Why a rest could be a master stroke

After a defeat in midweek and a draw in the north London derby, some quarters have Spurs season written off. Whilst it is now Leicester's to lose rather than ours to win, our season is far from over.
And that fact throws up a quandary for Mauricio Pochettino. On Thursday we travel to Germany for our first leg Europa league tie and Poch has some tough decisions to make in terms of team selection.

Does he play the strongest 11 or does he take a calculated risk? My opinion is that he takes a calculated risk and rests certain players. And by resting them I do not mean putting them on the bench, I mean leave them at home. Don't put them on the flight. Give them a full week to do some lighter training and freshen up.

I would leave Kane, Eriksen, Alli, Dembele, Dier and Lamela all behind. Even without these players we can get a positive result in my opinion.
Those suggesting that Spurs have bottled it are wrong. Let's not forget this squad is very young. And because of that we need to allow a few to recharge their batteries. Kane scored a beauty today but other than that was clearly knackered. Alli was not fit and I'm surprised he was not taken off. Eriksen was sluggish today and his passing, free kicks and corners were all dreadful. He needs a rest.
Lamela would have been red carded had he not been subbed and Dier should have seen red.

The challenges going in today were tired. At times they were even desperate. Leggy and treading water.

I am not criticising the squad or manager because there is no need to. This has been a superb season, league title or not.

Let the players get their mojo back. I believe this is the way we can really win the title. Rest, re charge and go again.

I'm sure many will disagree, but a calculated risk is needed to give us the best chance of the ultimate success.

 

I agree with the concept - but with Villa and Bournemouth the Saturdays after the Dortmund games, I actually think a stronger first 11 could be justified.

 

Villa yes but Bournemouth are no mugs.

 

Personally I don't think we have the metal to win the title as was shown this week bottling it at the 1st 2 hurdles.
With Utd Liverpool and a resurgent Chavs still to go no doubt we'l bottle it there aswell and waste the best/easiest chance of a lifetime.
Dortmund should be taken very seriously as it's our most realistic chance of success, it doesn't have the same shackles and history that make us perennial chokers.
Is it me or does our current squad look very thin all of sudden? (bar full backs)

 

We notoriously drop points after Europa Cup games, and at this stage shouldn't risk injuries to top players in a nearly worthless cup. I say jettison the Europa and concentrate 100% on the league. then if we do fail to win, we won't be thinking of what could've been. Spurs have never had this opportunity in my lifetime of winning the league and we may never have again. No one cares about Europa, EPL is all that matters!


COYS!!!

 

Whilst this is without doubt he best opportunity in years to win the title, I disagree that it's the only chance.
People are saying that City with Guardiola are guaranteed to spend millions and win the title next season. Guardiola is not guaranteed to be a success and this season is showing that the days of buying the league are coming to a close. Youth is going to be the way forward now and Spurs have a chance to build a dynasty.
But the only way we will do that is by keeping our best players and our manager.
Chelsea are making massive overtures now and levy needs to act now to keep Poch at Spurs. I personally don't see why he would want to work for Roman, but to lose Poch would be disastrous at this stage.
We have a solid squad which needs building on. Whatever happens come May, levy needs to ensure this is the start of many title challenges.

 

Let's be realistic, with the new stadium NO team in our position could be expected to be challenging for the title, let alone on a regular basis while our CLUB is in transition - don't worry, for once that bloody word isn't used about our team.
With more money required to boost our long term ambitions, it is a necessity that come the opening of the new stadium we still have a backbone of strong players. Only then can we really expect ourselves to be title challengers regularly.
Personally, I'd play a 50/50 mix of first teamers in either game, giving every player a rest somewhere.

 

The reason this young squad has gotten as far as this in the first place is mentality and belief. The BVB fixture is what these guys dream of. To leave out the key players could just as likely sour their appetite. Plus, they want to compete in the ECL next year, not just participate. Better start building that mentality now. As far as it being worthless, winning Europa and emabarrassing Chealsea to kick off the next season started the incline at Athletico that has yet to recede.

 

First off, I am not sure if I want Spurs to win title. It would be glorious, no doubt, but in my estimation Pochettino will be as good as gone after that.
Secondly, because of First I definitely do not want them to win title at any cost. EL is a big cost to leave out.
Thirdly, the entire Europe will be watching. It's the top tie of this stage. We must not avoid the challenge.
Finally, I do not see Spurs taking their foot off the gas pedal. It is simply other cars on same road that make you think of slowdown. AFC, WHU and LCFC will be with Spurs in top 4 this May. The fact that those took points from us should not suggest that Aston Villa and Bourmouth will.
Just rotate the full backs, start Son and may be Carroll.
Poch said Spurs become like a family. Don't cause familial separation! COYS!!!

 

This is the reason why I was pulling my hair out during the transfer window, we clearly needed a one or two more bodies to keep everything fresh, definitely a number 9 and a centre mid. Having strength and depth in those areas would allow us to rotate players without weakening the team to much. As it stands we have to go big against Dortmund and respect Villa and Bournemouth, we do not have the quality to rest 6 or 7 players. All is not lost, we are still in a great position just need to box clever from now until the end of the season. Coys

 

YOU DONT WANT SPURS TO WIN THE TITLE????

I'm sorry mate but can you actually call yourself Spursporter when you're not even acting like a Spurs fan???

The most outrageous statement if I've ever seen on this forum, and I've seen a few corkers....but this takes the biscuit!!!!

 

Totally agree. We have had a couple of instances in the last seven seasons where we have tried to balance between a Europa League tie and a cup final. We have chosen to compromise in the Europa League and ended up losing out in both. I do not think that leaving players at home does them any good whatsoever - a little European jaunt as a squad is as good as a week off in Dubai, and probably has more team-building effect as there is some meaning to the whole outing.

 

Don't want spurs to win the title hahahahaha that's class!!
Agree felon the squad does look thin with the fact we didn't strengthen in the window and allowing Townsend to leave. Injuries to JV and Njie. Son has been a massive flop for me and is offering little as does chadli.
Having said that the best way to guarantee group stage champions league football is to seal the top 3 and to finish above arsenal would be massive for the club and fans.
I say concentrate on 6 points out of the next two matches and see where it takes us. Leicester could slip up who knows.
I think the squad players need to man up and grind out a result away at Dortmund and get 90mins under the belt. Set up to frustrate them and back ourselves to finish the job at the lane.
I'd go with vorm Tripp's Vickers Davies rose bentaleb mason Carroll chadli lamela son.
Also agree that I don't believe this is our only chance of winning the league provided we keep all the squad together add another centre half centre mid and another attacker/winger.

 

Very thin Felon. We've been playing above our weight by having a very small core of players that have enabled us to reach such heady heights.
Not buying players in January was always madness and we are paying the price. No game changers on the bench, possibly Chugger Chadli.....that's a real worry for sure.

 

Thoughts....

- winning the league was never going to be easy
- we have just come off a 6 match winning run, with difficult games won
- I still feel that the EL is a bridge too far, 7 more games to win it versus 9 in the PL, so with all the travelling included, we're playing twice the games of Leicester. A real chance we will finish up with nothing.
- bounce back against Villa and Bournemouth and we are in with a shout. Leicester will slip up....

COYS

 

Our 'success' this season has been 100% about others' failure - who could possibly have expected that ALL the usual Top Four contenders would gone to pieces at the same time? We're currently on schedule for the same 70-odd points total that we've managed for the past six years, and yet Redknapp, AVB and Sherwood were reviled for 'failing' in competition with rampant City, United, Chelsea and (once) Liverpool teams, while Pochettino is praised to the skies for only being five points behind LEICESTER! He has a track record for running his teams into the ground, and all the signs are that this is going to be yet another example - I'm not opimistic about the rest of this season (in case I haven't made it clear).

 

Premier league top 3 all important. Must take 6 points from next 2 games. Rest players against Dortmund and see where we are in 2 weeks. No guarantee of beating Dortmund with full strength side but possibility of picking up injuries. Players need to be 100% for Villa game. Even Villa no walkover if we not fully focused

 

I don't want one and out. I want Spurs be respected the way we were in the past. One title win (that will never be considered quite legitimate given current season hiatus) and Poch departure will not serve that purpose well. Although I doubt often it can happen, but I want Poch to build an empire here. If MU takes him right after he lifts the trophy, Spurs will be forever disrespectfully called another Blackburn Rovers (we will not see top 4 any time soon). I think LCFC is better suited for that. We are not Cinderella. We are a nobilities of PL that lost respect. To regain it we need to advance in European competitions and become perennial in top 4. Then one can talk about winning the PL.
Lets stick to the plan. We are still in transition period. Keep building the team. Then let titles to chase you.

 

We are in the best position for quite some time, I think we need to really back the boys and help them over the finishing line coys!

 

I think that we have all lost sight of the goal here - the aim was to break into the top four and the elite champions league places. We are in the top 4 (anything else is a bonus). I say we rest a couple of players against Dortmund - but take the whole squad and hope we can get th e job partially done (then complete it at home). We continue to play our strongest team possible in the premier league and consolidate the position that we have made for ourselves and ensure that a top 4 place is guaranteed come May.