Tottenham vs Chelsea 7/4 pre/post match talk

[Colm]

Well since we've only have 24 hours to rest for this and this gives more time for Chelsea to rest there players can't see us getting much, since Chelsea will be desperate to catch up with Man Utd and since they're playing first they'll be think it's a good time to put pressure on them, but you never know I suppose, hopefully we can get some kinda result. Bit annoying this games starts at 12:45 local time.

[chanman83]

Jol hasn't said anything about King so I seriously doubt he will play. On the team Website they state murphy is back training and is quite possible for tomorrow's game. As Colm said, less than 24 hrs and AT Stamford Bridge will be tough. I'm prob one of the most optimistic peeps on this board but I'm scared to utter that I don't know if we will win this. I'm more praying for a draw but I see us losing either 2-1 or 1-0 :(

edit: I'll be up MAD early here in the US as its on at 7:40 on Sentanta Sports.

[Danners9]

I hope we play a weakened side. Rest some players for next thursday. I expect Chelsea to do the same with tuesday in mind. This game is a joke, the timing is terrible.

I don't mind if we lose this, the Sevilla game is way more important.

[Spur_Forever]

Exactly right. I especially hope to see Defoe and Mido up front. Maybe Ghaly in midfield. Shame Dawson will have to start no matter what - would have been nice to be able to rest him. He's clearly getting tired and has been well sub-par in the past 2 games.

[sheridan]

edit: I'll be up MAD early here in the US as its on at 7:40 on Sentanta Sports.

I'll be right there with you.
up at the butt-crack of dawn to go to my local pub and watch it.

jol said that king has been running and doing some ball work.
I think king wants to come back now but jol is hesitant about bringing king back. he said he might be playing next week but he is wary about giving a specified start date since last time he did that king got injured again.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/t/tottenham_hotspur/6515545.stm


I want to have faith that spurs can at least pull a tie (I'll be more than satisfied with that) but in all honesty I don't see us doing very well against chelsea. it is their backs up against the wall and I have a feeling they are going to be coming out with all guns blazing.
hopefully we can channel the same energy we had a few weeks ago in the fa cup tie at stamford bridge and give chelski a run for their money.

[mattie g]

Exactly right. I especially hope to see Defoe and Mido up front. Maybe Ghaly in midfield. Shame Dawson will have to start no matter what - would have been nice to be able to rest him. He's clearly getting tired and has been well sub-par in the past 2 games.

I think we'll see Defoe and Mido up top. I just don't see Jol taking a chance at getting players hurt after that Thursday match.

As for Dawson...what if we played Stalts on the right and put Chimbo and Rocha in the middle? I know that's a relatively weak middle pairing, but Dawson has to be dead tired by this point and needs a rest. But, come to think of it, so does Chimbo.

With that in mind, how about:

Robinson
Stalteri Chimbonda Rocha Lee
Taarabt Ghaly Tainio Malbranque
Defoe Mido

That's taking a serious chance (especially in the back and through the middle), but I see no real way around the problem of keeping players even remotely fresh without making such drastic changes to the lineup. We've got some huge games coming up and will need fresh legs in order to put together our end-of-season run.

[dashiel]

i too hope for a second string side. i also hope it's one of those situations where the bench warmers and reserve side players want to show jol why he should be picking them and stun chelsea for a draw. to put that in perspective i also hope i win the lottery.

[Spur_Forever]

As for Dawson...what if we played Stalts on the right and put Chimbo and Rocha in the middle? I know that's a relatively weak middle pairing, but Dawson has to be dead tired by this point and needs a rest. But, come to think of it, so does Chimbo.
Maybe Michael Dawson's twin brother Matt can sub in for him. Although given Matt's performance yesterday, he's clearly the weaker defender. The evil twin, if you will - like in the cartoons I used to watch as a kid.

[mattie g]

Maybe Michael Dawson's twin brother Matt can sub in for him. Although given Matt's performance yesterday, he's clearly the weaker defender. The evil twin, if you will - like in the cartoons I used to watch as a kid.

Right on. Although since Michael had a rest yesterday, perhaps he'd be the better option!

[aguy2die4]

just heard on the radio, Ferguson is said to have complained that Spurs has to face Chelsea 2moro when Chelsea was given extra days rest.

nice to see Fergie looking out for Spurs interest.......lol

guess he reckons Chelsea's gonna get 3points 2moro and is making noise.

[ox utd]

I hope we play a weakened side. Rest some players for next thursday. I expect Chelsea to do the same with tuesday in mind. This game is a joke, the timing is terrible.

I don't mind if we lose this, the Sevilla game is way more important.
My thoughts exactly. Only thing I expect from this game is a chance for a lot of backup players to get some minutes. A draw and I'd be shocked and delighted.

[mattie g]

Sounds like we're all taking a page from Colm's book:

Expect the worst and hope for the best ;)

[DaeHaMinGuk]

just heard on the radio, Ferguson is said to have complained that Spurs has to face Chelsea 2moro when Chelsea was given extra days rest.

nice to see Fergie looking out for Spurs interest.......lol

guess he reckons Chelsea's gonna get 3points 2moro and is making noise.

Last Easter, Man U played us after getting 2 days between matches while we only had 1 day off. Sir Alex can f___ himself. Was he complaining about it last year? Maybe that 1 day off would have been the difference between Spurs being in CL. If so, then Spurs wouldn't have just 1 day off against Chelsea this year.

[Danners9]

He's making noise for his own reasons. Several years ago he accused Leeds United of not trying as hard against everyone else as they do against Man Utd, just before they took on Newcastle - top of the league at the time.

Man Utd went on to win the league after Keegan went postal on TV.

[DimiBerby9]

Cheer up guys! Maybe I'm a little naive, but I think we can win this game. Chelsea are a great team, but I don't think they're as good as last season. We've exposed them already this season (twice) and I think we can do it again.

[Danners9]

We will be resting players, i would imagine, and so will they (for tuesday away in Valencia). But their reserve side is better than ours.

We *can* win, but given the circumstances - only flew back today and the Sevilla H game on thursday - i don't see it.

[alexspepa]

Everton wins, Bolton plays Wigan...we need points or we probably stay in
7th. Come on Wigan!

[Spur_Forever]

0-0 after the first half, but if you ask me, we're lucky to be level after the pressure we absorbed in the first 10 mins.

Jol fielded the side I wanted to see, with as expected, rests for most first-teamers. Chimbonda and Dawson are the only two whom I wish could have been rested and were not. But Dawson in particular looks like he's having a much better game than he did against Sevilla. Chimbo looks out of place and tired as hell.

With a front two of Mido and Defoe on the field, we see the importance of Berbatov because neither of them can hold the ball at all. Every ball that is played forward is immediately lost. One positive thing I can say about them is that both are running more off the ball than they usually do.

In midfield, Tainio and Malbranque are holding us together, but only just. Ghaly has lost possession 75% of the time he had the ball, while Jenas has had not done much better than a 50% ratio (imo) - one of which could have proved very costly. Also, Jenas's delivery from set pieces has been absolute shyte. What a waste.

I expect Moaninho to shuffle his team around in the second half, sending on Joe Cole and Schevchenko. And unfortunately, I don't think we'll be able to deal with them.

[Danners9]

I've only seen bits of it today, missed the first 35 mins (asleep). It's 1-0 to Chelsea now, Carvalho with a low bouncing shot from way outside the box!!

But it's been quite dull, Chelsea had the better of it from what i've seen as you would expect. 30 mins to go.

[Spur_Forever]

Taraabt is on and is fecking amazing.