Match Threads PSV Eindhoven vs Tottenham Hotspur FC - Match Thread

Krule said:

Just read this....

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino told BT Sport: "[Our chances of qualifying are] nearly over. We'll see what happens now in the game between Barcelona and Inter Milan but with only one point after three games, it will be so difficult.

"If we need to blame someone it's ourselves because with all the situations and the circumstances in the game you must win because I think we were much better than them.

"But the tempo sometimes was so slow and it's a situation where we need to think a little bit because in this type of game, at 2-1 you must kill the game. If not, the opponent is alive.

"The situation with Hugo was maybe unfair but that can happen in football. But if you score more goals you are going to win the game. That is why we are so disappointed, not with the decisions but with ourselves because it's a game you must win."

Can someone please explain to me what was 'unfair' about sending Hugo off ????

Click to expand...

Krule said:

Excuse me but did we not go down to ten men because of his 'error' ??....that may have been a turning point don't you think ?

Click to expand...

ajspurs said:

If we don't improve, absolutely. We play with such close margins and as a result we leave too much chance from something to go wrong. The football just has to get better.

Click to expand...

dickieven said:

Well it is not over in the group. Win our remaining 3 games and we'll be on 10 points and we need to hope Inter do not win at home to Barca. Then we will be through although may come down to head-to-head record against Inter and away goals.

Such a disappointment as so much was good about our play for 80 minutes. Before the sending off they put up a stat on tv stating we had 11 second half shots and PSV had zero. We completely controlled that second half for 35 mins. If we had got the 3rd goal (good chances for Kane and Lamela) then we would have been home and hosed. A stupid mistake by Eriksen to give the ball away and a worse mistake by Hugo for the red card (a correct sending off in my book) that changed the game. Even then though their goal was very sloppy and we still looked the team more likely to score again in the last 5 minutes.

It is strange but bar the last 10 mins in Milan and the last 10 mins here our two away Champions League performances have been pretty good. As a poster before said that a big difference this season is we get sloppy at the end of games. In the last coiple of season our fitness and concentration has meant we very rarely let leads slip. But this season that has cost us in these two away group games and also away at Watford in the league, which by the way if we had held on would mean we would be top of the league. Such small margins.

Anyway I still believe. COYS

Click to expand...

kaz Hirai said:

Ahh that's good to hear about the tempo and not killing the game off.

Click to expand...

mpickard2087 said:

We might not be quite as good technically, but I still don't think they, on the whole across 90 minutes, do many more remarkable things than us. A lot of our players are just too fond of taking an extra five touches of the ball rather than one/two touch and part of it is not having it coached out of them. When we do have moments where we play like this, we look infinitely better, always have, even when we've been at our most rampant in recent seasons.

If you watch games, win lose or draw, we also have far too many players standing still - this is something that when I watch matches with my old man he is always going ballistic about, even more so this season, and when you start watching for it you see it does happen. Which is why, allied to the lack of quick passing, I think sometimes it becomes a struggle for us to construct play through the centre of the pitch. We need to rethink, and evolve, as a team (and that doesn't just mean sign new players).

Click to expand...

luptic said:

Its not over just yet, but we face a real up hill task. Hopefully the pain of the result will spur us on, be brave on all fronts. Look at last season for example Dortmund (new coach i know) and this season.
For me like some would agree there is a staleness with our squad, and it needs to be refreshed. I love Hugo but maybe he reached the top now and is in decline, maybe winning the world cup has that turning point for him. There was no reason to come out last night.
So many faults of our making killed the game for us last.
One thing i found strange is why the Barcelona match wasnt on at the same time? Its really is a stupid decision to have two group games on at different times from the rest.

Click to expand...

shelfmonkey said:

What's happened to the drive and energy of our team? Even the management team look bored with it all. Last was another example that the team seems to have lost it's way and Poch has lost interest in 'the project'.

Click to expand...

allatsea said:

Has Poch taken Spurs as far as he can ? Perhaps this is as good as it gets with him and last season was the high water mark ? I don’t know the answer to these questions but we clearly need a couple of top draw players in January or we face a season of drift.

Click to expand...

SugarRay said:

I admire some of the optimism but we’ve not shown we can claw a situation like this back.

The Europa will kill us and we can’t win it so maybe finishing bottom could be a blessing?
Have a real go at the league and FA cups

Click to expand...

doctor stefan Freud said:

We’re never going to fork out the going rate for top draw players. At best we pay good money for potential in January but I can’t realistically see this happening either. Levy has publicly stated that player fees and wages are hyper inflated and unsustainable- not sure if this really is the case; people have been claiming this about the Premier League for years and the bubble has yet to burst. With Poch refusing mediocre players, it’ll have to be remarkable or opportunistic (though the Grealish affair suggests this is also fraught with problems) circumstances for us to actually get players that improve the squad, let alone the starting eleven, especially in January

Click to expand...

Rich Hanscomb said:

Yup. Hate to say it but I genuinely hope we finish bottom now. Europa will be an awful, chastening competition for this stretched and demotivated squad to play in. We should focus on the domestic stuff.

Click to expand...