*** OMT Spurs v Fiorentina 1st leg ***

[shaney]

Well obviously its very disappointing but it looks like the tie is out of reach for us now, unless the fringe players pull sonething out of the bag in the second leg. We have to rest our best players ahead of the cup final, that has to be the number one priority. Poch showed last night that this comp is the bottom of his list. Prem and cup final come first.

 

[shaney]

I dotn think little Paul is such a bad player - he is just heartless. Pulls out of at least one 50-50 a game, and plays it massively safe. I want him to do well but just cant see it - think he could do well in a slower league, where are all the goals we were promised as this would hide his poor displays ( just look how Arsenal love Ramsey when he i scoring but hate him otherwise, and to a lesser extent Chadli with us)

Ramsey was, is, and always has been turd. That golden few months he had last season were a freak, and even the Arsenal fans I know at the time agreed. They hate him.

Unlike some fans, I feel Chadli has been a massive let down in his time here. The few goals he has scored have been good moments in games, rather then him actually having a good game. Basically he has not been an upgrade on what we had and therefore he has failed (so far).

 

[Baleforce]

Well obviously its very disappointing but it looks like the tie is out of reach for us now, unless the fringe players pull sonething out of the bag in the second leg. We have to rest our best players ahead of the cup final, that has to be the number one priority. Poch showed last night that this comp is the bottom of his list. Prem and cup final come first.

i disagree shaney, fiorentina didn't have much about them imo, i fancy us to go out there and score no matter which 11 we field

 

[shaney]

i disagree shaney, fiorentina didn't have much about them imo, i fancy us to go out there and score no matter which 11 we field

I hope we do, but I can see us letting goals in too. Would be great, I just hope Poch does'nt panic and play the first teamers.

 

[braineclipse]

Well obviously its very disappointing but it looks like the tie is out of reach for us now, unless the fringe players pull sonething out of the bag in the second leg. We have to rest our best players ahead of the cup final, that has to be the number one priority. Poch showed last night that this comp is the bottom of his list. Prem and cup final come first.

Come on man! Even for you that pretty bleak...

If we have half the luck Fiorentina had yesterday we'll walk the second game even with heavy rotation. Most likely we won't have that kind of luck, but we're definitely still in it.

 

[Lamelad]

I dont think Poch got the line up wrong but I do believe our tactics were not right. Thats what he really got wrong.

The line up wasnt that bad, Playing Soldado, Paulinho was a good idea. More experience against a side full of european knowledge. It was also a chance for them to get some confidence back in a European tie which should be easier to deal with than the Premierleague. The problem is these guy did not perform yet again. With the money they're on, they probably have to play at some point so you cant blame Poch for throwing them in like this.

As for the tactics, we started well.. too well even. Yes, that can be the case. A european game is 180 minutes and can even be 210 minutes + penalties. There is no point to attack like that, especially in the first 20 minutes and then run out of steam for the rest of the game.

Yes we're Tottenham, we love attacking football, but if we are to get through these ties we need to learn how to defend, sit back and keep a 1-0 lead. And thats down to the manager.

Just close the game up. Defend and get townsend running on the break. Thats what the Italians will do. You can be sure of that.

 

[Pirate55]

I agree that switching it up is a good idea, playing the old style wingers/crossing style for any significant part of our players though simply goes against all available evidence and rational decision making.

That's quite a long way from saying NEVER do it. So you finally agree, that crossing, albeit with its lower goal creation ratio, is sometimes worthwhile!

Same with practicing corners. Teams get an average of say 5 or more per game. Just to argue that not many goals come from this source makes it unproductive to spend any time on is ridiculous.To not have a well worked out routine ( as we often appear not to have) is madness. We get an awful lot of corners over the course of a season and not to have a plan for them beggars belief.

 

[Bullet]

My point was more that the goal was very much against the run of play.

I disagree, they were shaky at the back but were also catching us out with Gomez and Salah causing problems. They had a few moments when the ball flashed around the box and could have fallen to Gomez. In the end a freekick fell to one of their lads and he scuffed it in, but they were definitely having chances and we didn't look tight. Possibly because Fazio and Verts like to go roaming and try to nick it on half way, so as soon as one of those challenges fails we are screwed, just like a recent game where Verts dived in (Liverpool?)

 

[Jurgen the German]

We should go for it but first we must ensure progress in the EL, then we look toward Wembley, aim of the season was to finish in the CL, hence no one cried when Vorm got us knocked out of the FA Cup. So we shouldn't be prioritising CC now, that is just a bonus. Play whoever is fittest for it but the A team needs to play against Fiorentina.

I disagree. People were unhappy about being knocked out of the FA Cup. The only reason more wasn't made of it is because we are doing well in the league and in a final of another competition.

 

[scaramanga]

We don't have the players for it anyway, none of our inside forwards are suited to sticking wide and whipping in crosses.

Yep it

That's quite a long way from saying NEVER do it. So you finally agree, that crossing, albeit with its lower goal creation ratio, is sometimes worthwhile!

Same with practicing corners. Teams get an average of say 5 or more per game. Just to argue that not many goals come from this source makes it unproductive to spend any time on is ridiculous.To not have a well worked out routine ( as we often appear not to have) is madness. We get an awful lot of corners over the course of a season and not to have a plan for them beggars belief.

No, I still think it's a terrible tactic. What I think is that you need to do it once or twice in a game to keep the opposition thinking. To use it as the way you plan to attack is just ridiculous given the evidence against its efficacy.

In a 90 minute match I'd still want our wingers inverted for more than 85 minutes of it. Otherwise we're wasting our time.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Ramsey was, is, and always has been turd. That golden few months he had last season were a freak, and even the Arsenal fans I know at the time agreed. They hate him.

Unlike some fans, I feel Chadli has been a massive let down in his time here. The few goals he has scored have been good moments in games, rather then him actually having a good game. Basically he has not been an upgrade on what we had and therefore he has failed (so far).

I disagree. He is not a world beater and never will be, but he has an eye for goal. Players like that are vital in any squad, especially midfieders. It's not like we have an abundance of goals in us from midfield.

 

[alekaras]

I dont think Poch got the line up wrong but I do believe our tactics were not right. Thats what he really got wrong.

The line up wasnt that bad, Playing Soldado, Paulinho was a good idea. More experience against a side full of european knowledge. It was also a chance for them to get some confidence back in a European tie which should be easier to deal with than the Premierleague. The problem is these guy did not perform yet again. With the money they're on, they probably have to play at some point so you cant blame Poch for throwing them in like this.

As for the tactics, we started well.. too well even. Yes, that can be the case. A european game is 180 minutes and can even be 210 minutes + penalties. There is no point to attack like that, especially in the first 20 minutes and then run out of steam for the rest of the game.

Yes we're Tottenham, we love attacking football, but if we are to get through these ties we need to learn how to defend, sit back and keep a 1-0 lead. And thats down to the manager.

Just close the game up. Defend and get townsend running on the break. Thats what the Italians will do. You can be sure of that.

I thought that's one of the things that we were complaining about: that we sit back after we get a 1-0 lead and don't kill games by going for a 2nd and 3rd. This time we tried to kill the game (and should have), but things didn't work out. We were flat out unlucky. I also get that we probably need a different strategy in Europe compared to the league and what you're describing is the way to go. But given that we haven't proven we can do that, the only other alternative is to score more than our opponents.

 

[Robspur12]

I disagree. He is not a world beater and never will be, but he has an eye for goal. Players like that are vital in any squad, especially midfieders. It's not like we have an abundance of goals in us from midfield.

Agreed. I will go a step further and say while not a "world beater" he not only has an eye for goal but also has a good eye for a pass. He needs to up his defensive work rate but IMO he will be a very good player for us.

 

[r-u-s-x]

my origional point regarding Ramsey is goals cover a multitude of sins - If little paul had been scorign the goals we were promised when we signed him then he would not be getting any stick - I used Ramsey as an example ver average but for a period was stated to be a world beater - same with Chadli when he is scoreing he gets a lot of slack.

 

[DubaiSpur]

So basically rest all of our best outfield players for a league game?

Basically, yeah.

 

[sc25]

My point was more that the goal was very much against the run of play and that if they had not had that opportunity it was hard to see a way back into the game for them. Up until that point, the team selection appeared to be vindicated.

Well I'd agree with you in that the lineup that was selected started the game well. However, I'd say team selections overall - and subs - are vindicated more accurately when the final result(s) are in rather than in the 1st half of games. The game may well have played out different if we were 1 up at the half. Fiorentina had not looked threatening to that point, but I'd be hesitant to assume that couldn't change. Teams adjust based on the score and so nobody really knows how the 2nd half would have transpired, whether Fiorentina would have played/pursued differently, and in doing so may have achieved what they needed to do, and so on. As it was, they were prolly happy with the 1-1 and played the 2nd half accordingly.

 

[milo]

Well I'd agree with you in that the lineup that was selected started the game well. However, I'd say team selections overall - and subs - are vindicated more accurately when the final result(s) are in rather than in the 1st half of games. The game may well have played out different if we were 1 up at the half. Fiorentina had not looked threatening to that point, but I'd be hesitant to assume that couldn't change. Teams adjust based on the score and so nobody really knows how the 2nd half would have transpired, whether Fiorentina would have played/pursued differently, and in doing so may have achieved what they needed to do, and so on. As it was, they were prolly happy with the 1-1 and played the 2nd half accordingly.

I do think that there is an issue with our players outside of a core of fifteen(ish) being flakey and some of those were playing last night. Generally, they play well when things are going well and disappear when they don't.

Given that we played very well, until they scored a goal against the run of play, I do not think that it is an unreasonable assumption that we could have gone on to get a win if we had not conceded that free kick.

I am sure that Fiorentina would still have had their moments and chances though. We are Spurs after all.

 

[Joesh]

I only got to see the last 30mins of the game, from that point of view we were shaky at the back and sloppy in possession. Fiorentina looked composed and even when we closed them down they quickly switched it to the other wing especially down Walkers side where it was often a 2 on 1. There seemed to be huge space for them to run at us and we looked really open considering a second goal would have ended the tie. They looked really dangerous on the break, which I'd imagine will be their main strategy for the 2nd leg with the away goal.

 

[Spurs7891]

Very disappointed with this result. Thought we would atleast get a slender win over Fiorentina. Instead, we failed to beat them and let them score the all-important away goal as well. It is going to be very difficult for us to progress to the next stage now. Not sure how we are going to give our best when we have the League Cup final against Chelsea just 3 days later. I think we will need a miracle to overcome Fiorentina now.

I think Pochettino has to take large part of the blame for failing to win this match. Found it annoying that Pochettino chose to tinker our lineup in a very important match like this.It is stupid to rest our top goal scorer in a game like this. Don't understand why Kane never started this match as he is our only goal-scoring striker now. Soldado did well to score the brilliant goal but he was never going to lift the team like Kane does. And Kane looked very upset sitting on the bench as well. It was too late for Kane to do much impact when he came on.

Also thought Lamela and Dembele should have started instead of Townsend and Paulinho. Somehow felt Lamela could have made a difference in this match as he had played against Italian teams regularly before. Just like Kane, it was too late for Lamela to have any impact when he came on.

Really disappointed with our defence for conceding that goal. If we can't stop Fiorentina scoring at home, not sure how we are going to do it away. We really should have started a defensive midfielder like Stambouli to protect out defence.

It is going to be very difficult in the 2nd leg. But hope we will get all the luck we need to progress somehow.