Tottenham v Inter Milan

[Yiddite]

Didn't quite follow the logic of AVB's team selection last night.
3 nil up and we play with 2 up front?


Scrapped through, Bale, Dawson, Benny, Lloris all rested.
The rest of the team well tired no doubt.
Fulham won't be a walk in the park but no game ever is.


Getting our priorities right is fundamental but on the flipside all games are there to be won.
So back to the old chestnut of team selection and whether to rest players or not.

[Paul Finch]

Yiddite ,
            Bale was suspended not rested, and quite honestly, as I have said in an earlier post, had we have lost, it would not have bothered me, surely our priority is Premier League and Champions League qualification, AS I SAID, lets get our PRIORITIES RIGHT.
 

[RiffHard]

We are in the quarter-finals of Europa League and while I agree we must cement our place in top four of Premier League, we would be foolish to give up on Europa League now. One could say we're only five games away from the trophy and mind you it's the only trophy we can win this season. I believe we can push on in both competitions.

[Paul Finch]

Riff,
    Whilst I understand and to a point agree with you, our priority HAS TO BE qualification for CL next season, because mark my words FAILURE TO QUALIFY WILL MEAN LOSING BALE, and can we honestly afford to lose him? I DO NOT THINK WE CAN, just my opinion.


 

[Metalanimal]

Riff,
    Whilst I understand and to a point agree with you, our priority HAS TO BE qualification for CL next season, because mark my words FAILURE TO QUALIFY WILL MEAN LOSING BALE, and can we honestly afford to lose him? I DO NOT THINK WE CAN, just my opinion.


 

Paul I totally agree, since the start of this season I have said IMO this season is our most important for decades as it really is make or break, our priority has to be finishing in a CL slot.  Whilst a cup win would be awesome it must not be at the expense of our league campaign.  I too would not have been overly bothered if we got knocked out as really looking at and concerned regarding the bigger picture.

[Yiddite]

Basel in the next round possibly one of the easier draws.


Getting knocked out in early stages of Europa and qualifying for C/L does ask questions
as to what chance would we have in C/L when we cannot progress
in the "inferior" competition.
Therefore agree with you Riff keep pushing on in both.


Whether Bale stays and who joins in the next transfer window is also greatly affected by finances
as well as where the team finish and what we win in my opinion.
Obviously a better performance is more attractive.


But as said before  C/L qualification is needed to aid the cause.

[RiffHard]

Basel in the next round possibly one of the easier draws.

Basel are by no means muppets and could cause us a great deal of problems. They have nothing to lose, they have no Bale who would leave unless they'll become champions... well, you get my point.

[ugs]

Didn't quite follow the logic of AVB's team selection last night.
3 nil up and we play with 2 up front?


Scrapped through, Bale, Dawson, Benny, Lloris all rested.
The rest of the team well tired no doubt.
Fulham won't be a walk in the park but no game ever is.


Getting our priorities right is fundamental but on the flipside all games are there to be won.
So back to the old chestnut of team selection and whether to rest players or not.

Yiddite you are absolutely spot on mate why 2 up front play 4-5-1 keep it tight don't play a high line and if they nick one fair enough, we had already won the tie but we tried to win it again. There was no need for the fullbacks to be bombing on they should of been no further than 10 yards away from the centre backs and we should of just passed Milan to death, as it happened it made for a typical Spurs roller coaster ride of a match very entertaining but absolute hell on the nerves.... AVB take note sometimes it's OK to do just enough and be for want of better word boring !!!!
 
Mr Finch you are also spot on that we should be concentrating on the CL spots in the Prem but if AVB is going to chase the Europa as well then he needs to wise up quickly and realise that sometimes you can't spead yourself that thin and hope things don't get stretched or broken. I Personally think now that we find ourselves in the last 8 we may need to pay the Europa a little more attention but ultimately keep our focus on the Prem !!!!
 
 

[spursjoolz]

I agree with you entirely Paul, our prioriy is 4th place even if it means getting knocked out of Europa. Having said that, it would be good to get a trophy on the way, but not at any cost.

Our squad is still skinny imo and AVB needs to be careful about who he fields in such games as we saw on Thursday.

In any event we msut keep our chasers at bay and a Fulham win today is paramount for many reasons.

[Glenn R]

I like to think we can go for both but I agree that our priority is a top 4 or higher spot.