Only Spurs rush in: it's the UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2018/2019 thread

Oofff. Vertonghen is bleeding to death :(

We have nothing in midfield either, Wanyama can't pass and Eriksen is too far up the pitch.

Oh and our centre backs are both dead now, yay.

Llorente has actually done okay given his ludicrous unsuitability for the task the circumstances demand.

I am weirdly relaxed about this given how ludicrous the idea of Spurs in the Champions League final is.

Where the hell is deems btw

Amsterdam.

i'll fill in for deems:

the ref - who is a cunt - is biased against spurs (for no reason)

p sure the authorities would've notified me in advance tbh xp

xp lol

keen to see the Dele Alli heat dot at half time

Poch out, surely? (xp)

Jan is properly half dead.

Sissoko will save us.

That was slightly disturbing, watching JV in that state.

If this is anyone's game it's Sissoko's tbf

Yeah that was really horrible, vertonghen's reaction, hope he's ok

xp

Similar but slightly lesser incident with Fabinho against Cardiff. Football needs some sort of head injury protocol.

There are protocols iirc, but they won't help if a club sends a player back on the pitch. Protocols aren't needed really, common sense should be enough.

I guess by protocol I meant it would demand they have to take players off, similar to rugby, that sort of magic sponge vibe there doesn't seem very safe at all and it can't be a team or a manager or a player making the call.

medical staff clearly has no influence whatsoever in football. (or are morally and monetarily corrupt, :P )

wtf was poch thinking with this set up

So mad I'm missing this!

Spurs more lively now, finally.

Ajax neutralised in the second half now. Shame Spurs don't have any firepower. Not even a tiny bit.

Trippier = wasteman

Amazing how much better this is than the first half. Make Sissoko the club's highest paid player immediately.

Sissoko's appearance changed the whole match, it's amazing really.

I mean on retrospect it was a very bad idea to be a man short in midfield when they have one of the most talented young playmakers in world football running the show.

Aye, Poch out obv.

Spurs prob need to score at least two in 20 mins to feel like they can get a result next week tho.

The amount of space that Danny Rose is getting on the left is ridiculous.

Inspirational double fullback substitution there. Foyth should not be on the pitch in a CL semi final.

About 15 of the 22 players here should not be on the pitch in a CL semi final tbh.

every time Eriksen is called upon to either thread a pass or find someone at a setpiece Ajax can rest easy

Disappointing from both sides, this.

Fairly relieved tbh.

ajax were great when spurs gave them all that space but otherwise that was p shit

Yeah I can see that. Still a mountain to climb for youse imo xp

fairly sure that's the end of the line but yeah not overly vexed all told

Kane would've taken a couple of those chances mind

1-0 at home isn't that bad a result. Spurs can score twice in Amsterdam with Son back.

Not sure if Kane would've made much of a difference, Spurs didn't have a lot of good chances to finish. Son is another matter.

“We made them look a lot better. They are a good side, but we helped them along the way. It was our fault. We were better in the second half."

Eriksen otm. Spurs made Ajax look better than they are.

vertonghen getting jacked in the head was the most interesting part of the match

y'all feel free to roast me but am i wrong that it makes more sense to play conservatively at home so as to not concede away goals? like if you had to choose. i feel like the combo of son suspension + spurs home game meant that we were destined to get a 1-0 result, tho i guess it was really very close to 2-0

You're not wrong. Today esp with Kane and Son out it was key for Spurs to not concede. Though I can see why some see losing 0-1 as not the end of the run here (and it was closer to 0-2 than 1-1, true). Worthy to note here that Ajax offed both Madrid and Juve because of great away wins/goals. Spurs could theoretically do the same.

I think Poch made a huge tactical mistake playing w/ 5 defenders instead of 4 midfielders. Sackable mistake really if you know with Ajax everything flows through midfield. He more or less admitted this post match.

xps thinking specifically of Alli's header and a couple of decent crosses that Llorente was either too slow to attack or couldn't be arsed

not much point pondering it I grant you

I've always thought what Jordan said. Away goals is a dumb rule imo. I'd always want to be at home first and 0-0 is a good result. I was perfectly happy with Liverpool drawing at Anfield against Bayern.

Also just playing away second, as long as you're not completely out of the tie, always seems better to me, away goals are this panicky threat then, in the most crucial phase of the tie and only one team can score them at that stage.

1-0 at home isn't that bad a result. Spurs can score twice in Amsterdam with Son back.

― FernandoHierro, Tuesday, 30 April 2019 21:11 (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this

ajax very poor apart from two or three moves but we made even that look better than it was

trippier is horrible but a pochettino that sends him out there without vertonghen or alderweireld under orders to physically assault him if at any stage he approaches the offside line is a pochettino with only himself to blame

easy with hindsight to say we should have started another midfielder- sissoko was a risk to have even on the bench and although he was a monster i still didnt breathe until the final whistle without him feeling a twinge

sanchez still the defender most likely to be on the hook for everyone else ballwatching. he played well again

foyth a far better option than trippier. gazzaniga a far better option than trippier.

eriksen and alli either shook or disinterested and offers for the latter at this stage should be considered imo, its not just performance the guy hasnt lifted a leg all season and is pathetically immature.

trippier is bad at his main job and has gotten bad at the secondary bit that used to make him being bad at his man job acceptable i hope he dies

ref was good

crossing was awful, attempts to get on the end of crosses were horribly uncommitted and heading was terrible on the few attempts that we did get.

sissoko is my favourite spurs player ever

sending vertonghen out again was shit and poch should apologise publicly, totally unacceptable.

otm on all acounts, good to have you back. i was surprised about how dull eriksen was: he used to have a sparkle, no? seems gone as of late.

i can allow for exhaustion and how much we owe him historically, hes also obviously still trying

if he was a golfer id say he had the jitters.

but he and kane carry a lot of opposition weight of focus and god bless sonny i love him but he doesnt work the other team in the same way

when you take kane away for any length of time its eriksen alone and alli goes from being an affordable luxury to an indisciplined passenger

moura impressed me tonight, despite little to no end product (that relies on anyone else around him trying to even get on the end of any such product for a start)

really not sure about this lfc line up. worried that klopp has done a pep and out thought himself in an away first leg. rather have seen the usual 433 with studge in for bobby and gigi/fab/hendo midfield 3. gladly take a result that leaves lfc needing to win by one at home.

Not sure it's so bad, I'm reading all this panicked talk that he's parked the bus but Firmino is injured so I guess Keita can push up. Gomez for Trent is mildly cautious but doesn't seem a gigantic decision.

Looks like it might be a fairly open game so far.