***OMT TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR vs KAA Gent - 2nd Leg***

[lurker of old]

Dont agree. Lets not brush over a poor performance. We are laughing stocks today because Spurs bottled it last night. Dier was off his game. Kane was off his game as well.
Well I didn't see a poor performance. We created some great chances through good play and unfortunately didn't take them. As for "bottled it" - what nonsense. We were brave, aggressive and the 10 on the pitch were terrific.

 

[billyiddo]

Dont agree. Lets not brush over a poor performance. We are laughing stocks today because Spurs bottled it last night. Dier was off his game. Kane was off his game as well.
Well I didn't see a poor performance. We created some great chances through good play and unfortunately didn't take them. As for "bottled it" - what nonsense. We were brave, aggressive and the 10 on the pitch were terrific.

yeah its like some of you are basing your opinion on the result without having actually watched the game - bad result of course but we were up for it, had near on total domination, even when reduced to 10 men and really should have come away with a big win.

 

[Glenda's Legs]

But, but, but, he keeps saying we have to learn and we keep not learning! He selected an overly defensive team - I said before it started that I was worried about creativity, pace and sttacking intent. He is persisting with a clearly out of form and leaden legged Dier. He hasn't curbed Dele's recklessness. His transfer acquisitions thus year have been woeful ( with the exception of Wanyama.) Hus substitutions are often bizarre or plain daft.

He seems to have a blind spot for dead ball situations. Our corners and free kicks are simply pathetic. If we could score just one or two from these , they can make all the difference in tight games. He even commented before the game last night that we hadn't practiced penalties and had no pre- conceived ideas as to who would take them. Our shooting all season has been poor - how many goals have we scored from outside the penalty area? Last night it was the pits -3 out of 25 attempts on target - and that included our two goals!

Poch is a good coach but not faultless. He also needs to learn quickly if we are to become winners.

I don't think creativity and attacking intent were the biggest problems last night. We created 25 opportunities (some a bit on the ambitious side admittedly) but only managed to get 5 on target. Composure and finishing and decision making were the big culprits.
I fully agree that we need to mix up the free kick takers a bit. Having said that, Toby's attempt last night was on a par with Eriksen's ability to hit the wall. Get Dier on them now and again.
I think the 'learning' thing is an ongoing evolution. Poch is instilling a winning mentality in the players. We saw it last night in attitude if not result. We have seen it previously. The consistency will come. As for Poch himself learning - I believe he is. We have seen him go from 'no plan B' (to coin a phrase) to, for example,varying formations. And he is definitely making substitutions earlier compared to last season, even if we as fans are still sometimes left scratching our collective heads at some of his decisions. Things aren't going to suddenly change overnight but when you look where we are now, both Poch and the team have come on enormously. Still a work inprogress course but I don't doubt that every set back is seen as part of the learning curve for players and manager alike.

 

[SteveAWOL]

Thought last night was actually a good team performance with 1 obvious exclusion.
Down to 10 men for 70 minutes chasing a european tie on a pitch the size of wembley's is a big task. We really went for it until the 70th when we just completely ran out of Gas.

Kane and Son missed chances they really should have put away, put im not sure anyone could be blamed apart from Alli for last night

Walker run himself into the ground bombing down the right wing all match and looked dead on his feet toward the end. Really felt that Trippier would've been a good substitution to inject some fresh pace down that flank for the final 10 to 15 minutes.

If only Son hadn't blasted that great chance high and wide in the 86th minute, to give those of us who hadn't left Wembley early a grandstand finish. His streaky finishing reminds me of Pavlyuchenko.

Well, we didn't lose, we drew.

Well it felt like a loss when we were traipsing home with icy winds chilling us to the core and we did lose the tie, to a mid table Belgian team I'd never heard of until about a month ago then I get home to watch the highlights on ITV only to discover that instead of the blunt analysis of (boyhood Tottenham fan) Roy Keane they instead have 2 Goons on the sofa; in Timmy and Upson

 

[Grays_1890]

We are laughing stocks today because

Laughing stocks my arse

 

[inkpenspur]

yeah its like some of you are basing your opinion on the result without having actually watched the game - bad result of course but we were up for it, had near on total domination, even when reduced to 10 men and really should have come away with a big win.

At times watching the game in the second half you would have not known we were down to 10 men. Fabulous effort by those who stayed on the pitch, with a little better finishing we would have had them, absolutely sure of it. Dele had a brainfart, but I'll forgive him because I don't wnt the devil to disappear from his game.

 

[Will De Vos]

This morning Gent received this nice mail:

Dear Dirk,

Just a quick note to say well done and all the very best of luck in the next Round – we shall be looking out for you and following your progress.

I also wanted to say that working with you and your Club has been the highlight of our journey in Europe. You were all so very friendly and welcoming and it has been an absolute pleasure to get to know you all, visit Gent and your wonderful stadium.

Please thank everyone that we came into contact with, especially your Stewards who were excellent last night – as of course, were your fans. The Police were saying that they were the best set of fans they have ever dealt with and the march from the Green Man was excellent. I am told that the landlord of the Green Man has echoed those thoughts.

I wanted to know if you had the contact details for the Female Steward who was working outside our section at your Stadium last week – she was not a Gent Steward but had come from Lokeren (?) to help out. Can I say, she and her team, were a credit to both their own Club and Gent and I wanted to thank her personally for her help when placed in a couple of difficult situations.

Good Luck to all, I hope we get the opportunity to work together again at some time in the future,

Very best wishes,

Sue Tillings.

 

[wiziwig]

Can someone remind our chaps that a 'shot' doesn't have to be a full-blooded clobbering effort?.

For a group of players with such skill and guile that they can pick out minute gaps through which they thread passes, we really neglect the same approach in getting the ball in the net.

Stop using 'shot' and 'shooting' in coaching and training.


Oh - and I say yet again, in extremis put Verts up as the extra striker.

They totally exasperated Poch and the fans with their attempts on goal last night. I just don't see any team around, that is so consistently wasteful as ours and I do watch quite a lot of football.

This is not the first time our players have had games like this, but they're shoot-out last night for the Johnny Wilkinson Spurs Player Award, simply reached new heights (no pun intended).

It's as if they're not watching back their own games, analysing their own performances, being students of the game - I think, preferring to make a post match dash to their mobiles and log into Snapchat or any other pastime of theirs.

After a game like last night, do the players go home and watch the game and be self critical? Do they sit in their comfortable homes watching the game and that of their own personal performances and think, "why did I go for power alone, when it were accuracy that was needed?" Do they sit there and watch on the TV, the CL and EL round-up and note, that out of all the goals scored, just how few are piledrivers and how many are scored due to the emphasis of accuracy rather than power? I'm just not sure they do.

I recall one of our great ex players, currently the great hope for Sunderland staying in the PL, stating, that he'd always watched the game he'd played in more than a few times, purely to see what he could've done better. His evenings were spent watching videos of Ian Wright and other great center-forwards. I'm just not getting this from our players.

So yeah , last night I was annoyed by the players, I mean really annoyed and I'm not a Spurs fan that gets easily annoyed by the players, certainly not when the effort for the shirt is 100% as it were last night, bar one, Delle Alli.

I'm just so annoyed by what appears to be their lack of application to better themselves, to improve upon what has been so glaring obvious to so many of us for some time now - their attempts on goal.

 

[parklane1]

Dont agree. Lets not brush over a poor performance. We are laughing stocks today because Spurs bottled it last night. Dier was off his game. Kane was off his game as well. Davies offered no penetration down the left. Poch made wrong tactical decisions during the match. I only hope that once again he learns from this. We were horrible in Europe this year. Compared to previous Spurs, this year was BAD!!

Can not agree with this at all, the only poor thing last night was Ali's shocking tackle and ( once again) our finishing. In the last two games ( Fulham and Gent) we created so many chances but never finished them. Its been the same all season we create so much but seem unable to put the chances away.

 

[90291Spur]

Can not agree with this at all, the only poor thing last night was Ali's shocking tackle and ( once again) our finishing. In the last two games ( Fulham and Gent) we created so many chances but never finished them. Its been the same all season we create so much but seem unable to put the chances away.

The 10 showed a ton of fight and spirit - they were likely to get some chances on the break with us pushing forward and a man down. That being said, obviously we show;don't be losing to Gent over two legs. It gives Poch stuff to work on and the team ideas of how they need to improve.

The future IS bright, and it IS Lillywhite.

 

[Whiffler]

This morning Gent received this nice mail:

Dear Dirk,

Just a quick note to say well done and all the very best of luck in the next Round – we shall be looking out for you and following your progress.

I also wanted to say that working with you and your Club has been the highlight of our journey in Europe. You were all so very friendly and welcoming and it has been an absolute pleasure to get to know you all, visit Gent and your wonderful stadium.

Please thank everyone that we came into contact with, especially your Stewards who were excellent last night – as of course, were your fans. The Police were saying that they were the best set of fans they have ever dealt with and the march from the Green Man was excellent. I am told that the landlord of the Green Man has echoed those thoughts.

I wanted to know if you had the contact details for the Female Steward who was working outside our section at your Stadium last week – she was not a Gent Steward but had come from Lokeren (?) to help out. Can I say, she and her team, were a credit to both their own Club and Gent and I wanted to thank her personally for her help when placed in a couple of difficult situations.

Good Luck to all, I hope we get the opportunity to work together again at some time in the future,

Very best wishes,

Sue Tillings.

As I scrolled down I expected it to be signed by the referee.

 

[thfcsteff]

9k was said, but there might have been more.

51st minute we sing this song for the Gentfans who passed away, and especially for Luc De Vos, a songwriter who lived in Gent and died, 51 years old.

Great to hear from a 'Gent-eer' and please come back and post more mate. Your perspective is appreciated.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[thfcsteff]

Dont agree. Lets not brush over a poor performance. We are laughing stocks today because Spurs bottled it last night. Dier was off his game. Kane was off his game as well.
Well I didn't see a poor performance. We created some great chances through good play and unfortunately didn't take them. As for "bottled it" - what nonsense. We were brave, aggressive and the 10 on the pitch were terrific.

Superb post! Well said! We lacked a bit of nous and possibly guile (Dele blew his guile gasket sadly) but there were positives.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[thfcsteff]

Can not agree with this at all, the only poor thing last night was Ali's shocking tackle and ( once again) our finishing. In the last two games ( Fulham and Gent) we created so many chances but never finished them. Its been the same all season we create so much but seem unable to put the chances away.

But it is far easier to stew in negatives it seems. Look, we'd all agree that the first leg was very poor. Last night? Very unlucky!


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[Rorschach]

Agree. I even see a struggle for a Top 10 finish, playing effectively 38 away games. Nearly every team that comes to Wembley will treat it as a Cup final, bar the likes of United.City, etc; who will probably feel more at home than we do...
Dont think we will be seeing European football at the new stadium, unless we can we win the League Cup

It won't be that bad. We showed last night that a bigger pitch is nothing to fear, even for 10 men.

 

[Hemant]

But it is far easier to stew in negatives it seems. Look, we'd all agree that the first leg was very poor. Last night? Very unlucky!


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

Negatives are not always destructive. They should be seen as a way of seeking improvements. Wizziwig above makes some observations deserving of scrutiny.
Certainly, I have said in the past that there is more improvement to come from Alli to achieve his potential to be World Class: work on his left foot and to be 'cool and calculated' rather than thuggish. I don't think he needs to listen to those pundits hyping his 'nasty' streak. I see no correlation between this and a winning mentality. A winning mentality comes from inner belief of being able to get a result, having knowledge of yours and oppos strengths and weaknesses and ability to take advantage.
Personally, if someone, say like Redknapp, doesn't get hold of him and sort him out, he runs the risk of not fulfilling his promise. I give you Gazza as an extreme example.

 

[Will De Vos]

Great to hear from a 'Gent-eer' and please come back and post more mate. Your perspective is appreciated.


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

Thank you.

To be honest, I think the reason why English teams in general do not live up to their expectations in Europe is because a lot of their (English) players are overpriced and overrated and because the Premier League is overrated (or better: other Leagues are underrated in England).
The PL is far better in marketing its league and therefor has much more money than other leagues: they have some of the best non-English players but in general pay too much for them (last year some team payed 8 million for Oulare, who would probably not even make the 2nd team of AA Gent!) and they definitely pay too much money for average English players. Because they pay a lot of money for English players, they expect them to be better than other players, but they simply are not (as we can see in European and World Championships).

On another Spurs-forum, I read Tottenham has 10 times more money than Gent and therefor has far better players, managers, accomodations, ... . That is true but because a lot of that money is paid to English players, the average price of those English players is higher than their value. Good English players are overpriced. Also, the difference between the best players of a European team and the average players of a team like Tottenham is not as big as the difference in money that's paid for them.

This is no explanation why Tottenham went out, but I think that's why English football does not do as well as they should in Europe. I do not believe that it is because they underestimate the teams they play or they see the EL as a MickeyMouseLeague.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Thank you.

To be honest, I think the reason why English teams in general do not live up to their expectations in Europe is because a lot of their (English) players are overpriced and overrated and because the Premier League is overrated (or better: other Leagues are underrated in England).
The PL is far better in marketing its league and therefor has much more money than other leagues: they have some of the best non-English players but in general pay too much for them (last year some team payed 8 million for Oulare, who would probably not even make the 2nd team of AA Gent!) and they definitely pay too much money for average English players. Because they pay a lot of money for English players, they expect them to be better than other players, but they simply are not (as we can see in European and World Championships).

On another Spurs-forum, I read Tottenham has 10 times more money than Gent and therefor has far better players, managers, accomodations, ... . That is true but because a lot of that money is paid to English players, the average price of those English players is higher than their value. Good English players are overpriced. Also, the difference between the best players of a European team and the average players of a team like Tottenham is not as big as the difference in money that's paid for them.

This is no explanation why Tottenham went out, but I think that's why English football does not do as well as they should in Europe. I do not believe that it is because they underestimate the teams they play or they see the EL as a MickeyMouseLeague.

I think it has more to do with playing 30 odd big 'cup final' like games a season. Every game we play is a big game. In Spain teams can coast through the season with 6 or so big tough games.

Any football game is 11 men v 11. Gent were organised and defended well.but very lucky in the second leg too. A corner that wasn't, an own goal and a red card!

And while I agree about over priced English players, that doesn't ring true at Spurs: Dele Alli, Walker, Rose, Winks, Kane ALL signed for less than £10m !!!


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[Will De Vos]

I think it has more to do with playing 30 odd big 'cup final' like games a season. Every game we play is a big game. In Spain teams can coast through the season with 6 or so big tough games.

That's a common misunderstanding you often hear: "The mid-table teams are better in the PL and the PL-teams play more games."
In England there are only two or three teams really playing for the title. The other 3 or 4 contenders actually only compete for the CL-spots. How many teams have a chance of winning the League after Newyear? One or two?
In Spain, Italy and even Germany and France, it is quite similar. You have Barca and Real who are the real contenders in Spain and teams like Atletico, Valencia, Sevilla play for the CL-spots (as do teams like Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, Man U in England). Are they lesser teams than the English CL-contenders? I don't think so. The mid-table teams, Celta de Vigo, Athletic de Bilbao (remember ManU - Athletic), Sociedad, Villareal, ... are not worse than the mid-table teams in England. Same goes for Italy and even Germany (with the difference that they only have one title contender).

In the smaller leagues (Dutch, Belgian, Portuguese), the difference between topteams and small teams indeed is huge. How good would you think the best teams in those Leagues are, compared to English teams (Ajax, Anderlecht, Porto, Benfica, PSV)?

France is in between, I guess.

Any football game is 11 men v 11. Gent were organised and defended well.but very lucky in the second leg too. A corner that wasn't, an own goal and a red card!

Tottenham definitely has a better team than Gent, there is no question about that. Gent was indeed very lucky, but the own goal and the red card weren't due to (or thanks to) luck. (Gent also twice played without their best players.) But the difference in quality is much smaller than the difference in budget, because a lot of the players in the PL are not as good as many think they are.

BTW, the most expensive player Gent ever bought was the Japanese Kubo for 3,4 million euro's. He wasn't allowed to play. The 2nd most expensive player was the goalkeeper for 3 million euro's.

 

[Will De Vos]

I found this article in the Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...sh-clubs-failing-in-the-Champions-League.html