Borussia Dortmund Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[hughy]

Didn't we win 3-0 in the first leg against Inter a few years back and then end up shitting ourselves in the replay? I'm not saying I expect it to be a close tie, but if Dortmund rest a number of their big-hitters we've got a sniff of a chance.

It's a European night and it's White Hart Lane. Leicester are 5 points clear at the top of the PL... all I'm saying is stranger things have happened!

 

[hughy]

Now I've had a sleep and time to reflect, I think Poch overestimated his team last night and got a fucking fright at how good Dortmund were. Oh, and also the ref needs a good kick in the balls.

I'm probably more fucked off about the ref than anything else. I don't think it was a penalty on Son when we were 1-0 down, but the referee gave them countless free-kicks in our half for far less. He was completely inconsistent throughout.

 

[ajspurs]

I can't disagree. But I don't think anyone thought we'd be in a League Title chase when were playing those games.

Priorities had to change.

I agree in that you have to adapt to situations but the same should apply whether we're in a title race or a push for the top 4 in that key players should really have been rested in earlier games. The title no but we must have been anticipating at least a race to the top 4 at this stage and certain previous team selections should have reflected that.

 

[Dov67]

I had two tickets for this game for me and my son. My wife absolutely point blank refused to allow him to bunk off school for a day to go the game. Really hate it when she's right

She hasn't said anything either but I know she will at some point

 

[dagraham]

I agree in that you have to adapt to situations but the same should apply whether we're in a title race or a push for the top 4 in that key players should really have been rested in earlier games. The title no but we must have been anticipating at least a race to the top 4 at this stage and certain previous team selections should have reflected that.

Agree. We've failed to manage our squad in terms of certain key players, and certain decisions in the transfer market in both summer and winter windows which have been glossed over by us overachieving this season are now biting us on the backside.

 

[Sweetsman]

I can't disagree. But I don't think anyone thought we'd be in a League Title chase when were playing those games.

Priorities had to change.

Exactly! A lot of people are using a lot of hindsight.

 

[CosmicHotspur]

They played their strongest team, we didn't and not suprisingly we struggled and lost badly.

You can't play in any Cup and European games with a weakened side. You play your best with your best. Billy Nick knew that and so do I. All this rubbish about saving your top players for winning league championships is not acceptable because often you will end up winning nothing with that attitude.

Go for it all 100%, that's what the players and manager earn their huge salaries for and the supporters should expect and be entitled to watch.

I know many will think otherwise but that's my opinion and it always has been and it's unlikely to change after watching football since the 1950s.

 

[Sweetsman]

I agree in that you have to adapt to situations but the same should apply whether we're in a title race or a push for the top 4 in that key players should really have been rested in earlier games. The title no but we must have been anticipating at least a race to the top 4 at this stage and certain previous team selections should have reflected that.

I think Poch came to his decision after the last two PL matches. He saw the exhaustion and decided that going for both trophies may mean losing out on fourth place. Remember that this has happened before. Some people, including Danny Kelly, should now stop crying.

 

[Sweetsman]

They played their strongest team, we didn't and not suprisingly we struggled and lost badly.

You can't play in any Cup and European games with a weakened side. You play your best with your best. Billy Nick knew that and so do I. All this rubbish about saving your top players for winning league championships is not acceptable because often you will end up winning nothing with that attitude.

Go for it all 100%, that's what the players and manager earn their huge salaries for and the supporters should expect and be entitled to watch.

I know many will think otherwise but that's my opinion and it always has been and it's unlikely to change after watching football since the 1950s.

The game has changed. Your contention would be correct if it was a level playing field, not like Upton Park. We don't have a winter break and have crucifying schedules of games. You have to choose your priorities and I respect Poch's choice.

 

[dagraham]

Exactly! A lot of people are using a lot of hindsight.

A lot of people have been bemoaning the lack of an alternative to Kane and Dier since August and talked about key players playing unnecessarily months ago. There's no hindsight going on here.

Of course we didn't predict that we'd be in a title race, but as someone else pointed out we still had targets and priorities and ample opportunity to manage the squad.

My personal take on it is that Poch didn't really trust a lot of the squad players in key positions earlier in the season(hence the mad decision to play Kane against bloody Colchester), but didn't want the ignominy of being dumped out of the EL or the cup competitions too early and bottled it a bit. Then he's seen Dortmund, thought that we stand little chance of beating them anyway with our inexperienced team and thought rather than risk injuries etc we'll just go out quietly.

 

[Wsussexspur]

Just got home from Dortmund. Obviously disappointed with the result once I saw our line up I did fear we could be on the end of a drubbing. I'm disappointed in Potch that he has left it till so late in the tournament to field such a weakend team. The decision to prioritise the league should probably have been taken before the Florintina game instead of before facing probably the best team in the compition.

 

[Crowedem]

Anything other than 6 points from Villa & Bournemouth and, in my opinion, we can kiss top 4 goodbye.

No way is this true, kiss goodbye to any chance of the title fair enough - but your telling me if we get 4 points from those two games it spells the end of our top four chances. That is a knee-jerk reaction if I've ever seen one.

 

[THFCSPURS19]

Yet again we throw away our cup spot, like we always do, as winning cups doesn't matter to our club. Getting/having a winning attitude comes from winning cups! MUFC under SAF won the FA, ECWC and LC before they won the league, CFC won the LC under JM before the title and MCFC won the FA before eventually winning the league!!!

The insinuation here is that as we're playing worse teams in the Cups, we're throwing them away. What's the answer then? Kane, Dier, Alli, Dembele etc. playing 60 games a season?

 

[Drink!Drink!]

Hold on. There's a lot of rationalising the clubs behaviour.

If our "strategy" is to have a go at the title why hasn't the club consistently followed this?

Ok it's January the two possible things that could go wrong with our challenge which we had some control over was tiredness because too many fixtures AND big holes in the squad in two vital positions: DM and striker.

If we were "going for it" why did we do nothing during the January transfer window? Why did we play a strong team against Fiorentina if we wanted to have fewer fixtures?

We have done very well this season, but are starting to look a bit soft lately.

Another huge game Sunday, get this season back on track

 

[scat1620]

Imagine a football club with the gall to post these pictures on their official Twitter to gee up all the fans travelling to Germany before submitting last night's team sheet:

Really quite shameful indeed.

 

[SEANSPURS1975]

People sounding like the chance of a trophy has gone this season.
Have you not seen the league table? We haven't the squad yet to compete in multiple competitions. That is obvious. This needs to be addressed in the summer.
We are, at present, still in with a good chance of the biggest and best trophy of all..THE LEAGUE TITLE.
After last night Pochettino has basically said to his players and us fans...We're going for the title.
Yes he's gambled, but just imagine if this gamble pays off!!. Just imagine...
Pochettino, the players, the fans can now all focus on the league.
No distractions, no Thursday night football. We could/should be 2 pts behind Leicester come Sunday night with still 8 to play. I for one can't wait to get stuck into our remaining league games for the ultimate prize.

 

[theShiznit]

Imagine a football club with the gall to post these pictures on their official Twitter to gee up all the fans travelling to Germany before submitting last night's team sheet:

Really quite shameful indeed.

I believe the next picture in the series was even more telling;

on the left a picture of Hummels roaring into a tackle.
On the right one of Dier, roaring into a nice warm cocoa as he settles down for an early night in his nightgown and slippers...

 

[Misfit]

I think it's fair to say that the club has painted itself into a corner here. It's clearly deliberate. All out for the title. If they pull it off, none of us will care about last night much, if at all. If not, I hope it isn't blown up into something that undoes a lot of work and is instead used as an opportunity for further growth. Learn from your mistakes and other clichés.

 

[bigfrooj]

I cannot believe there are people defending this team selection. The first thing I did last night was text my mate who travelled and expressed my disgust - going to all that trouble and expense for that?
Like the man said you don't take a knife to a gunfight.

 

[Lamelad]

Didn't we win 3-0 in the first leg against Inter a few years back and then end up shitting ourselves in the replay? I'm not saying I expect it to be a close tie, but if Dortmund rest a number of their big-hitters we've got a sniff of a chance.

It's a European night and it's White Hart Lane. Leicester are 5 points clear at the top of the PL... all I'm saying is stranger things have happened!

Just need an early goal. Crowd gets behind you and anything is possible. We can score 3 against anyone at the Lane.

But if they score, we`re out.