Match Day Thread Tottenham Hotspur v Wolfsberger

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Thursday 18th February 5.55pm
Europa League Round of 32
Puskas Arena, Budapest​

Another poor performance and a loss in the league out of the way, with the mandatory ref controversy.
Now we're back to the Europa League, which we haven't played in since early December.
We face a team with a German name, who are from Austria and we're playing in Hungary.
It's very Europa League and it's very Tottenham.
Can Mourinho get some sort of performance out of the team or will we face more embarrassment?

Wolfsberger are a fairly old club, but have only recently qualified for European competition.
They've spent most of their history in the 2nd and 3rd tier, until a semi-merger with their neighbours.
A name-changing sponsorship pushed them on in 2014, since which they've been known as "RZ Pellets WAC".
This is the first time that they've progressed past a group stage and we're the first English team they've faced.
They have played Dortmund, Roma, Monchengladbach, CSKA Moscow and Feyenoord, though.

The Austrian Bundesliga has a slightly weird play-off thingy, but they finished 3rd in that last year.
This put them into a tough group stage, where they faced CSKA, Dinamo Zagreb and Feyenoord.
Home and away victories against the Dutch and an away win in Moscow was their unlikely route through it.
They currently sit 6th in their league, which is enough to put them into another play-off, if they stay there.
Their top scorer is Dejan Joveljic, a Serbian striker on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt.

We're going to be playing at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, due to Covid restrictions in Austria.
It's obviously named after the Magyar legend Ferenc Puskas and looks a bit like Wembley.
Liverpool played RB Leipzig there on Tuesday and the surface looked pretty decent.
How it'll hold up to being played on twice in quick succession remains to be seen.

Decent highlights of their matches are quite hard to come by, so I'll just skip them and post interviews:

Lo Celso and Reguilon are still out, while Aurier is a doubt.
Mario Leitgeb and Eliel Peretz are injured for the hosts.
Neither side has any suspensions.

Lineups for each side's last league game:

Spurs: Lloris; Tanganga, Sanchez, Dier, Davies; Ndombele, Hojbjerg; Lamela, Moura, Son; Kane.
Subs: Hart, Doherty, Alderweireld, Winks, Sissoko, Alli, Bergwijn, Bale, Vinicius.
League form: WLLLWL.

Wolfsberger: Kofler; Lochoshvili, Henriksson, Baumgartner; Novak, Sprangler, Taferner, Scherzer; Vizinger, Joveljic, Rocher.
Subs: Kuttin, Giorbelidze, Stratznig, Wernitznig, Liendl, Dieng, Hodzic.
League form: WDLWLW.

Ref: Ali Palabıyık (TUR). He's the young Turkish ref who took charge of our match against Skjendija.
VAR: Abdulkadir Bitigen (TUR).

TV: BT Sport 2.

How would you like to line up for this one and what would you change from the City 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 Wolfsberger to go with?

 

Wouldn’t be surprised if Cirkin starts. Davies hasn’t had a break yet and has come off the back of 120 mins and 90 mins in relatively quick succession. We’ll probably continue to run Hojbjerg into the ground though.

Probably something like:

Hugo
Doherty, Tanganga, Toby, Cirkin
Sissoko, Hojbjerg
Bale, Dele, Bergwijn
Vinicius

 

Lol. He ain't starting Cirkin.

Tanganga RB and Doherty LB incoming.

 

This and the west ham game are either going to be turning points in JM's time with us or the death rattle of it imo.

Going out of this and losing to West Ham kills all faint hope of CL football next season.

So...COYS ... make us smile

 

I bet would be the other way round, but I expect them both to play

Hart, Doherty, Alderweireld, Dier, Tanganga, Sissoko, Winks, Bale, Dele, Bergwijn and Kane

 

Oh come on, nobody considering Lamela at LB?

 

Or Sonny, he has sort of played there before!

 

Bale at left wingback with Doherty on the other side. Three at the back.

 

Hart to start and that’s probably not a bad thing considering how Lloris has been lately.

 

Wait until you start feeling nervous every time their players are 25 yards out...

 

What tonight will really demonstrate is whether the theory/belief/hope that the ubermensch is sacking off the league to get Champions League qualification via the Europa League has anything to it

 

25 yarder incoming

 

I don't really trust Hart to save shots from distance, but he's been beaten by some absolutely ludicrous shots this season.
I'm inclined to put it down to people not being closed down, rather than any fault of the keeper.
It's still a weakness for him, but I don't think Lloris would've had much luck with those examples, either.

 

Another great day for Vini at Spurs, lol.

Two strikers on the bench, none in the starting lineup

 

Let's hope that they're as bad as that line-up suggests that we think they are.

 

Mourinho: "Son's not a striker."
Also Mourinho: Picks Son as a striker.

 

i don’t understand why we’d be thinking anyone in the last 32 is below par.
They got 10 points in their group. - as did we in the 19/20 CL group stages, and went on to reach the final.

 

“So **** you, Carlos Vinicius!”.

 

I’d imagine it’s Bale up top, with dele in the No10 and Son/Moura on the wings, no?

 

It could be anything, apart from picking an actual striker. We'll see, I guess.