Match Ratings Ratings vs Chelsea

[Spurrific]

Just the same old shit, to be honest. No point making excuses, yeah the ref was awful, yeah away goals blah blah (we wouldn’t have lasted 30 mins extra time), yeah we have injuries (self inflicted due to the sheer lack of depth in our squad).

I‘d honestly rather we just stayed as shit as we were in the 90s. Bored of being alsorans. Sorry, lads - I’m just so sick of the constant failure and that’s what it is - failure. Sugar coat it to yourself however you want guys, I can’t see us winning anything any time soon and this is as good as it gets for us. Sack the board, staff and all the players tbh.

 

['O Zio]

Rose and possibly Winks for me.

That said, as this thread is less noisy, I think some of the "fans" in the match thread need to fuck off.

Some completely embarrassing comments in there this evening.
We lost. Narrowly. On a penalty lottery. It's not like our injury ravaged team were fucking abysmal, because they weren't.

I'm pleased that we have Poch in charge rather than someone that shares the opinions of some of the pathetic/moronic posters in the match thread. Jesus wept.

I'm sure the Levy/Enic/Poch out brigade will be in full force, but seriously... what good is that diatribe? All that attitude does is give us a stick for other fans, pundits, gutter press and gutter radio shows to beat us with.

I'm a Spurs fan. I'm content. Things are generally awesome at the min.
Yes. We've had a set back, but looking at the bigger picture, we're in a massive state of upheaval at the minute, so I think the club and everyone involved are doing everything to the best of their ability.

Fuck Chelsea, Liverpool, Arse etc. Our time is coming. So long as Poch is here, we're good.

Well said. I'm all for people having different opinions but some of the stuff posted in the match thread was just embarrassing. People calling for Pochettino to go and all sorts. Regardless of the result anyone calling for Pochettino to leave needs to take a long hard look at themselves and realise they're a clueless moron and probably a **** too

 

[mpickard2087]

A gutting way to go out, close but ultimately not quite enough.

I'm sure during the fallout to this game the narrative across the fanbase will be one of poor Poch and his team, working miracles yet hampered by his miserly owner. The man has done a fantastic job for us, taken us a long way, kept us chugging along during a difficult season with patched up teams, and maybe does deserve a bit more help, but it cant be escaped that a large part of what happened tonight was under his control and he is responsible for.

We started, once again, with the diamond formation. Ahhh yes, that. It worked for two or three weeks in what seems an increasingly long time ago (and in open games where we could have conceded nearly as many as we scored). Since then though most teams have played through it with ease - or, more accurately, gone around it, pulled us all over the park and broke us down. Chelsea tonight looked ready for it, much less of the play went through Jorginho than they usually do, swept the ball wide to the fullbacks and switched play, and had the likes of Kante and Barkley coming into the channels to link up and gang up on us. We struggled to press them throughout the half (as well as by comparison being boxed in ourselves) and, skipping ahead, eventually were caught overloaded on the flank for the second goal. Oh dear.

That's not even my biggest grumble.

The opening goal is, I have to say, one that I find completely unacceptable to concede. Because we just aren't learning from history and are repeating mistakes. For those who didn't see my posts in the match thread, what I'm talking about is that we apparently cant be bothered to mark players stood on the edge of the box. An obvious and dangerous place for the second ball to drop, but nah, we've decided we don't need to mark them.......... Except this is by my recollection the fourth goal in recent seasons we have conceded in this manner, and amazingly the second cup semi final against Chelsea where it's happened. I've made this point before, and had replies from those trying to be top fans along the lines of "oh there's nothing anyone can do about goals like that, it's bad luck", well they can fuck off. Quite frankly it's not fucking good enough, and if you don't learn you deserve to get punished for it. The finest of margins are often what separates you in sport at the highest level, set pieces are an obvious place where you can gain an edge in football, and yet we treat them with a fairly massive oversight. Even second half, right away a carbon copy scenario happens where they get a shot in unattended, and then all half they have two lurking with our players just carrying on leaving them to it. It's pretty staggering. I'll go down to the training ground myself and confront Poch myself if needs be, but someone at the club has got to wake up and look at it. We aren't learning.

At HT you feared the worst, we were wobbling badly with little sign of life. However we came out having switched to three at the back and to be fair to the players did manage to compete a bit better. I think that was more down to attitude and intensity, rather than any positional/tactical gains - we did press and engage them higher up the pitch but were still quite badly outnumbered in midfield and on the flanks at times, but we scrapped away to our considerable credit, got in their faces a bit more, and out of pretty much nothing got back level in the tie courtesy of a smart pass from Winks, a good cross from Rose, and then to be fair a very good improvised header from Llorente.

By and large we couldn't really build on that foothold back into the game though. A couple of promising openings for Llorente and Moura, but our remaining subs were a bit defensive and we seemed to retreat a bit and try and see it to penalties. In the end, we only just about did that, as the last 10 minutes were pretty awful from our perspective. No cool calm heads across the pitch really, lots of silly errors, or inability to keep the ball, and some rash decisions at the back. We just about saw it out.

What can you say about penalties...... you hope your team gets over the line, players step up and stick their kicks away and your goalkeeper can come up with a save or two. Ultimately, it didn't happen tonight, what more can you say? Learn from it, and do the business next time.

We were a bit unlucky tonight in the end, and demonstrated once again that this team, if nothing else, can scrap and doesn't give up even in adversity. However, no matter how many injuries we have, we dug a rather large hole for ourselves first half through aspects of the game that are largely within our control, and couldn't quite climb out of it. Must learn from it, and keep improving.


Gazzaniga - Yes he was probably unsighted, and it took a deflection, but you'd still hope he did better for the opening goal. It went straight through him. Otherwise he was pretty competent, and set up a couple of good counter attacks with his kicking. No heroics in the shootout though when you're praying he can step up.

Aurier - Nothing that was eye-catchingly spectacularly bad, but some of his positioning seemed all over the place, even when he had the relative luxury of a back three behind him. Also didn't really get forward much, albeit he had Hazard on his flank, and I thought some of his use of the ball was a bit untidy at times.

Alderweireld - Did ok. A couple of silly errors and did get away with that tackle from behind, but also some decent defending at times when called upon.

Vertonghen - Thought he was a bit slow sensing danger at times, and some silly play on the ball, but he made a crucial double block in the second half when Hazard was in on goal.

Davies - His turn for the obligatory injury from the game.

Sissoko - Worked hard, but he got the run around quite a lot and wasn't very good positionally tonight and kept switching off. Did run out of steam eventually and was rightly subbed.

Dier - Not a great nights work. Looked like it was far too soon for him, slow in body and mind numerous times whether in midfield or defence. Has the penalty come down out of orbit yet........?

Winks - Not a side midfielder and was constantly caught out of position whenever he was on the flanks, but looked much better in the centre of the park and to his credit at times was trying to hold it together by himself. Good energy though and one of our brighter sparks, and had a good involvement for the goal.

Eriksen - Did very little first half. Was a bit better in the second and made one super pass in particular. Don't think he offered much help without the ball throughout though and the shape definitely affected us.

Lamela - Another game where he didn't really take his chance. Put in a decent shift as usual but a lot of incoherence to his play.

Llorente - His current play is reflected by what he is. An old targetman who has lost the little pace/legs he had, and with the additional debilitating factors of having zero rhythm and confidence. You saw that first half, just trying to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible to someone else.
However he came out second half and grabbed a crucial goal - we see what needs to happen if he is to play, get up the pitch, with width and men around him, and deliver the ball - with a pretty good header it has to be said, and slowly was starting to be a bit more of a nuisance. I probably wouldn't have taken him off at that point, especially with penalties looming also, but the decision was made.

Subs:

Rose - Brought that bit of spark and aggro and was one of the main reasons we managed to claw our way back into it. Once again our only real outlet and put in a great cross for the goal. When he can get up and down the pitch like he is now, shows he is a better option than Davies. Let's hope he keeps it going.

Moura - Had one opportunity, but barely got into the game. And lets be honest, it was quite a poor penalty.

Sanchez - Not on for long. Made one good defensive read, and one bad one. About par for the course with him.


Poch - Learn from it.............. Please.

 

[SpursDave88]

A gutting way to go out, close but ultimately not quite enough.

I'm sure during the fallout to this game the narrative across the fanbase will be one of poor Poch and his team, working miracles yet hampered by his miserly owner. The man has done a fantastic job for us, taken us a long way, kept us chugging along during a difficult season with patched up teams, and maybe does deserve a bit more help, but it cant be escaped that a large part of what happened tonight was under his control and he is responsible for.

We started, once again, with the diamond formation. Ahhh yes, that. It worked for two or three weeks in what seems an increasingly long time ago (and in open games where we could have conceded nearly as many as we scored). Since then though most teams have played through it with ease - or, more accurately, gone around it, pulled us all over the park and broke us down. Chelsea tonight looked ready for it, much less of the play went through Jorginho than they usually do, swept the ball wide to the fullbacks and switched play, and had the likes of Kante and Barkley coming into the channels to link up and gang up on us. We struggled to press them throughout the half (as well as by comparison being boxed in ourselves) and, skipping ahead, eventually were caught overloaded on the flank for the second goal. Oh dear.

That's not even my biggest grumble.

The opening goal is, I have to say, one that I find completely unacceptable to concede. Because we just aren't learning from history and are repeating mistakes. For those who didn't see my posts in the match thread, what I'm talking about is that we apparently cant be bothered to mark players stood on the edge of the box. An obvious and dangerous place for the second ball to drop, but nah, we've decided we don't need to mark them.......... Except this is by my recollection the fourth goal in recent seasons we have conceded in this manner, and amazingly the second cup semi final against Chelsea where it's happened. Quite frankly it's not fucking good enough, and if you don't learn you deserve to get punished for it. The finest of margins are often what separates you in sport at the highest level, set pieces are an obvious place where you can gain an edge in football, and yet we treat them with a fairly massive oversight. Even second half, right away a carbon copy scenario happens where they get a shot in unattended, and then all half they have two lurking with our players just carrying on leaving them to it. It's pretty staggering. I'll go down to the training ground myself and confront Poch myself if needs be, but someone at the club has got to wake up and look at it. We aren't learning.

At HT you feared the worst, we were wobbling badly with little sign of life. However we came out having switched to three at the back and to be fair to the players did manage to compete a bit better. I think that was more down to attitude and intensity, rather than any positional/tactical gains - we did press and engage them higher up the pitch but were still quite badly outnumbered in midfield and on the flanks at times, but we scrapped away to our considerable credit, got in their faces a bit more, and out of pretty much nothing got back level in the tie courtesy of a smart pass from Winks, a good cross from Rose, and then to be fair a very good improvised header from Llorente.

By and large we couldn't really build on that foothold back into the game though. A couple of promising openings for Llorente and Moura, but our remaining subs were a bit defensive and we seemed to retreat a bit and try and see it to penalties. In the end, we only just about did that, as the last 10 minutes were pretty awful from our perspective. No cool calm heads across the pitch really, lots of silly errors, or inability to keep the ball, and some rash decisions at the back. We just about saw it out.

What can you say about penalties...... you hope your team gets over the line, players step up and stick their kicks away and your goalkeeper can come up with a save or two. Ultimately, it didn't happen tonight, what more can you say? Learn from it, and do the business next time.

We were a bit unlucky tonight in the end, and demonstrated once again that this team, if nothing else, can scrap and doesn't give up even in adversity. However, no matter how many injuries we have, we dug a rather large hole for ourselves first half through aspects of the game that are largely within our control, and couldn't quite climb out of it. Must learn from it, and keep improving.


Gazzaniga - Yes he was probably unsighted, and it took a deflection, but you'd still hope he did better for the opening goal. It went straight through him. Otherwise he was pretty competent, and set up a couple of good counter attacks with his kicking. No heroics in the shootout though when you're praying he can step up.

Aurier - Nothing that was eye-catchingly spectacularly bad, but some of his positioning seemed all over the place, even when he had the relative luxury of a back three behind him. Also didn't really get forward much, albeit he had Hazard on his flank, and I thought some of his use of the ball was a bit untidy at times.

Alderweireld - Did ok. A couple of silly errors and did get away with that tackle from behind, but also some decent defending at times when called upon.

Vertonghen - Thought he was a bit slow sensing danger at times, and some silly play on the ball, but he made a crucial double block in the second half when Hazard was in on goal.

Davies - His turn for the obligatory injury from the game.

Sissoko - Worked hard, but he got the run around quite a lot and wasn't very good positionally tonight and kept switching off. Did run out of steam eventually and was rightly subbed.

Dier - Not a great nights work. Looked like it was far too soon for him, slow in body and mind numerous times whether in midfield or defence. Has the penalty come down out of orbit yet........?

Winks - Not a side midfielder and was constantly caught out of position whenever he was on the flanks, but looked much better in the centre of the park and to his credit at times was trying to hold it together by himself. Good energy though and one of our brighter sparks, and had a good involvement for the goal.

Eriksen - Did very little first half. Was a bit better in the second and made one super pass in particular. Don't think he offered much help without the ball throughout though and the shape definitely affected us.

Lamela - Another game where he didn't really take his chance. Put in a decent shift as usual but a lot of incoherence to his play.

Llorente - His current play is reflected by what he is. An old targetman who has lost the little pace/legs he had, and with the additional debilitating factors of having zero rhythm and confidence. You saw that first half, just trying to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible to someone else.
However he came out second half and grabbed a crucial goal - we see what needs to happen if he is to play, get up the pitch, with width and men around him, and deliver the ball - with a pretty good header it has to be said, and slowly was starting to be a bit more of a nuisance. I probably wouldn't have taken him off at that point, especially with penalties looming also, but the decision was made.

Subs:

Rose - Brought that bit of spark and aggro and was one of the main reasons we managed to claw our way back into it. Once again our only real outlet and put in a great cross for the goal. When he can get up and down the pitch like he is now, shows he is a better option than Davies. Let's hope he keeps it going.

Moura - Had one opportunity, but barely got into the game. And lets be honest, it was quite a poor penalty.

Sanchez - Not on for long. Made one good defensive read, and one bad one. About par for the course with him.


Poch - Learn from it.............. Please.

Great analysis. Rose was fantastic...dragged us back into the game by the scruff of the neck.

 

[werty]

People will say we lost because we were missing so many attacking players, and that's partially true. However, we were lucky to win the first leg with the missing players playing and arguably played better in the second half today than we did at home with Kane, Alli and Son. We lost this game largely because of Poch. Now that I've said that I'm sure I'll be attacked for that opinion and most won't read below why I think that's the case.

He picked completely the wrong formation in the first half, had zero pace in the team and arguably our best performer on the night started from the bench and only came on because of an injury. We had two athletically challenged players up front playing a formation that only worked the first time we played them (and they'd shown in the first leg that they weren't going to let us beat them that way again) because we had mobility in with Kane and Son and the ability to counter them. With Lamela and Llorente that was never going to happen and we were forced to play eye of the need stuff to get Lamela and Eriksen on the ball and hope they could hold onto in tight areas, something they aren't particularly good at, while our fullbacks trundled forward. We let them switch play easily because we played so narrow and thus couldn't press very well and let them switch play easily.

The difference between the first half and the second with largely the same team was night and day. Poch deserves some credit for changing at HT because he usually would have waited until half way through the half, but unfortunately the damage was done. We played 20 yards further up the pitch because we had the ability with the wings backs to stop the easy outballs. That allowed our midfield to actually play in midfield.
.
Gazzaniga 7 -Great distribution. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for the first goal. Never got near the penalties.

Aurier 5 - Useless with the ball and luckily for him Sissoko made up for his decision and positioning inability.
Alderweireld 7 - Good for the most part.
Vertonghen 7 - Same. His double tackle in the seocnd half was great. I thought both he and Alderweireld were a little guilty of being slack with the ball, but it's not always easy to see on TV if it's because of a lack of options in front.
Davies 6 - Alright. He's no Rose, but who is?

Winks 6 - Tried to get on the ball. Took too many touches on it too often. Needs to stop paying homage to Parker with his pirouettes.
Dier 4 - Was so far of the pace.
Sissoko 6 - Did a decent job in midfield and right back.

Eriksen 5 - Dreadful first half. Great pass for Llorente's chance but that's one of the only good things he done.

Lamela 5 - Relatively speaking he wasn't too bad in the first, but he was bad in the second. He can't play in a team that has no pace around him.
Llorrente 5 - If you judge a fish by his ability to climb a tree...Like our performance, the difference between the second and first half were huge. First half he couldn't control or pass the ball, but he was playing in a system that didn't help. Second half we was laying the ball of way better - he even made a great pass off his back that I think was deliberate - and scored an excellent header. We played 20 yards higher up the field and we could now play better to his strengths. Should have done better with the volley. Think he was unlucky to be taken off and I would have much preferred to have had him up front with Lucas because at least he would have had some pace around him.

Rose 7 - Greatly miss his pace and aggression.
Lucas 6 - Should have done better with his chance. Didn't get him the ball enough, a lot of which is his fault.
Sanchez 5 - Got badly beaten for their late chance. The decision to commit himself was a poor one.

 

[mpickard2087]

People will say we lost because we were missing so many attacking players, and that's partially true. However, we were lucky to win the first leg with the missing players playing and arguably played better in the second half today than we did at home with Kane, Alli and Son. We lost this game largely because of Poch. Now that I've said that I'm sure I'll be attacked for that opinion and most won't read below why I think that's the case.

He picked completely the wrong formation in the first half, had zero pace in the team and arguably our best performer on the night started from the bench and only came on because of an injury. We had two athletically challenged players up front playing a formation that only worked the first time we played them (and they'd shown in the first leg that they weren't going to let us beat them that way again) because we had mobility in with Kane and Son and the ability to counter them. With Lamela and Llorente that was never going to happen and we were forced to play eye of the need stuff to get Lamela and Eriksen on the ball and hope they could hold onto in tight areas, something they aren't particularly good at, while our fullbacks trundled forward. We let them switch play easily because we played so narrow and thus couldn't press very well and let them switch play easily.

The difference between the first half and the second with largely the same team was night and day. Poch deserves some credit for changing at HT because he usually would have waited until half way through the half, but unfortunately the damage was done. We played 20 yards further up the pitch because we had the ability with the wings backs to stop the easy outballs. That allowed our midfield to actually play in midfield.
.
Gazzaniga 7 -Great distribution. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for the first goal. Never got near the penalties.

Aurier 5 - Useless with the ball and luckily for him Sissoko made up for his decision and positioning inability.
Alderweireld 7 - Good for the most part.
Vertonghen 7 - Same. His double tackle in the seocnd half was great. I thought both he and Alderweireld were a little guilty of being slack with the ball, but it's not always easy to see on TV if it's because of a lack of options in front.
Davies 6 - Alright. He's no Rose, but who is?

Winks 6 - Tried to get on the ball. Took too many touches on it too often. Needs to stop paying homage to Parker with his pirouettes.
Dier 4 - Was so far of the pace.
Sissoko 6 - Did a decent job in midfield and right back.

Eriksen 5 - Dreadful first half. Great pass for Llorente's chance but that's one of the only good things he done.

Lamela 5 - Relatively speaking he wasn't too bad in the first, but he was bad in the second. He can't play in a team that has no pace around him.
Llorrente 5 - If you judge a fish by his ability to climb a tree...Like our performance, the difference between the second and first half were huge. First half he couldn't control or pass the ball, but he was playing in a system that didn't help. Second half we was laying the ball of way better - he even made a great pass off his back that I think was deliberate - and scored an excellent header. We played 20 yards higher up the field and we could now play better to his strengths. Should have done better with the volley. Think he was unlucky to be taken off and I would have much preferred to have had him up front with Lucas because at least he would have had some pace around him.

Rose 7 - Greatly miss his pace and aggression.
Lucas 6 - Should have done better with his chance. Didn't get him the ball enough, a lot of which is his fault.
Sanchez 5 - Got badly beaten for their late chance. The decision to commit himself was a poor one.

Agree with pretty much all of that.

 

[Phomesy]

Just the same old shit, to be honest. No point making excuses, yeah the ref was awful, yeah away goals blah blah (we wouldn’t have lasted 30 mins extra time), yeah we have injuries (self inflicted due to the sheer lack of depth in our squad).

I‘d honestly rather we just stayed as shit as we were in the 90s. Bored of being alsorans. Sorry, lads - I’m just so sick of the constant failure and that’s what it is - failure. Sugar coat it to yourself however you want guys, I can’t see us winning anything any time soon and this is as good as it gets for us. Sack the board, staff and all the players tbh.

It’s this kind of “can do” spirit in the face of adversity that will see this nation through any of the travails this century has to offer.

 

[@Bobby__Lucky]

Missed the first half hour as was my little nephews first birthday.. But..

Gazza, good footwork, unlucky with the first goal, looks like it had a late deflection, but why was Kante allowed to shoot so freely? Poor set up.

Incidently Kante is quite a baller, never saw that kind of skill level tonight from him.

Anyway..

Aurier did ok

Toby... Cool as a fan mainly

Jan.. Seemed to be uncomfortable with the press aand turned into trouble.

Didn't see Davies..

Rose.. Clear man of the match for us. Love his attitude, he really does look back to himself this season.

Dier... Pissed me off jogging back nonchalantly when done for the hazard goal... It pissed me off before it went in. Not his best show.

Eriksen... Largely unnoticeable

Winks.. He tried and had moments. Love his attitude.

Sissoko.. Covered well for aurier, but this thing of him covering RB is becoming very overused and predictable. Not his fault, but it's jarring me generally this tactic.

Llorente. Lol looked like he closed his eyes for this one too but managed to get the ball in the net.

Lamela.. Nothing went right for him tonight, was a bit headless chicken with his running. Was unlucky with the offside call which he was on. Poor linesman call especially after the hoo ha made about not flagging unless certain. Not saying he would of scored but he was through and on the right side to use his left foot to shoot. We will never know as he was denied his moment. But one of those games where he didn't look like a technical attacking player at all. I hope he can study himself and learn to adapt his play in this type of game. Really hoped he would take his opportunity as a striker but that said Llorente is hardly full of movement to aid... There was little chemistry between them.

On the whole Chelsea looked like they wanted it more. And had more desire. That I didnt like at all. Yes we were a bit unlucky. Always a rule change and it punishes us first. First time no away goal rule and we would of won on away goals. Typical. Regardless tactically we played into their hands first half. So poch does need to learn more too. Sadly Chelsea deserved their win.

 

[nasescoba1985]

This is the difference between both of our clubs. Chelsea are serial winners and Spurs unfortunately are not. I had a shitty feeling about this game all week and whilst we did ok to battle back and take the game to pens with such a depleted team, ain’t some of you just a bit fed up of always being the bridesmaids and never the bride? That’s 9 semi final losses in a row now, that’s just abysmal. I’m not angry at the players today as such because a penalty shootout is a lottery, but you need to answer this question. Why do Spurs as a club and in particular this group of players continuously fail when it truly matters ? There is only so many more years where we can keep saying “ im so proud “ “ don’t worry be patient the trophies are coming “ before we just accept that this Spurs side just don’t have what it takes.

 

[Flashspur]

Just the same old shit, to be honest. No point making excuses, yeah the ref was awful, yeah away goals blah blah (we wouldn’t have lasted 30 mins extra time), yeah we have injuries (self inflicted due to the sheer lack of depth in our squad).

I‘d honestly rather we just stayed as shit as we were in the 90s. Bored of being alsorans. Sorry, lads - I’m just so sick of the constant failure and that’s what it is - failure. Sugar coat it to yourself however you want guys, I can’t see us winning anything any time soon and this is as good as it gets for us. Sack the board, staff and all the players tbh.

A bit emotional even for you dude. Take a deep breath and lie down.

I thought we played as well as we could based on the injuries and changes in formation and some players playing out of position. I thought we did well. I would not say we were outplayed but things didn't click for us.

It is what it is. Having 12 players in the World Cup is coming back to haunt us as all these muscle injuries, fatigue etc are an example of that. Alli would have a critical player today but he was absent. Of course not having Kane and Son is a let down but this was a chance for others to shine but we couldn't get those flowing moves going. And when it got to penalties you just knew it wasn't our day.

I was optimistic beforehand because the fighting spirit of this team has been brilliant this season. I don't think they let us down. Onwards and upwards. COYS!

 

[TheHoddleWaddle]

Having slept on it. when all the emotions have died down the result was both likely and deserved. Look at the teams on the pitch and compare. I thought, in the end, spurs did well to hang onto a draw. It was looking like a spanking at one point.

The first half performance, inhibited by pochettino setting up the team as he did, was an insipid mess. A lot of that was also down to player attitude / mindset. How.else do you explain a competent second half. Competent, but lacked quality. Certainly by comparison to the opposition.

At the end, I was left wondering what might have been if they'd actually turned up for the first 45 minutes. At one.point it felt like.i'd been transported back to the bad old days of the 90's. Whatever poch' said at half time.had the desired effect and we saw a dramatic improvement. Going to a back 3 assisted in the tactical department.

I take heart from.the effort, I'm too long a spurs fan to be gutted or in despair. But the team put out was always going to be punching above its weight.

There was nothing that pochettino could.have done, really. Danny Rose aside, all.the replacements on the bench were much of a muchness in quality.

A tough few weeks ahead. We've been through worse though.

 

[TheHoddleWaddle]

Oh, and, being all for silver linings. We only broke 2 players in Davies and Sissoko? And we don't have to play citeh.

Oh, and that suptuously sexual pass from Eriksen to Llorente. That was a thing of beauty. If only it was his.head not his feet it landed on!

 

[Japhet]

Better performance than the home leg when we weren't missing our key players. Sissoko MOM for me just edging out Rose and Winks. So pleased for Llorente bagging a goal.

 

[double0]

The narrative is that we have a threadbare squad and that can be argued until the cows come home. I’m disappointed no doubt yet proud we competed second half well , against a full strength Chelsea ,typical Tottenham luck that we won technically on away goals going out on penalties.

I don’t care what the media says any team missing three of their main goal scorers would struggle against any of the top six at full strength.