Juventus vs Tottenham Hotspur Match Thread

I see all the back pages lead with our result. Media conspiracy my hairy arse. Or should I say Mrs A&C's hairy arse.

Archibald&Crooks said:

I see all the back pages lead with our result. Media conspiracy my hairy arse. Or should I say Mrs A&C's hairy arse.

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Pics or gtfo, eerrr

Interesting read:
http://www.football365.com/news/f365-says-spurs-soared-above-potential-humiliation

Spurs soar above potential humiliation
Sarah Winterburn

Using the word ‘character’ about a football team always jars a little; how can character be collective? How can a whole team of players display a particular personality trait? But if ever a team thinks and acts as one it is this magnificently united Tottenham team. As one they panicked for ten minutes and then as one they were wonderful for the next 80, with only Serge Aurier missing the memo and indulging in an entirely predictable panic reprise. When other teams have and would collapse again, Tottenham truly showed character.

Let’s not pretend those opening ten minutes in Turin were anything less than disastrous. They slept for Gonzalo Higuain’s exquisite first and then gifted him a second as Ben Davies simultaneously lost his man and his spatial awareness. Was this the reality check? Was this the reminder that Tottenham – for all their irresistible potential – still struggle against elite teams away from home? Would Juventus score three, four or five? Would this be the night that another north London team collapsed in a European last-16 tie?

No, no, no, no – this instead was the night that Tottenham stared embarrassing devastation in the face, lifted their heads, kept the ball at their feet and made the Juventus players, fans, management and media panic even when 2-0 ahead. When they should have been cruising, safe in the knowledge that they had not conceded at home in over three months and not at all in 2018, they were instead cowed. It defies logic but at 2-0 down, Tottenham did not look or feel inferior; Mauricio Pochettino has quite rightly made them believe that they belong in this illustrious company. Neither dark nor little horses but thoroughbreds.

At this same stage last season Arsenal were taken apart 5-1 by Bayern Munich and it would have been incredibly easy for Tottenham to succumb to the same fate after the very worst of all starts. But this is a Tottenham side of much greater substance, untainted by failure even though they have not achieved any tangible success. Not only do they have some wonderful players, they also boast that most elusive of qualities – mental strength.

That mental strength at least in part comes from belief in the sheer brilliance of some of their number, particularly Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Mousa Dembele. They are simply among the best in Europe in their positions when on form. Kane’s finish was sublime but his hold-up play matched that finish; Eriksen was a veritable joy to watch, his free-kick apt reward for a near-faultless performance; Dembele is a phenomenon when in this form, somehow combining control with strength as the ball, the match and seemingly time itself acquiesces to his demands.

Losing 2-1 would have been a credible result that proved Tottenham can survive in such heady company, but deservedly drawing 2-2 is an incredible result that proves Tottenham can thrive in such heady company. Hindsight can be used to denigrate their success in Madrid, but this one is untouchable. This one is undeniable. They went to Turin, stared potential humiliation in the face and emerged as equals. That takes character.

Bottle jobs

I hope this result finally puts that absolute bollocks to bed.

Archibald&Crooks said:

absolute bollocks.

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They should make a vodka........

This thread won't be complete until we hear how @sunnydelight786 made his way across Italy in an hilarious Planes, Trains & Automobiles-styleee in order to make his slighty-cheaper-from-an-entirely-different-airport flight home.

Sweetsman said:

Yes, and it's a blessing in disguise, because he's made the same mistake twice now. Both times, they've resulted in penalties. Trippier has come on a bit of late in any case.

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I thought he was a liability with his tackling and his crossing was piss poor until he got booked but strangely enough improved after the yellow card.

Gb160 said:

Which begs the question: Why are you on a football forum then ?

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Ask myself that question every day.

guiltyparty said:

Sorry that’s bollocks. Sure in general, it’s no disgrace, but the way the game had played out was terrible. We were awful first 15 mins and deserved all the shit thrown our way. Juve didn’t even need to be good.

Makes the comeback all the more worthwhile. And we were fantastic. But this ridiculous rewriting of the start of the game needs to cease. Just because some were rightfully displeased with how we started that game, a certain subset of fans think they can Lord it. I fucking hate football fans, Spurs or otherwise. At least 50% are total dicks

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Happy Valentine's Day x

Bulletspur said:

I don't think you and others that share the same sentiments as you appreciate the thankless task of keeping Costa quiet that Aurier had to endure. Sure he gave away a poor penalty and was not as steady as we would have liked, but for the majority of the game he kept Costa back in his half or tracked him and spoilt his play. A Costa on his "A" game will cause Trippier a lot more problems than we witnessed with Aurier tonight.

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But it's when Aurier is not on his A game that the problem arises.

They weren’t penalties. First one was offside and Davies pulled his leg out micro seconds from making contact, Second was a dive.


I know, sounds ridiculous doesn’t it.

Roberts84 said:

I thought he was a liability with his tackling and his crossing was piss poor until he got booked but strangely enough improved after the yellow card.

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Maybe it calmed him down.

Such a good last month or so, facing 4 top teams in United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Juventus and really, outplaying all of them in the end. That's some achievement.

I can't believe the attitude of the players after being 2-0 down, just didn't faze them at all. Also, I'm not sure how many times I can see Pochettino picking Aurier for high calibre matches.

chinaman said:

The commentator said Aurier will be out the next match because of the yellow card.

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He also said Buffon was in goal for us and we had 4 players in black in the box lol.
The drivel was so bad after 5min I watched it in silence only turning the sound back on in the 2nd half and heard those 2 gems.
Wouldn't be surprised if more clangers were dropped in the first half.
How do some of these useless fkers keep their jobs?

slartibartfast said:

He also said Buffon was in goal for us and we had 4 players in black in the box lol.
The drivel was so bad after 5min I watched it in silence only turning the sound back on in the 2nd half and heard those 2 gems.
Wouldn't be surprised if more clangers were dropped in the first half.
How do some of these useless fkers keep their jobs?

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He also confused Alli for Dembele

slartibartfast said:

He also said Buffon was in goal for us and we had 4 players in black in the box lol.
The drivel was so bad after 5min I watched it in silence only turning the sound back on in the 2nd half and heard those 2 gems.
Wouldn't be surprised if more clangers were dropped in the first half.
How do some of these useless fkers keep their jobs?

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tony0379 said:

He also confused Alli for Dembele

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Tbf to him he was clearly “into” our performance last night and got over excited.
It sounded like the old fanzone back in the day at time

thelak said:

All the conditioning and fitness work Poch has done last few seasons along with the technical work is coming together

We just looked stronger, fitter and technically superior tonight. It seems like Juve are not used to being pressed like that so high up the pitch

That said we don’t look defensively as solid as last year without Walker and Toby with Davies and Rose broadly similar although I thought Davies in the first half especially was not his best

Hope Aurier comes good but he needs some mental coaching - can’t keep doing these rash dives when he panics

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I agree. I think the reason we don't look as solid defensively like you say is because our players are taking a lot more risks on the ball nowadays. You only have to look at where and when Eriksen and Dembele were receiving and playing the ball. They were in dangerous areas if they were tackled and lost it (because our defensive line was crazily high) but also good positions for attacking.

Poch wants the players to be brave and take risks when they should do so, because of the rewards it brings. It shows a tremendous amount of faith from him in the players.

Roberts84 said:

I thought he was a liability with his tackling and his crossing was piss poor until he got booked but strangely enough improved after the yellow card.

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That's because the option to be brainless/reckless/a fucking div was taken out of his hands.

Despite of all the accolades and praises deservedly heaped up on Spurs...I hope the players are not getting carried away (well carried away for a moment is good but not carrying it into the next game vs Juve). The job is still only half-done IMO despite of a great come-back result. Juve is a very astute and shrewd team tactically and they knew how to exploit the weaknesses of 3 of Spurs' defenders: Aurier, Sanchez and Davies. Fortunately Spurs managed the damage control pretty well.


http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/43053487

Juventus 2-2 Tottenham: Just how impressive was Spurs' comeback?

Tottenham's comeback from 2-0 down to draw away to Juventus helped get the Champions League knockout stages off to an exciting start.

Few teams leave Juventus' Allianz Stadium with a goal to their name, let alone a draw - and Spurs did it the hard way.

After trailing 2-0 to Gonzalo Higuain's double in the first nine minutes, Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen helped give them the edge on away goals, with Higuain also missing a penalty.

"For 83 minutes we dominated Juventus and that is a thing to praise. Not many teams come here and dominate Juventus," said Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino.

Former England winger Chris Waddle said Spurs were "by far the better side", while ex-Tottenham boss David Pleat predicts a "titanic battle" in the second leg at Wembley on 7 March when a quarter-final place will be at stake.

But just how impressive was Spurs' fightback? Here are some of the standout stats:

• Juventus had only conceded one goal in their previous 16 games - and none in 2018.
• Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had not conceded a goal for 694 minutes - a run going back to Italy's World Cup play-off defeat by Sweden in November when the second leg ended 0-0.
• Juve had won their past 10 games in league and cup over the last two months.
• It is only the second time they have failed to win a Champions League home game after being two goals ahead - the last was against Manchester United in the 1999 semi-final second leg.
• Spurs are the first team to wipe out a two-goal deficit at the Juventus Stadium, now called the Allianz Stadium, since the Italian champions moved there in 2011.
• Juve have conceded two goals in a home Champions League game for the first time since February 2016 - 2-2 against Bayern Munich.
• They had not conceded twice in any home game since October when they lost 2-1 to Lazio.

Former Spurs manager David Pleat

Juventus were complacent in the first half after going two goals up. It was probably the worst thing that could have happened to them because they sat a little bit and Tottenham had no option but to push on.

As the game developed they made their ascendancy count. Juventus were a little disappointing when you consider their results over the past three months in Italy.

It is quite incredible. They faded in the second half in Cardiff when they played Real Madrid in the final last year, they've got some ageing players in the squad and were missing some players.

They may well have players back, including Paulo Dybala, for the second game. And they've had a good look at Tottenham now so they know what they are up against. This will be a titanic battle.

Former Spurs winger Chris Waddle

For 80 minutes Tottenham have been the better team. Gonzalo Higuain had chances but didn't take them.

Tottenham played all the football, were constantly in the Juventus half, and could have scored two more. They were by far the better side over 90 minutes.

European football expert Mina Rzouki

The story will be that Juventus have blown it. You were 2-0 up in your own stadium with a supposedly impenetrable defence. But they dropped really deep, maybe got a bit low on confidence and when Spurs pressed their midfield they couldn't deal with it. I have to say Mousa Dembele was fantastic.

But Juventus had several chances to close it out. They needed someone like Blaise Matuidi to add a bit more drive, a bit more aggression.

The Times chief football writer Henry Winter

Incredibly mature performance from Tottenham. Been watching English teams in Europe over the past few years, Chelsea a few years ago winning the Champions League and Manchester United before them. In recent years there's been a naivety in English performances in terms of giving the ball away, bad tactics, at times technically exposed.

Apart from that opening nine minutes it was fantastic in terms of showing strength of character, Dembele striding forward in midfield. Christian Eriksen's free-kick - I talked to journalists here in Italy and they say it's something Buffon does, the little step to the side. Maybe he knew that and capitalised.

Kane showed shades of Alan Shearer late in his career in terms of working over a defence with his mindset, getting Mehdi Benatia booked, a really intelligent performance. Fantastic night, great fight, great performance.

I mentioned it earlier but I keep thinking of 'our' Spurs fans out there last night singing there hearts and lungs out
throughout the match, even at 2-0 down.

I've been at matches like that - what a buzz.. Much kudos fellahs.