Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Stoke City

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Wednesday 23rd December 5.30pm
Carabao Cup Quarter-Final
bet365 Stadium​

Back-to-back league losses for the first time this season have dropped us from 1st to 6th place.
That not only emphasises how compact the table is at the top, but also the need to get back on track quickly.
Our fixture list is also rather cramped though, so we need both a win and some rotation.
Not an ideal time to be playing an important cup game against a side that will be well up for it.
Can Mourinho do it on a cold, wet midweek night in Stoke or will Michael O'Neill spring an upset?

Stoke's last campaign started out in disastrous fashion and Nathan Jones was dismissed in November.
They'd won only two matches and picked up 8 points from their first 14 games and a loss to Millwall ended it.
Rory Delap lost his only match as interim manager, a 2-0 defeat to West Brom, before a replacement was found.
Former Northern Ireland coach Michael O'Neill was the man for the job and started with a win.
Things weren't entirely smooth, but he dragged them from 23rd to 15th and avoided the drop.

This season has seen them eyeing the other end of the table and they're currently in 7th place.
Only goal difference sees them sit outside the play-offs and they're 3 points from Swansea in 3rd.
They've played in all four rounds of this cup to get here and they're yet to concede, barring a shoot-out.
A 0-0 draw with Blackpool was followed by 1-0 wins over Wolves, Gillingham and Villa.
This is not one that we should be taking lightly, especially as their two Premier League scalps were away.

There were no meetings between the sides last season, so here are their wins over Wolves and Villa:

Tanganga's still out and Lo Celso has probably joined him, but Lamela looks close to returning.
Allen, Mikel, Clucas, Davies, Gunn and Gregory are all out for the hosts.
Neither side has any suspensions.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Aurier, Alderweireld, Dier, Reguilon; Sissoko, Hojbjerg; Lo Celso, Ndombele, Son, Kane.
Subs: Hart, Doherty, Rodon, Davies, Winks, Bergwijn, Bale, Moura, Vinicius.
League form: WDWDLL.

Stoke: Bursik; Collins, Souttar, Chester, Fox; Tymon, Cousins; Brown, Powell, Ince; Fletcher.
Subs: Noukeu, Smith, Bath, Shawcross., Oakley-Boothe, Thompson, McClean, Verlinden, Vokes.
League form: WWLDDW.

Ref: Darren England. A young ref from Doncaster who was recently added to the Select Group.

TV: Sky Sports.

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

 

Paul Stewart .

 

League cup final pushed back to April? Not sure if that helps or hinders Spurs tbh

 

Hugo
Doherty, Sanchez, Dier, Davies
Ndombele, Winks
Bale, Dele/ Lamela, Bergwijn
Vinicius

 

I don't know why I thought this match took place this evening

Then again, we're reaching that point of the year where I routinely forget what day of the week it is, in a year where I've habitually forgotten what day of the week it is...

 

Looks like Lamela is back

we’ve missed him

 

We’ll say that again in about three months once he gets another injury.

 

Match check list :

Wednesday ?? Check.
Evening ?? Check.
Raining ?? Check.
...

 

Stoke have got a keeper crisis, potentially their 19 year old 6th choice may start tonight.

Can more or less guarantee that in 2 years time they’ll be getting a move to Barca or Madrid and his story will begin with “made his incredible debut against Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup quarter final...”

 

1. After mid january, the PL is back in the season fixture tempo proper.
So at worst 2 clubs will have their fixture window compressed by one game
at some point.

2. The other leagues : at worst 4 clubs would have similar compression
(and they already play 6 more league games in a season than the PL) .

So who is this proposed shift supposed to benefit ?? #1 ?? #2 ?? Either ??

 

If we win..do we know who got next or is it to be drawn out tonight?

 

Draw takes place tonight after the matches

 

Oh well, we're still in the Europa League

 

Will be like playing at Bournemouth under Pochettino when they had a keeper making his debut in 2019.
Some great saves, then we went down to 10 men cos Son fell for them baiting him with sly digs and then Foyth went all Bruce lee and we conceded the only goal of the game in the 92 minute ... from a set piece.

Sounding familiar?

 

3 months? That's a tad optimistic!

 

Or his career started badly after Spurs scored 6 against him on his debut in a heavy defeat

 

Somebody light the @remembercolinlee signal, KH is running the risk of us getting knocked out on penalties after a 6-6 draw...

 

He's the lad at Sheffield United now isn't he?