Europa League Thread

Here Precious2

We're not the same team without Lennon..as for gallas walking off...get that prick out of the club

2nd Row Donkey

We'll be the republic of Ireland of the EPL - scratching around for scraps and set piece goals. Woe is me. The pain, the pain, the pain of it all.

mushykeogh

KingdomYid wrote: »

Outclassed outfought and fcuked without Bale for a while by the looks of it.

At least 4-6 weeks i reckon.

2nd Row Donkey

Tobyglen wrote: »

You serious? This is the best Spurs have done in 30 years and Levy has done some great work. Spurs are just a mid table team with supporters with ridiculous aspirations.

Have a look at where Spurs have finished in 6 of last 7 seasons. Hardly midtable now is it?

jobeenfitz

lets be honest our squad is not good enough for league and a serious go at europe. We havn't got quality back-up. I don't want to believe this but its true. I reckon its now europa league again next season, anything else will just be a bonus.

richardjjd

From @FFScout on twitter:
AVB on Bale: "He rolled on his ankle, at the moment there is a lot of pain, but hopefully not as bad as it could have been."

frag420

Trying to be positive here but if he is out for rest

frag420

Trying to be positive here but if he is out for rest of season then I can't see him being sold if injured!!

Every cloud eh!

hugo29

frag420 wrote: »

Trying to be positive here but if he is out for rest of season then I can't see him being sold if injured!!

Every cloud eh!

Or another gazza. Sold for quarter of what he worth

franktheplank

Hoping Bale's injury isn't serious, it looked bad but you never know.

I think Dembele deserves a lot of credit tonight, Bale was marked out of it and he looked like the one player really taking it to them even if he faded the last twenty to thirty mins.

I though BAE was shocking tonight. Gallas you could say is past it, Noughton I'd have some sympathy for due to his youth (not sure if he's top four standard though) but BAE should be a player at his prime.

I think it's clear AVB doesn't fancy him and maybe it's affecting his game but he really was very poor tonight. I'd say about 80% of his passes went astray and distribution is supposedly his strong point. Can't see him at Spurs next season.

tippspur

How does AVB expect to win a game if he picks Gallas from the start,did he not see enough in the Inter game to tell him that our defence is a shambles with him in in it,can't see us going any further in this comp after tonight Basle are a good fast team,plenty fans will be happy to see us out of it though.

SuprSi

I have to admit, with the negative effect this competition is having on the health of our squad, both in terms of performances and injuries I won't be disappointed to see us out of it. I can't imagine Bale will be fit for Sunday but hopefully he'll be ok for the rest of our league games.

Hatch99

What a night !
Couldn't believe it when I saw Gallas starting, at this stage against good sides we won't get away with him playing. I understand leaving Dawson out but why didn't Caulker play ? We never really got going at all and never looked like the normal free flowing fast moving team we tend to be.
In fairness to Basle, they played well and looked sharp right from the off, they can hardly play as well next week again can they ?

Struggling for bodies now. Bale missing at least the next 2 games, and without him, you look to Lennon for the attacking threat with pace, and now it looks like his hamstrings are causing problems, so we could be going in the this crucial stage of the season without any natural width and more importantly without much attacking pace because Sig and Holtby are no Usain Bolts.

I still think we have a chance next Thursday but to be honest I think we need to keep a clean sheet. If they score at any stage we are under serious pressure for goals, and with defoe lennon and Bale most likely all missing, it doesn't inspire you. A strong defence, nick a goal and a one nil win is a possibility. COYS

PogMoThoin

I'm not so sure the competition is worth the carnage if it costs us top 4. Maybe Harry was right, send the youngsters. Fcuk it, concentrate on top 4.

Hatch99

PogMoThoin wrote: »

I'm not so sure the competition is worth the carnage if it costs us top 4. Maybe Harry was right, send the youngsters. Fcuk it, concentrate on top 4.

I suppose it's easy to say that now when we have played poorly and got a couple of injuries. If we'd have won last night and not got any injuries, we'd all be in flying form, that's football, and it goes to showyou how one game can change everyones perception of our situation.

What's happened has happened, we just have to deal with the hand we have been dealt. Lets worry about Everton first, 3 points without bale lennon and defoe plus the other lads missing would be massive. Lets see can dembele, sig or Ade step forward with a big performance.

AVB then has time to put a plan together for Thursday. No doubt he knows now whether any of the 3 I mentioned will be fit for Thursday, so let's see can he put together a masterplan to get us through.

Lightbulb Sun

SuprSi wrote: »

I have to admit, with the negative effect this competition is having on the health of our squad, both in terms of performances and injuries I won't be disappointed to see us out of it. I can't imagine Bale will be fit for Sunday but hopefully he'll be ok for the rest of our league games.

The fact that Bale was injured in this competition is mere coincidence, it could easily have happened in a league game. I personally want the team to give Europe their best shot.

Ormus

Lightbulb Sun wrote: »

The fact that Bale was injured in this competition is mere coincidence, it could easily have happened in a league game. I personally want the team to give Europe their best shot.

That's true, it's harsh to use that as a stick to beat AVB with for playing his first team, it was plain ol bad luck when you get right down to it.

Still, I don't wanna sound pessimistic but last night's game could possibly have scuppered our chances of winning the Europa League OR qualifying for the Champions League.

Ouch.

SuprSi

Lightbulb Sun wrote: »

The fact that Bale was injured in this competition is mere coincidence, it could easily have happened in a league game. I personally want the team to give Europe their best shot.

It's not just Bale though. The extra time they had to go through in Italy practically ensured a crap performance and the loss of what should have been a guaranteed 3 points at home against Fulham. You can be more or less sure had that game not happened, or maybe had it only lasted 90 minutes, the lads would have put in a better performance. Ok they may not have won but that match had a big effect on the subsequent game.

We'll see what happens on Sunday but I expect another poor performance and without the one catalyst the team has see us struggling to get anything more than a point from the game. I hope I'm proven wrong

hugo29

SuprSi wrote: »

It's not just Bale though. The extra time they had to go through in Italy practically ensured a crap performance and the loss of what should have been a guaranteed 3 points at home against Fulham. You can be more or less sure had that game not happened, or maybe had it only lasted 90 minutes, the lads would have put in a better performance. Ok they may not have won but that match had a big effect on the subsequent game.

We'll see what happens on Sunday but I expect another poor performance and without the one catalyst the team has see us struggling to get anything more than a point from the game. I hope I'm proven wrong

lads its like this, we need to get used to games during week and weekends, what do we do if we do get to champions league, we then have to play our best team all the time, players need to get used to life at the top table,
we have injuries (to our main player) but its done we need to move on a play one game at a time,

Sugarlumps

Happy to come away with the draw, Basel should have been out of sight. Bale’s injury was unfortunate, but he didn't need to make that challenge. Minute left on the clock at the halfway line? Want rid of Ekotto, absolute garbage. Naughton had a mare for 30 minutes, then settled and had a good game. Decent shot on him from range. I thought Holtby did okay, didn't see a reason to take him off. Went backwards after that.

Leinstersqspur

Agree, Holtby tucked in nicely on the left and Siggy on the right in the second half and they both played well. BAE has always been a liability against smart and pacey wingers such as Nani/Walcott. Basel were a good outfit last night, they play some very fast counter attacking football and Gallas could not keep up with the speed they broke at, another liability. I still can't comprehend the logic not to play our strongest team i.e. Lloris & Dawson/Caulker.

They doubled up on Bale and kept him anonomous for most of the game, that left space Parker who is a headless chicken, full of courage to be fair to him but when we break and he's on the ball it very rarely gonna end well. I still can't comprehend the logic of playing him as our more advanced CM. Maybe this is why I never made it further than the playstation in my managerial career;)

That said, Adebayor & Siggy scored two goals, the latter enjoying good form recently. We're not a one man team, now it's time to prove it! All to play for..

irishmover

The Europa league doesn't get the respect it deserves. I'd be chuffed to win this and finish in the top 4. I never expected us to win a trophy or finish in the top 4 so if we get either I'd be happy.

As was said already players can get injured at any time of the season. These players are supposed to be able to play this many games. Lets just see what they say about Bale and Lennons injuries. Even at that, it's still possible to achieve both.

Andros Townsend said on twitter last night that he can't be recalled. I find that quite baffling. Dunno why they wouldn't have a clause in there to recall him.

Ormus

irishmover wrote: »

The Europa league doesn't get the respect it deserves. I'd be chuffed to win this and finish in the top 4. I never expected us to win a trophy or finish in the top 4 so if we get either I'd be happy.

As was said already players can get injured at any time of the season. These players are supposed to be able to play this many games. Lets just see what they say about Bale and Lennons injuries. Even at that, it's still possible to achieve both.

Andros Townsend said on twitter last night that he can't be recalled. I find that quite baffling. Dunno why they wouldn't have a clause in there to recall him.

I think it's a Premiership rule, no recalls between Premiership clubs?

irishmover

Ormus wrote: »

I think it's a Premiership rule, no recalls between Premiership clubs?

Pretty sure you're right but just can't find it for sure. Either way he can't be recalled which is a shame.

Ormus

AVB:

“Gareth will definitely play again this season. From the medical department’s first analysis, everything is positive."

Leinstersqspur

Ormus wrote: »

AVB:

“Gareth will definitely play again this season. From the medical department’s first analysis, everything is positive."

AVB on Sandro “He should be fine. He felt a big knock on the knee and thought there was ligament damage but on a further look it looks okay.”

Hatch99

Leinstersqspur wrote: »

AVB on Sandro “He should be fine. He felt a big knock on the knee and thought there was ligament damage but on a further look it looks okay.”

he's no surgeon so is that what your saying

Ormus

Leinstersqspur wrote: »

AVB on Sandro “He should be fine. He felt a big knock on the knee and thought there was ligament damage but on a further look it looks okay.”

Haha, fair enough, he mighta said something similar about Kaboul come to think of it.

I hope what he meant was that the medics had done a preliminary examination of the ankle and found nothing too drastic.

Hatch99

Ormus wrote: »

Haha, fair enough, he mighta said something similar about Kaboul come to think of it.

I hope what he meant was that the medics had done a preliminary examination of the ankle and found nothing too drastic.

I think what Leinster is saying is don't be shocked if we see a statement over the next couple of days saying he's out for the season.

mickman

Hatch99 wrote: »

I think what Leinster is saying is don't be shocked if we see a statement over the next couple of days saying he's out for the season.

I think he is out. The injury looked very nasty and don't expect him back till August

Don't want to be pessimistic now but I think Basel will beat us and we will finish 5th in league