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*** OMT SPURS vs ANZHI ***

NLS said:
I am 53 and played 90 minutes on sunday against people 25-30 years younger than me as my mates team were short - I normally play vets football where usually they are only 10 -15 years younger. Sunday afternoon I was so tired I thought I was having a heart attack....

Last night I played an hour of 5-a-side(badly - missed so many blood chances.....) and tomorrow I could play again..

We are talking about fit young athletes who can recover physically far more quickly than I can.

The real issue is whether after several games in quick succession they are up for it mentally. For me, that is where the skill of 'man management' comes in where you look for the signs that a player is not as excited for a game as they normally are or should be.

We have a strong enough squad to compete on several squads and recognising players as individuals and with human weaknesses is, I believe, the key to consistent performances.

From what I've read, think of Di Canio style as the alternative...

COYS.
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I really struggle to see how your situation is comparable to professional football at the highest level.

onlyme said:
Great post!!
AVB must manage the fitness of star players properly but it is bollox to suggest players can't play 2 games in quick succession
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It's not just two games in quick succession. Saying this is a bit of a misrepresentation. It's week in week out with two games per week. We have the international break coming up, but for a lot of our players that just means another two games combined with a lot of traveling.

It's also not about being able to play, as suggested by your "can't play". It's about performing at close to their highest level in games to ensure that we pick up points. Even small drops in performance can be very significant against good opposition like in the Premier League.

Across a month, never mind a season, the number of games will influence performance.

The "European hangover" effect has been shown to be a real thing across many seasons of results.
 
braineclipse said:
It's also not about being able to play, as suggested by your "can't play". It's about performing at close to their highest level in games to ensure that we pick up points. Even small drops in performance can be very significant against good opposition like in the Premier League.

Across a month, never mind a season, the number of games will influence performance.

The "European hangover" effect has been shown to be a real thing across many seasons of results.
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Exactly. It's not about "being able to play", it's about being able to play at your absolute best week in and week out (despite lots of travelling and a high frequency of matches).
 
This is supposed to be our most difficult match in the EL group stages. Even after selling all their major players, Anzi still look much stronger than the other 2 teams in the group. We don't have a good record away in Eastern Europe, especially Russia. So, we should not underestimate Anzi. Don't want us to get complacent by playing a weak team. We have a big squad to choose enough good players to play in this match.

I think it will be better if Soldado play in this match. He has looked out of touch and lacking in luck in front of goal in recent matches. I think Soldado needs to score a few goals to get back his goal scoring touch. Playing in EL match like this will be a good way to do that. We can rest Defoe in this match and start him against West Ham instead. Also, won't mind if Adebayor return and gets to play some part as well. I think we need to keep Adebayor as an option in attack. Surely, Lamela needs to play in this match as he is not getting much playing time in the league. Wish Lamela and score a goal or two in this match.

I think Sandro, Dembele and Holtby will do well in midfield. Would have preferred to rest Dembele but not sure who can replace him since Paulinho not playing. Want to see Holtby to create as well as score. Holtby did well to create 3 goals against Tromso. So want to see a similiar performance here. We need as many goals as possible from midfield to help our league campaign.

Our defence have done well to keep clean sheets in all the EL matche so far. Will be disappointed if we don't keep another clean sheet here as Anzi don't have a top class striker now. Don't mind if Friedel starts in goal as Lloris can be rested. Want to see Kaboul play in defence but not sure who will be suitable to partner him. Not sure if Chiriches is ready to start in a match like this. If he is then it will be good to have more options in defence.

We have done exceptionally well in EL so far this season. Hope we can continue that with a win in this match. It will be great if we can put up a good performance and get a big win.
 
One potential midfield line up to rest Dembele, is to play with both Holtby and Eriksen in a trio with Sandro.
Guess it's down to whether AVB feel Dembele need that rest and what impact it will have on Eriksen to play three games in a week as well.
If Chiriches can't play against this Anzhi team, then I'm not sure what team he can start against - I see no problem with playing the romanian national team captain in an away game at Eastern Europe.
Especially as Anzhi's giant striker Lacina Traore is missing out this time.

Lloris, Dawson, Fryers, Holtby and Sigurdsson have all been used in the promotion of the game for Spurs.
Think they're all likely to play.



Lloris
Walker/Naughton - Dawson - Chiriches - Fryers
Sandro - Dembele
Lamela - Holtby - Sigurdsson
Defoe/Soldado

subs.
Friedel
Walker/Naughton
Kaboul?
Eriksen
Townsend
Kane/Chadli
Defoe/Soldado

Nothing's been said, but I don't think Adebayor is even there

​
 
rosenthal said:
One potential midfield line up to rest Dembele, is to play with both Holtby and Eriksen in a trio with Sandro.
Guess it's down to whether AVB feel Dembele need that rest and what impact it will have on Eriksen to play three games in a week as well.
If Chiriches can't play against this Anzhi team, then I'm not sure what team he can start against - I see no problem with playing the romanian national team captain in an away game at Eastern Europe.
Especially as Anzhi's giant striker Lacina Traore is missing out this time.

Lloris, Dawson, Fryers, Holtby and Sigurdsson have all been used in the promotion of the game for Spurs.
Think they're all likely to play.



Lloris
Walker/Naughton - Dawson - Chiriches - Fryers
Sandro - Dembele
Lamela - Holtby - Sigurdsson
Defoe/Soldado

subs.
Friedel
Walker/Naughton
Kaboul?
Eriksen
Townsend
Kane/Chadli
Defoe/Soldado

Nothing's been said, but I don't think Adebayor is even there

​
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Should leave Dembele on the bench, play Holtby deeper and then start Kane off Defoe. Dont think AVB will do that though
 
These are the guys that are over in Russia:

Lloris, Friedel, Archer;
Walker, Naughton, Fryers, Chiriches, Dawson, Kaboul;
Sandro, Dembele, Sigurdsson, Holtby, Lamela, Eriksen, Townsend, Chadli;
Soldado, Kane, Defoe.
 
Daisuk said:
Exactly. It's not about "being able to play", it's about being able to play at your absolute best week in and week out (despite lots of travelling and a high frequency of matches).
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The tiredness from games in quick succession is mental fatigue, not physical fatigue. These guys could train 5x in a week harder than they actually physically work in a match and do that for 50 weeks for the year and barely feel it. They are top athletes. But physical training where you don't have to think much is easy.

That's why there is that saying that players don't feel tired when they're winning. When you're winning and enjoying the football fatigue doesn't set in. It's when the pressure is on or you are losing games that players all of a sudden seem leaden footed.

It's also why at the beginning of a season players aren't as fit as they are by the end of the season (regardless of the end of season fixture pile up). It's not physical, it's mental. It takes some players time to get mentally up to speed.
 
Its also the fact it's thursday. Rights-off training on Friday meaning we typically have a bit of training on Saturday before a Sunday match.
When you're playing against a team who have just trained and prepared for our game for the whole of the week, it is a definite advantage.
There is the counter argument of course that if you win and play well tonight, then that gets the players up for the next game.
Just wish it wasnt Thursday nights though.
 
Let's be brutally honest - the worst possible Spurs team from those who have traveled to Russia should still be able to beat Anzhi Makhachkala quite easily.

But I think AVB will still like to mix things up today, so we'll have a combination of first choice players with some second-stringers.
 
Lamela got to learn his place, and as a big money signing his not for the cup games... but he needs to gel in the team so he have to play this game
 
Spurs7891 said:
This is supposed to be our most difficult match in the EL group stages. Even after selling all their major players, Anzi still look much stronger than the other 2 teams in the group. We don't have a good record away in Eastern Europe, especially Russia. So, we should not underestimate Anzi. Don't want us to get complacent by playing a weak team. We have a big squad to choose enough good players to play in this match.
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Sounds like an AVB press conference.
 
I like to see Lamela start in the middle behind Defoe today. Sandro and Holtby as holding Midfielders. Rest Vertongen, Paulinho and Dembele.
 
Would be happy to see Townsed starting and Lamela on the bench, because it wil probably mean Lamela starting against the spammers
 
I think we'll go with a mix of 1s and reserves:

Friedel in goal
Naugton RB, Fryers LB
Chiriches / Kaboul CBs
Sandro / Dembele CMs
Chadli LWF, Holtby CM, Lamela RWF
Soldado upfront for first 60 mins, then Defoe for last half hour

I'd go with Bobby to get his confidence up, as I think he will score goals with those three behind him. Should easily be enough quality there meaning we can rest Siggy, Walker, Townsend, Daws - but also gives us the option to bring them on if we need to (not that we should!)
 
superfaisty said:
I think we'll go with a mix of 1s and reserves:

Friedel in goal
Naugton RB, Fryers LB
Chiriches / Kaboul CBs
Sandro / Dembele CMs
Chadli LWF, Holtby CM, Lamela RWF
Soldado upfront for first 60 mins, then Defoe for last half hour

I'd go with Bobby to get his confidence up, as I think he will score goals with those three behind him. Should easily be enough quality there meaning we can rest Siggy, Walker, Townsend, Daws - but also gives us the option to bring them on if we need to (not that we should!)
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I like this, would go with the same though I'm fairly sure AVB said Lloris will play. These games so often have 0-0 written all over them when you have all that travelling involved but hope we put on a bit of a show.
 
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[video=youtube;7y2CvHaOPNw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7y2CvHaOPNw[/video]
 
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