Poch vindicated in his decison to rest players mid week...

[Mullers]

Throw the one competition we can get a trophy AND move our club forward? Are you kidding? If anything, it should be prioritized. Not to mention, if english clubs dont pick it the fuck up in Europe this season, 4th will no longer be enough for CL. Absolutely mind boggling that people would rather throw a chance at European success for a chance to win a trophy that 99.9% of English clubs feel is a nuisance. I despair.

If English clubs had taken the EL more seriously England would have had more coefficient points and it would have been less of an issue.

 

[EdmontonJohn]

We have just stuffed the champuions 4-1. It was great and the benefit to the team in terms of confidence is huge. We also outplayed Arsenal in the second half on Wednesday and lost to a once-in-a-lifetime goal. Sure Lloris and an extra CB would have strengthened us, but I, for one, was completely happy with the team on Wednesday as it helps improve our chances of going a long way in EL and could easily have won against the SCUM. Top be a top team you have to rotate, trust the squad and build confidence within the 24-27 players who play. We are doing that, sure Wednesday hurt. But winning yesterday will help the team and squad more and, for me, was more enjoyable as it was the first team against the champions .. we beat them 4-1 .. 4-1!!! That does not happen often, especially after giving them a goal start.

 

[jonathanhotspur]

Throw the one competition we can get a trophy AND move our club forward? Are you kidding? If anything, it should be prioritized. Not to mention, if english clubs dont pick it the fuck up in Europe this season, 4th will no longer be enough for CL. Absolutely mind boggling that people would rather throw a chance at European success for a chance to win a trophy that 99.9% of English clubs feel is a nuisance. I despair.

Disregarding Chelsea (who shouldn't have been in it in the first place), and putting to one side our personal feelings as regards the merits of the Europa League, English sides have shown it very little respect, as Mullers has pointed out.

 

[Spurger King]

We have just stuffed the champuions 4-1. It was great and the benefit to the team in terms of confidence is huge. We also outplayed Arsenal in the second half on Wednesday and lost to a once-in-a-lifetime goal. Sure Lloris and an extra CB would have strengthened us, but I, for one, was completely happy with the team on Wednesday as it helps improve our chances of going a long way in EL and could easily have won against the SCUM. Top be a top team you have to rotate, trust the squad and build confidence within the 24-27 players who play. We are doing that, sure Wednesday hurt. But winning yesterday will help the team and squad more and, for me, was more enjoyable as it was the first team against the champions .. we beat them 4-1 .. 4-1!!! That does not happen often, especially after giving them a goal start.

Eh? Oil Money didn't win the title last season. Chelsea did.

 

[Ledley's Right Foot]

Eh? Oil Money didn't win the title last season. Chelsea did.

Technically, that's oil money too

 

[Mr Pink]

Eh? Oil Money didn't win the title last season. Chelsea did.

Think he means the champions to be!!

 

[Ledley's Right Foot]

You're in danger of sounding like a west ham fan. They're happy to finish 12th and win nothing as long as they can brag about points vs some big clubs.
If we again finish outside of the top 4 and/or finish with no cups then it's another disappointing season really. If we want to reduce the number of fixtures, throw the Europa league. It's almost unwinnable and requires about 83 games on a Thursday to get to the final.

As alluded to though, you can only quantify this point at the end of the season anyway.

We need to stay in the EL until the knock out stages and then judge which competition is most likely to bring a CL place. Still in it for fourth? First team at the weekend, more than 8 points off the pace, first team for Thursday.

 

[tototoner]

Still no excuse to start Fazio against Arsenal, if we had Vertonghen instead we would have won that game

 

[nightgoat]

If English clubs had taken the EL more seriously England would have had more coefficient points and it would have been less of an issue.

It's not just Europa League performances which have affected England's coefficient.

 

[Lilbaz]

Still no excuse to start Fazio against Arsenal, if we had Vertonghen instead we would have won that game

You couldn't tell me next weeks lottery numbers could you?

 

[Mullers]

It's not just Europa League performances which have affected England's coefficient.

Yes I know I'm just saying they would have had more points.

 

[Ionman34]

It's not just physical tiredness though. I used to work at a computer all day, doesn't mean i wasn't tired when i got home in the evening. Lloris will be under far more mental stress and concentration than i was with his every decision scrutinised. If we want these players fit at the end of the season they will need to be rested for some games no matter what position they play.

It will only be at the end of the season that we can say whether poch got it right or not.

This is true. However, the recovery time from mental tiredness is far less then from physical.

Lloris most definitely could have played both, IMHO. Hindsight says that he should have.

I can see why Poch would want to give Vorm game time, help to keep him sharp.

I think he picked the wrong game for it though. Ditto Fazio.

The least mobile player in our entire squad against the goons? Renowned for their pace and guile going forward?

Poch must have been stoned.

 

[Yid-ol]

Still no excuse to start Fazio against Arsenal, if we had Vertonghen instead we would have won that game

Would we? We would have had a better chance, but who knows, Vertonghen could have got injured, sent off, scored an og. No one knows what would have happened.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Said as much before the game against Arsenal I'd prefer a win over City, as did some others like TSH.

So I was happy enough with the team that Poch Picked mid week because I thought the energy of Alli, Son and Lamela would be central to our strategy for taking on City - and so it proved.

Yes it was a chance to progress in a Cup, the lowest of our priorities IMO, and it was against our local rivals but when both Clubs are not naming full strength sides it diminishes the bragging rights a bit regardless.

The reality is we could of won that game anyway but despite that feeling there were a few who had the knives out, sharpened and ready for today if we didn't get a positive result.

Poch was very close to getting it completely right but had anyone said to me you'd go out of the Carling Cup to Arsenal but then wipe the floor of City I'd of bitten their arm off.

Kudos to Poch for handling this huge week really well, and when you consider the average age of this squad - its all massively positive IMO.

Completely agree. Obviously I was jittery about the the thought of Fazio facing Arsenal's zippy players but even then, it wasn't a case of wanting Alderweireld or Vertonghen playing instead, I'd have rather one of the younger lot (like Veljkovic or CCV), and said so.

I said in the Arsenal ratings thread I had no problem with the team he put in - in terms of who he played and didn't - I think he got the rotation spot on and we deserved to win both games.

 

[Shanks]

Over the last few years, we have struggled to win mid week and again at the weekends.
Rotation is key, regardless of who we play.
Let's not forget that we finished 5th last year, the youngest squad in the league, yet let in one of the biggest amount of goals.
We have strengthened over the summer... We'll lose a few, but I don't see any reason based on evidence so far why we can't compete for top 4 or higher.

Do people honestly think we'll do worse than last year?

 

[tototoner]

You couldn't tell me next weeks lottery numbers could you?

Yes but I will not

 

[heelspurs]

If you'd seen them against Montpellier on Thursday night you'd be more than confident to leave Kane at home - believe me.

meant to watch that game but watched them against Guingamp today. Yes, we should be able to rest players...many of them! But it might be a good idea to allow some to travel the short time to monaco (relative to qarabag) for the collective experience.

 

[heelspurs]

Until we take these results against top 4 teams and really use them against lesser teams your theory is redundant.
We'd do better swapping yesterday's 3 points for wins against Leicester and Stoke. Same last season swapping 6 points for 2 wins against palace, 2 against stoke, 1 against Newcastle, 1 against West Bromwich, 1 against villa, one against Burnley.

On the grand scheme of it, it's not who you beat but how many you beat.
If I thought yesterday's win would inspire us to beat all those teams above I'd be fooling myself. I always feel like we're not as motivated in less high profile games.

Ok, so shall I infer that you believe beating a rotated Arsenal in the COC would have the desired effect you speak of? If not then you should be able to see the irrelevance of this point to the main discussion.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

Ok, so shall I infer that you believe beating a rotated Arsenal in the COC would have the desired effect you speak of? If not then you should be able to see the irrelevance of this point to the main discussion.

I didn't say it would? Never even came close.

The only thing beating them would have achieved would have been to get one step closer to a cup final.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

We need to stay in the EL until the knock out stages and then judge which competition is most likely to bring a CL place. Still in it for fourth? First team at the weekend, more than 8 points off the pace, first team for Thursday.

I get your logic. But.
Getting to the group stages could mean we're out of the race for 4th already by then.
Also, and this is only my opinion. But. I think it's harder to win the EL than it is to finish 4th.