Mosquito_Coasting
Jonathan Woodgate
Can't believe he didn't start with Son out, needed his pace. He's a special player for us.
"Even now, with the benefit of distance, it is a remarkable detail of last season’s Champions League final. Lucas Moura, the hat-trick hero of Tottenham’s semi-final second-leg epic at Ajax, the man who wept tears of joy as he watched the replay of his 96th-minute winner, could make only the bench for the final against Liverpool.
Football can be the cruellest of pursuits but how about this for a twist of the knife? The first that Lucas knew of his demotion – at the expense of the fit-again Harry Kane – was when Mauricio Pochettino announced the lineup at the team hotel. There had been no quiet word in advance from the manager, no sympathetic heads-up.
“He didn’t speak with me, he didn’t explain anything but it’s normal,” Lucas says. “He chose and I need to respect. I needed to be ready to come on and play. To be honest, in the hotel when he gave the starting XI, I was a little bit sad. Of course, I would like to play but the most important thing was to win the game. The coach needs to choose 11 players, he can only choose 11 players and we need to respect. I don’t have a problem with this.
“Of course, I was sad inside. I want to play. But I know how to understand, I know how to respect and I know how difficult it is for him to choose 11 players. So that’s football. We need to be professional and keep working.”"
https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...t-respect-pochettino-tottenham-ajax-interview
He has just had a new kid hasn't he? maybe Poch is allowing him time to spend with his new baby and this is why he may not be match fit and is only used as a sub for a few minutes?
Or could be resting him for champions League game?Fully fit. Had the entire international break off.
And Poch only trusts him to play 9 minutes even though we were 4-0 up a half time.
He's well out of Poch's good books now.
Interesting what Poch said about Aurier could apply to Lucas too.
"Now he needs to show and be consistent. It's not only one game and the second game the focus and intensity start to drop. That is the key in our team, not only him but all the players."
"All the players need to be consistent and understand that every time we are going to compete we have to give our best."
Fully fit. Had the entire international break off.
And Poch only trusts him to play 9 minutes even though we were 4-0 up a half time.
He's well out of Poch's good books now.
Interesting what Poch said about Aurier could apply to Lucas too.
"Now he needs to show and be consistent. It's not only one game and the second game the focus and intensity start to drop. That is the key in our team, not only him but all the players."
"All the players need to be consistent and understand that every time we are going to compete we have to give our best."
I think there's a point in saying that Moura must improve certain aspects of his game if he's to be a regular starter with everyone fit.And? It’s 5 games into the season. You consistently seem to insinuate that he almost never produces when in reality he scored over 10 league goals in his first full season and was one of the few players who actually turns up for us in big games.
Problem is Moura doesn’t get regular games when everyone is fit so doesn’t get the chance to play in a full strength team.
This is a guy who single handedly got us to the Champions league final and deserved to start more than any player in that dressing room and Poch screwed him over to play golden boy who was not fit and didn’t even turn up. I’m not surprised if the guy wants to leave he deserves better than that.
It's a questionable decision that you could see both sides to. The issue for Moura is he and Kane don't seem to make each other better, which is a problem.
I do think Poch needs to figure out how to make it work, or sub Kane off at times (he could do with rotation) and leave Son and Lucas at end against tired defenses.
Expect we will see him in the cup games .. Lucas and Troy to lead the line?
Have to say I disagree
Moura and Kane play better together than Son and Kane. Ill hazard a guess and say that’s a fact with a combined goal to game ratio.
The difference is that Moura plays as a CF in front of Kane when together but Sonny plays more like a WF when played with Kane
To Moura's absolute credit I read an article not long ago where he spoke about when he found out he was dropped for final and he said:Problem is Moura doesn’t get regular games when everyone is fit so doesn’t get the chance to play in a full strength team.
This is a guy who single handedly got us to the Champions league final and deserved to start more than any player in that dressing room and Poch screwed him over to play golden boy who was not fit and didn’t even turn up. I’m not surprised if the guy wants to leave he deserves better than that.
To Moura's absolute credit I read an article not long ago where he spoke about when he found out he was dropped for final and he said:
'He didn’t speak with me, he didn’t explain anything, but it’s normal. He chose and I need to respect. I needed to be ready to come on and play. To be honest, in the hotel when he gave the starting XI, I was a little bit sad. Of course, I would like to play but the most important thing was to win the game.The coach needs to choose 11 players, he can only choose 11 players and we need to respect. I don’t have a problem with this.'
If thats really how he took it then what a guy. Poch has made some bad selection choices in his time, but this for me was the worst - and to not even have a courteous heads up with him about being dropped, I am surprised about tbh. I dont buy into the 'Poch couldnt win either way' argument with choosing Kane/Moura, everyone knew how cumbersome and slow Kane is after returning from an injury, practically everyone I knew pre match was saying Moura should start it wasnt like a hindsight thing. A costly mistake IMO but he will never admit that Im sure.....