Tottenham vs Wolfsberger OMT

[milo]

Hmmm guess I would go with


Lloris
Tanganga Alderweireld Dier Davies
Hojbjerg Ndombele
Bale Dele Son
Kane

I'd like to rest Hojbjerg and Kane for Sunday. Hojbjerg, particularly, has played a lot of football and I think that might be why mistakes have crept in these last couple of games

 

[90sSpursBook]

Before everyone (including me) loses their brick when we succumb to a late equaliser in what will be a very underwhelming performance its worth remembering how generally uninspiring all our Europa away performances have been over the last decade where we've been in very different motivations and cycles with tons of different players involved.

Since the start of the 2011/12 season we have played 27 Away Europa League games (this excludes 4 qualifiers). This period of time covers 5 managers - Redkanpp (3), AVB (9), Sherwood (2), Poch (10), Mourinho (3). You might also be interested to learn that the starting XI of the first of these matches included in the data - 0-0 at PAOK in Sept 2015 included Harry Kane.

Although this has included some stellar opposition - Dortmund (2015/16 - went on to win it), Lyon, Inter, Benfica it also includes fixtures against your punchline Europa sounding IKEA furniture teams like LASK, Qarabag, Asteras, Tromso, Sheriff.

Our record is as follows:
Won 7; Drawn 11; Lost 9

Scored more than twice - 3 (LASK 3-3; Ludogorets 3-1, Shamrock 4-0)
Biggest win - 4-0 v Shamrock
Winning by 2 goal margin - 5

Add to this the 'sense check' and what you can remember from watching the game and if your memory is anything like mine most of this merge into one vision of grey, insipid, low intensity football. Coming over such a long period with such different players and managers you've got to recognise a pattern and one I don't see getting much better this evening. Even our incredible 2016/17 team in Peak Poch managed to lower their levels considerably during a period of free flowing winning football domestically to crash out to Gent after a very indifferent performance in Belgium.

Fortunately our home record is very different. In the same 27 games we have:

won 19; drawn 5; lost 3

so I'm reasonably confident that we'll get through over 2 legs but not expecting anything very exciting tonight. In the context of the last few weeks this could further fuel the negative narrative that's consuming us but important to be aware of this for wider perspective.

 

[Baleforce]

I'd be tempted to start Hart, just to remind Lloris that there is another option.

That Hart is now an option shows how bad Hugo has been recently.

 

[AdamB]

Hmmm guess I would go with


Lloris
Tanganga Alderweireld Dier Davies
Hojbjerg Ndombele
Bale Dele Son
Kane

I really don't think he needs to go that strong. They're 6th in Austria and we have the return leg. I know people might say 'try to kill it in this leg' however if this game turned out to be a non-event 0-0 draw as a result of us fielding a reserve team, then I don't think thats a bad outcome

All that said, given that it seems that we're sending our full squad out there, then I'd imagine that some of our big 4 (Kane, Son, PEH, Ndomebele) will start

 

[Yiddo]

Hojberg
Lamela
Ndombele
Son and Toby will all start.

 

[billyiddo]

I really don't think he needs to go that strong. They're 6th in Austria and we have the return leg. I know people might say 'try to kill it in this leg' however if this game turned out to be a non-event 0-0 draw as a result of us fielding a reserve team, then I don't think thats a bad outcome

All that said, given that it seems that we're sending our full squad out there, then I'd imagine that some of our big 4 (Kane, Son, PEH, Ndomebele) will start

With the woeful run of extended form we are in I'd say there's extra importance on getting a win here to relieve some of the mounting pressure - a good performance/win could give us something to build on. A bad result going in to the West Ham game would not be a nice place to be in

 

[AdamB]

With the woeful run of extended form we are in I'd say there's extra importance on getting a win here to relieve some of the mounting pressure - a good performance/win could give us something to build on. A bad result going in to the West Ham game would not be a nice place to be in

I don't know...depends on the impact of people playing tonight on Sunday.

Put it this way - if we lose on Sunday then the pressure on Jose, and Levy to bin him, increases substantially irrespective of whether we've beaten Wolsburger in the first leg. A win tonight but loss on Sunday puts Jose is a far weaker position than a loss tonight but win on Sunday

Without wanting to tempt fate, its difficult to see us losing so badly tonight that the tie is effectively dead - therefore I'd leave out the big guns tonight. THough, as above, the fact that they've travelled suggests some of them will start

 

[milo]

I agree with @AdamB, I think that the pressure is really on if we lose to West Ham. I don't want to see wholesale changes but a little rotation would be a good idea. We have a second go at this game next week. I think that Hojbjerg is particular, has looked tired these last few weeks.

 

[Baleforce]

Our tiredness from the Everton game was obvious against City too.

 

[Mikey10]

Before everyone (including me) loses their brick when we succumb to a late equaliser in what will be a very underwhelming performance its worth remembering how generally uninspiring all our Europa away performances have been over the last decade where we've been in very different motivations and cycles with tons of different players involved.

Since the start of the 2011/12 season we have played 27 Away Europa League games (this excludes 4 qualifiers). This period of time covers 5 managers - Redkanpp (3), AVB (9), Sherwood (2), Poch (10), Mourinho (3). You might also be interested to learn that the starting XI of the first of these matches included in the data - 0-0 at PAOK in Sept 2015 included Harry Kane.

Although this has included some stellar opposition - Dortmund (2015/16 - went on to win it), Lyon, Inter, Benfica it also includes fixtures against your punchline Europa sounding IKEA furniture teams like LASK, Qarabag, Asteras, Tromso, Sheriff.

Our record is as follows:
Won 7; Drawn 11; Lost 9

Scored more than twice - 3 (LASK 3-3; Ludogorets 3-1, Shamrock 4-0)
Biggest win - 4-0 v Shamrock
Winning by 2 goal margin - 5

Add to this the 'sense check' and what you can remember from watching the game and if your memory is anything like mine most of this merge into one vision of grey, insipid, low intensity football. Coming over such a long period with such different players and managers you've got to recognise a pattern and one I don't see getting much better this evening. Even our incredible 2016/17 team in Peak Poch managed to lower their levels considerably during a period of free flowing winning football domestically to crash out to Gent after a very indifferent performance in Belgium.

Fortunately our home record is very different. In the same 27 games we have:

won 19; drawn 5; lost 3

so I'm reasonably confident that we'll get through over 2 legs but not expecting anything very exciting tonight. In the context of the last few weeks this could further fuel the negative narrative that's consuming us but important to be aware of this for wider perspective.

Great post.

 

[diego_maradona]

I agree with @AdamB, I think that the pressure is really on if we lose to West Ham. I don't want to see wholesale changes but a little rotation would be a good idea. We have a second go at this game next week. I think that Hojbjerg is particular, has looked tired these last few weeks.

This is a good point.

 

[jamonserrano]

With Covid, it makes even more sense. The Hungarian government have royally fudged up their handling of it, so I'd want to get them out as quickly as possible.

Don't let the media mislead you on this Milo, we're fine over here.
My mate tried to get close to the team at the airport yesterday (his father works there), but he had no chance. The guys are very well protected from every human being.
They stayed at Ritz but for last night only, after the game they fly back to London (Flight nr. BRO21 - Boeing 737-300 from 2 Excel Aviation, if you'd like to follow them on flightradar)
And my mate have seen all the players (even Levy) getting on the bus, but Kane was not among them.

 

[milo]

Don't let the media mislead you on this Milo, we're fine over here.
My mate tried to get close to the team at the airport yesterday (his father works there), but he had no chance. The guys are very well protected from every human being.
They stayed at Ritz but for last night only, after the game they fly back to London (Flight nr. BRO21 - Boeing 737-300 from 2 Excel Aviation, if you'd like to follow them on flightradar)
And my mate have seen all the players (even Levy) getting on the bus, but Kane was not among them.

Cheers. It wasn't a media misleading thing, more a risk limitation thing. I'd feel the same about them staying anywhere longer than needed.

 

[Baleforce]

Don't let the media mislead you on this Milo, we're fine over here.
My mate tried to get close to the team at the airport yesterday (his father works there), but he had no chance. The guys are very well protected from every human being.
They stayed at Ritz but for last night only, after the game they fly back to London (Flight nr. BRO21 - Boeing 737-300 from 2 Excel Aviation, if you'd like to follow them on flightradar)
And my mate have seen all the players (even Levy) getting on the bus, but Kane was not among them.

Was your mate in a tree?

 

[90sSpursBook]

This is a good point.

No images of Kane training yesterday on the OS either. I reckon Son and Hojbjerg on the bench with Ndomebele to start. As has already been discussed tonight is not the be all and end all - we have next week at home as a safety net.

Its so frustrating that the second string Europa/Cup team haven't been able to get the job done. So far this season:

Hojbjerg introduced as sub at H/t v Antwerp away, Ludogorets away, Wycombe away
Son introduced as a sub v Antwerp (half-time), last 29 mins v Luodgorets away and for last 22 mins v Wycombe
Kane has come on as a sub v Skhendija (and played last 30 mins), v Antwerp (32 mins), and v Wycombe (32 mins)

Accumulatively that's a lot of what should be unnecessary minutes.

All of them started v Maccabi and v Plovdiv as presumably Jose didn't trust the starting XI to get the job done (in one-off elimination matches)

 

[Baleforce]

No images of Kane training yesterday on the OS either. I reckon Son and Hojbjerg on the bench with Ndomebele to start. As has already been discussed tonight is not the be all and end all - we have next week at home as a safety net.

Its so frustrating that the second string Europa/Cup team haven't been able to get the job done. So far this season:

Hojbjerg introduced as sub at H/t v Antwerp away, Ludogorets away, Wycombe away
Son introduced as a sub v Antwerp (half-time), last 29 mins v Luodgorets away and for last 22 mins v Wycombe
Kane has come on as a sub v Skhendija (and played last 30 mins), v Antwerp (32 mins), and v Wycombe (32 mins)

Accumulatively that's a lot of what should be unnecessary minutes.

All of them started v Maccabi and v Plovdiv as presumably Jose didn't trust the starting XI to get the job done (in one-off elimination matches)

True, although to be fair, in some of those games we got worse when the big guns came on.

 

[jamonserrano]

Was your mate in a tree?

In a Burger King...

 

[Baleforce]

In a Burger King...

 

[StephenH]

​

 

[Raziel]

Kane, PEH and Son need a rest, I'd argue we would be pushing our luck with Lamela is we run him another 90 mins.

Perhaps Winks, Dele, Bale, Bergwijn, Vinicius all get the run?