Spurs face the Bundesliga's 2nd placed team at Nouveau WHL without our top 2 goalscorers, with Son now out for 6-8 weeks. Shades of last season when Mauricio Pochettino had to deal with a spate of injuries to cobble together a run to the final. This time around, Jose Mourinho is at the controls and his recent CL history makes for grim reading as he has lost his last 3 knockout ties with his last triumph being a QF win with Chelsea back in 2014. How the Portugueuse will line us up is anyone's guess. Our record signing Tanguy Ndombele seems to have been dumped into cold storage, while Eric Dier, like a toothache that won't go away, keeps getting picked in midfield ahead of better options. We will have to be at our best defensively and avoid conceding the kind of bonehead goals that have typified our season.
agree with your assessment. While stating the obvious and what needs to be avoided.. do you believe Tottenham will get the job done? I personally believe Tottenham simply has the experience and player profile to win this tie and to be quite honest.. i also believe they are the more talented all around team.. Now, if Mourinho uses this talent properly or not is anyones guess..
believe? you'll find a wide range of opinions on these boards on the subject of belief. perhaps 'nutter can help here. anyway, on the subject of expectations, I've discovered a strange new personal phenomenon. in the past (particularly under both Harry and Poch), I'd often expected that we might play very, very well and deserve to win no matter how big the occasion - but felt fairly certain that we'd lose. now, under Mourinho, I've found that I pretty much always expect us to suck and deserve nothing - yet suspect that we might win. odd, eh? at any rate, I have no doubt that Leipzig will be better than us. but I wouldn't bet the result.
It will be very difficult, Leipzig are a really good side with an excellent coach in Julian Nagelsmann - I really think we missed a trick by not trying to bring him in. I don't know who is the more talented side, but I feel that we are not using our best players enough. Unfortunately, this is a recurring trend under Mourinho; remember this is a manager who sold Lukaku, Salah and De Bruyne and fell out with Hazard. I would expect Mourinho to set us up as he did against Liverpool and Man City. We have basically become a counter-attacking team under the Portuguese.
There are options. Ndombele and Sessegnon didn't play last game, and Gedson barely played. A chance for somebody to step up. I think going for 4th place is more important than this year's CL tournament, since there is little hope of winning it. But I don't expect Jose to put out a weak side.
Yes, I believe. Yes I do. Mind, I haven't seen Leipzig play, but Spurs still have enough talent to push through, IMO. As you said, pook, Mourinho/Spurs will find a way.
Here are the teams: Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Aurier, Alderweireld, Sanchez, Davies, Winks, Fernandes, Lo Celso, Alli, Bergwijn, Lucas Moura. Subs: Vertonghen, Lamela, Dier, Gazzaniga, Ndombele, Skipp, Tanganga. RB Leipzig: Gulacsi, Mukiele, Klostermann, Halstenberg, Angelino, Laimer, Ampadu, Sabitzer, Nkunku, Schick, Werner. Subs: Haidara, Poulsen, Forsberg, Lookman, Wolf, Olmo, Mvogo. Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).
And Leipzig nearly score in the first seconds, for some reason Aurier heads the ball into the middle and the shot goes wide.
I actually started to post that we'd concede in the first five minutes. I'd better get it in quick if it's to be predictive.
How have Leipzig not scored? Sanchez with a great block in the 6-yard box, Angelino's shot is saved by Lloris against the post and then Werner is stopped on the goal-line by Lloris! Incredible.
Leipzig play a 3-4-3 system and rely on pressing the ball with a goal of taking a shot within 10 seconds of recovering the ball - I'll say they've managed that in the opening minutes.