Zagadou is likely going to be forced back into the line-up. Curious to see if Balerdi plays or not. I would rather not risk him and go with a CB pairing of DAZ and Diallo. Otherwise it will be DAZ and Balerdi with Diallo as LB so Gurreiro can play up front. The midfield is going to be a pairing of Witsel with Delaney or Dahoud. Up front Götze and Sancho will play the full 90 min. Philipp will most likely make an appearance. The rest is to be seen based on what decisions LF makes in the defence.
If Zagadou is not 100 percent he should stay benched. He has given away unnecessary penalties when healthy so he may not be experienced enough to handle a big occasion having not started recently. Put Delaney or Witsel next to Diallo. Witsel is good enough to play defence but his midfield role is important, Delaney as CB with Witsel and Dahoud in midfield is another option. Hakimi in Piszczek's spot and Schmelzer at leftback, we could just have enough experience to hold down a weak fort.
After pissing away a three-goal lead last Saturday vs Hoffenheim I've been on edge. Far too many key players are out (Piszczek, Weigl and most importantly Reus), and both of our previous visits to Wembley Stadium have ended in painful defeats. It doesn't bode well at all for us. The only improvement from last season is that we are no longer weighed down by Castro's uselessness At this point I would settle for a draw, but whatever happens I fully expect Heung-Min Son to score a goal against us, he always does.
I hope we dont actually play with Larsen on the wing opposite sancho. It may be a day of creativity and risks and pulisic out wide would be better or perhaps phillip with sancho
Bürki Hakimi Toprak Zagadou Diallo Delaney Witsel Pulisic Dahoud Sancho Götze This seems to be the lineup. I'm not sure whether Dahoud will really be a 10 or if it's possibly a 4-3-3 which I don't think would work well. I don't like Diallo at LB again. Maybe this is the more defensive approach but I don't get why we repeat what doesn't work. Schmelzer is on the bench. He's not a fan favourite but would have been a better choice. In theory a third CB could be helpful in deadball situations but I didn't see that in previous games. Guerreiro is on the bench as well which is a bit surprising. Maybe partly rotation but he was doing very well since his increase in playing time and could have been another alternative for LB.
We have a serious lack of goals in the squad, with Reus and Alacer injured. I think Favre has gone for a very defensive approach. It is different playing Diallo with Pulisic ahead of him, 3 in midfield. Pulisic will be expected to keep the width and Diallo won't have to overlap, where as with Raphael, the Portuguese winger as given license to drift in freeing up space out wide. It's a much weaker team than usual, but hopefully we can get a result.
I think he wants to keep Raphael fresh so he can inject pace should we need goals. If he's on the field then we have nobody else apart from Pulisic. I dont like Schmelzer but I'd pick him over Toprak any day. He adds nothing but subtracts a lot from the starting 11.
Damn. Are we playing in London or Dortmund? Spurs playing with a 3 man defence. Their entire formation looks ultra defensive. This works in our favour.
This is going to be interesting. Not clear which formation we'll play and whether Diallo will go forward. This game will depend on which version of Dahoud will show up. Overall I'm optimistic because Spurs are also injury depleted for today.
I'll be really surprised if we play our standard 4-2-3-1. I think it'll be more of a 4-3-3. I expect to see a lot of midfield battles rather than end to end action. I'll settle for an excruciatingly boring match as long as we win.
Maybe it's a reaction to our recent games and they see a good chance to score through deadball situations while trying to close everything down in their defense and midfield.
I am dumbfounded by the Toprak selection. For a tall player he's useless in the air particularly in the box. I'd rather have gambled with Balerdi because Toprak is a sure loser.
Favre seems to me to be too conservative to give an 18 year old a debut as a starter in a last 16 CL game, esp if he never played in Europe even domestically.
But I do agree that the alternative of Guerreiro as LB and Diallo as CB would have probably been better.
Very good chance after Tottenham lose the ball in their penalty area. Couldn't see it clearly in the replay but I think if Pulisic passes the ball instead of trying to score from a very tough angle, it's a goal.
The ref is quite bad. Couldn't have been a clearer foul on Sancho just in front of the penalty box. I'd guess it's almost impossible to trip like that by yourself.
Sancha missed foul was bad... Pulisic hasnt been bad at all on the wings should have been a goal there for Zagado... great save on his header
Good game by us so far. Spurs are playing a high line but with Verthongen and Alderweiled are playing right into our strenth on the counter which we've been able to exploit thus far. Toprak brings nothing to the team as he can't play with the ball at his feet and only passes it back. His positioning is also just as bad defensively. I wouldn't mind if he were to get subbed out for Guerreiro so that Diallo can move inside.
Too attacking and not needed as long as things stays 0-0. There is no reason to risk anything. We will hopefully have Alcacer, Reus and home advantage for the next game. Favre is right to be cautious. Hopefully we can get an away goal too. The missed foul on Sancho was an awful decision and would have been a clear yellow and given us a goal scoring shot, though sadly our three best direct free kick takers aren't on the pitch. Gotze is doing well, but we really miss a striker with pace or Reus' bursting runs. Overall it's been good. Tottenham have set up to purposely stop Sancho and he is still having an impact.
0:0 at halftime. Not a bad game by us but at this level, the team has to be more thoughtful when chances are developed. Tottenham had a few dangerous situations as well but so far the game went better than I expected. But it was already mentioned, it will be a question where the goals are coming from. With the players up front, they are the types that almost have to pass the ball into the goal. Diallo isn't that bad. He had a few nice dribbles but didn't create anything going forward through passes or combinations. It feels like the guys around him don't seem to trust him in offense. 0:0 wouldn't be a bad result but getting an away goal would be great.