Bayer Leverkusen Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[alfie103]

One of the positives was another clean sheet thanks to the brilliance of Hugo (who some were doubting on Saturday )

But our defence looked awfully shaky which is a bit of a concern if Toby ever was out for a significant length of time. It seems he brings so much in the way of organising the back 4 that he is sorely missed in that regard, in addition to everything else he brings.

A point away isn't the worst result but we are paying the price for missing chance after chance after chance. It's been a while since I've seen us really try and destroy a team in the first 10/15 mins and take real control of the scoreboard and not just the possession stats. The longer we wait for a goal, the more desperate we become which doesn't suit us.

He is a superb goalkeeper but I feel his distribution has been woeful this year which puts us under needless pressure.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

I only saw the second half and it was a car crash, in my opinion. We were panicked in possession and chasing shadows.

I didn't like our bench one bit. I don't understand why Walker was left at home and neither can I fathom N'Koudou's absence from the squad. Sissoko and Dembele lack of match sharpness is a big cause for concern.

I don't know how badly Alli has to play in order to be hooked. Obviously Bayer had pinpointed him as a danger man and hunted him in packs, but he was still awful.

We were blessed to escape with a point. The Monaco result is killing us at the moment.

Lots of questions for Pochettino and company. His second half tweaks did little or nothing to help us get a grip of the game.

We've had some good results in Harry Kane's absence but on the whole, I think we are missing him quite badly.

 

[thebenjamin]

I only saw the second half and it was a car crash, in my opinion. We were panicked in possession and chasing shadows.

I didn't like our bench one bit. I don't understand why Walker was left at home and neither can I fathom N'Koudou's absence from the squad. Sissoko and Dembele lack of match sharpness is a big cause for concern.

I don't know how badly Alli has to play in order to be hooked. Obviously Bayer had pinpointed him as a danger man and hunted him in packs, but he was still awful.

We were blessed to escape with a point. The Monaco result is killing us at the moment.

Lots of questions for Pochettino and company. His second half tweaks did little or nothing to help us get a grip of the game.

We've had some good results in Harry Kane's absence but on the whole, I think we are missing him quite badly.

Massive overreaction imo. To say Dele was 'awful' is just plain wrong. The constant criticism he receives is really so hilarious. Honestly don't know what people are watching.

And Pochettino's substitutions did affect the game, they were absolutely all over us, and once Dembele had got up to the pace of the game, we wrestled back control of the last 10 mins, and Sissoko gave good cover to Trippier who was struggling.

Just such a fundamental overreaction to getting a good point away from home against a team vastly more experienced in the CL than us, with an outstanding home record. A team who just comprehensively defeated a Dortmund team who smashed us last year.

Given the amount of pressure they had, there was really only that one Chicarito chance where they might've scored, the rest were just pot shots. So defensively we were very sound. Sometimes you have to accept the opposition are playing well and you have to hang in there.

Our problem is we don't score our chances. That has been our problem for a long while now, we need 4 or 5 clear chances to score 1 goal. At this level you need 1 in 2 at worst, otherwise the opposition will come back at you. It's really amusing the arrogance with which people think, despite us only being in the CL once, that we should consummately dominate these games. Completely naive.

 

[mattie g]

He is a superb goalkeeper but I feel his distribution has been woeful this year which puts us under needless pressure.

It is awful, and it hasn't just been this year. He's such an incredible goalkeeper - one of the best in the world - but it's simply astounding how terrifically horrendous his distribution is. I was shitting myself some of the times we were playing out of the back with Leverkusen putting high pressure on us.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Massive overreaction imo. To say Dele was 'awful' is just plain wrong. The constant criticism he receives is really so hilarious. Honestly don't know what people are watching.

And Pochettino's substitutions did affect the game, they were absolutely all over us, and once Dembele had got up to the pace of the game, we wrestled back control of the last 10 mins, and Sissoko gave good cover to Trippier who was struggling.

Just such a fundamental overreaction to getting a good point away from home against a team vastly more experienced in the CL than us, with an outstanding home record. A team who just comprehensively defeated a Dortmund team who smashed us last year.

Given the amount of pressure they had, there was really only that one Chicarito chance where they might've scored, the rest were just pot shots. So defensively we were very sound. Sometimes you have to accept the opposition are playing well and you have to hang in there.

Our problem is we don't score our chances. That has been our problem for a long while now, we need 4 or 5 clear chances to score 1 goal. At this level you need 1 in 2 at worst, otherwise the opposition will come back at you. It's really amusing the arrogance with which people think, despite us only being in the CL once, that we should consummately dominate these games. Completely naive.

This

 

[buttons]

First half i thought we were good albeit not clinical enough, second half we were resilient and perhaps a little bit lucky. I think the test will stand us in fantastic stead though, a proper tough European away night.

One thing that disappointed me though, and only because Poch talks about it so often, was our game management. The one passage that sticks in my mind was the Toprak header straight at Hugo. He caught the ball comfortably and then, despite us being massively under the cosh, he charged out and launched a long ball to Son (i think) which he got nowhere near and we surrendered possession again. In he same phase of play we then won a free kick just inside our half, for some reason Eriksen took it quickly to Wanyama (i think) who immediately lost the ball and we were back under pressure again.

I think a more experienced team would have a) seen their goalie collapse on the ball after the corner and b) not taken a quick free kick and got the entire team up the pitch.

We can commend our players for getting on with the game and presumably trying to win it but there are certain situations where you just need to take the sting out of things for a few minutes. Like i said, probably a very useful learning curve.

 

[Dzejkob]

3 first months of the season is always difficult I think. A lot of international games, CL/EL groupe stage, COC with some 5 division team. And this season in particular because of injuries. Before every game I'm wondering if Rose or Dembele are fit, when Kane will be back, Son or Janssen up front, there's a cup game in the middle of the week so maybe rest Walker etc. I think we lack a little bit of stabilisation when everyone knows who is the first team regular. What's our strongest eleven at the moment? Sissoko or Lamela? Should Dembele play? If yes who goes to the bench? Eriksen, Alli? Who should cover Toby - Dier, Wimmer or maybe CCV? Last year in the second half of the season especially I didn't have to check our squad before the game cause it was clear for everyone. I think this is something we miss the most now, stabilization. I'm pretty sure that after international break in november we will hit the ground running, with Kane and Toby back and hopefully with no more injuries. So it is important that even when sometimes we play bad like yesterday we still earn points, are 2 in CL, 3 in PL.

 

[dk-yid]

Get over YOURSELF asshole or I'll make you shut up.

Sad little man...

 

[guiltyparty]

Some games have had less that 50K viewers on BT. It's giant embarrassment to UEFA, their advertisers are fuming.

A lot of the games are on Freeview on BT Showcase. But because BT want you to subscribe for paid games, they bury this information, meaning not many people find out and subsequently watch

Man City/Barca will be free to air. So will Utd/Fenerbache. Most Scum games were last year. We find whenever we do "you can watch this game for free" story, they go crazy as no one knows

 

[Sweetsman]

Massive overreaction imo. To say Dele was 'awful' is just plain wrong. The constant criticism he receives is really so hilarious. Honestly don't know what people are watching.

And Pochettino's substitutions did affect the game, they were absolutely all over us, and once Dembele had got up to the pace of the game, we wrestled back control of the last 10 mins, and Sissoko gave good cover to Trippier who was struggling.

Just such a fundamental overreaction to getting a good point away from home against a team vastly more experienced in the CL than us, with an outstanding home record. A team who just comprehensively defeated a Dortmund team who smashed us last year.

Given the amount of pressure they had, there was really only that one Chicarito chance where they might've scored, the rest were just pot shots. So defensively we were very sound. Sometimes you have to accept the opposition are playing well and you have to hang in there.

Our problem is we don't score our chances. That has been our problem for a long while now, we need 4 or 5 clear chances to score 1 goal. At this level you need 1 in 2 at worst, otherwise the opposition will come back at you. It's really amusing the arrogance with which people think, despite us only being in the CL once, that we should consummately dominate these games. Completely naive.

And that, folks, is the best post. You could call it confirmation bias, but frankly there isn't one thing wrong. I am getting heartily fed up of the usual shower who are on the backs of their favourite scapegoats.

 

[shelfboy68]

And that, folks, is the best post. You could call it confirmation bias, but frankly there isn't one thing wrong. I am getting heartily fed up of the usual shower who are on the backs of their favourite scapegoats.

There should be no scapegoats this is the best manager and team i have seen for nearly thirty years, whats to really moan about.

 

[Sweetsman]

There should be no scapegoats this is the best manager and team i have seen for nearly thirty years, whats to really moan about.

As was said of Accrington Stanley: "exactly"!