Well, how did we win that? For 75 minutes, Saints absolutley battered us until Dele, Gedson, Son and Moura managed to find some extra reserves and pull us through. That was a real nick.
Final stats: Possession: 43%-57% Shats: 9-15 On target: 3-7 Southampton will be kicking themselves tonight, but who cares, we're through to host Norwich in the last 16.
I'm travelling so I had to settle for watching a replay on my phone. Very unsatisfying! That was a really weak team, unable to hold possession at all. What happened to our Argentina contingent? Lucky as hell.
you have to keep in mind the fact that we're not very good. it's all relative, by the way. I'm old, and it's my experience that you take your joy wherever you find it. back when we were shit, there would be a real spark of excitement when you'd reach the next round of the Cup. you can't beat a good cup run when you're shit, so moving on to the fifth round is much more satisfying than when you're actually good. under Pochettino, going out before the semis felt like a massive underachievement. so winning at this stage meant relatively little. but I'm not sure if the inverse is true. I mean, obviously if you actually win something, that's vastly superior. but if not, the disappointments are at least as great, and probably greater. I wish we were good. but I have to admit, being crap fits my temperament rather better. this all feels much easier to me than the previous five years.
One of the announcers said something like "this is not the Tottenham we are used to seeing." And I thought to myself, maybe we'll win something, I'm not used to that.
these are interesting times. I've said a zillion times that we can either play good stuff or win. to get both, obviously, would be optimal, but I won't complain getting only one of either. the problem is that we won't win anything playing the ugly way that we are unless we get a whole lot better at it. I do believe that Mourinho knows what he's doing and that he's not 'past it', so him getting us there is not off the radar for me (hence the moment of ludicrous optimism that was my first post in this thread). but there's a whole lot more hope than faith in that. and - again - failing in the manner in which we currently play will invariably lead to unhappiness for me.
No, this is classic Mourinho, play badly and win. We are playing pretty well like his Manchester United teams played.
I'm not so sure. That was the 3rd time we played them in a little over a month and Jose could not find a system to cope with their 4-2-2-2 system. Levy is not paying him 15 million pounds a season to be outcoached by Ralph Hassenhuttl, last night was a total nick.
What is going on with Ndombele? He barely survived 60 minutes and looked completely knackered when he came off. Is he not fit? We are in February after all. This is not the player I saw dominate Manchester City in the CL last season.
that's a fair perspective, and believe me, you're not out on a limb saying he's past it - loads are. and you're right that we've looked not just ugly, but shite, in winning when we have. but you have to concede as well that our squad was not built for this. the manager's now gotten in a few this winter that we have to presume he's wanted. it will be interesting to see how much better we get at playing ugly football over the next couple of months. as always with me, hope outweighs confidence.
Lo Celso had a thigh injury and they are being very careful with Lamela in light of his injury history. This is the football equivakent of load management.
Isn't he just coming off injury, as well? And to be complete, I noticed the same issue earlier in the season under Poch. He was getting tired around the 60/70 minute mark while all the other players were still going.