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Spurs have really impressed me so. They spent no money in the summer and are still up there. Will be interesting to see if they keep it going into the new year.
PL 2018-2019 Thread
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weasel said:
I guess it paid off on this occasion and you're right the Barca game is massive. But the truth is we're not going to win the CL, and Chelsea and Arsenal have decided to start playing again so I hope focusing on getting to the CL knock out stages this year doesn't jeopardise qualifying next year.
We fluked it! Thanks PSV. Got to say Spurs could have deservedly won that game though, I know it was only a half strength Barcelona side but Spurs were great if lacking at the final furlong. Liverpool through too, good night all round!
A truly fantastic performance by Spurs tonight! Easily the better side, they should really have beaten Barcelona, but nevertheless a thoroughly deserved progression from the group stage of the CL!
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A good night all round apart from Liverpool scraping through as usual, that's them in the final again!!
edd_jedi said:
I saw the highlights of the Spurs game and it looked like a fluke, but very much deserved as well. A fluke because Barca played a near second string, and Coutinho hit the post, twice. But Spurs deserved it, from what I saw, as they created a lot of decent chances and it sounds like they were the better side.
Saying that Inter need to have a long hard look at themselves. Yer man who missed the free header from inside the six yard box in stoppage time in particular. If you can't beat PSV at home knowing that will get you through to the next round, you don't deserve to qualify. Simple as.
theforceuk said:
That Liverpool game was horrendous. I was talking to a dyed in the wool Liverpool hating Utd fan and I said to him it should have ended 8-3, he asked me where I got the "3" for Napoli from. Liverpool could/SHOULD have scored 5/6/7/8 in that game. Salah, Milner, Mane, Mane, ehhh Mane, and VVD all missed great chances. FFS Mane could have continued to play after Napoli had gone home and he wouldn't have scored. :roll:
Looking at potential opponents for Pool, Spurs and Utd (they won't win the group, Juve will hump Young Boys and I'm not sure I can see Utd winning in Spain) they can play, Dortmund, Porto, Real, Bayern, Juve (Spurs+Pool), Barca (Pool+Utd), or PSG (Spurs and Utd). That'll be Porto please! Dortmund will be a great game to watch, Bayern and Real aren't the teams they were, PSG are beatable though all three are still more than capable of handing out an arse whooping, Juve and Barca would be tough.
Still, there are 2 more English sides in the second round than I was expecting this time yesterday.
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Yeah I didn't watch any football last night, but cought the last 10 minutes of the Liverpool game on the radio and they seemed to miss about 3 clear cut chances then. I just get frustrated because Liverpool always seem to nearly go out in the group stage and then end up nearly winning it! :lol:
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They probably will, Liverpool are due a good result against Utd. :roll:
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weasel said:
Yeah what ever. :lol:
Well, Spurs just about pulled that game out of the fire! Boring Burnley turned up at Wembley with 10 defenders and a keeper, and then spent the next 90 minutes of the game wasting as much time as possible and frustrating Spurs at every opportunity. Spurs should have been much more menacing and definitely should have moved the ball forward more quickly, however the conditions were awful, the opposition utterly negative, plus they were coming down off their mid-week high against Barcelona, so it was a great relief once Kane's simple, but perfect pass into the path of the onrushing Eriksen was slotting home for the lead in stoppage time. Burnley of course, having had two players (and it should have been far more) booked for time-wasting earlier in the game, then suddenly decided they could play quickly after all, much to the amusement of the Spurs fans, but Spurs easily held on for a deserved win. There had only been one team interested in playing in the whole game, and although they certainly weren't at their best, a draw would have been a travesty of justice for Spurs.
I agree the Burnley game was frustrating to watch, but they're not the only team to have figured out how to play Spurs. If there are 10 players behind the ball, we will not score, and Burnley managed it for 90 minutes. I've seen quite a few teams frustrate Spurs with those tactics over the last few seasons. We used to have Bale who could score from the half way line, now although we have a solid attack they're not great at penetrating a bus.
I completely agree, which is why I wish we would try to move the ball forward faster. Against Barcelona in the week (a game they would obviously have been highly motivated for), they did exactly that, with rapid forward passing, working around opposition players in neat triangles, to tremendous effect. I realise that can be harder to do with more players behind the ball, but it would nice to at least see them try to do it in games like today's. Most of the team, but Lamela in particular I have noticed, seems to want an age on the ball before finally passing it to a team mate (something he almost never does at all if he thinks he can shoot at goal, even if there are team mates in far better positions than him). Only Kane seems happy to pass the ball to someone else in the box who's better positioned to score. Yes, he will shoot at most opportunities, often when he might have passed the ball to someone else, but even so, he is at least willing to pass it reasonably often, as he did today for Eriksen's goal.edd_jedi said:
I like Pochettino very much, but he really doesn't seem to want to attack opponents very quickly, instead preferring the 'patient build up play' approach, which inevitably usually means the opposition have their entire defence lined up behind the ball before Spurs try to engineer a way through it. I don't want Spurs to become reckless, but I do feel they could attack more quickly than they usually do at the moment.
Richard_H
Grand Master
Shocking performances from back 4 and not sure about the keeper either. Every cross was a goal the moment it left the foot. Koscielny is either not fit or too old, he was ripped apart and out of position a lot. Saints totally deserved that
lejackal said:
Wednesday is going to be interesting, both clubs have a habit of putting out a team of school kids in the early league cup matches, but will they for this fixture? Having lost at the Emirates a few weeks back Spurs could do with a win to restore face, but will Poch take the risk of playing a decent squad? I think he should because regardless of the fact it's against Arsenal, the league cup is as usual our best chance of winning something.
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