Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Ludogorets Razgrad

Bergwijn replaces Bale. Had a very encouraging first half and put in a good shift.

 

And they all had nightmarish European campaigns in their last venture to the continent.
West Ham knocked out twice by Astra-Googoo, Villa the same with Rapid Vienna and Burnley out in the play-off round to Olympiakos.

 

We've switched off a bit since regaining the two goal lead. Sloppy.

Lo Celso off for Ndombele. Looked better than he did last week. Still not 100%.

 

Yankov replaced by Tchibota. I think that's all the subs.

 

Don’t see why White couldn’t have come on for Lo Celso to be honest. With 5 available subs to make this is an ideal competition to give youth some chances. Only real disappointing aspect from the game so far.

 

I think Jose might be more relaxed about it if we’d at least picked up points last week, but he’s just being hyper cautious because we didn’t and he wants to bury the game.

 

Doherty in the book. 2 on 1 there and he misjudged the run and took his man out. Silly and unnecessary.

 

Foul by Santana on Ndombele. The big hole in his sock is a bit of a giveaway.

 

Tekpetey was a very positive sub for them at half-time. Not sure why he didn't start.
Edit: Maybe I do now!

 

Vinicius getting shouted at a lot. Hasn't had a good half.

 

Vinnie has gone backwards since his debut, just seems to be trying too hard at the moment, needs a goal bad

 

2 minutes of injury time. Don't see that in the Premier League often, any more.

 

Who wants to tell him?

 

Nor the empty stadium at 85mins..........but I've not watched a scum game for years

 

It’s been a much more encouraging game and I think we’ve seen the attitude Jose wants from the players tonight. Should really have been a clean sheet, was a bit of a fluke deflection for their goal.

Slightly concerned about Vinicius and Bergwijn, they both look rusty.

 

We’ve had 15 subs to make in the last 3 Europa games though, and we’ve only afforded a 4 minute cameo to Clarke, not forgetting the qualifiers too, albeit I appreciate due to them being one-legged there was a lot more risk involved. Just feel like we’ve wasted opportunities to give our youth some chances. Can’t complain with the performance today though, much, much better. Just think there could’ve been an opportunity or two for those who’ll be looking to impress. There won’t be many more chances throughout the season outside of these group games to give opportunities too. White, Cirkin and Clarke being part of the first team squad has been pretty pointless so far. It’s feeing all too KWP/ Skipp-esque.

 

One more sub and it's over. 3-1 FT. Very impressive first half, followed by a rather ragged second one.
A lot of the team looked good and sharp, but some of them are well off the pace.
Need to win the return leg and give ourselves some breathing space in the group, so we can rotate more.

 

Strong performance, albeit Ludogorets were a lot poorer than I expected. Their inability to keep the ball was shocking, especially that first half.

Bale looking sharper is definitely the biggest plus, Lo Celso too.

 

I thought Bergwijn was pretty decent, to be fair. Vinicius looked miles off the pace, though.
Lo Celso needed the minutes and Bale was a lot sharper.

 

Not really surprised though to be honest. Got hauled off last week when he wasn’t anywhere near the poorest then dropped from the squad in the league game and started from the bench today. Strikers more so than anyone need confidence and since his debut his has probably been massively knocked. It’s similar to Bergwijn for me, he got harshly dropped last season for Lucas and has since looked well shot of the guy that exploded onto the scene when he joined.