Match Threads Spurs vs RB Leipzig 1st leg - Match Thread

[Hotspur88]

Great interview by Mou.

Any links to it anywhere? What did he say?

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

yeah that’s why I said gamble - lack of fitness vs clear quality upgrade

makes me sad when I see Lamela because his intensity reminds me of how we used to play as a team

Well mate Jose literally just came out and said neither were able to start and lamela hadn’t even trained! So knew it. His hands are tied.

 

[soflapaul]

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the game today was beating soundly to the ball time after time after time. They had far better anticipation and were moving a split second faster to where the ball was going. Our team work rate obviously upped a notch when Lamela and Tanguay came on so let's hope that isn't lost on the coaches or the players. Chelsea is beatable in their current state but it will be an effort like the end of the game and not the beginning that will drive it.

 

[wrd]

Because he doesn't show that same passion on the pitch. He fannys out of challenges, ducks under headers when challenged and then does something a bit petulant and everyone goes "yeah, well done Dele, great shit-housery". It's all good throwing a tantrum on the bench but the harsh truth is that he hasn't been good for a long while now with his little purple patch when Jose arrived aside.

He outran everybody on the pitch despite playing half hour less, he didnt have a good game but as I said he wasnt any worse than anybody else which shows we didnt approach it right, he was trying to make things happen here and there like on the stroke of half time one of our only 2 good plays in the first half. I didnt see him doing any shithousery things on the pitch

 

[Jamturk]

I preferred Sherwood to this rubbish.

 

[shelfmonkey]

People blaming Mourinho make me laugh. We were never going to score in that

People blaming Mourinho make me laugh. We were never going to score in that match because we were playing with players who don’t have a strikers’ instinct, good penalty box movement or ability to hold up the ball and occupy opponent centre halves.

The owners (Levy, Lewis etc) are to blame for this mess. There is no one else at fault here.

Mourinho has done a very respectable job at steadying the ship after an absolutely disastrous start to the season but the club has wasted many transfer windows failing to identify and invest in a player/players to rotate with a guy who has been out for many months on end in each of the past 3 seasons.

It’s negligence, that’s all it is. This negligence is now biting us on the arse, despite a really solid effort from the new manager to keep us competitive.

I just don’t know how we’re going to score goals now. We need a miracle, not just in the Champions League but all competitions.

Couldn't agree more????
The BsoDL will have your bollocks though!!

 

[Led's Zeppelin]

I’m more optimistic than most of you seem to be.

Seeing how we played for the last 25 minutes was genuinely exciting, especially taking into account the injuries to two of our best players and attacking threats.

If we had a striker on the pitch to take advantage of our midfield’s creativity and control, and to pull their defence a bit more out of shape in the way HK does better than anyone, a lot of those moves would have resulted in the “clear chances” that JJ complained about us not making.

But of all the tactical problems we understandably moanEd about over the first hour, I saw enough in the last half-hour to make me feel we‘re slowly becoming a far better team than we have been for a year or more.

Basically, I can’t wait for next season to start!

 

[Archibald&Crooks]

@SpursTillIDie1882 you're such a child with your petty little revenge rep Grow up you fucking hero.

 

[shelfmonkey]

He outran everybody on the pitch despite playing half hour less, he didnt have a good game but as I said he wasnt any worse than anybody else which shows we didnt approach it right, he was trying to make things happen here and there like on the stroke of half time one of our only 2 good plays in the first half. I didnt see him doing any shithousery things on the pitch

He ran about a lot, whoopee fucking doo!! What is he? A fucking dog?!! He was more or less invisible, did absolutely nothing!!!

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Who said he’d have a new approach mate? He’s not changed for years, I didn’t expect anything else but 100% agree with these players it’s a weird way to play as doesn’t seem to fit what we have.

All the itk when he joined saying that during his time off he has developed a new approach.

We are booting it long to Alli and Lucas and hoping for the best. We actually have some good midfielders, why not try and play to their strengths?

 

[Yiddo100]

Love Hoddle but he needs to realise you can’t play the way you want if you got no strikers

 

[scat1620]

While folk grind their teeth I'm gonna just say it, if we go out, we go out. Last year was the same until we hit the final, we lucked it, we're gonna need some more this year.

Agreed. We can't possibly win the CL this season, not by any stretch of the imagination. We should be making the FA Cup our top priority this season IMO (a competition we could still conceivably win) and then the second priority should be finishing as high as we can in the league (especially as it will be so difficult to finish in the top 4/5 with all our current injury problems).

We have limited playing resources until the summer, and we should focus using them on the competitions where we'll get the most bang for our buck; and in that spirit, the Champions League is currently right at the bottom of the list for me.

 

[seppo]

People blaming Mourinho make me laugh. We were never going to score in that match because we were playing with players who don’t have a strikers’ instinct, good penalty box movement or ability to hold up the ball and occupy opponent centre halves.

The owners (Levy, Lewis etc) are to blame for this mess. There is no one else at fault here.

Mourinho has done a very respectable job at steadying the ship after an absolutely disastrous start to the season but the club has wasted many transfer windows failing to identify and invest in a player/players to rotate with a guy who has been out for many months on end in each of the past 3 seasons.

It’s negligence, that’s all it is. This negligence is now biting us on the arse, despite a really solid effort from the new manager to keep us competitive.

I just don’t know how we’re going to score goals now. We need a miracle, not just in the Champions League but all competitions.

Why is the only option for playing 'attacking' football having someone that can "hold up the ball", what are we still in the 90's? I did not see Werner having to hold up the ball once those 90 minutes. Neither does Vardy, Aguero, Rashford. I could go on. These are all pacey and players that are either good in the box (Aguero) or are pacey & like going behind the CBs. The problem starts well ahead of who is playing as a striker. It's the entire mentality of the team, the system and how we're set up. Listen to him moan all week about how we're more or less completely shot. Just now after the game as well. Talking like we're this massive underdog that just HAD to sit back and 'fight'. This is glorified Allardyce-talk.

 

[Hazelton]

How do you expect him to play? He's not going to play open expansive football against Leipzig like we tried v Bayern and got pummeled. It was clever tactics tonight to sit in and try and counter. Unfortunately we couldn't manage to hold the ball up top much but that's down to the players he has, like I said.

Our defence isn't good enough to hold off a quick attack either without having some element of protection in front of them either. Playing open football or even short passing moves is not an option right now. Clearly the players are still lacking in some confidence.

Honestly, I get where you're coming from and i appreciate that we're going through a turbulent period at the club but I fail to see how the best option right now is to take a team that has only ever known to press high and keep possession and ask them to literally sit back and wait for the occasional counter or continually punting the ball forward in hope.

There must be some place in the middle that utilises our technical players and at least tries to keep the ball and make the opposition work for a change, rather than inviting teams on to our fragile defence. I don't know, maybe not. I hope he knows what he's doing, god knows he understands the game far better than I do.

 

[ardiles&villa]

This what happens when you don’t have a register striker and you go through a window without buying one....goals dry up

 

[Guernman]

I don't mind playing like that against Liverpool or City, but we showed Leipzig too much respect. You could see in the last 20 minutes that they were there for the taking tonight.

These tactics are madness without a target man to switch the play. And since we were forced to play without a striker why not play to dominate the midfield and possession and use it to our advantage as much as we can.

Aside from Davies' ludicrous moment, I don't think there were bad performances out there. Dele worked hard, Winks I thought gave everything. Llloris showed that he is world class, Sanchez gave the best performance for a long while. As for Lo Celso he is really starting to show his class.

Ultimately though the tactics were wrong.

 

[SpursTillIDie1882]

@SpursTillIDie1882 you're such a child with your petty little revenge rep. Grow up you fucking hero.

Its not petty at all when i disagree with your point, i was actually in the middle of writing a response to show why regarding your post, but i i guess i dont need to with that response from you

 

[Graysonti]

If ndombele doesn't start against Chelsea then we know something is wrong with him.

I watched him close tonight.

He is an absolute great footballer but definitely looks off the pace physically so not so good at the off the ball ugly work. Tracking, chasing, harrying. I can understand a manager restricting his game time. Absolutely great on the ball.

 

[spurs mental]

Honestly, I get where you're coming from and i appreciate that we're going through a turbulent period at the club but I fail to see how the best option right now is to take a team that has only ever known to press high and keep possession and ask them to literally sit back and wait for the occasional counter or continually punting the ball forward in hope.

There must be some place in the middle that utilises our technical players and at least tries to keep the ball and make the opposition work for a change, rather than inviting teams on to our fragile defence. I don't know, maybe not. I hope he knows what he's doing, god knows he understands the game far better than I do.

But we hadn't pressed teams properly under Poch for almost 12 months anyway?

The players we have look afraid of the ball most of the time bar Ndombele and Lo Celso. Nobody wants to take a risk. Winks, good and all as hes been recently, has enough pace to go passed people and constantly looks like hes about to only to check back all the time.

They are lacking in confidence massively. All of them.

 

[LSUY]

This season? They were nothing 10 years ago and are now in the CL. It doesnt come from nothing.

Could be because Leipzig is a well-run club who plays in a country where the football league system isn't as deep and competitive as England's. Since 10/11 Leipzig has paid out approx. £286m in transfer fees whereas since 17/18 Everton have spent approx. £380m and since 16/17 we've spent approx. £318m. Leicester, West Ham, Newcastle, Watford, and Palace have record signings who cost them more than Leipzig's record. Leipzig might be rich by Bundesliga standards but they aren't compared to a lot of Premier League teams. The main difference is Leipzig is smart enough to buy Timo Werner for £13m while Newcastle is pissing £39m up the wall for Joelinton.