OMT*** Tottenham Hotspur Vs Dnipro

[diego_maradona]

I think he'd choke in the Prem after 6 months...

Why?

 

[Jordinho]

I'd like to see us go for Konoplyanka. At the time I was happy to say we don't need him, but having watched him today, I think we would be mad not to put in a bid.

According to one of the commentators on the Norwegian channel showing the match, Konoplyanka has a black belt in karate. Seemed to have a low center of gravity, good pace and ability to quickly change direction.

 

[Spursalot]

what makes you think that Sherwood doesn't take the EL seriously?

The team he chose. We could have put this tie to bed, but he chose not to.

We could have played Norwich without a care, but now the players will have an eye on the Thursday match, and we'll have to play a strong side midweek between two premier league matches. Bad move timmeh.

 

[milo]

The team he chose. We could have put this tie to bed, but he chose not to.

We could have played Norwich without a care, but now the players will have an eye on the Thursday match, and we'll have to play a strong side midweek between two premier league matches. Bad move timmeh.

I disagree. He put out a strong team and but for a couple of mistakes we would have won the leg. He just rested a couple of players, one of whom (Adebayor) has been playing with an injury the last few weeks.

 

[braineclipse]

The team he chose. We could have put this tie to bed, but he chose not to.

We could have played Norwich without a care, but now the players will have an eye on the Thursday match, and we'll have to play a strong side midweek between two premier league matches. Bad move timmeh.

I think you underestimate our opponents, the influence of the pitch, the influence of the away game and travels and just random variance.

I think you should at least acknowledge that it's a balancing act for any manager between playing a full strength team and resting players. We could have played Norwich without a care, but we could also have played Norwich with the same or a similar EL result and more of the Norwich first choice players having gone to and played in Ukraine.

 

[scaramanga]

I think you underestimate our opponents, the influence of the pitch, the influence of the away game and travels and just random variance.

I think you should at least acknowledge that it's a balancing act for any manager between playing a full strength team and resting players. We could have played Norwich without a care, but we could also have played Norwich with the same or a similar EL result and more of the Norwich first choice players having gone to and played in Ukraine.

That would suggest that he cut the line too fine with the team wouldn't it?

I'm pretty sure a full strength team would have been very likely to win (no guarantees of course). If he doesn't care for the UEFA (and I have no qualms if he doesn't) then we risked injury to far too many first teamers on a terrible pitch.

 

[braineclipse]

That would suggest that he cut the line too fine with the team wouldn't it?

I'm pretty sure a full strength team would have been very likely to win (no guarantees of course). If he doesn't care for the UEFA (and I have no qualms if he doesn't) then we risked injury to far too many first teamers on a terrible pitch.

I think a whole hos of different results are possible regardless of line-up and although a stringer team would skew the percentages I don't think you can draw conclusions from results of what was the one and only game we actually played.

Like I said it's a balancing act. AVB got criticism for playing too many first teamers, Redknapp for playing too many reserves. Now Sherwood is getting criticism for looking for a balance.

It doesn't have to be everything or nothing, it's possible to try to squeeze by with a team strong enough to get us through over two legs most of the time with the smallest possible impact on our league performances.

That's pretty much what every single top team does in the FA-cup and to some extent the league cup. I don't understand the negative reactions.

 

[scaramanga]

It doesn't have to be everything or nothing, it's possible to try to squeeze by with a team strong enough to get us through over two legs most of the time with the smallest possible impact on our league performances.

That's pretty much what every single top team does in the FA-cup and to some extent the league cup. I don't understand the negative reactions.

For me it's the low-return choice of the three. It risks a few first team players with a marginal chance of success. I'd rather we sent a team out that we were very sure would win (I believe we have the quality to do that against Dnipro) or just not risk first teamers and send the kids.

 

[braineclipse]

For me it's the low-return choice of the three. It risks a few first team players with a marginal chance of success. I'd rather we sent a team out that we were very sure would win (I believe we have the quality to do that against Dnipro) or just not risk first teamers and send the kids.

Marginal chance of success? I think we were slightly unlucky to lose by a goal and we still have a good chance of going through.

Whilst using probably no more than 4-5 players that will start against Norwich, players that largely should be fine doing that as long as they're otherwise rotated.

At least you see that a middle ground solution is a reasonable choice?

 

[scaramanga]

Marginal chance of success? I think we were slightly unlucky to lose by a goal and we still have a good chance of going through.

Whilst using probably no more than 4-5 players that will start against Norwich, players that largely should be fine doing that as long as they're otherwise rotated.

At least you see that a middle ground solution is a reasonable choice?

I think we were incredibly lucky that the difference was so small, but opinions etc etc....

I agree that it's a choice, but I think it's the least reasonable of those available.

 

[braineclipse]

I think we were incredibly lucky that the difference was so small, but opinions etc etc....

I agree that it's a choice, but I think it's the least reasonable of those available.

Well put (although I still disagree)

 

[Spursalot]

For me it's the low-return choice of the three. It risks a few first team players with a marginal chance of success. I'd rather we sent a team out that we were very sure would win (I believe we have the quality to do that against Dnipro) or just not risk first teamers and send the kids.

This, he says it better then I could.


The kids would be far better suited to a home leg anyway. We'd not played a game for eight days, tiredness is not an excuse in this case.

 

[DHSF]

The team he chose. We could have put this tie to bed, but he chose not to.

We could have played Norwich without a care, but now the players will have an eye on the Thursday match, and we'll have to play a strong side midweek between two premier league matches. Bad move timmeh.

********.

We have a squad of talented players, so we use them.

What is the point in having a squad if we cant use those players? Why are we bothering? why waste the wages on the squad?

Also the way people are banging that same drum you would have thought we had a bunch of u18's on that pitch.

 

[metalgear]

looking at that pitch it was the right decision not to risk injuries to key players

and we do have a large squad so we can dig deep to aim to beat both dnipro and norwich in back to back games in conditions that suit us much better.

 

[braineclipse]

This, he says it better then I could.


The kids would be far better suited to a home leg anyway. We'd not played a game for eight days, tiredness is not an excuse in this case.

The kids? Those on the bench you mean?

I think you guys keep overestimating our chances of crushing Dnipro away from home even with our strongest 11 to the point where the home game would just be a formality.

********.

We have a squad of talented players, so we use them.

What is the point in having a squad if we cant use those players? Why are we bothering? why waste the wages on the squad?

Also the way people are banging that same drum you would have thought we had a bunch of u18's on that pitch.

Spot on. Players like Naughton, Capoue, Chadli, Soldado, Townsend and to some extent Paulinho all needed time on the pitch after struggling for game time and/or injuries. Having a squad and rotating when possible is also about keeping players match fit, having Chadli, Capoue, Naughton etc in the squad, but completely without match fitness in the run-in wouldn't be great.

 

[braineclipse]

Also, had we won 3-0 away to Dnipro, with the team Sherwood put out or with a full strength 11 I'm almost certain someone would have complained that he sent too many first team players and risked them needlessly as we "would have beaten that lot anyway".

Like I keep saying, a balancing act, one that Sherwood is doing well.

 

[Spursalot]

********.

We have a squad of talented players, so we use them.

What is the point in having a squad if we cant use those players? Why are we bothering? why waste the wages on the squad?

Also the way people are banging that same drum you would have thought we had a bunch of u18's on that pitch.

We can, you put the tie to bed in the first leg, then play the youngsters in the second. That way you don't risk going out of the competition.

 

[Millsy_Yiddo]

We can, you put the tie to bed in the first leg, then play the youngsters in the second. That way you don't risk going out of the competition.

I had originally quoted this to disagree but when I thought about it, it does make the most sense. Play the big guns, win 1st leg say 3-0 and go into the 2nd leg with the kids plus 6 big guns on the bench to rescue things if the kids turn out to be a disaster.

 

[Dicko]

I had originally quoted this to disagree but when I thought about it, it does make the most sense. Play the big guns, win 1st leg say 3-0 and go into the 2nd leg with the kids plus 6 big guns on the bench to rescue things if the kids turn out to be a disaster.

I originally quoted this to agree but when I thought about it, it just doesn't make sense What happens if you play all the big guns and they end up grinding out a draw? Also playing a complete first 11 on a pitch like that increases the risk of one or more of them picking up an injury compared to only 5 or 6 definate starters for the next PL game.

I think putting out a decent side, with a few changes was the right thing to do.. we just didn't play well.. which was disappointing

 

[Millsy_Yiddo]

I originally quoted this to agree but when I thought about it, it just doesn't make sense What happens if you play all the big guns and they end up grinding out a draw? Also playing a complete first 11 on a pitch like that increases the risk of one or more of them picking up an injury compared to only 5 or 6 definate starters for the next PL game.

I think putting out a decent side, with a few changes was the right thing to do.. we just didn't play well.. which was disappointing

If you only grind out a draw then they have to play the second leg. Same way that if you put out a decent side and they ground out a draw you'd have to play them all 2nd leg. Suppose it's a risk based thing, the risk of a dodgy first leg result is lower if you put out a better side and therefore the combined risk of injury across both legs could be less because you don't play anyone in the 2nd leg.

Having said that, I don't think there is too much wrong with either approach.

Glenn Hoddle made a point before the Norwich game which I hadn't considered. If TS manages the squad correctly, playing in the EL could mean that our fringe players remain sharp when called upon in the league. Potentially Liverpool's may not be so sharp due to not playing games. I'm not sure the good (sharpness) out-weighs the bad (fatigue) there but it was an interesting view point.