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Borussia Dortmund Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

talkshowhost86

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Oct 2, 2004
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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.

Yeah but you'd surely rather take a knife than a gun with no bullets.

If people just want us to play our strongest team again and again then fair enough that's your opinion. But in this day and age it's a daft opinion and one that would lead us to eventually fail on all fronts.

The main thing last night highlighted was our lack of depth in certain key areas (central midfield and striker most notably) but taking any other conclusions from it seems to be to be actively looking for negatives in a season full of positives.
 

theShiznit

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Jul 26, 2004
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Yeah but you'd surely rather take a knife than a gun with no bullets.

If people just want us to play our strongest team again and again then fair enough that's your opinion. But in this day and age it's a daft opinion and one that would lead us to eventually fail on all fronts.

The main thing last night highlighted was our lack of depth in certain key areas (central midfield and striker most notably) but taking any other conclusions from it seems to be to be actively looking for negatives in a season full of positives.
There's resting and rotating (like Poch does with the FB's) then there's prioritising.

I'd say making 7 changes is not rotating, it's prioritising the league, which is fair enough.
But doesn't make sense when you factor in the full strength teams earlier on in the cup. Not to mention the subs at the end of the match.

God only knows what team we will put out in the second leg.

I'm betting on full strength which will make yesterday's team selection look even more bizzare.
 

talkshowhost86

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Oct 2, 2004
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There's resting and rotating (like Poch does with the FB's) then there's prioritising.

I'd say making 7 changes is not rotating, it's prioritising the league, which is fair enough.
But doesn't make sense when you factor in the full strength teams earlier on in the cup. Not to mention the subs at the end of the match.

God only knows what team we will put out in the second leg.

I'm betting on full strength which will make yesterday's team selection look even more bizzare.

We didn't play full strength teams throughout the cup in the earlier rounds, and even if we had, we didn't play any games in the earlier rounds where we'd come off the back of such a tricky stretch of games.

We clearly prioritized the league but we weren't giving up completely on the Europa which is why we involved the subs. If we'd nicked a goal there would be more of a chance on Thursday, but in the end they were just too good.

I agree that if we play a strong team on Thursday it will be stupid. But all the pisswhistling about last night's team selection is just getting very annoying now.
 

waresy

Well-Known Member
Mar 22, 2004
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Dortmand were always going to be a tough tie and give us a game. I was surprised with Poch's choices and it has ultimately cost us our worst result for the season.
The biggest issue I could see was the lack of cover for the back 4 from Carroll and Mason. Dier was sorely missed and if he is rested (which he needs to miss the odd game) then a similar player should come in.

2nd leg will be tough, need to show that we are as good as we are made out to be against a top European side, 3 goals will probably be a little too much to come back from though it is not unhead of
 

MarkyP

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Jul 19, 2008
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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.

We didn't even take the Knife.
 

theShiznit

Well-Known Member
Jul 26, 2004
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We didn't play full strength teams throughout the cup in the earlier rounds, and even if we had, we didn't play any games in the earlier rounds where we'd come off the back of such a tricky stretch of games.

We clearly prioritized the league but we weren't giving up completely on the Europa which is why we involved the subs. If we'd nicked a goal there would be more of a chance on Thursday, but in the end they were just too good.

I agree that if we play a strong team on Thursday it will be stupid. But all the pisswhistling about last night's team selection is just getting very annoying now.

I've whistled out my nose on many occasion but that sounds amazing. :woot: could proudly take the nickname kettlecock.:happy:

Still i think that is the weakest team we've fielded in the comp this season, and in what was on paper (and on the night) the hardest game we've faced so far. That's why there's anger, people had built it up as a Champions League warm up. 2 special nights under lights.

What happens if next season we've got Real or Barca in the knockouts of the Champions' League (optimistic) but we're in a similar position in the league, do we fold and half arse it again?
 

MightySpurs

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Aug 18, 2012
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Amazing that people can justify this, after draging our full strenght squad all across europe in the group stages and in the first k.o. round - and by that we tired the shit out og our first team...and for what?? To fold like we did yesterday?

Pathetic really.

If we played our kids all the way, then fine- but after all this efford- come on people, it's not a surprise that our players would be knackered at this point, but you have to take that into the equation from the start. Not acting like it's suddenly a great surprise now.

Ridiculous and shocking.
 

ajspurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2007
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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.

Yeah you're probably right. It's a shame that it took poor performances to realise that though really in my opinion. Even if you're playing very well it doesn't make you immune to tiredness and fatigue. Not even in hindsight but team fatigue is just something you would think would be anticipated regardless.
 

dagraham

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Sep 20, 2005
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What happens if next season we've got Real or Barca in the knockouts of the Champions' League (optimistic) but we're in a similar position in the league, do we fold and half arse it again?

This is why the argument that we could only sign a striker who was equipped to be nothing other than cover for Kane was so flawed. You need real competition and options all over the field. They will still get games if the squad is managed properly and with little drop in quality, which is what you need if you are going to be a top team that competes for trophies on multiple fronts.
 

talkshowhost86

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Oct 2, 2004
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I've whistled out my nose on many occasion but that sounds amazing. :woot: could proudly take the nickname kettlecock.:happy:

Still i think that is the weakest team we've fielded in the comp this season, and in what was on paper (and on the night) the hardest game we've faced so far. That's why there's anger, people had built it up as a Champions League warm up. 2 special nights under lights.

What happens if next season we've got Real or Barca in the knockouts of the Champions' League (optimistic) but we're in a similar position in the league, do we fold and half arse it again?

Would depend on the situation.

At that stage presumably we'd be saying that the Champions League is more important than the league, so we'd prioritise accordingly.

We'd also hopefully have a stronger squad to choose from thus making the changes less impactful (if that's a word).
 

worcestersauce

"I'm no optimist I'm just a prisoner of hope
Jan 23, 2006
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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:

Dembele.jpg



Really quite shameful indeed. :(
Not really, the man that updates the website or twitter wouldn't know who Poch was going to pick.
 

nicdic

Official SC Padre
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May 8, 2005
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I think it's worth noting that the rotation or resting of players has much less to do with Villa coming up, but rather the games before against West Ham and Arsenal. It's well and good saying rest them against Villa, but they have already clocked up two very intense games, and perhaps the strain of the third would have been too much. I trust Poch and the fitness team when they pick the best team available to maximise the squad.
 

SEANSPURS1975

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Sep 21, 2005
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The only thing to be angry about is the fact we didn't sign the players we needed last summer or in January. We don't have a good enough squad to compete in all competitions. We've been extremely fortunate that Harry Kane has been able to play as many games as he has. We have literally no striking alternative. Chadli, Son, N'Jie were not, are not and never will be strikers. Apart from Dier and Dembele our other central midfielders are nowhere near the required quality. These are glaring holes in our squad that should have been filled last summer or in January. We all know our squad is short. To still be in with a shout for the league title is down to Pochettino's management of this squad and abit of luck with injuries.
 

talkshowhost86

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Oct 2, 2004
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I think it's worth noting that the rotation or resting of players has much less to do with Villa coming up, but rather the games before against West Ham and Arsenal. It's well and good saying rest them against Villa, but they have already clocked up two very intense games, and perhaps the strain of the third would have been too much. I trust Poch and the fitness team when they pick the best team available to maximise the squad.

Absolutely.

People are focusing on the Villa game whilst ignoring the fact that we couldn't rest players for Arsenal and West Ham (and if we had done the same people would have been whinging about that).
 

jurgen11

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Sep 9, 2004
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This has nothing to do with the league, this has nothing to do with the European cup- this is to do with Poch and co starting to question our top 4 capability. The last 2 league performances , not results, have got us pooping ourselves that others will pip us to the Champions League post...
 

talkshowhost86

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Oct 2, 2004
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The only thing to be angry about is the fact we didn't sign the players we needed last summer or in January. We don't have a good enough squad to compete in all competitions. We've been extremely fortunate that Harry Kane has been able to play as many games as he has. We have literally no striking alternative. Chadli, Son, N'Jie were not, are not and never will be strikers. Apart from Dier and Dembele our other central midfielders are nowhere near the required quality. These are glaring holes in our squad that should have been filled last summer or in January. We all know our squad is short. To still be in with a shout for the league title is down to Pochettino's management of this squad and abit of luck with injuries.

Agree other than I wouldn't necessarily be 'angry' about the lack of signings in January.

But yes we clearly don't have the squad to battle on two fronts, so if the club were expecting Poch to do that with the current squad then they were being daft, and the problems are at that level rather than with Poch himself.

As I said earlier I think we've now seen where the gaps in our squad are more clearly.

The drop off from Dier and Dembele to the other three is fairly large (although with the right partner I think Mason is still an asset) and of course we have an issue upfront.

I think that's the main take-home from last night though rather than this ridiculous approach that many are having that we should simply play our best team all the time.
 

gerishep

Connected to the Spurs.
Aug 2, 2004
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Its obvious Levy and Poch at some point had a sit down and prioritized the league as our main target. Poch being the manager has to bluff his way around the team selection.
Past teams Manu etc who win the league and compete and win in other cups have had to cope with all the stress and tiredness so I don't understand why can't we do this. Is our squad too young too immature, does our style of play lead to burn out, does everybody need counciling or what.
 

CosmicHotspur

Better a wag than a WAG
Aug 14, 2006
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A bit of damage control needed now for the dented morale this result will have left the team with. We need to win and win well in our next few fixtures to regain confidence.
 

Spursidol

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2007
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Behind Juve, and Ath Madrid.

A matter of opinion.

The post that I replied to implied that Borussia Dortmund was not a 'top team' and Spurs should not have lost.

But even assuming Juve and Athletico Madrid are behind Barca and Real Madrid that still puts Borussia Dortmund in the top 6, certainly top 10 teams in Europe, and not as OP implied a second rate team.
 
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