Ziyech is the one I would be worried about. I thought he was excellent and he and Tadic have some kind of innane connection on the pitch. Our and your ex-manager Martin Jol rates him very highly.
Ziyech wanted to leave last summer but no team came in for the Ajax asking price of €25M. Roma low balled Ajax and the team refused. Ziyech runs hot and cold and never passes up a shot if he has half a chance. He is really more of an attacking MF kind of like Dele but he plays out on the wing. You are right about the chemistry with Tadic! It's amazing that Tadic has had the season of his life with Ajax. I only saw a few Southampton matches in the past couple of years and he was an OK player. This season he has been one of the best in Europe based on his CL performance. I've read in the Dutch press that Spurs are potentially interested in Neres. He's a good player and what I really like about him is that he never dribbles into trouble. He's always willing to pass to an open man when a double team appears. I'm not sure he's up to the EPL however.
iirc Tadic started off very good when he first arrived at Southampton, but cooled off some along the way
how big an influence was Llorente yesterday? from whoscored.com (remember, Llorente only played 45 minutes) (numbers are comparing de Ligt to Llorente) Details Aerials Won 11- 13 Aerials Won% 73- 76 Offensive Aerials 7- 15 Defensive Aerials 8- 2 Top 5 Players 1Fernando Llorente(Sub)Tottenham13 2Matthijs de Ligt(DC)Ajax11 3Lucas Moura(FW)Tottenham4 4Jan Vertonghen(DC)Tottenham3 5Toby Alderweireld(DC)Tottenham btw - how does Moura win 4 aerial duels?????
Tottenham goals in the Champions League:⏱ 0'-30': 2️⃣⏱ 30'-60': 7️⃣⏱ 60'-90': 1️⃣0️⃣The Late Late Show with Spurs. pic.twitter.com/HQBBWW8bzh— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 9, 2019
linker, rio, and hoddle as the goal is scored Gary Lineker: 😱Rio Ferdinand: 🤯Glenn Hoddle: 🤩No matter how many years you've been in football, this game will always find ways to surprise you!#NoFilterUCL pic.twitter.com/OlWKlRJcZP— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) May 9, 2019
Probably most of the balls that Llorente won came against Blind who is not as big and doesn't jump well. It's an interesting stat. I wonder if Tottenham would have been as successful with Kane in the lineup rather than Llorente. Ajax commonly face mobile forwards and "might" have had less trouble. Just conjecture which is the wonderful thing about football!!!
good point. the only reason I chose de Ligt for the comparison is that he had the 2nd most aerials won, rather than who was matched up against who.
It is now a standard question on life insurance applications in the UK: "Question 23a. Are you a Tottenham Hotspur supporter? Yes. Application denied. No. Proceed to question 23b."
I had the most mental dream the other night. You know how Spurs always manage to find a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? Yeah, I dreamt that Lucas smashed in a winner on 95.01 of 95. Ridiculous, I know.
true that. but when folks are excited about hoofing it up to Llorente, that's when you know it's a special night.
True. May be the best finish to a game (for neutrals) since that Man City-QPR game to win the league (2012?). Or dare I say it Michael Thomas for l'Arse at Anfield. But this for us as Spurs fans will be more special.
How about the Gillingham-Man City Division 2 play-off in 1999? The Tony Pulis managed Gills were leading 2-0 with 89 minutes on the clock before City rallied to 2-2 to eventually win on penalties.
… or Brentford missing the injury time penalty at Griffin Park that would've sent them up in '13, only for it to go the other way and see Donny Rovers score on the break to win the division?
I can remember we were indirectly involved in the relegation battle a few years back against Birmingham on the last day of the season. I remember they got a late equalizer against us at WHL that at the time would have been enough to keep them up but then Wolves and Wigan scored late goals to pass them on GOALS FOR of all things, meaning Brum had to win outright to stay up. They threw everyone forward in the final minutes, only to see Roman Pavlyuchenko pop up for us to score a stoppage time winner. Now that was a crazy last day, we haven't had one of those the past few seasons. Shame they went down, because they had beaten Arsenal in a memorable League Cup Final earlier in the season.
I watched the extended highlights again last night on BT Sports, I don't think you could film a better ending to a football film than this match. If you ever want to see what pure joy and despair looks like just keep watching the 3rd goal. Lucas Moura was out of this world. Two amazing semi-finals it's just a shame there'll have to be a loser in the final.