Battered by Dortmund

What was the title of my last article? Oops. I got that wrong. Very wrong. I genuinely believed that our squad could rest a few and still get a decent result tonight but to be honest we were battered tonight. Dortmund were class all across the park. They hardly hit a misplaced pass all night and in attack they destroyed the Spurs back line.

They by passed our midfield at ease. In fact, did our midfield stay at home? I've defended Carroll this season but I can't tonight. He, Eriksen, Son, Chadli, Davies, Mason were dreadful. This was a Spurs performance of olden days. Spineless and toothless.

I want to again though just remind fans of a bit of reality. This team is very young and has had an excellent season. The Premier League title was not the aim in August but we are still in the race. Our Europa League journey is probably over but an early goal at the Lane might get dreams started again. Overly optimistic? Indeed I am being there. Either that or delusional. I'll let you decide!

I am not going to try and defend tonight's performance because I can't and it shows just how hard Spurs will face it in next season's Champions league. We will certainly need to add to our ranks and I am sure the board and manager are fully aware of that. How much we can add is debatable because of funds being restricted with the new stadium being built. The biggest test will be keeping our current players. And our manager.

Our next game is Villa away and that should see us get our title tilt back on track. If we can't beat Villa, we don't deserve the title. We need to win for confidence as much as anything after losing at West Ham, a draw against Arsenal and tonight's poor showing.

The media are waiting for Spurs to slip us so we need to make sure we don't grant their wishes. This season is not yet over, but the players are tiring. A slightly worrying point is that under Poch, Southampton dropped off in the last 8 or 9 games of the season. How many games do Spurs have left? Let's hope we don't have to even contemplate that eh?

Onwards and hopefully upwards!!

As ever, slightly deflated, Come on You Spurs!!

 

Well as I said in my last post ,I thought they were prob as good a side as we,ve played in a few years and it was suicide going in with that midfield ... That was going to be a tough ask , even for our A-team I.m.o so I'm not surprised what happened ... If anything we were flattered and it shows how much we have to learn yet and how far we have to go to be a real top side ... They are a quality team and it's what we should be aspiring to be at some stage .... A sobering night overall but predictable I'm afraid .... C.O.Y.S .......

 

Mason and Carroll together never again please. Awful, nothing forwards, nothing backwards. Not enjoyable, but by god Dortmund are quality. No shame in going out to them.

Who are the real losers though - the Spurs fans who travelled all that way out, or me who has to listen to first that tw*t Robbie Savage for 90 minutes and now a surprisingly racist Michael Owen, whose basically called foreign refs sh!te?

 

Despite the result/performance I am glad poch rested some players. No point in having a squad if you always play same side. What it shows it what was always preety much clear thar 1st eleven very strong but we need 3/4 quality additions to squad for next season. Assuming we quality for champions league there will be no opportunities to rest players in that competition and field a weakened team. There will be a need to rotate but with players equally as good as who they are replacing. Dortmund showed us the leval we need to get to.

 

Well you got your wish Matt we played a weak side away to Dortmund-
Result we got schooled.

This was a disaster from the minute the team sheet was released, weak, unbalanced, flimsy you name it.

Poch was exposed for his 1 dimensional weakness today badly. It's fine rotating players to keep them fresh and avoid injury but away to a side like Dortmund if you rest your best players you need to pick a side that can strangle the game out and at worst come home with a 1 goal loss.

The minute we went 1 down the tactics needed changing, Poch and the team had to adapt. We couldn't get a foot on the ball, we're out ran, out thought, out played.

It seriously irks me when we spend countless hours of travel and play time faffing about in this competition just to put the reserves out latter stages against a top top team. It just makes the whole exercise pointless imo.

At least now we can concentrate fully now on bottling it in the league instead.

 

I felt resting 2 or 3 players would be wise. But 7 changes? That was asking too much against a top quality side.

 

Id just like to raise a point - do we have the squad to play another system? Personally if this was a league game and sith a fit squad I'd have gone with 5-4-1, to strangle the game, stop Reus and Auba playing etc etc - but, we dont have three CBs to play that way, I still wouldn't play Carroll and Mason together in midfield, maybe Eriksen and Dembele centrally, but then we don't have real wingers who have pace and give width - maybe it's unwise to disagree with Pochs decisions because let's face it - there's not much of an alternative within the squad!

 

No

 

I was surprised with the starting lineup. We knew that the squad would change from the weekend but that was too risky a midfield to play, in fact against any professional team let alone Dortmund. If there were any questions on wether Tom Carroll or Mason could compete at a high level we got our answers. It also confirmed that Eriksen cannot do anything if he has to win a ball himself or seriously play any defence. I often confused Carroll and Eriksen as both just got over ran and pushed off the ball or just wouldnt collect it if someone was on their back. Playing those two in the same squad without dier and Dembele is suicide. Chadli just hid as he often does. Mason tries but just cant seem to read the game defensively and physically is another one who gets over run. We really need another striker and a real number 10 who has the skills but also might actually realize that their is contact in football. Too many wimps on that team today. Would look great in a keep up circle. By Tom, good luck. NO contract please

 

felon buddy you come across like a psycho ex whose hell-bent on seeing their loved one get abused. If you can't support us when we're very sh!t, don't support us when we're less sh!t.

 

in my opinion this evening it was worst performance of the season; Lack of balance in the park...we were too lighter! i hope that Poch will analize by right way what happen. At Villa Park Tottenham must back Tottenham! This evening a lot of ghosts...i await a prideful reply. As ever COYS

 

I don't know about worst. I don't think we played any worse than we did against West Ham but today we played a much better team and therefore conceded more goals.
Its the legginess that concerns me most but we have to move on now.

 

We played the second strength team aginset the champions league finalist. To me that is a massage screening get me out of here. Three points of Aston villa is much more valuable then this game for Puch & Co..
We count the chickens at the end of season.

 

Credit where it is due; Dortmund were quality tonight. If we secure CL football next season, this is what we will need to match up against - simple as.

I was at a loss with the selection. By all means rotate with a FEW changes but not a wholesale switch up. Why bother qualifying from ur group? Mason and Carroll was odd to say the least - little presence and unable to influence the game. We must learn from this tonight and quick.

Next up Villa. Three points is the minimum here and we can't afford anymore slip ups - time to truly focus on the PL...

COYS

 

Thoughts.....

All of what happened tonight was predictable.

First, ask/ answer a question or four.

Q (1) Do we want to play twice as many games as Leicester in the next eight weeks. If yes, then you risk achieving nothing from this season. If no, then you just have to choose PL or EL. Poch chose the former. Personally I have always felt the EL was bad for us as a club. I've said it many times here, there are just too many games, the chances of winning it are slim before you get into it. Yet get to March and its PL, in second, next two games against lower teams, or BD, amongst the top six sides in Europe. It's a no brainer for me ffs.

Q(2) Even without the answer to (1) are Tom Carroll, Ryan Mason, Josh Onomah good enough. No. Son and Lamela and Chadli . No. Now on the basis that we can't play the golden 11 all the time, you have to play these other guys sometime. That was tonight. You simply can't have it both ways.

We Absobleedinglutely could not have afforded/ cannot afford to do anything other than take 6 points in the next two PL games. That would be 8-1-1 from the last 10 and more than enough to put our challenge back on track. That has to be our priority.

Q(3) What realistic chance would the golden 11 have had of beating Dortmund over two legs....10%, 20%....not great then. Again it answers itself for me.

We need to freshen up as many players as we can. That might, it just might, get us a shot at the title, or gaurentee us a top spot ...now that makes sense to me.

Q(4) Do we have a strong enough squad. No.

So tonight for me was the right call for at least all of the above. To expect anything else was just not being realistic. As painful as it was for those travelling fans, then will bounce back.....and so will we.

COYS

 

Wo Josh I don't enjoy it one bit mate.

Football at a professional level is a game that needs different tactics according to the game and opposition you play.

Playing a weak side vs a top European side in a rigid formation that doesn't suit the personel on the pitch is just throwing the game away, which at this stage of the comp/season is just ridiculous it makes all the other games pointless.

We don't have a plan b and we don't have any depth to our squad (bar full backs).
Our whole game is based on out running/working the other side once that burns out we have nothing.

Today's game needed a shut out not a poor mimic of our 1st team and plan. And we got badly exposed.

 

The one word I don't think I've seen to describe the game is "disgraceful."

Poch, okay you are making changes. But choose. If you're not going on the attack, at least pick a strong defense, and vice versa. You choose neither and we were a flat and one dimensional as could possibly be.


I lay this defeat at your feet.

 

That was an embarrassment. It was unavoidable. Poch knowingly let Spurs to get killed and they sure did.
Not only were we outplayed, we were outclassed.
Last season situation got repeated. We sacrificed the EL, hoping to contest at Wembley and got nothing at the end. From now on I am going to look at the PL table only to see how far is the 5th position club from Spurs.
This might have been the beginning of the end. I hope the players, despite being young, are the true professionals and, as such, are not susceptible to depression I feel. COYS!!!

I predict a 0:0 draw on Sunday.

 

I don't mind that we lost and I don't even mind that we got outclassed. You can't win them all. What bothered me was the team selection. We play Villa on Sunday. Wouldn't it been smarter to play Onomah, Mason and Carroll for 90 minutes and put Chadli as a striker against Villa than against Dortmund?

We didn't even had to win this game. We only needed to stay focused and get out of there with a draw or a one goal difference loss. That was simple, don't need to be a mastermind to figure that one out. So what did Poch, or who's ever decision this was, do?

I just hope that he didn't think that these 11 would bring him the result against a side that averages 3 goals at home games, because that is just dumb. If you want the result make tactical changes not just rotate players, and if you don't bother with the competition don't tire the players to get to the round of 16.

This was going to be a massive game. Playing against a team that plays similar style football like Supurs in fornt of their 80000 supporters. I mean they have the worlds greatest average attendance of 80000 on an 81ooo capacity stadium. A club with European honors and a recent Champions league runner up . If you look at it from this perspective I'm sure this game, as an experience, would have been more useful for Kane, Dier, Lamela, Alli, than to Carroll or Onomah.

I just don't understand why Poch and his staff approached this game the way they did.

 

......Carroll!!!.......in the 1stx11!!! ....what a joke! ....the sooner will sell this lad the better. then we won't have to worry ourselves about seeing him in our team. ...he's not PL quality....so how can he be EL quality....especially against a very decent side.

really was like watching us a couple of seasons ago. flat lines across the pitch waiting to be ripped apart by the oppo. no fight. no pressing (except the first 10 minutes or so). no inter play. no nothing.

I can only agree with what's been said.....that Pochy is taking the PL very seriously. we simply have to win all our games in that and hope the others slip up.


COYS