OMT - Tottenham Hotspur vs Ajax

[stratnumberone]

My thoughts:

They played us off the pitch for the first half hour. It’s almost like their players had had a week off....

Sissoko coming on changed the formation but also the game dynamic: he harassed and bullied them and denied them time. They couldn’t cope with it and they failed to have the time, space and possession that they had enjoyed prior to that.

Our players looked jaded but also short of form. That’s a tough combination to contend with. Dele in particular seems to need an extra half second before releasing the ball at the moment - he simply doesn’t have that time at this level.

We missed Son and Kane terribly. Our final ball was rubbish most of the time. I think this made Llorente’s contribution look even smaller; he was feeding on scraps. That said, he’s clearly in the twilight of his career and cannot possibly do what Son and kane do.

They looked dubious defending set pieces.

We were a little fortunate to only concede one goal, although I think 0-2 would’ve been fairly harsh on us overall.

There’s something in this for us in the second leg. We just have to be more ruthless in creating and taking chances and possibly benefit from some luck. We have to hope some form returns to our creative players. A rested Son will help, I’m sure. For the next game they will have had a game a few days before, same as us. So we will see who responds best.

Poch needs to decide how to approach Bournemouth. Do we play the strongest side and guarantee top 4 (gets my vote) or rest a lot of players and gamble on taking the second leg by storm?

Whatever happens, I’m delighted with the season so far. It’s May and we are 3rd in the league and still in the CL, despite a small squad and plenty of injuries. The players should be commended - very highly indeed.

 

[mudshark]

Poch needs to decide how to approach Bournemouth. Do we play the strongest side and guarantee top 4 (gets my vote) or rest a lot of players and gamble on taking the second leg by storm?.

Agreed. The truism that the next game is always the most important has never deserved sharper focus IMO. Absolutely imperative for me we take all three points. Can't risk another end-of-season fold-up bringing back memories of SJP, 2016. There's a danger of that, I think, if things don't go our way in Amsterdam. Just for once, let's try and do it the easy way.

 

[thfcsteff]

Worth noting that we missed two very good chances. Toby missed a free header first-half, Dele should've done better with one in the second. And when Llorente didn't 't step across/anticipate that cross in the second half, grrrrrrrr....

 

[thfcsteff]

Agreed. The truism that the next game is always the most important has never deserved sharper focus IMO. Absolutely imperative for me we take all three points. Can't risk another end-of-season fold-up bringing back memories of SJP, 2016. There's a danger of that, I think, if things don't go our way in Amsterdam.

Winning on Saturday will have a knock-on for Wednesday. It is why we play a very strong side and do the business.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Winning on Saturday will have a knock-on for Wednesday. It is why we play a very strong side and do the business.

Positively too

 

[Rorschach]

It's called form. He is off form at the moment but will find it again soon enough.

This and bit of confidence. We all know what he is capable of.

 

[Rorschach]

Still think 3 at the back could've worked but only if the 2 wing backs had pushed further up to make a midfield 5. Midfield was where we really struggled as we were continually outnumbered, especially with tugboat Vic moored. Direct balls to Llorente were ok but we didn't have enough players supporting to make it work, Dele and Moura should've been in and around him all the time with Eriksen dictating play in the middle alongside Vic and Sissoko.

I think the back three works when we are dominating possessesion and only have to deal with counter attacks, more or less. When we are starved of possession then the 3 quickly becomes a back 5 and this lack of possession becomes a self perpetuating problem, like last night until Vertonghen went off.

 

[PochettinoPochettinoPochettino]

Still in it. 1-0. Smash em away. Done.

 

[Benny_Lad]

Worth noting that we missed two very good chances. Toby missed a free header first-half, Dele should've done better with one in the second. And when Llorente didn't 't step across/anticipate that cross in the second half, grrrrrrrr....

Llorente header also....although I wouldn't be harking on about our XG too much.....

 

[Baleforce]

Llorente header also....although I wouldn't be harking on about our XG too much.....

0.5 across the 90

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

0.5 across the 90

And each half?

 

[Baleforce]

And each half?

I don't have a source for that I'm afraid

https://twitter.com/x/status/1123332861623402496

looking at the map, was our best chance the Llorente slalom?

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Cant see - Twitter firewalled at work.

I would suspect the xg was terrible first half, and much improved second, averaging out to the 0.5

Id also expect the Ajax xg to do the opposite. Hit the post second half but that was basically all they had, first half though they had a decent amount of chances.

 

[Baleforce]

Cant see - Twitter firewalled at work.

I would suspect the xg was terrible first half, and much improved second, averaging out to the 0.5

Id also expect the Ajax xg to do the opposite. Hit the post second half but that was basically all they had, first half though they had a decent amount of chances.

I've tried to upload a screen grab below.

Probably, although looking at the map, they had two better chances than the one that hit the post, both quite central that I can't remember.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Thanks.

The more I think about it, the less upset I am.

I think they threw everything at us and ultimately wilted once we started to assert ourselves.

While I dont expect a walk over in Amsterdam I am increasingly happy we can get the result.

 

[90291Spur]

Thanks.

The more I think about it, the less upset I am.

I think they threw everything at us and ultimately wilted once we started to assert ourselves.

While I dont expect a walk over in Amsterdam I am increasingly happy we can get the result.

Me too. Given how good they are, how built up they were by the media and what happened in that first half hour (getting battered and losing Verts), we did really well. Yes, they hit the post, but we had three (Llorente/Alder headers and Dele shot) decent chances, and to my eyes we had much the better of the second half. remember, this lot took apart Madrid and Juve away from home. Whatever happens I am positive this lot will do us proud in the return leg.

 

[Mikey10]

I think we still have a chance too, but, I can’t help but think Ajax have another couple of levels from what we saw last night.

I'm not sure about that. I think we saw their highest level in the first 30 minutes. Quite a few in the media who know the team much better than I do said they have one way of playing and that's it. Once we stifled that 2nd half they started to show a bit of vulnerability, in my opinion, and I'm sure we can exploit that.

We definitely need to pressure their keeper at every opportunity in the return leg. He looked an accident waiting to happen to me.

Winning on Saturday will have a knock-on for Wednesday. It is why we play a very strong side and do the business.

Saturday is a massive game now, I feel. If we could win that with a bit of ease then that would help massively with confidence. I wasn't too worried about playing Ajax in Amsterdam by the end of last night, but I suppose the biggest worry remains our general form over the last few weeks.

 

[Baleforce]

I'm not sure about that. I think we saw their highest level in the first 30 minutes. Quite a few in the media who know the team much better than I do said they have one way of playing and that's it. Once we stifled that 2nd half they started to show a bit of vulnerability, in my opinion, and I'm sure we can exploit that.

We definitely need to pressure their keeper at every opportunity in the return leg. He looked an accident waiting to happen to me.



Saturday is a massive game now, I feel. If we could win that with a bit of ease then that would help massively with confidence. I wasn't too worried about playing Ajax in Amsterdam by the end of last night, but I suppose the biggest worry remains our general form over the last few weeks.

Agree on the keeper.

My worry with Ajax is that they ran up the score on Madrid and coped well with Juve, both of whom are far better sides than us.

 

[90291Spur]

Agree on the keeper.

My worry with Ajax is that they ran up the score on Madrid and coped well with Juve, both of whom are far better sides than us.

That they did - and with both of those sides closer to their starting 11s than us (and maybe even with stronger benches than us). Hopefully Son will be the difference maker. His skill, energy and positivity can lift us to a different level and free up the likes of Dele.

It’s all to play for...

 

[Jurgen the German]

I agree it’s all to play for in the 2nd leg. Think we need a big slice of luck but at least we know that a win will mean either extra time or we go through. Ajax were scary in the first 30 mins. There’s no doubt they will have spells like that again in the next game, we just need to ride the storm and hopefully nick a goal on the break. I just hope Llorente doesn’t start as we played like stoke at times last night.

Can’t believe people are actually considering resting players against Bournemouth. If we feck if up then Everton at home will be even harder.