipped a little.

Cavehillspur · Mar 10, 2016

13VanDerBale13 said:
https://twitter.com/btsportfootball/status/708022262998249472

nice touch from the fans

That's class, love Hummels reaction there.

SIR Bill · Mar 10, 2016

mattbrakeuk said:
Hahahahahahahahaha. We're second in the league in March, we've already got further in the Europa than last year. Yeah fine Poch for not getting the delicate skill of rotation and selection correct for one game. That's it, no more match thread for me tonight.

Obvs jesting with the dining part but we were playing a fantastic Dortmund team away from home and start Mason and Carroll. How was that likely to pan out?

dricha1 · Mar 10, 2016

ebzrascal said:
Poch looked shocked tonight he has done a great job for us but not only to Dortmund have the better players they also had better tactics and Poch did nothing to change the flow of the game..

The thing is we were embarrassed tonight how does a performance like that help the confidence of the squad.. We were setup to hang-on for 90 mins but lack of pace up front and weak centre midfield was disastrous.. BTW how much running did our players have to do tonight I really hope there is no knock on affect against Villa!! It`s never a good idea to get a beating even if the side is weakened..

There will be at least 7 changes to the starting line up on Sunday.

DEFchenkOE · Mar 10, 2016

Well with this tie completely dead and buried, I hope Poch puts out a similar weakened team in the home leg now and lets the fans know before hand of his intention. Feel very sorry for the fans that spent good money to go out to Dortmund today to at least see our best team and put in some fight.

I expect to see Vorm start, Aldweireld/Kane/Dembele/Eriksen rested. Basically I want to see no first team players in the starting lineup or even on the bench for the return leg unless coming back from injury eg Njie

Bulletspur · Mar 10, 2016

Mr Pink said:
Totally agree.

Wasn't nice witnessing that tonight at all, but I agreed with the approach - just wish he had opted for a stronger midfield from the outset, at least playing Bentaleb etc.

I agree with most of your recent posts except for this. Both Mason and Carroll have shown so far they are a better than Bentaleb this season, all be it Bentaleb has had limited play. But his rare performances have shown that he is behind both Mason and Carroll in the pecking order. Its good in hindsight to say we should have played him

Roynie · Mar 10, 2016

Well, I must say I was disappointed with the performance tonight and though that Wimmer was caught out of position for two of the goals. That said Dortmund are a quality side and we may have struggled with the full side out.

However. we mustn't lose sight of the fact that we have a very young team who have much to learn and you usually learn more from losing than winning. I can't see us getting enough out of next week's leg to go through so it will mean that we can concerntrate on the PL games and try to make sure we can take the lessons from tonight through to the CL next year when we should have a stronger squad anyway.

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