Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Olympiakos

Don't forget Colin Lee! we all remember him

 

Spurs have announced the long term financing arrangements, look impressive.

 

Went to every home game and all the London aways that season. Real entertainment. Plus the centre half pairing of Stevie P and Don McAllister! Also good honest pros like John Pratt that would get trashed on by people on this board if he was around today.

 

A real one hit wonder. And the player wasn't great either.

 

He got a lot of criticism in his day too. Often because Hoddle was dropped to make way for him. I also remember being at Highbury and seeing him half hit a back pass to gift them a goal. Start of a 5-0 defeat on Boxing day IIRC. Wasn't too popular that day either.
On the whole though a good honest pro who gave his all for us. Always makes him immune to criticism in my book.

 

4 goal Colin Lee on his debut. Not bad!

 

John Pratt. He'd make you tear your hair out. I think he'd die for his club,scored some very good goals.....but couldn't pass a ball to save his life....unless it was to the opposition.

 

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Tuesday 26th November 8pm
Champions League Group Stage
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium​

Mourinho successfully negotiated his first game and came away with a victory.
Our first domestic away success since January needs to be followed up with win here, though.
Beating Olympiakos would seal our progress from the group and give us some breathing space.
We do not need to go to Munich needing points and I'm sure he's well aware of that.
Can we get back-to-back wins or is it too soon to expect any changes to have worked?

Our visitors are still undefeated domestically, but they've failed to pick up a single point in this group after drawing with us.
A loss in Belgrade was followed by another two to Bayern and they'd need to win both remaining games to qualify.
We'd also have to lose in Germany and the Greeks are probably looking at the Europa League, at best.
They drew with Panionios on Saturday evening and have a big game coming up.
They lead PAOK on goal difference at the moment, so their meeting on the weekend could be massive for their title aspirations.

Here are the highlights of their trip to Munich, who also had a new man in the dugout:

No injury news yet, but Lloris, Lamela and Vorm are all out.
Neither side has any suspensions.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Gazzaniga; Aurier, Sanchez, Alderweireld, Davies; Dier, Winks; Moura, Alli, Son; Kane.
Subs: Austin, Walker-Peters, Foyth, Rose, Sissoko, Lo Celso, Eriksen.
League form: LDLDDW.

Olympiakos: Sa; Gaspar, Meriah, Semedo, Tsimikas; Bouchalakis, Camara; Podence, Lovera; Soudani, Guerrero.
Subs: Allain, Torosidis, Ba, Guilherme, Valbuena, Masouras, El Arabi.
League form: WWWDWD.

Ref: Georgi Kabakov (BUL). VAR: Michael Fabbri (ITA).
A young Bulgarian ref (33), but he's got about a decade of experience.
His second year in the Champions League, having debuted in the Valencia v Man Utd match last season.
Seems odd to have the VAR and match officials from different countries.

TV: BT Sport 2.

How would you like to line up for this one and what would you change from the West Ham game?
Would you stick with the same lineup, make a couple of changes or go for a wholesale switch?
Which system and tactics would you use and what are you expecting Olympiakos to go with?

 

Live training session, for some reason:

Vertonghen is taking part.

 

Whilst there's a strong inclination to pick the same XI, I'd like to see Lo Celso and Sissoko get some minutes.

Maybe this is where we could see one of Mourinho's famed traits? Namely, the early substitution, should we get a decent lead.

It didn't happen on Saturday and it very nearly cost us a win. If we're upping the pressing and minimising the walking through the first half of games, there's going to be some tired players for a while.

It's been suggested that Troy Parrott's unlikely to feature. He should definitely be on the bench, as I'd like to avoid flogging Harry Kane as if he was a dead horse.

 

Parrott's probably going to play in the Youth League fixture to try and make sure that they qualify.
Still might not be enough though, so I'd prefer him to get a place on the bench for the senior side.

 

Didn't see Davies in that training clip and he came off injured on Saturday.

 

OS:
Ben Davies has been ruled out of Tuesday night’s clash with Olympiacos.

The Welsh international left-back sustained an ankle injury in Saturday’s Premier League win over West Ham and is currently undergoing assessment.

However, there is good news on defender Jan Vertonghen and midfielder Tanguy Ndombele.

Jan has had a hamstring injury and Tanguy a groin problem, but both have now returned to training with the squad.

 

Parrott's situation has been made worse for us now that he's part of the seniors with Ireland. Any regular 17 year old would not be expecting too much at their club with regards to first team minutes but now there feels like a certain level of pressure for us to play him in fear of him saying "**** this, I'm out". He seems a grounded lad but you can never be sure. If he gets more senior call ups whilst struggling to get first team minutes here it's pretty inevitable how things will pan out.

Then the hacks will say "Jose don't give youth a chance" but how many 17 year olds are playing in the Prem? There's barely any 18 year olds either. 19/20 is generally where a young player should start looking to make an impact with then the idea of 21-23 being around the ages where they're a solidified member of the first team squad.

I definitely think we need to find space for Parrott when available but I don't expect him to become a regular squad member any time soon. Worst thing is the very competition he should've been able to get more chances in we ****ed up. Royally.

 

On being asked if it would be a ‘miracle’ to win the CL with this group of players because that’s how Poch described it last season

Said that sometimes it’s due to the winning culture of a club/person that prompts people to say such a thing. He said ‘no not a miracle...very difficult’ and he backs this team in any CL game

One said...you’ll be very lucky...the other is saying they can conquer the world

Go figure the affects of these things

 

I'm not advocating that we start him but we've got some adaptable players - Jan Vertonghen can cover centre and left back spots, Moussa Sissoko and Foyth can cover at right back, Lo Celso can play in a number of positions, covering Dele and Winksy and even Sonny/Moura..

On Saturday, we had Lo Celso and Eriksen on the bench. I dare say that we'll see Rose and Vertonghen and Foyth/KWP and Sissoko all sitting together on the bench in the forthcoming weeks. It's overkill on covering defensive positions. IMHO, if there are 7 spots on the bench, one should be an out and out forward and that should be Parrott on a fairly regular basis.

 

Me and the teen beast are going to this....will be our last game for a while cos we is skint

Hoping for a great game and atmosphere

COYS