Uefa Cup Tonight

cson

Thursday, 06 December 2007
UEFA Cup
Aalborg v Getafe, G, 19:45 Draw
Anderlecht v Tottenham, G, 19:45 Draw
Aris Salonica v Braga, F, 19:45 Draw
Bayer Leverkusen v Sparta Prague, E, 17:15 Leverkusen
Bordeaux v Helsingborgs IF, H, 19:45 Boardeaux
Crvena Zvezda v Bolton, F, 19:45 Red Star
FK Austria Magna v Panionios, H, 19:45 Um... the second one?
Spartak Moscow v FC Zurich, E, 17:15 Spartak

Question: Does this cup actually mean anything? I know fans bang on about being in Europe but aren't the attendances for most of these games very low? Feck all TV coverage as well.

IrishMike

Its still important for some clubs and nothing more of a hinderance to others
Case in point is Red Star v Bolton.
Bolton will probably end up playing the bus driver they have so many left at home.
Meanwhile Red Star have sold out the stadium (32000+) and very up for it.
Its a competition that no one cares about unless they can get to the quarter finals,
which is when they normally start playing their full team.

Unearthly

The format is complete crap tbh, especially the group stages. Earlier rounds are full of crap, as the Champions League have the majority of Europes best.

It gets decent when it hits the last 16

kinaldo

Damn I was hoping to start this thread! Actually no, it's just not the same without the Toon. My interest will probably be limited to a final between Bayern Munich and A.Madrid.

Badabing

The changes in 2009 will be better i think, 2 out of a group going through and matches kicking off at similar times etc.. and i tink Uefa sell the rights for the group stage from then.

cson

Leverkusen and Spartak both win 1-0

Guy:Incognito

"Spurs concede goal in display of defensive shambles" Shocker.:D




EDIT, then get a peno straight after.

BrandonBlock

What defence lol, that was unbelievable like. Good man berbatov 1-1. Defoe coming on.

cson

"Bolton in away lead shocker"

Boltson* lead Red Star away 1-0 :eek:

Madyness I tells ya.

*reminds me of a Bo Selecta gag with Vernon Kaye as a quiz host - Q: What does frankenstein have on his head? (a) Nuts on (b) Bolts on (c) Screws on......roffles

BrandonBlock

Ballltonnn!!! BALTSON!!! BOLLTONNNn.. lol

estebancambias

Did anyone here that clown Paddy Mulligan? I'm all for critical analysis, but he was just being pretentious.

DSB

Jaysus Tottenham are rubbish.

estebancambias

Still a draw away from home against the the champions of Belgium is not a bad result.

cson

Hold on a second, perspective here for a minute. Spurs previously had pretty serious aspirations of making the Champions League. Now Anderlecht in Champions League terms are a whipping boy, if you can't beat the likes of them then you're on the train to nowhere. Which is exactly where Spurs are.

estebancambias

They set their sights too high, in fact I believed they over-acheived for the past two seasons. They have a great striker line, but behind that other than perhaps Chimbonda, Malbranque and King, and Kaboul(if he played right....Jean Alain Boumsong anyone?) it is distinctly average.

Chardee MacDennis

if you look at the Spurs squad how many of them would be top 4 team material?

Berbatov (who btw has scored less per PL game then Kuyt and only bettered Kuyt by 1 more assist last season - i feel is overrated but will end up signing for united!)

King is of a good enough standard but very injury prone, i dont think any of the top 4 need a player like him at the moment but besides the point.

Robinson has always been overrated but i do think he is one of maybe the top 7 goalkeepers in the PL at the moment.

Keane - does very well for them and has a good scoring records for them. always works hard.

Bale has looked solid since joining and looks like he will keep improving

I have heard good things about Boateng but I'll wait and see.

The rest of the squad are of mid table standard. The best thing that could happen now is to sell one of Berbatov, Defoe or Bent in January and bring in a top defender with lots of experience and a few midfielders. I would say Downing could do a job on the left for Spurs.

Selling one of the strikers (or even two and bringing in a les high profile striker) would really help in some consistency up front which is what i feel they need, they played 4 strikers yesterday and a few times before not even Rafa does that as much!!!

A player of the likes of Sami Hyypia would really get the defence a lot more organised and maybe they wouldnt switch off so much.

What do Spurs fans think?

EDIT: Huddlestone, Lennon and Jenas have their moments but are not consistent enough imo

IrishMike

Huddlestone is probably the worst midfielder in the top half of the league.
He is slow cant tackle and cant pass.
The only reason he plays is that he is English.
Maddness

Spurs are in serious trouble, buying the players a manager didnt ask for has gotten
them into this situation.
Will take a lot of money to undo it

cson

Anybody who criticises Wenger for not buying English players, I just point them in the direction of Spurs for evidence of how that goes. Darren Bent £16 million :eek: