It is hard to get motivated for this match. We seem to be having all kinds of problems now. We are badly out of form, struggling to score and win matches. We have only won 1 of our last 7 matches in all competitions. The most embarassing result during that period was getting thrashed 2-7 by Bayern at home in the CL. Red Star Belgrade may not be as strong as Bayern but on our current bad form, we will struggle to beat them even at home. It is going to be another tense match.
Our attack have been poor this season. Pochettino has dropped and changed all the players except for Kane. I think it is time for Pochettino to drop Kane and play others in this match. Want to see us starting with Son, Moura and Lamela in attack. Eriksen and Alli have been poor as well but they can come on later in the match as needed. We should learn to be more clinical and ruthless in front of goal. Want to see us try long range shots more instead of trying to dribble the ball into goal.
Our midfield have not been the same since we sold Dembele. Our failure to buy a proper defensive midfielder to replace Wanyama has made it even worse. Ndombele, Winks, Sissoko and Dier just don't command the midfield as good as Dembele and Wanyama used to. Ndombele seems to need more time to settle in at Spurs. For all their hard work, Sissoko and Winks just don't tackle enough. Dier have more bite in midfield but he makes too many errors. With all these problems, not sure how Pochettino is going to improve our midfield now. We have to hope they will lift their game somehow to help us beat Red Star in this match.
We once had one of the best defence in Europe but it has become poor this season. Alderweireld and Vertonghen don't seem to play at their best level this season. We simply makes too many mistakes and concede too many soft goals this season. Injury to Lloris has made it worse as Gazzaniga makes too many mistakes as well. We don't seem capable of keeping clean sheets nowadays. But it will be disappointing if we don't stop Red Star scoring in this match.
We shocked the football world by progressing to the CL final last season. Too bad we didn't manage to win it. Wish we can go all the way this season. But after the 2-7 humiliation to Bayern at home in our last CL match, we badly need a good performance and result to lift our morale. Let's hope we will turn up with the right team and meteorology to beat Red Star and keep alive our chances in the CL this season.