Our start to the new season

[JollyHappy]

It looks like thanks to Arse winning the FA Cup we will have to play 6 games in 2 weeks at the start of the season, 2 sets of Premieriership Sunday, Carabao Tuesday, Europa Thursday

How do you think Jose will spread the squad over those games? Is he in a position to sacrifice one of the cups that early in the season and play the juniors or will he try and spread the squad across the games. I know it depends a bit on the quality of the opposition but as we know, any well organised team can defend well and Jose's style is more likely to be counter attacking so we may need something special to break down packed defences for the early midweek games.

I guess we may delay some loans out until we are through that start as well.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

With all our new signings by then I can’t see this period being a problem for us or the manager.
We'll have so many options!!!

 

[sparx100]

I think it will be good for the squad. All the fringe players will have opportunities to play.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

This is exactly why it’s essential we add a striker before the season starts or we’re screwed

 

[Yid121]

Pretty annoying arsenal won that Cup tbh with this fixture pile up as a result.

The main thing is we qualified though (he says having completely lost sight of that). Goons would have been all over us being knocked out of Europe by them winning a trophy.

 

[spurs mental]

Good chance to get match sharp early. Although we've not had many defeats in the opening few games recently we've had too many draws in there and been left to play catch up. If our fringe players can get games in the early EL and CC stages then they'll be ready to step in when they're needed in the PL too.

Sure it wont be easy juggling the games in a short space of time but that's why Jose is paid the big bucks.

 

[Tucker]

With the youth side having withdrawn from the FA Trophy, my guess is the league cup will be sacrificed.

 

[McFlash]

With the youth side having withdrawn from the FA Trophy, my guess is the league cup will be sacrificed.

That's a good point. This could be where we see the likes of Cirkin, White and those others commonly name-dropped by Jose, get some minutes to see how they do.

 

[Tucker]

That's a good point. This could be where we see the likes of Cirkin, White and those others commonly name-dropped by Jose, get some minutes to see how they do.

Yeah, I don’t think we will go full on youth team, but I expect it to be mainly youngsters and our more experienced back ups like Hart, Sissoko etc.

 

[McFlash]

Yeah, I don’t think we will go full on youth team, but I expect it to be mainly youngsters and our more experienced back ups like Hart, Sissoko etc.

And I'd be happy with that tbh.
If we can't scrape through the early rounds with a mixture of eager youth and seasoned pros, then we probably don't deserve to progress.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

Withdraw from the reindeer cup altogether, problem solved.

 

[Chirpystheman]

We have to take in to account the level of competition we will be facing in these games and a lot depends on the location of them, If we get drawn at home in the europa games then that will ease a lot of pressure. We have a deep squad that if we get a back up CF we can put out sides good enough to win these games. such as below

Team 1
Lloris
Davies
Toby
Sanchez
Aurier (as it stands)
Hojbjerg
GLC
Son
Alli
Moura
Kane

Team 2
Gazza/Hart
Cirkin
Dier
Tanganga
Foyth
Winks
Sissoko
Bergwijn
Ndombele
Lamela
Backup CF

That still means players like Gedson, Sess, White won't be getting game time. Some of the teams you face in the early rounds of europa should be easily swept aside by the second string. So i'm not too worried. But it is draw dependent as we could end up getting drawn against say City in the first 3rd round of the league cup and then away to a team in Russia or even further in the Europa qualifier followed up by Arsenal on the sunday. So until fixtures are out we shouldn't worry too much. But as you can see from the two teams above. Both are made up of nearly full internationals. You can also mix the two sides up to get a better balance. However that early in the season. The extra minutes could get them up to speed esp considering the lack of preseason. It could be a blessing in the long run. Time will tell.

 

[homer hotspur]

Yeah, I don’t think we will go full on youth team, but I expect it to be mainly youngsters and our more experienced back ups like Hart, Sissoko etc.

Gazza already number 3 then .......!

 

[yankspurs]

It looks like thanks to Arse winning the FA Cup we will have to play 6 games in 2 weeks at the start of the season, 2 sets of Premieriership Sunday, Carabao Tuesday, Europa Thursday

How do you think Jose will spread the squad over those games? Is he in a position to sacrifice one of the cups that early in the season and play the juniors or will he try and spread the squad across the games. I know it depends a bit on the quality of the opposition but as we know, any well organised team can defend well and Jose's style is more likely to be counter attacking so we may need something special to break down packed defences for the early midweek games.

I guess we may delay some loans out until we are through that start as well.

6 games in 2 weeks? Missed 2! We have 8 unless we fuck off the league cup and crash out immediately

 

[Hotspur88]

We have to take in to account the level of competition we will be facing in these games and a lot depends on the location of them, If we get drawn at home in the europa games then that will ease a lot of pressure. We have a deep squad that if we get a back up CF we can put out sides good enough to win these games. such as below

Team 1
Lloris
Davies
Toby
Sanchez
Aurier (as it stands)
Hojbjerg
GLC
Son
Alli
Moura
Kane

Team 2
Gazza/Hart
Cirkin
Dier
Tanganga
Foyth
Winks
Sissoko
Bergwijn
Ndombele
Lamela
Backup CF

That still means players like Gedson, Sess, White won't be getting game time. Some of the teams you face in the early rounds of europa should be easily swept aside by the second string. So i'm not too worried. But it is draw dependent as we could end up getting drawn against say City in the first 3rd round of the league cup and then away to a team in Russia or even further in the Europa qualifier followed up by Arsenal on the sunday. So until fixtures are out we shouldn't worry too much. But as you can see from the two teams above. Both are made up of nearly full internationals. You can also mix the two sides up to get a better balance. However that early in the season. The extra minutes could get them up to speed esp considering the lack of preseason. It could be a blessing in the long run. Time will tell.

Dier would 100% be in team 1.

 

[SurreySpur82]

3 teams in Kazakhstan in the first round so it would be good to avoid them. League cup depends on who we draw. League 2 team then play the kids, Prem/Championship then Jose has a decision to make.

 

[Chirpystheman]

Dier would 100% be in team 1.

Possibly. Thought you might want his leadership in team 2. Either way you get the point. Rotating those two sides should get us through the early stages of europa and league cup.

 

[absolute bobbins]

Possibly. Thought you might want his leadership in team 2. Either way you get the point. Rotating those two sides should get us through the early stages of europa and league cup.

If Hart is in team 2 then leadership isn't a problem

 

[spids]

First we have to prioritise the competitions, which I suspect will be PL, then EL, then CC (as the first two yield CL qualification).

PL - Play strongest available side.
EL - Play 1st team squad players.
CC - U23's in first 2 rounds.

E.g.

I do not think there is anything wrong with the 1st team playing Sun/Thurs/Sun and this will help get us match sharp at the start of the season if managed properly - we do have a bog squad. Main priority will be to rotate the wide players who so the most intense sprints. For the Tuesday night Carabao Cup games simply play the U23s with Hart or Gazza in goal and any 1st team squad players who will not start either of the other games (I suspect Ndombele may fall into this category).

​

 

[rossdapep]

The good thing about Europa is that you can approach the first leg strongly, especially at home, and kill the tie early.

The goal should be to roll over teams in the first leg so that you can have massive changes for the second leg and important players can get their feet up and prepare for the following game in the PL

You can't do that as much in the group stages but when you play the Latvian runners up or of such or even Astra a f'in googoo if you have the right approach from the offset you can.

I imagine Jose will let players go strong to start with and then sit back and defend once we have gained a preferable lead. We won't be able to defend with 100% concentration when plating games that closely together so we will need to have long spells of attacking play.