Champions League 6th Round

esmufc10 said:
Or you could argue you have to attack as you do because your defence isn't good enough to withstand long spells of pressure, it will crumble and Gomes will make mistakes. You've done excellent finishing top of the group in your first CL campaign, but make no mistakes, Bremen are a poor team, Inter are nowhere near their level last year and Twente are an average team also. You can't go gung-ho in Europe and expect to win the competition, or advance towards the latter stages.

Thing is, the longer you stay in this competition the less chance you'll have of finishing top 4 this season. You're already 3 points behind City and by all accounts they've not been playing very well at all.

Dawson is a good defender but he doesn't have the quality required to take Spurs to the next level, and relying on King and Woodgate to shore up your defence just about says it all.
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Spurs play the way they do because it's a tradition of the club, as reflected in the type of players the club tries to sign ... and that's what the Spurs fans want to see. They don't want to see us try and bore opponents to death.

With a better defence Spurs would go even more all out to play attacknig football - not less.

As for your comments about Inter, Bremen etc ... they're easy to say in hindsight: it's not what people were saying when the group draw was made.

"Already 3 points behind City"? The league season is 16 games old and 3 points is not much, not with so many games left. Besides, City will also have the burden of more European games, albeit at a lower level of competition. I wouldn't write off Spurs for top 4 again just yet.
 
GlastonSpur said:
Spurs play the way they do because it's a tradition of the club, as reflected in the type of players the club tries to sign ... and that's what the Spurs fans want to see. They don't want to see us try and bore opponents to death.
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Even we regularly under-performed in Europe (other than 99 of course) until we realised that we had to focus more on defence and stay solid. I wouldn't be surprised if you suffer the same fate we used to - end up losing against a lesser talented team who stays solid and picks you off. You're a very naive team. It makes for great football, but if you want to take the next step up in following seasons you'll have no choice but to go down our route and be more defensive minded in big games.
 
duffer said:
Spurs won their group. It pains me to say it but that is a fanstastic acheivement. Kudos to the wheeler dealer.

Would be annoying to get Inter in the next round. As bad a job as Benitez is doing there, they are the Champions and have some fantastic players.
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It's only a fantastic achievement for small time clubs.

When was the last time you lot or us lot failed to win these groups?
 
Great stuff from Spurs. If they make it any further, I'll be surprised but best of luck to them. They are certainly good to watch.
 
Cal? said:
It's only a fantastic achievement for small time clubs.

When was the last time you lot or us lot failed to win these groups?
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Its a fantastic achievement for a team in their first Champions League and a side that were in pot 3.
 
Tonight's matches:

Group E

Bayern M v Basel
Cluj v Roma

Group F

Marseille v Chelsea
Zilina V Spartak M

Group G

AC Milan V Ajax
Real M v Auxerre

Group G

Arsenal v Partizan
Shakhtar D v Braga

Hopefully Arsenal will finish 2nd in their group....they should be a good bet to get rid of one of the top clubs in the next round.
 
Red Defence said:
Hopefully Arsenal will finish 2nd in their group....they should be a good bet to get rid of one of the top clubs in the next round.
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Nah, I'd rather them top it, so that we have a bigger chance of drawing a weak team in the next round (with Shakhtar/Braga in there). Dunno if this is statistically true or not though.
 
Red Defence said:
Hopefully Arsenal will finish 2nd in their group....they should be a good bet to get rid of one of the top clubs in the next round.
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Seriously? If they draw one of the top clubs, I reckon they're gone.
 
December_16 said:
Nah, I'd rather them top it, so that we have a bigger chance of drawing a weak team in the next round (with Shakhtar/Braga in there). Dunno if this is statistically true or not though.
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Well I was secretly hoping they'd get one of the more dangerous teams out there (no names....don't want to jinx anything) and get them out of the way so that we have no chance of drawing them later on.

I'm all for an easy path to the final. ;)
 
We'll almost certainly finish second, which is a tad frustrating, given that we will almost certainly draw a good side as a result.

I don't buy into this entire "oh, you have to beat the big guns eventually, so you might as well do it now" argument at all. I'd rather have someone shit, not only so we won't have to play a big side who might feasibly beat us, but also because if you play someone of the ilk of Copenhagen, you can trounce them 4-0 away and then play the reserves in the 2nd leg, meaning you can rest players for the league. Either way, second is not good.
 
alastair said:
We'll almost certainly finish second, which is a tad frustrating, given that we will almost certainly draw a good side as a result.

I don't buy into this entire "oh, you have to beat the big guns eventually, so you might as well do it now" argument at all. I'd rather have someone shit, not only so we won't have to play a big side who might feasibly beat us, but also because if you play someone of the ilk of Copenhagen, you can trounce them 4-0 away and then play the reserves in the 2nd leg, meaning you can rest players for the league. Either way, second is not good.
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Well, you should explain that to Pete.

He was insisting it didn't matter, but I agree with everything you posted here.
 
Cal? said:
Well, you should explain that to Pete.

He was insisting it didn't matter, but I agree with everything you posted here.
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Well Pete's entitled to his own opinion, I just wouldn't agree with him on that. It's incidentally probably the first time me and you have agreed on anything, so it's a memorable day.
 
alastair said:
We'll almost certainly finish second, which is a tad frustrating, given that we will almost certainly draw a good side as a result.

I don't buy into this entire "oh, you have to beat the big guns eventually, so you might as well do it now" argument at all. I'd rather have someone shit, not only so we won't have to play a big side who might feasibly beat us, but also because if you play someone of the ilk of Copenhagen, you can trounce them 4-0 away and then play the reserves in the 2nd leg, meaning you can rest players for the league. Either way, second is not good.
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Why almost certainly 2nd?

I don't see it as particularly unlikely that Braga could beat Shakhtar, and surely you'll feck Partizan over.

Ah, didn't realise that Braga were away - see what you mean.
 
sincher said:
Why almost certainly 2nd?

I don't see it as particularly unlikely that Braga could beat Shakhtar, and surely you'll feck Partizan over.

Ah, didn't realise that Braga were away - see what you mean.
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Yeh, we're in a strange situation really. Cos if we didn't win tonight, we'd be praying Shakhtar win, but if we win, we want Braga to win as well, so we end top. But I doubt they'll get anything.

If all results went accordingly, it could even be what must be the first time three sides end on 12 points, with the remaining one with 0.
 
Braga won't beat Shakhtar away, Shakhtar only need a point to top the group. Arsenal will cruise past Partizan to finish 2nd....
 
alastair said:
We'll almost certainly finish second, which is a tad frustrating, given that we will almost certainly draw a good side as a result.

I don't buy into this entire "oh, you have to beat the big guns eventually, so you might as well do it now" argument at all. I'd rather have someone shit, not only so we won't have to play a big side who might feasibly beat us, but also because if you play someone of the ilk of Copenhagen, you can trounce them 4-0 away and then play the reserves in the 2nd leg, meaning you can rest players for the league. Either way, second is not good.
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Being harsh on Copenhagen there. They didn't lose against Barca and have conceded less than you, Tottenham, Inter, Lyon, Bayern, Roma, and Shakhtar.
 
Snow said:
Being harsh on Copenhagen there. They didn't lose against Barca and have conceded less than you, Tottenham, Inter, Lyon, Bayern, Roma, and Shakhtar.
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:confused: Barca 2-0 Copenhagen with 2 goals from Messi.
 
wtf
goes off nearly in tears and comes back on in 5 seconds
 
Good the penalty was not given. Malouda was a million yards offside anyway.
 
Arsenal need something more in midfield, very one-paced tonight.. Denilson and Song? Get Wilshere on alongside them.

Arsenal have a penalty.
 
Crazy penalty to give away like that. Arsenal were being well contained and then a defender has a brainfart.
 
How many penalties have Arsenal had this season? fecking hell! They go down like flies.
 
That wasn't a free kick, but what is Song doing blocking the keeper, didn't Wenger moan about Blackburn or Stoke doing that?
 
GE said:
How many penalties have Arsenal had this season? fecking hell! They go down like flies.
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It's their 9th or 10th already :lol:

I'll be amazed if we don't concede a penalty or keep 11 men on the pitch vs this team on Monday night.

Heinze scored for Marseille but given offside. He was just on I think.
 
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