please log in to view this image Sunday 18th February 4pm FA Cup 5th Round Spotland Stadium Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Juventus have come and gone without defeat. Newport were dispatched at the second time of asking and our tough run of games diverts onto a potential banana skin. This is the sort of tie that the FA Cup is made for. We need to make sure that it becomes a footnote in history, rather than a highlight. How strong will the team that Pochettino selects be and will they have enough to avoid an embarrassment? If the stark contract between Juventus and Rochdale wasn't enough, then the form of each club is even more contrasting. Where the Turin giant has racked up win after win and clean sheet after clean sheet, The Dale have struggled. League victories are a rarity, so much so that they've currently had as many postponements as wins. 4 of each, 10 draws and 12 losses has left them 2nd bottom of League One, in 23rd place. They're 9 points from safety, albeit with five games in hand over 20th position Northampton Town. Their FA Cup run has been the high point of a difficult campaign, as they've fought their way through 5 fixtures. Bromley and Slough were seen off comfortably, as they progressed to the 3rd round with consecutive 4-0 wins. No glamour tie awaited though, as they were rewarded with a trip to fellow League One side Doncaster. A narrow 1-0 victory put them through, but they missed out on a big draw again, as Millwall hosted them. A 2-2 at The Den took them back to Spotland, where another 1-0 got them the big game that they wanted. This will be the first competitive meeting between the two clubs. The much criticised Spotland pitch has been relayed this week, so hopefully that will be less of an issue. Squad news has yet to be announced, but neither side has any suspensions. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Trippier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies; Dier, Dembele; Eriksen, Alli, Son; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Aurier, Rose, Wanyama, Sissoko, Lamela, Moura. League form: DWDWDW. Rochdale: Lillis; Wiseman, McNulty, Delaney; Rafferty, Camps, Cannon, Kitching, Done; Henderson, Humphrys. Subs: Moore, McGahey, Hart, Rathbone, Thompson, Inman, Knott. League form: LLLLWL. Referee: Robert Madley. A regular Premier League ref. No surprises. TV: BBC1. How many changes should we make for this one, given our recent heavy, tough fixture list? Is there anyone that you think is totally unsuited for this sort of match and should be left out? What should our bench look like and would you like to see any unusual selections on it?
Seeing as we don't play for over a week after the fixture, I feel we should play a pretty strong side with few changes. I want us to win a cup badly this season so don't want to be taking too many risks. Vorm Tripps, Toby, Foyth, Rose Wanyama, Dembele Lucas, Lamela, Son Kane Gazza, KWP, Dier, Winks, Sissoko, Alli, Nando
If I was Poch I would look at the pitch before starting Toby. No point in giving him an extra week fitness to strengthen his hamstring if the surface is not up to scratch
If Winksy promises to pass the ball forward then yeah I'm cool with him starting. Nando can come on once Kane's bagged his 30 minute hat trick and help keep the score 3-0.
If their pitch doesn't resemble the Somme, surely it's worth taking one or two of the U23s to give them a run-out? Georgiou, Duncan, Roles or Shashoua could all serve a purpose from the bench
They knock the ball about quite well. They're not a long ball team. I think their desire to play a decent game against you will be their undoing as you'll pick them off easily on the break. 1-3 or 1-4 I reckon?
I reckon Poch will take this game seriously, as he's not stupid, and he knows that the media has been gobbing off about his not winning any trophies. Plus, the likes of Kane have openly stated that he wants to win trophies. With all of that in mind, I'm banking on him playing a strong side and getting this over with on the day. I don't think he'll chance any untried youngsters, as that would give an advantage to Rochdale. That said, I think he could be tempted to play Llorente ahead of Kane, again. Not sure he will chance Moura on the Rochdale ploughed field. Might come on as a sub.
Sissoko will be starting guaranteed. I don't mind though, he can run around and bully the Rochdale players a bit. Plus it will be amusing to watch him trying to control the ball on that surface. Hopefully Poch will pick 10 other footballers to see us through.
I expect we’ll see KWP, Winks and Sissoko in this one, purely to keep others fresh. It’ll be very telling if Llorente doesn’t start, and we see someone like Son leading the line. I think it’d be fair to say that it’d be the final nail in Llorente’s coffin.
Can't say I'm too bothered...he isn't a massive investment and his contribution won't be missed. Nowt against the bloke....anyone who brings less than Kane does, is going to look inferior and our dynamics are going to be affected. Finding a second competent striker, or even half as competent as Kane and a bit of a 'super sub' to boot, isn't an easy task...so I think we will be disappointed in that department...we don't have an Aguero to come off the bench or to play second fiddle.
Why is everyone going on about the pitch still? I thought they'd committed to completely resurfacing it?
Rochdale have spent £500,000 on a new pitch. How a new pitch plays is anyone's guess, but it will be a new surface covered in grass.
I would take a full squad to the match. And then have a look at the pitch + weather forecasts etc before deciding the final team sheet. As others have said, we would like to get a good 90 mins in the legs of Toby / Wanyama / Winks / Moura. But not at the risk of injury caused by an iffy pitch.
I want poch to pick a strong squad this is a chance to win something .we have squad that is nearly all fit so players like rose and Toby and coco need 90 minutes so play them and harry kane up front let's get the game won then take players off don't take chances fielding a weakened team because Rochdale will be up for this if we are not right on the game.I know we all hate Wembley but a cup final would be just the tonic for us long suffering fans COYS
I assume they don't lay crap pitches just because it's a team from a lower division and for £1/2 million I would expect a flat green addition. How does grass cost that much btw and if it does why don't farmers just grow grass and forget about messy cows and sheep.
I hope that Spurs donate a decent % of their existing win money to Rochdale for the costs of relaying the pitch (twas us who complained about it thus effectively resulting in this action) .