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comment by Phenom - 10Hag4boss (U20037)
posted 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
------------Lloris
Aurier Toby Dier Reguilon
------Hojbjerg Winks
-----------Ndombele
Bale-------Kane------Son

Lamela if Kane is out, with Bale through the middle.
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I'd like to see Vinny given a shot in a big game.

comment by EdinSelloutSpurs (U1109)
posted 18 minutes ago
Ndombele is good.

Stones and KDB being out is a big miss for City
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Ndombele is not very good, and Stones being out is an advantage to City.

That said I am expecting a Spurs win, and will be very disappointed if they don`t.

comment by Ace (U22467)
posted 6 minutes ago
comment by fridgeboy (U1053)
posted 1 minute ago
I think I've had that feeling before every final we've ever played in, even the CL final 2 years ago.

In League Cup terms there's a big difference between facing Avram Grant's Chelsea and Pep's City. Weirdly, as much as I didn't want him at the club anymore, we've got less of a chance of winning without Jose. He plays the kind of anti-football Pep hates. We've had quite a lot of success playing that way against them. I think Mason will be so desperate to avoid the anti-football style, he'll overcompensate and we'll be really naive defensively.

Id love to believe we can do it but this this will play perfectly into the post-match narrative that we made a mistake and that the treatment of Jose was unfair etc. I watched Premier League Tonight on BT last night and they were all saying that. They pulled up a stat that said if you were to take Jose's entire Spurs record into account, we'd be 4th. I can't quite get my head around that. Either everyone else has been dogshiiiiiittt or we've missed an opportunity to win the damn league. We've played some dreadful anti-football, the players have zero confidence yet the average position was 4th. Imagine where we'd be with a manager that likes to get the ball down and play!
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I’ve seen that stat but it’s meaningless. Across the 15/16 and 16/17 seasons we easily accrued more PL points than any other team, if the league was judged across two seasons we’d have won it at a canter, but it isn’t and we wound up trophyless.

Pundits love to trot out these things and go on about Jose’s trophy record but they don’t have to tolerate their team being managed by him - it’s was insufferable and evident from day 1 that he was finished. I don’t care if we lose the final 5-0, sacking Jose was 100% the correct decision.
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Completely agree with that. I think the best outcome though would have been keep him for the cup and sack him at the end of the season. I think there's some serious bad blood between him and Levy and that's why he pulled the trigger early. He didn't want to give him the satisfaction that his time with us was 'successful'. I'd heard something about the fact that Jose wanted to play an under strength size against Southampton to save the players for the final but that levy didn't give a damn about the cup and that top four, which he still believes is in reach, was far more important. That's what I'd read underpinned the timing of his sacking.

Going back to that stat though, it makes no sense that over nearly 2 seasons - one where we finished 6th and another where we're 6th right now suddenly means we have an average of 4th over that time. It's just weird. I guess Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have all had major dips too but it's still odd.

I've got a feeling that stat is gonna be everywhere if we lose on Sunday. The whole world is gonna love telling us how wrong we were, particularly as there's such a backlash against all the ESL clubs right now.

comment by Phenom - 10Hag4boss (U20037)
posted 28 minutes ago
comment by EdinSelloutSpurs (U1109)
posted 38 seconds ago
Ndombele is good.

Stones and KDB being out is a big miss for City
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KDB is available
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Yes I saw he was available, but I doubt he will start. City have a far, far bigger game midweek. I wouldn`t be surprised if they put their reserves out on Sunday, and kept their best team for the midweek CL.

I think the only way we win this is if the post, crossbar and Lloris are all having a worldy on the day. It's hard to put into words just how far ahead of us they are. This is a different beast to the one that we beat earlier in the season.

My heart says 2-1 to us (extra time Bale winner)

My head says 4-1 City.

comment by Bãles left boot (U22081)
posted 26 minutes ago
comment by Phenom - 10Hag4boss (U20037)
posted 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
------------Lloris
Aurier Toby Dier Reguilon
------Hojbjerg Winks
-----------Ndombele
Bale-------Kane------Son

Lamela if Kane is out, with Bale through the middle.
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I'd like to see Vinny given a shot in a big game.
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then would you have to drop Bale or risk him as a 10?

like Ace says i think relying on Bale to help Aurier out is a lot to ask but playing him 10 sacrifices a midfielder and we could get outnumbered further there. catch 22

I'd drop Bale. Much as he could be a match winner defensively he's pretty much non existent, and we can't afford that against City imo.

Aurier Toby Dier Reg
Hojbjerg Lo Celso
Lamela Ndombele Son
Vinicius

Bale would offer more as CF than Vinicius if Kane is not available, Vinicius has done nothing against any kind of decent opposition to merit a start in a cup final

When has Bale played as a CF? Genuine question cos I don't recall ever seeing him play up front.

Call me crazy, but I'd rather play a striker as a striker. If we're going down the route of a false 9 I'd have Dele or Lucas there.

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I think it's fair to say about Bald going as a CF especially as the alternative seems to be lucas being there for some reason which is just madness

Bald lol

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I wouldn’t have Lucas there for the same reason as Bale
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Cos he's bald?

Agree on the target man point, that would be my preference too. But at least Lucas has played up front/through the middle to good effect before. And we know he'll do a job off the ball, too.

If it wasn't City and we were likely to have at least 50% possession I'd agree with starting Bale.

Bale has the quality to make the ball stick up front though and the attacking movement. Lucas is a headless chicken

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comment by Ace (U22467)
posted 2 minutes ago
comment by Bãles left boot (U22081)
posted 5 minutes ago
I wouldn’t have Lucas there for the same reason as Bale
---
Cos he's bald?

Agree on the target man point, that would be my preference too. But at least Lucas has played up front/through the middle to good effect before. And we know he'll do a job off the ball, too.

If it wasn't City and we were likely to have at least 50% possession I'd agree with starting Bale.
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Exactly - you have to pick your battles. We know we’re gonna have less possession than them, but if we don’t have someone who can at least hold the ball in the final 3rd then we’ll have even less possession. I know what Phenom is saying about Bale having quality but as I said before it’s more specialist than people realise - dropping into pockets of space, using physically to hold off defenders, drawing fouls, making the lay offs. Kane makes all this look easy but it’s not. Very few strikers could’ve made this team score as many as they have within Jose’s system. Asking Bale to do those jobs in a final against the best team in the country doesn’t work for me, I’d rather have a much lesser player like Vinicius but one who is at least experienced at doing a strikers job.
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Yup. Running into the channels, taking up positions in the 6 yard box, leading the line.. all things Vinny will be a natural at.

Bale's movement in the penalty box is brilliant and he's much better at linking play than vinicius

He's played as a striker for Real and been productive there and his skillset clearly translates I don't think it's much of risk.

Somehow agree with both Christopher and Ace as both points are valid. I was the first on this thread to out Bale as the focal striker, but reality is we aren't playing this way against City, in fact, Kane hasn't played this way ll season.

A striker is a specialist position, but when we play a loose 4231 formation, our striker isn't a number 9, probably why Vinicius has had so few look ons in the league.

Bale has a quicker mind and ability to play a pass than Lucas, which is why he makes more sense than him up top. He has more ability than Vinicius (who I'm a relative fan of) and he has the undoubted ability to have one chance and finish that chance.

If Kane is fit, I wouldn't start Bale, if he isn't, I would. If Kane is fit I wouldn't start lamela, if he isn't I would. So many starting roles are tied into Kane being fit or not (Dele isn't one of those, in no world does he start)

I'll tell you why we might win .....
Kevin DeBruyne is injured.

comment by RespectYourAldersSon (U22365)
posted 11 minutes ago
Somehow agree with both Christopher and Ace as both points are valid. I was the first on this thread to out Bale as the focal striker, but reality is we aren't playing this way against City, in fact, Kane hasn't played this way ll season.

A striker is a specialist position, but when we play a loose 4231 formation, our striker isn't a number 9, probably why Vinicius has had so few look ons in the league.

Bale has a quicker mind and ability to play a pass than Lucas, which is why he makes more sense than him up top. He has more ability than Vinicius (who I'm a relative fan of) and he has the undoubted ability to have one chance and finish that chance.

If Kane is fit, I wouldn't start Bale, if he isn't, I would. If Kane is fit I wouldn't start lamela, if he isn't I would. So many starting roles are tied into Kane being fit or not (Dele isn't one of those, in no world does he start)
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Great comment, I think this sums it up neatly for me.

I would like to add that the other 4 cup competitions Jose was in he:
Lost 5-4 to Everton
Lost 3-0 to Zagreb (with a 2-0 lead)
Lost 3-0 to leipzig
Lost 1-1 by penalties to Norwich