The next leg of our european adventure is now upon us and had the previous game finished in the 73rd minute tonights game should have been a case of just turning up and start saying hello to the quarter finals, but to use the oldest cliche in the book, Football is a funny old game. Had the referee not had fallen for the cheating and dives from a team who base themselves on Arsenal (says it all really doesnt it) we would have one foot firmly planted in the next round of the UEFA cup, at the moment Martin Jol has his big toe in the door and is just waiting to barge the rest of himself through that door.
Tonights game for Spurs will see the team featuring a new centre back partnership of most likely Dawson and Chimbonda, This is due to the freak injury that Snoop picked up after coming on against chelsea after just 2 minutes, and The fact that we decided to sign a centre back in Rocha who is cup tied. Paul "diesel" Stalteri is likley to fill in for Chimbonda who moves inside to Centre back, Left back will be filled as usual at the moment by Lee Young Pyo.
The defence in last weeks game didnt once seem really troubled apart from the incidents where the ref thought he would make the tie a bit more interesting. Braga are to me your typical european side, Willing to give oponents a lot of time and space, something you hardly ever get in the premier league. They also seem to lack pace, which could be a problem for them, with the likes of Lennon and Zokora being rather pacey midfielders. If Zokora can boss the midfield and run it at his own pace then this game should be over before its started. Their defence didnt seem to know how to handle Keane and Berbatov last week, with Berbatov being usual nonchalant self and keane being a bit of a live wire. Tonight I think they will have to try and deal with JD's Pace and trickery, something I think they will not be able to do. They may also have to face Mido rather then Berbatov (who picked up a slight groin injury on sunday) Mido is in desperate need of an impressing few games as he is yet to really shine this season. Failure to shine in the ramainder of the season would surely mean Mido being shown the exit door, with Man city a possible destination.
Braga Bring with them a Goalkeeper who doesnt seem to know what sport he is actually playing, last week he turned up for the game in a rather homosexual looking cycling/swimming/Little Britain style outfit and should he wear that tonight im sure he will be in for some seriuos amount of stick from the park lane faithful. They also have a manager in Jorge Costa who spent a season at Charlton who will know what the english style of football is like, he will also know what kind of atmsphere to expect when his team arrives in the greatest football arena in the world (possibly my Bias view)
I can see this game being a bit more difficult then most fans will be thinking, I know that Braga looked like an amatuer team at times but you dont get to the last 16 of the Uefa cup by being a mickey mouse outfit. If we can get an early goal I think it will settle the nerves and we then go on from there and progress to the next round and be one step closer to Glasgow
So get behind the boys tonight and lets show Arsenal do Minho what a real team is.
COYS