* Another Chelsea game and still no OMT *

[glasgowspur]

If Llorente was fully match sharp then perhaps he’d have realised that he was in acres of space and could’ve taken a touch before slotting home; like what Dele did there last season.

I can't see It properly on that clip above, but as I remember it the ball over his head and curling away so I can't see how he could have taken touch.

 

[alekaras]

I think I prefer Gazza in goal on pens than Hugo.

He really didn't do much, did he. Anyhow, it is what it is.

 

[SteveAWOL]

I can't see It properly on that clip above, but as I remember it the ball over his head and curling away so I can't see how he could have taken touch.

FWIW the attempted volley can be viewed from 3m58s in these highlights... would’ve required a deft touch to bring that pass under control but surely not beyond the skill-set of a World Cup winning Spanish forward...

 

[Mr_B]

I'm disappointed we went out, goes down as another trophy poch didnt win/another semi final exit, with all our injuries, I expected a tight game to be played, pack the midfield, snuff out the threat of Hazard. Chelsea were 2 up before the break and value from it and from then on, we were chasing the game. We could have got a draw against a below vintage chelsea team if the right tactics were employed.

 

[parklane1]

Yet another semi final defeat, gutted again.

 

[Robspur12]

Yet another semi final defeat, gutted again.

Once it went to pens I knew we would lose given the players who Chelsea had available compared to us.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Yet another semi final defeat, gutted again.

Where were you sat?

 

[Hootnow]

IMO you are. You are right, the team above would be competitive against most teams but not the top teams imo, the Liverpools, City Barcelona etc and generally those are the teams we have to beat to win trophies.

Yesterday Chelsea got behind our defence time and time again, on another day we would have conceded more goals. Son aside, that was pretty much the team you said could beat City in the final. Where they are in league at the moment relative to us is a spurious point given that we achieved that position with our star players being fit. Most neutral observers would say they, not us, are the team best equipped and most likely to challenge Liverpool for the title. So by that reasoning they are a level above us. Not a level above us when both our squads are fully fit. It's just we cannot replace our star players as easily as they can. Only the most myopic of Spurs fans would disagree that Liverpool and City are not on another level to us in terms of squad depth and overall quality. It's a credit to Poch's first class management that we are in touching distance of them in the league.

Even if we accept your view that we are a top team without Kane, a fit Dembele and Dele, that is not really borne out by yesterday'' game. 1-0 up from the first leg I still thought it would be a big ask to better Chelsea on their own ground. As it turned out we couldn't even hold them to a draw. This lack of defensive solidity with our top 2 central defenders playing and 2 defensive midfielders in front of them makes me question whether we are currently a top team. To beat City we would have to defend better than we did yesterday.

Don't confuse being a good side, better than most in the PL and embued with extra cojones by Poch with being a really top side. For me Kane, Dele and Eriksen and a fit Dembele type player are our unreplaceables and we also need a top drawer defensive midfielder/ centre back.

The funny thing is, I've never been one of those fans who is like we have the best x in the league or the best y in the league. In fact, my response has always been 'If you genuinely think Lloris is the best keeper in the league and our two cbs the best and our fbs amongst the best and Wanyama, Dembele and Dier amongst the best cms and Eriksen as good as De Bruyne apparently and Kane the best and Alli!...then how on earth have we not managed a single trophy? Not gone past the last 16 of the CL (or Europa) and not gotten any closer than 7 points to 1st? It doesn't make any sense.

So I'm not some blindly optimistic Spurs fan that thinks our team is amazing.

We've actually achieved that 3rd place despite far more injuries than any of our competing teams. And the team above is better than most of the teams I put above who have achieved upsets. Which is what I said, we would be underdogs.

But I'm sorry, nobody is going to convince me that a squad which has finished 3rd, 2nd, 3rd and now sits in 3rd is on a whole different level to a team which sits 5 points above us (even though they are clearly better than us, will finish above us and get beyond us in all 3 cups I'd imagine), just because ultimately, we'll have 2 injuries when we'd be in the final. Assuming things stay the same of course. Not sure you can include Dembele seeing as he's barely played for Spurs this season and more importantly, is now not a Spurs player at all.

Being a whole different level? League 2 Bradford knocking out multiple PL teams on the way to the final.
Not a whole different level? A Spurs team which, assuming no further injuries and Wanyama continues on the path, would go into the final with everyone other than Kane and Alli. Big misses but just 2 players out of a squad with a lot of talent.

I also don't agree that Liverpool are a different level to us squad wise fwiw. If Salah and Mane were injured and Firmino away on international duty, I don't think they'd be able to field an attack significantly better than the one we've been fielding. VVD and Allison have revolutionised their defence though, I would completely agree with that.

Also, not sure I'd take a one off game as proof of anything. People will all have their own reasons for why we fell at yet another semi-final (I'd personally argue we should have played much better, even taking injuries into account) but I actually don't think the performance was that different to the first leg, when we had everyone available.

 

[Robspur12]

The funny thing is, I've never been one of those fans who is like we have the best x in the league or the best y in the league. In fact, my response has always been 'If you genuinely think Lloris is the best keeper in the league and our two cbs the best and our fbs amongst the best and Wanyama, Dembele and Dier amongst the best cms and Eriksen as good as De Bruyne apparently and Kane the best and Alli!...then how on earth have we not managed a single trophy? Not gone past the last 16 of the CL (or Europa) and not gotten any closer than 7 points to 1st? It doesn't make any sense.

So I'm not some blindly optimistic Spurs fan that thinks our team is amazing.

We've actually achieved that 3rd place despite far more injuries than any of our competing teams. And the team above is better than most of the teams I put above who have achieved upsets. Which is what I said, we would be underdogs.

But I'm sorry, nobody is going to convince me that a squad which has finished 3rd, 2nd, 3rd and now sits in 3rd is on a whole different level to a team which sits 5 points above us (even though they are clearly better than us, will finish above us and get beyond us in all 3 cups I'd imagine), just because ultimately, we'll have 2 injuries when we'd be in the final. Assuming things stay the same of course. Not sure you can include Dembele seeing as he's barely played for Spurs this season and more importantly, is now not a Spurs player at all.

Being a whole different level? League 2 Bradford knocking out multiple PL teams on the way to the final.
Not a whole different level? A Spurs team which, assuming no further injuries and Wanyama continues on the path, would go into the final with everyone other than Kane and Alli. Big misses but just 2 players out of a squad with a lot of talent.

I also don't agree that Liverpool are a different level to us squad wise fwiw. If Salah and Mane were injured and Firmino away on international duty, I don't think they'd be able to field an attack significantly better than the one we've been fielding. VVD and Allison have revolutionised their defence though, I would completely agree with that.

Also, not sure I'd take a one off game as proof of anything. People will all have their own reasons for why we fell at yet another semi-final (I'd personally argue we should have played much better, even taking injuries into account) but I actually don't think the performance was that different to the first leg, when we had everyone available.

We will have to agree to disagree. Kane and Alli are not just two players missing, but 2 special players, players who lift us from a good team to a very good team. Just like Eriksen does and just like Dembele has done throughout the time Poch has been manager, this season aside. There are players who are good and others who are a level above this in our squad. Imo we cannot easily cover the ones in the latter category. Our position in the table does not mean we are serious challengers to the top 2, I have never believed that and tbh neither have many observers. Agreed Liverpool would be affected by similar forward losses as us. My contention though is that the quality of the rest of their squad is enough to compensate for their losses better than us anyway, as is City’s. Both are more resilient than us.

Not sure if you are angling to write another bottling narrative with your last paragraph but I certainly don’t think that would be fair or accurate about yesterday.

 

[glasgowspur]

The funny thing is, I've never been one of those fans who is like we have the best x in the league or the best y in the league. In fact, my response has always been 'If you genuinely think Lloris is the best keeper in the league and our two cbs the best and our fbs amongst the best and Wanyama, Dembele and Dier amongst the best cms and Eriksen as good as De Bruyne apparently and Kane the best and Alli!...then how on earth have we not managed a single trophy? Not gone past the last 16 of the CL (or Europa) and not gotten any closer than 7 points to 1st? It doesn't make any sense.

So I'm not some blindly optimistic Spurs fan that thinks our team is amazing.

We've actually achieved that 3rd place despite far more injuries than any of our competing teams. And the team above is better than most of the teams I put above who have achieved upsets. Which is what I said, we would be underdogs.

But I'm sorry, nobody is going to convince me that a squad which has finished 3rd, 2nd, 3rd and now sits in 3rd is on a whole different level to a team which sits 5 points above us (even though they are clearly better than us, will finish above us and get beyond us in all 3 cups I'd imagine), just because ultimately, we'll have 2 injuries when we'd be in the final. Assuming things stay the same of course. Not sure you can include Dembele seeing as he's barely played for Spurs this season and more importantly, is now not a Spurs player at all.

Being a whole different level? League 2 Bradford knocking out multiple PL teams on the way to the final.
Not a whole different level? A Spurs team which, assuming no further injuries and Wanyama continues on the path, would go into the final with everyone other than Kane and Alli. Big misses but just 2 players out of a squad with a lot of talent.

I also don't agree that Liverpool are a different level to us squad wise fwiw. If Salah and Mane were injured and Firmino away on international duty, I don't think they'd be able to field an attack significantly better than the one we've been fielding. VVD and Allison have revolutionised their defence though, I would completely agree with that.

Also, not sure I'd take a one off game as proof of anything. People will all have their own reasons for why we fell at yet another semi-final (I'd personally argue we should have played much better, even taking injuries into account) but I actually don't think the performance was that different to the first leg, when we had everyone available.

I agree, if our star players kept fresh by taking every second year off and dropping down the league we would be really challenging instead of just being there or there abouts.
Our consistent high level is what is killing us.

 

[Spurs7891]

Feeling bitter about us losing yet another Cup semi final but not really surprised. Don't think we did enough over the 2 leg semi finals to progress to the Carabao Cup final. We should have won the first leg comfortably at home. Instead, with us only winning the first leg 1-0, it was always going to be tough for us to overcome Chelsea in the 2nd leg away. We failed to lift the game in the first half and were fully deserved to be losing 2-0. We did well to improve in the second half and managed to make it 2-1. But we didn't do enough to get another goal which would have put us into the Final. With us having the worst penalty shoot out record in world football, we were never going to beat Chelsea in the penalties.

Disappointingly, all our key players in this match had a poor match. With Kane, Alli and Son not available, we needed others to lift their game to help us overcome Chelsea. But the likes of Llorente, Eriksen and Lamela failed to lift their game. Really thought Eriksen and Lamela will inspire us but they both had a poor game. Llorente did well to get our only goal with a good header in the second half. But he also wasted another good chance after that. Not sure if it was the right decision to replace Llorente with Moura immediately after that. Moura not only wasted a good chance after coming on but also missed the crucial penalty for us. Remember, Llorente scored one of our penalties when we beat Watford 4-2 on penalties in Round 3. He should have taken one of our penalties instead of Dier who missed it.

I think we lost this match in midfield. Sissoko and Winks failed to control the midfield which enabled Chelsea to put pressure on us. We improved early in the second half but let Chelsea control it again late in the match. Really wish we had Wanyama and Dembele playing as it would have really helped us control the midfield.

Our defence also let us down badly in this match, especially in the first half. It is really annoying the way we conceded both the goals. We were too slow to stop the long range shot for the first goal. Similiarly, we were very careless for the second goal in which Chelsea had all the time in the world to score the goal. With us having both Alderweireld and Vertonghen in defence, it was really disappointing to concede the soft goals like that. Maybe Gazzaniga should have done better for the first goal as well. Really thought Gazzaniga would save at least 1 penalty in the shoot out but disappointingly he was well beaten for all the penalties.

As always, Carabao Cup was our best chance to win a trophy this season but we have wasted it yet again. After beating Arsenal away in the Quarter finals, really thought we would go all the way to win it this season. Instead, we didn't turn up against Chelsea in the semi finals. This means we will now go without winning any trophies for the 11th consecutive season, unless we do the impossible in the league or CL. There will be more questions about Pochettino's ability to win a trophy for us after this. Frankly, I think Pochettino lacks the technical knowledge and right approach to win a major trophy for us.

 

[afsoc4life]

Calm down people. Calm down. Yes it is a painful loss. Someone expected a midfield of unfit Dier, Winks, unfit Sissoko to dominate a midfield of Jorginho, Kante and Barkley in Chelsea's stadium. Let's keep it real. It is not like we lost to Fulham. We lost to one of the best sides in the country on penalties without our top 3 scorers.

 

[Daisuk]

Calm down people. Calm down. Yes it is a painful loss. Someone expected a midfield of unfit Dier, Winks, unfit Sissoko to dominate a midfield of Jorginho, Kante and Barkley in Chelsea's stadium. Let's keep it real. It is not like we lost to Fulham. We lost to one of the best sides in the country on penalties without our top 3 scorers.

This! I get the disappointment, but what did you guys expect? Sure, we can muster up enough of an attack without Kane, Son, Alli and Lucas to overcome the likes of Fulham, but away to Chelsea, it's going to be tough. Had the away goal rule still counted, we would've been through to the final and everyone would be happy. We lose out to a coin toss, basically. Penalties is a brick fudging way of losing, and shouldn't be used to keep on labeling the team as bottlers or whatever. It's a fudging lottery.

Injuries are part of the game, so we shouldn't use that as an excuse, but the match would be more even if we had our best attackers playing and somewhat of a fit midfield. It's tough luck. Injuries suck. It sucks to lose on penalties. But the lads fought well, and in the end fine fine margins decided the winner (against an opponent that has used how many trillions more than us on players?). We move on.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

I agree, if our star players kept fresh by taking every second year off and dropping down the league we would be really challenging instead of just being there or there abouts.
Our consistent high level is what is killing us.

I'd rather try our best at all times.

Imagine the down seasons, no-one is not have a good old moan up during those seasons because we will be great the next? Wishful thinking.

Even the thick c.unts at Chelsea can't stand their yo yo nature.

We will keep trying to improve and (although it's harder these days) aim for some Sir Alex United consistency.

 

[glasgowspur]

I'd rather try our best at all times.

Imagine the down seasons, no-one is not have a good old moan up during those seasons because we will be great the next? Wishful thinking.

Even the thick c.unts at Chelsea can't stand their yo yo nature.

We will keep trying to improve and (although it's harder these days) aim for some Sir Alex United consistency.

Wouldn't change the way we do things.
The melt down on here would be unbearable.
Just saying it needs to accounted a for.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

Wouldn't change the way we do things.
The melt down on here would be unbearable.
Just saying it needs to accounted a for.

I get what your saying. And perhaps the Poch training regime, that keeps us consistent, takes its toll as well.

Our consistency in the league is a good thing just from the point of view of keeping us in the top 4.

The difficulty with the cups is you are probably going to have to go thru 1/2/3 of the top six to lift the bloody thing. And those games really are coin flips.

 

[Baleforce]

I’m not particularly fussed as I don’t care about the LC. I am surprised we lost though as I don’t think Chelsea are that good, I feel we still had the better starting eleven despite our injury issues.

In isolation it was a poor performance.

 

[Spur of the moment]

The difficulty with the cups is you are probably going to have to go thru 1/2/3 of the top six to lift the bloody thing. And those games really are coin flips.

Maybe, but with added spite. Just feels like the The Big Five (as was) remain desperate to keep us out of their cosy domination of domestic trophies.

 

[Seedy Ron]

Jord's punishment avatar seems to have gone astray?

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Calm down people. Calm down. Yes it is a painful loss. Someone expected a midfield of unfit Dier, Winks, unfit Sissoko to dominate a midfield of Jorginho, Kante and Barkley in Chelsea's stadium. Let's keep it real. It is not like we lost to Fulham. We lost to one of the best sides in the country on penalties without our top 3 scorers.

TBF in the second half once we went 3 at the back our midfield did dominate