Comment deleted by Site Moderator

then play youth team in the last two group matches.

What youth is left

Hall, Pritch, Mason, Byrne, Luongo all loan/sold

Townsend, Rose, Kane in the first team squad

Obika

Coulthirst, McEvoy, Ceballos, too young

Well AVB does not have the excuses that Arry had in 2011-12, nor he had at the time of the KO stages last season.

If there are no injury plagues at these points, then meh performances in the Europa are solely down to his management.

"What youth is left"

Veljkovic is worth considering.
Dawkins because of his loan-out experience.


"Coulthirst, McEvoy, Ceballos, too young"

Why would we recall 22 yr old Ceballos from Arouca ??
I would love to see Baby Bale have a go in some Europa games.

Coulthirst, McEvoy, Ceballos, too young? *

I meant to put a question mark at the end

On Pritch, was really impressed with him the number 10 role vs Chelsea,

Ickle Pritchard just continues his progression.
I know tis the Swindon Hotspurs and all that, but the claims about whether he should be playing in the league above are now more pressing IMHO.

What did you think of Hall? watched him a few times for Brighton, I was really impressed, got done a few times vs Mk Dons, caught out of position, he's in the Cahil/Terry mould,

What is our main problem at the moment?

I would say it's the high turnover of players, there are a lot of new faces who are yet to align to each others styles. That was the excuse we used when we faced the go00nz at least!

The more time these guys have together on the pitch the better this early on in the campaign. Injuries will happen regardless and it would be futile trying to prevent them. And so what, even if they do, i think the entire board is in agreement when i say that we have a big enough squad to cope.

It has already been mentioned and i think its the case, lets secure qualification first before worrying about rotation. There is no need to rotate until fatigue sets in later on down the line.

It has already been mentioned and i think its the case, lets secure qualification first before worrying about rotation.

Luka

Thuddy

In the U21 games I've seen, Hall has looked a bit slow at times.
But otherwise quite steady and sturdy.

"There is no need to rotate until fatigue sets in later on down the line."

With 7-8 games in 22 day blocks for a few months (possibly most of the season) , AVB will have to get his utilisation strategy worked out quite soon.

It is too easy to pick the Rose injury and, with 20:20 hindsight, question what AVB whats thinking

-------------

I think you'll find there were people questioning whether we start with Rose before the game .

Tonight should be all about a decent run-out for:

Chiriches
Kaboul
Naughton at RB
Fryers
Sandro
Holtby
Lamela
Chadli

Brad, Defoe/Soldado and the other place up for contention, but our squad needs games. If we are to compete on all fronts we need them all ready to come in. The only way to keep them all ready is to give them games.

No good to play players to injury, and absolutely no need to now we have a 25 . Something Redknapp got rightly criticised for.

That isn't a weak side, it's a side with players vying for 1st team spots. A chance to stake your claim in what will hopefully be a meritocratic team.

Even if we get through with 2 games to spare we won't be filling it with youth players - the non 1st team players (whoever they are at that time) will be playing.



If we go out because the players above aren't good enough, then that will be a good thing - if they aren't good enough to get out of this very poor quality group then they are of no value for us in a 50-60 game campaign. I'd expect a half-decent Champiionship club to get out of this group, and the side above would walk the Championship

"Even if we get through with 2 games to spare we won't be filling it with youth players - the non 1st team players (whoever they are at that time) will be playing."

Injury stats will probably show that will never be possible all season (a certain number will always be unavailable) . Which gives opportunities for Academy players.

Not sure why EPL sides like Spurs think you are above the Europa League, its not like you have such a strong pedigree in the CL that you can look down on it. This is your level.

When did you last win European honours? Or even a trophy of any kind? The chances are you are going to fall short of top four again because there are four team in the league who are as good or better than you. Why not at least try and win European footballs second highest honour?

But we all know its down to money, you don’t earn much out it so you don’t want to win it, modern football at its worst.

And if you cant cope with fielding a strong team against lesser teams in this competition and still challenge for a top four finish, how can you think you would have any shot of doing if you actually qualify for the CL again?

AVB has the right of it and any Spurs fan who thinks you should be playing kids should wizen up, IF you want to be a real top four club then you are going to have to get used to your players playing two big games a week no matter how strong your squad is.

If Barca managed to win the CL and La Liga (they played in every possible game that season) with squad which in reality consisted of about 16 players coming off a WC year (that a good portion of the squad won) then im sure yours can cope or learn to.

Injury stats will probably show that will never be possible all season (a certain number will always be unavailable) . Which gives opportunities for Academy players.

-----------

More than likely we'll have a maximum of 5 unavailable of the outfield 22 at any one time. That means 7 changes available for the 10 positions.

Doubt we'll see many kids, more a smattering of current 1st choice players to fill the other three positions.

And if you cant cope with fielding a strong team against lesser teams in this competition and still challenge for a top four finish, how can you think you would have any shot of doing if you actually qualify for the CL again?

AVB has the right of it and any Spurs fan who thinks you should be playing kids should wizen up, IF you want to be a real top four club then you are going to have to get used to your players playing two big games a week no matter how strong your squad is.

----------

We have a strong 25 this season, all of who have designs on the first XI (outfield players anyway).

I don't think any same person is saying play kids!

Changing our XI from our probable Sunday side.....

Is Brad Friedel a kid?

Kaboul?

Chiriches?

Naughton?

Sandro?

Holtby?

Lamela?

Chadli?

Defoe or Soldado?

The only ones are Fryers, who was playing 1st team football at Liege and cost us £3m and AVB has put trust in as our reserve LB this season, and possibly Kane.

This sort of side won 4-0 at Villa

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

comment by Don_tottenham (U3372)



posted 1 hour, 56 minutes ago


We have the best squad we have ever had in my opinion so can afford to take strong teams into Europe. We would be doing exactly the same thing if this was CL so what's the problem? Players like holtby and Sandro are to quality to not get games at all but they will get their chance in Europe and the cups to impress and give Avb a selection dilemma for the league

------

I think don has missed the point.

I would start sandro and holtby in this game.

I just wouldn't have taken eriksen, lloris, and a few others

comment by Trojan21 (U13278)




posted 1 hour, 9 minutes ago



Not sure why EPL sides like Spurs think you are above the Europa League, its not like you have such a strong pedigree in the CL that you can look down on it. This is your level.

-------

another idiot misses the point

"More than likely we'll have a maximum of 5 unavailable of the outfield 22 at any one time."

Think we have had worse than that more often.
Wonder if there are season long stats on the injury tolls (weekly rolling etc) . This season would be a good opportunity to kill a lot of the folklore, given the squad as it is.

If we qualify for the champions league next season then we will have to field our strongest eleven on a Tuesday Wednesday night anyway.

If we cant cope fielding strong teams in the Europa then weve got no chance in the champions league.

Besides, Most players would rather play games than train anyway.

Spurs need to win trophies its been to long !

The team has just been announced for tonight. Exactly the team i predicted.

where's the match thread.....!?