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OMT*** Tottenham Hotspur vs. Stoke City *** 15/08/2015 3pm

It's Stoke. It's the equivalent of a King Cobra coming up against a Mongoose. All things considered, you'd think it would be a walk in the park, but we all know that we're going to get mauled.
 
billyiddo said:
So are we not fussed about a more defensive CM now that people are pairing two of Mason/Bentaleb/Alli together?

Lloris
Walker Alderweireld Vertonghen Rose
Dier Bentaleb
Dembele Eriksen Chadli
Kane
Click to expand...


I would go with this team except I would play Ali instead of Bentaleb. I am not a fan of Dembele ( promises much but delivers little imo) but I think Stoke will kick Lamela out of the game if he plays.
 
I don't actually think Lamela's problem is being kicked out of games. It's about finding a consistency in his decision making for me. I really don't think he minds the rough-and-tumble. It's that when he's on it, he'll make the right call, he'll release it early, he'll give and go, he'll move into the right spaces and his passing and shooting will be on target.

When he's off his game, he'll take on that one man too many, fail to release it early and get caught, he'll dither and take wild shots.
 
Lamela being well short of match fitness, I do not see him (or Pritchard) starting for another couple of weeks at least.
 
-----------------------Lloris---------------------
Walker---Alderweireld---Vertonghen-----Rose
--------------------Dier--------------------------
---Dembele----------------Mason---------------
----------------Lamela------------Eriksen-----
----------------------Kane----------------------

Roughly that shape. Bentaleb may get another shot instead of Mason, just because it would probably kill his confidence if he was dropped right away. I'd expect Alli and Mason (if not starting) to come on by the 60th minute if we are still without a goal. After watching Stoke play Liverpool, I would expect us to get a win. They were not that good at all.
 
------------------------------ Lloris
Walker --- Alderweireld --- Vertonghen --- Rose
--------------- Dembele -------- Bentaleb
-- Townsend ---------- Eriksen ------------ Chadli
-------------------------------Kane

Bench: Vorm, Trippier, Dier, Mason, Lamela, Alli, Pritchard.


Personally, from a man-management standpoint I wouldn't drop Bentaleb after last week. The kind of mistake(s) he made stem from a lack of focus rather than a lack of skill. This needs to be addressed quickly, so I'd play him against Stoke but I'd take him aside early in the week and let him know he needs to sharpen up because he runs the risk of being benched if he doesn't.

I'm not a massive fan of Townsend, but I like having him in the squad because - right now, with Lennon out of the picture - he's our only forward with pace. And I think that'll be important at home to Stoke. Obviously if N'jie or Berahino were to come in this week I'd be tempted to give them a home debut this weekend, but based on who we actually have at the moment, Townsend gets the nod from me.

I thought Dier did alright last week against a star-studded (though admittedly incoherent) Man United. But I don't think we need to be as defensively minded this week, which is why I've dropped him to the bench. I'd keep Dembele but drop him a little deeper, and wouldn't change the defence - except to bring back Rose if he's fit - because I think it did a decent job last week overall. I'm excited to see Trippier play as I think he might be very good for us, but Walker was decent against United (IMO) and did nothing to merit being benched.

Lloris obviously starts if fit.

Spurs 3 - 1 Stoke

Kane x 2, Eriksen
 
Cochise said:
Not sure Townsend is back from injury yet?
Click to expand...
Ah. Don't know why I thought he was back this week.

I guess play Lamela there if Townsend's not fit - but every time I see Lamela play I get a little bit more disheartened. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm becoming increasingly convinced he's not going to make it at Spurs.
 
Lloris

Walker---Alderweireld---Vertonghen---Rose

Mason---Bentaleb

Lamela---Eriksen---Chadli

Kane
​

Subs: McGee, Davies, Trippier, Dier, Alli, Dembele, Pritchard

W3-0
 
DublinSpur said:
Ah. Don't know why I thought he was back this week.

I guess play Lamela there if Townsend's not fit - but every time I see Lamela play I get a little bit more disheartened. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm becoming increasingly convinced he's not going to make it at Spurs.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. He has missed most of pre-season mind and some of his work against Milan was great to watch, but he needs to do more.
 
I'd be extremely surprised if Dembele doesn't start. I think he's in now as he's fit and it's up to Lamela/Pritchard/new signing to win the place.
 
Jordinho said:
I'd be extremely surprised if Dembele doesn't start. I think he's in now as he's fit and it's up to Lamela/Pritchard/new signing to win the place.
Click to expand...

After an ok first 15 minutes, he was turgid as ever on Saturday

Him and Chadli as a pair of wide players is a big problem for me. This is even more the case against a non-top 6 opponent where we need more attacking verve
 
---------lloris
walker----toby---vert----rose
---------dier
-----mason----bentaleb
------eriksen
---------kane-----chadli
 
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