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OMT: Bayer Leverkusen vs Mighty Spurs

Good first half, tinkle poor second. Sloppy and a touch lucky (and a touch Lloris-is-super-human). BUT as always with these young 'uns it's a maturing process. We didn't lose our heads and managed to still keep some composure and got the valuable point. Over to you in the studio Glenn.
 
billyiddo said:
think we're in a good position to qualify from the group
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I agree, that was a big draw in the context of the group.

Its all going to come down to how we can perform at Wembley. Using it as our 'home' ground has always been my concern since it was announced. Didnt seem to help Arsenal when they played at the old Wembley, lets hope the first match was just a hiccup.

Beat Leverkusen and we will be on the cusp of the Last 16
 
Substitutions spoilt our cohesion and handed the initiative to them

Thought Alli and Wanyama were very good.

Defence was good!

Take that point - Bayer Leverkusen took the second half IMHO
 
We were fortunate to get away with the draw - their second-half tactical change and performance left us on the ropes, and they outpressed, outfought and outthought us (I'm tending towards agreeing with the commentators' assertions about Wanyama being drawn out of position too much in the second half, with that leaving us vulnerable). Fair play to Leverkusen, they play the same type of ferocious pressing game we do, and they were better than us at it today.

But a point's a point, and, as I said before the game, it's a point I'll happily take. It keeps us on course for ten points, which usually guarantees qualification. And hopefully Toby'll be back before the return leg at Wembley, so we can give matching them up man for man a damn good go when that rolls around.

Positives -

Lloris - MotM, made two outstanding saves and several very good ones.
Alli - was inventive and energetic, although he was disconnected from the back-line and Wanyama a bit too often for my liking.
Trippier - acquitted himself decently.

Neutral observations -

Dier - had an okay game. Was shakier than Toby would have been, but that's to be expected.

Negatives -

Janssen - header against the crossbar aside, I felt he was poor today. Huffed and puffed to little effect, couldn't time his runs adequately and didn't hold up the ball as well as he was doing prior to this game.

Overall, good point - could have been earned in a more comfortable manner, but I'll take it nonetheless.
 
The second half was terrible, and in the end we were lucky to get away with a point which puts us in a decent position with three matches to go. The home match against Leverkusen certainly won't be easy though. I take back what I said at half time about us being clearly the best team in the group. Leverkusen were good in the second half.

Once again we struggle when teams put aggressive pressure on us high up the pitch. I don't understand why teams so often just sit back against us and let us play. It's clearly a better strategy to get in our faces. In the second half we rarely managed to settle down with the ball. Dembele is usually a good player in such a game as he can keep possession in tight areas, but he is clearly far from where he was last season at the moment.

In terms of individual players I thought Wanyama played well again. He had some important defensive involvements. Tripper was good in the first half when we were on the front foot. His crosses created our two best opportunities. He struggled a bit more when he had to defend. The rest of the defence was also okay. Lloris made an important albeit slightly fortuitous save. The front five wasn't great. Janssen was decent in the first half. The other four weren't great, but Alli was the best of them.

This group will live until the final whistle on the last match day, I reckon. The teams are evenly match and take points off each other. It will be nervewrecking. I'm already dreading Leverkusen at home.
 
DubaiSpur said:
We were fortunate to get away with the draw - their second-half tactical change and performance left us on the ropes, and they outpressed, outfought and outthought us (I'm tending towards agreeing with the commentators' assertions about Wanyama being drawn out of position too much in the second half, with that leaving us vulnerable). Fair play to Leverkusen, they play the same type of ferocious pressing game we do, and they were better than us at it today.

But a point's a point, and, as I said before the game, it's a point I'll happily take. It keeps us on course for ten points, which usually guarantees qualification. And hopefully Toby'll be back before the return leg at Wembley, so we can give matching them up man for man a damn good go when that rolls around.

Positives -

Lloris - MotM, made two outstanding saves and several very good ones.
Alli - was inventive and energetic, although he was disconnected from the back-line and Wanyama a bit too often for my liking.
Trippier - acquitted himself decently.

Neutral observations -

Dier - had an okay game. Was shakier than Toby would have been, but that's to be expected.

Negatives -

Janssen - header against the crossbar aside, I felt he was poor today. Huffed and puffed to little effect, couldn't time his runs adequately and didn't hold up the ball as well as he was doing prior to this game.

Overall, good point - could have been earned in a more comfortable manner, but I'll take it nonetheless.
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Don't agree on Janssen. I thought he was really good and along with Rose one of our best players in the first half.

Held the ball up really well (even from long gk's/ball), movement excellent, unlucky not to score. His touch is sure and he's the right type of player for European game such as this and a big reason why we looked good in this half.

Was also really unlucky to not get an assist after his great touch spin and turn round their defender - keeper got a key nick on his cross.
 
It reminds me a bit of Poch's first season in the Europa league, we looked a little out of our depth against the better teams. The next season we adapted and looked the part, maybe this will be the same, a season of learning and and then we start showing up.
 
paxtonwolf said:
Yes, bizarrely before that late goal it was

Pts GD
Monaco 4 0
Tottenham 4 0
CSKA 4 0
Leverkusen 3 0
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You'd expect Monaco to beat CSKA at home next, which would leave it between us and Leverkusen for the second spot. Next one is a must-not-lose.
 
DubaiSpur said:
We were fortunate to get away with the draw - their second-half tactical change and performance left us on the ropes, and they outpressed, outfought and outthought us (I'm tending towards agreeing with the commentators' assertions about Wanyama being drawn out of position too much in the second half, with that leaving us vulnerable). Fair play to Leverkusen, they play the same type of ferocious pressing game we do, and they were better than us at it today.

But a point's a point, and, as I said before the game, it's a point I'll happily take. It keeps us on course for ten points, which usually guarantees qualification. And hopefully Toby'll be back before the return leg at Wembley, so we can give matching them up man for man a damn good go when that rolls around.

Positives -

Lloris - MotM, made two outstanding saves and several very good ones.
Alli - was inventive and energetic, although he was disconnected from the back-line and Wanyama a bit too often for my liking.
Trippier - acquitted himself decently.

Neutral observations -

Dier - had an okay game. Was shakier than Toby would have been, but that's to be expected.

Negatives -

Janssen - header against the crossbar aside, I felt he was poor today. Huffed and puffed to little effect, couldn't time his runs adequately and didn't hold up the ball as well as he was doing prior to this game.

Overall, good point - could have been earned in a more comfortable manner, but I'll take it nonetheless.
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There's brick wall's shakier than Toby would have been.
Playing them again with TOby, Kane and without them having home advantage, I'm pretty sure we'll do them over.
 
ledley's knee injections said:
Don't agree on Janssen. I thought he was really good and along with Rose one of our best players in the first half.

Held the ball up really well (even from long gk's/ball), movement excellent, unlucky not to score. His touch is sure and he's the right type of player for European game such as this and a big reason why we looked good in this half.

Was also really unlucky to not get an assist after his great touch spin and turn round their defender - keeper got a key nick on his cross.
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Well, I thought Toprak had the beating oh him in the air and Aranguiz harried him too much on the ground, but fair enough, let's agree to disagree. I will say, however, that all the faults I mentioned seem to me to be down to merely a lack of chemistry with the rest of the lads - being seconds offside, making the wrong runs, passing a fraction too early or late, etcetera. Which, of course, will gradually decline as he gets integrated more. Not his fault, after all, that we had to call on him so soon after his arrival.
 
Even when we're brick we're not losing... that's got to be a positive.

Credit to Leverkusen, they out manoeuvred us, but I don't expect Poch to be caught out like that again. We will be better prepared at Wembley.

Lloris, Rose, Vertonghen, Wanyama superb performances.
 
Jordinho said:
You'd expect Monaco to beat CSKA at home next, which would leave it between us and Leverkusen for the second spot. Next one is a must-not-lose.
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definitely.

It's not quite a must-win, but failure to do so, means our fate would be out of our hands if we then didnt win in Monaco on MD5. Such a close group every point is vital
 
Very disappointing performance in the 2nd half. Overall Lloris and Rose were excellent. Trippier, Janssen, Vertonghen and Wanyama pretty good. The rest were frankly poor.

For some reason in the 2nd half we wouldn't release the ball and invariably we got tackled and lost it, while they did the opposite. They hardly ever brought the ball into contact and instead just passed around us. It seemed like every time we went forward with the ball we tried to dribble it past one or more players and they were having none of it. Alli, Lamela and Son were all guilty of it . Eriksen less so but that was because he played with no conviction at all. He was too quick to pass the buck and went into his shell, as he sometimes does.

A point gained as we deserved to lose that.

A special mention for the cheat that is little pea and that ref who really should be nowhere near this level of football.
 
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