Both teams head into this big London derby in disarray after weekend reverses, Spurs capitulating at Burnley while Chelsea spoiled what was a good performance in the League Cup final against Man City with Kepa-gate, when the Chelsea keeper refused his manager's orders to come off near the end of extra time. Maurizio Sarri was so angry that he was ready to walk out of the stadium, until he saw one of Roman Abramovich's henchmen waiting in the Wembley tunnel and decided to stick around. Meanwhile, our gaffer had a go at the players in his pre-match presser, basically calling them out for their lack of intensity on Saturday. He's right, but Poch is also partly to blame by not improving the squad in the last 2 transfer windows. For example, Mousa Dembele has been a big miss for us this season and has not been adequately replaced. Hard to predict what will happen tonight. The home team has won all 3 fixtures between the clubs this season, and our win there last year was our first in 28 years at the Bridge. Hopefully, the fact they had to play an intense extra time game on Sunday will work in our favour.
Here are the teams - Kepa has been dropped to the bench after his antics on Sunday. Chelsea Caballero Azpilicueta, Rüdiger, David Luiz, Alonso Kanté, Jorginho, Kovacic, Pedro, Hazard Higuaín Substitutes Arrizabalaga, Barkley, Loftus-Cheek, Giroud, Hudson-Odoi, Willian, Christensen Tottenham Lloris Trippier, Alderweireld, Sánchez, Davies Winks, Sissoko, Eriksen, Lamela Kane, Son Heung-Min Substitutes Rose, Wanyama, Llorente, Foyth, Gazzaniga, Aurier, Lucas Moura Referee: Andre Marriner
I don't expect they will set up defensively like they did in the final. That will suit us and I'm hopeful. Wish Dier was available, he brings an extra level of intensity to these games. Dele the Chelsea killer too, of course, but he was never going to be fit. We could hardly pick a better time to be playing them with all the turmoil. 3 points really ought to be the target. COYS!
Man, this game is being called loose. Would not be surprised if red card and/or injury comes of this match.
Well this coupled with other results puts the fork in our season. Fighting off “in trouble” Arsenal and United for 3rd seems the most excitement we’ll get down the stretch.
Glad I was on the road to a gaming convention, because I would have disliked watching this. Looks like maybe the team has lost it's focus.
You can look at it in one of two ways. You can consider the loss to Burnley, the loss to Chelsea, and probable losses to Arsenal and Dortmund to come and say that this is the beginning of the end. Or you can look at it and say that even if we lose the next two, we could still be 3rd in the league and alive in the CL. Even the most optimistic fan will concede that we've had some good luck come our way against Fulham, Leicester and Newcastle. This is just luck evening itself out. This team got no help the last two transfer windows. I was critical of Poch and Levy in the summer for doing nothing, and so far, I've been proven wrong. That is a testament to Poch and a sign of how hard the players have worked to build a buffer for times like these Every time the club has been in "crisis" under Poch, they have responded. I expect that they will find a way to climb out of this hole they're in. They're too talented not to.
In reality, there was were really 2 moments of lack of concentration by either side. And when I say moments, it was literally just a second or two of lost concentration. Unfortunately, one ended up being an own goal, the other ended up being a simple goal. Apart from that, the match was fairly even, though Chelsea did a good job of pressing high causing some iffy moments at the back for Spurs. This.
Same old, same old, same dumb mistakes in big games from the same players. Trippier's season has been a write-off, he should be sent to the reserves after that disgrace. Lloris makes error after error, we need to seriously look at bringing in a new keeper, and our passing was terrible. Now 5 losses in 7 against the big 6. We will do well to stay in the top 4 on this form. This week we saw once again the consequences of not improving the squad in the transfer windows.
This week has shown the limitations of our squad. In the close season, Poch or whoever the manager is will need to overhaul the squad. We can only pray that this group manages to hold on to our top 4 spot from now till the end of the season, because it is only going to get tougher with Manchester United back to their old selves. 1. Goalkeeper - Lloris has had too inconsistent a season with several high profile errors and needs to be replaced. 2. Right back - Trippier and Aurier have been total flops this season. We can't play a back 4 with these guys because they are a disaster defensively. Either go with a back 3 system, young Walker-Peters or get someone else. 3. Central midfield - this is the one that bothers me the most, since Poch knew Dembele was on his way out and didn't bring in anyone to replace him. Sissoko and Winks have been decent in a pinch, but you need a dominate player in that role. 4. Centre back - now that Alderweireld is going to walk for 25 million pounds in the summer, we are going to need to replace him. 5. Attacking midfield - if Eriksen goes, we are going to have to find a new playmaker in this role.
i posted this on the referee board but so far they have not answered: as a non referee I have a question - it is clear after watching several replays of the Trippier goal yesterday that Lloris recognized the danger and dashed out to cut down the angle, but being the instinctive goal scorer he is KT coolly slotted the ball home without even looking up.. My question - if Lloris was a couple of steps quicker and actually got to Trippier and brought him down - does he get sent off for DOGSO?