Tottenham Vs Bayer Leverkusen: Match Thread

[Sweetsman]

I'll get stick but I Didn't think much of the fans tonight tbh. Where I was (Upper tier above the Leverkusen fans) it was quiet throughout and you had people start to go on 65 mins when they scored and from the 75th it was a steady stream.

I know all the reasons - it's a chore getting out, particularly at Wembley Park, some have trains to get after that and it will be a late night, some have kids, the team weren't giving us much to get behind - I get it, they're legitimate, and of course a paying fan can choose when they leave. However it was a time tonight where I think, whatever shit we were seeing on the pitch, we needed to get behind the team a bit with some support. I don't think either game at Wembley we really have in all truth.

I was near you, I guess. It was appalling that they left when they did, but tbh the atmosphere was dead when it was full.

 

[Sweetsman]

This is what's bugging me and I presume everyone else. We've once again made a decent team look really good. We simply haven't turned up in this tournament and I wouldn't be suprised if some of the opposition fans weren't scratching their heads thinking "I thought this lot were supposed to be good?"

We haven't looked remotely like anything of last season. The hunger seems to be missing.

Maybe, a lot of self-belief went with last season.

 

[Sweetsman]

I wonder if sissoko has problems with his eyesight. 3 or 4 times tonight a ball was coming through the air right to him, and he completely misread it and headed fresh air. To keep completely missing the ball can't be normal.

He doesn't see players next to him, because he tries playing through them.

 

[Sweetsman]

.

If all you've got is insults and a short memory you're really not worth arguing with. Toodle-oo.

It's not a short memory at all, it's an assessment of the whole picture and not some biased retrospective. We have had a lot of plaudits for the last 12-18 months, and that's according to Roy Keane. Just because we have stagnated and some of the players have lost their self-belief, it doesn't means all the other achievements should be discounted.

 

[Sweetsman]

Transitional.

The word you're looking for is transitional.

We are in Purgatory.

Our children may know what we had. But we won't.

Is that a place in Indiana?

 

[Sweetsman]

All week I was looking forward to going to the game. after a minute or two when lloris, our captain, misplaced a couple of passes, I knew this was going to be a terrible night. It just set the tone for the rest of the game.

Lloris' distribution was awful and put us on the back foot regularly.

 

[DiamondLites]

Dembele is a conundrum at the moment, he clearly needs game time as he looks rusty and overweight, he was like Mido circa 2009 out there tonight. His eye-gouge cost us last season and it's costing us big again this season, as we need an on song and healthy Moose dominating the middle third

As it is, he is sluggish and picking up little niggles and as such he cannot get going at all

 

[@Bobby__Lucky]

Just finished watching the 90. Watched without knowing the result, wish I hadn't bothered.

We were awful, really really awful.

Don't really think we have been good all season. Even if we take the bias off, Man City game was a good tactical performance rather than excellent football.

Players should be ashamed of themselves, all of them. Only Jan comes out with credit tonight and probably winks. Other than that complete shower. Sissoko was awful.

One thing I have noticed is that Wanyama doesn't suit either of our midfielders. He's been one of our best this year, actually probably our best, but it's weird like he doesn't suit the team, or any of our midfield partners. So plays well himself but team doesn't. Dembele especially doesn't seem to gel with him. It's weird really weird as it should work but it isn't.

Conundrum for Sunday now Dembele out, Dier in Defence, does Eriksen play CM or does Winks? Lamela probably out, Sissoko Banned, squad looking painfully thin right now.

 

[glacierSpurs]

Wembley sucks, yes
We were without Toby, Kane, Lamela and Rose, yes
Our transfers were not the best, yes

But, we are a professional team in the EPL ffs.. there are still full international players in that team! those replacements called in to perform cant be that drastically bad from the players they were standing in for! no matter the formation, tactics, field size, team mates, they should still be able to play the basics right, but they were not!

so disjointed it was shocking.. shocking because this team is supposedly coached by someone who holds strict discipline in fitness and tactical deployment, yet the performance demonstrated nothing of this sort.. the training sessions are almost like just acts and poses for social media purposes.. it is becoming so scary these recent performances were seemingly unprepared.. having another eleven players sharing the field just froze them...

 

[bigspurs]

We started off the pace and clown-like at the back. Probably the worst performance I've seen in a while. Massively missing Toby, a properly fit Dembele and most of all, Kane. Davies was utter crap and Ali is quite useless at the moment.

Saying all that, BL were also pretty shittty themselves and lucky to win, cause we did have a few very close chances.

Agree with previous posts about the atmosphere. Totally non existent. This is partly because of the amount of corporate seats and the fact that they had covered over the first 10-15 rows of seats behind both goals, for whatever effed-up reason?! The fans are about 30 yards away from the pitch behind the goals and 20 yards on the sides. Never going to generate much under those circumstances!

 

[shelfboy68]

Not in the mood for articulate analysis. Just got back from Wembley....

WHAT THE F@$K WAS THAT????

Didn't press them effectively - in fact they pressed up high up exactly like we usually do. Passing was abysmal - no tempo to out play. Players looked tired, off the pace, uninterested and lacking any fight at all.

Sissoko can't play whatsoever - just runs into people and hopes the ball ricochets his way. NEVER seen a £30m player.with so little technical ability.

We didn't even have any urgency in the break when we had numerical advantage.

Utter, unmitigated RUBBISH!

Worried about the NLD - thats one of the worst performances Ive ever struggled though - and I remember the late nineties under Francis! Honestly haven't been that angry during a match since Jason Dozzel and Tramezzani were in the side!!

Sort it out Poch - because that was UTTER SHITE!!!

Not sure he can sort it tbh it has been coming for a few weeks and tonight was the pinnacle of that.
Cant understand why weak areas of the team still have not been addressed, how poch can think they dont need much is a joke.
And as for waiting for kane to come back well he was poor before he got injured so hardly inspiring.
So now we go into a NLD with a team that is not scoring, creating, lack of movement plus low on confidence i can hardly wait.

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

I am pleased that we rested half these players against Liverpool, it appears to have paid off. I guess that Poch is on a bonus for keeping travel expenses to a minimum this season.

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

It did seem clueless tonight.

Why did we spend 30m on Sissoko? 20m on Jansen and not buy one world class player?

We used to, but we now have a Chairman shopping at Harrods with a Woolworths budget.

 

[TheChosenOne]

Are you hoping or just doing an AVB?

AVB

 

[spursfan77]

Eriksen, Alli and Dier, that certainly rings true about the 3 of them. Eriksen has been on-existent (I've got big questions about his mentality and whether or not he is too weak to step up and be the man), Dier who is making a meal out of so many basic things and doesn't seem to be playing with aggression of last year (England hangover?), whereas Alli other than his goals hasn't really got going yet.

Don't think it rings true for Alli. Against Leicester you could see in his face he was desperate to compete and win. I said after the game on Saturday he looked to be the only one who really wanted it.

 

[thfcsteff]

Alli has been working very very hard and has been very unlucky. Eriksen has consistently hidden most of this season. Here was a game he could've tried to influence, yet here he was again sitting too deep and looking like he simply did not fancy it. He is increasingly morphing into a Dozzelian Samways, when all the potential pointed to a twinkle-toed Gazza.And he should leave free-kicks to Dier or Janssen!!! As for Sissoko I want to believe, but tonight has pushed me far away from doing so.

Perversely I think we might beat them on Sunday!

 

[spursfan77]

I was near you, I guess. It was appalling that they left when they did, but tbh the atmosphere was dead when it was full.

It's because it's just horrible to watch football in. I've only ever been there in cup finals before so it's a bit different but I'm not really surprised the England team is so bad and playing there is partly responsible I'd say. It would be interesting to see if they'd improve playing at other grounds round the country. I'd imagine so.

 

[sebo_sek]

Jansen is real mystery. On Polish TV they called it wwhat it is, when they asked how such a clutz could have been best scorer in Holland?
But add to it Alli, Eriksen, Sissoko, Lamela Dembele and we have a team that simply can't cut it.
Put in the youngsters I say. At least they'll be hungry. I mean if the Goons could have done it, why can't we?

 

[ernie78]

Jansen is real mystery. On Polish TV they called it wwhat it is, when they asked how such a clutz could have been best scorer in Holland?
But add to it Alli, Eriksen, Sissoko, Lamela Dembele and we have a team that simply can't cut it.
Put in the youngsters I say. At least they'll be hungry. I mean if the Goons could have done it, why can't we?

How is he a clutz? He might not be scoring but that isn't due to him not being able to control a ball and shooting at the corner flag. He got sod all service last night, Kane wouldn't have had a sniff last night either.
And it's Janssen

 

[1882andallthat]

I don't want to hear anymore excuses about a Wembley curse, it's a football pitch for Christ sakes. We even have one specifically prepared to the exact dimensions etc at our training ground. The players shouldn't be allowed anymore excuses to hide behind, quite simply that performance wasn't anywhere near good enough whatever pitch it was on.

I know in my heart of hearts that the players won't be reading this but I want to say this - "All I've been hearing from you lot over the last few years is how you are all desperate for the chance play in Champions League, and when you eventually got there how you were relishing it, well frankly I've seen absolutely no evidence of it, actions always speak louder than words. You have been hugely backed by thousands and thousands of fans who have turned up, where the f*ck have you been ? Now get out there and show us you mean it, no if no buts, no more excuses, get the f*ck out there and grab six points from your last two games, you now have to do it the hard way, you got yourselves into this mess now you can bloody well get yourselves out of it, anything less and you can all f*ck off!!!"

"oh and whilst we're at it we are sick and tired of being baited and seen as laughing stock by the Gooners, Spammers and Chavs, were still smarting from all the shit we had to take from them after last seasons almighty f*ck up in conspiring to throw 2nd place away to the Gooners, and how fans from those three despicable teams aforementioned queued up in their thousands to take pot shots of piss taking at our expense, I can see it now, this axis of London football evil are absolutely chomping at the bit to have another go at it, one after the other, so get the f*ck out there and let your football do the talking, we demand to see a 100% improvement against those three teams one after the other, anything less than that in full blooded commitment applicantion and effort will not be acceptable, COYS, the challenge has been laid down now show us all that you are up for it"

Rant over......