Team news for Sunday ..

Ben Davies, Toby and Lamela all out through injury.

Dembele a "doubt" and Sissoko serving the last game of his ban.

The Messiah will apparently be in the squad though ..

Hopefully the Eriksen android will get its batteries recharged so that it can run around the pitch some more being totally anonymous! 😀

I think he'd need a bloody cattle prod

Jesus wept, it could be like Custer's Last Stand.

Okay .. he's been so relectant to do this, and you can see why, but at this point there is nothing to lose.

The defence has basically been playing in a similar way to Dortmund at home last season - the diff is we were set up to *not win* that game, this time Poch is doing it because he has had no choice. But enough of that, it's imperative we get back our basic shape of 4-2-3-1.

As workmanlike and willing as he is, Wanyama isn' at the races yet in terms of the patterns of play in the position Dier has created. We may as well call it a flat-ish back for as well. Hence everything stalls.

The first big call in to put Dier back where he belongs, with Dembele in front of him - this only works if Dembele is fit. All of a sudden we ping back into shape - Dele, Eriksen, Son as a three: all the usual possession, pressing, angles, spaces, Rose/Walker as running full backs: BOOM

Soooo, the very very big call Poch has avoided but may feel he now has nothing to lose from it is ... CCV.

I wouldn't want to be in Poch's trainers but after Wednesday perhaps it becomes easier ... at least we'll be playing in a coherent and fluid fashion again.

A few thoughts about the game on Wed's which was the first game I've managed to go to for about 3 years & only about the 5/6th in total.

Our passing was dreadful, or maybe it was the vision for the passes that was dreadful. From the stands it started to feel like we would give the ball away every 1 in 3 passes & certainly the opposition seemed more than happy to take advantage of of this. Quite how so many players can lose their ability to pass at the same time I have no idea.

There was no pace or urgency in our game at all. This might be because the players are being told to pass, pass & pass again but this quite often seemed to be for someone to receive the ball and instead of looking up and forward, they looked back or sideways for a pass. That's fine if you are being chased down but even when players were in loads of space they seemed to forget that they could turn, take the ball forward & then pass instead of getting shot of the ball asap like it was a hot potato.

Janssen does a lot of work but is going to struggle without service, much like everyone else has up-front this season (and large chunks of last season too). this again I think is linked to the build-up play being too pedestrian. We give the opposition far to much time to regroup and get their affairs in order.

Sissoko is awful. He's a slow, lumbering, clumsy, touch-less oaf with next to no vision at all. Every time he had the ball it was just a question of how long before it gets caught up in his feet, he misplaces a pass, gets tackled or miss-kicks a shot. As a fan I had no faith the he'd do anything competently so god knows what his team-mates thought. How he managed to stay on the pitch is question I'd love to know the answer to.

Can someone remind managers and players that running down the wing and knocking a cross in is a very effective way of scoring. Our players look like they've been told to get half way in to the opponents half on the wing and immediately cut in towards the penalty spot. This leaves no space for the other players to play. Everything is congested in the middle and the little passes just get cut out, especially when we pass like Wednesday night.

Wembley. Been here numerous times now for football & concerts & it is a fantastic stadium. The atmosphere for this game was, well, a little bit weird. Obviously it's a big ground to fill & to have an atmosphere like WHL. Much like West Ham are finding the core fans now seem to much more dispersed. We were behind the goal, diagonally opposite the away fans. In all directions there were people trying to create a buzz and get some chants going but everything died out quite quickly. A guy in front of us spent most of the first half facing the crowd and trying to gee us up rather than watching the game itself. By 60 odd minutes the chanting had all but stopped as the players were giving nothing to chant about.
There were fans around us that were starting to turn on what they were calling the "plastic fans" because they were not joining in with all the chants.
Exactly how these "real" fans thought Spurs were going to fill the extra 40000 seat at Wembley with only fans that are always at WHL I have no idea. They can call me a plastic as much as they want. I don't live in London, have a 4-5 hour round trip to come to the games & that's if there is any chance of getting a ticket in the first place. I work on Saturdays and weekdays which normally rules out the journey anyway. For Wembley I had to take a holiday day only to be made to feel unwelcome by some of the "real" fans.
For next season I think Spurs need to carefully think about the seating arrangements at Wembley. There probably should be a deliberate attempt to house to "real" vocal supporters together so they can sing as one to create the atmosphere they clearly want to have. This would be beneficial to the atmosphere of the ground as a whole whilst not making people that are suddenly able to get tickets feel like outsiders and be uncomfortable in their seats.

Arse on Sunday is going to be interesting. Play like Wednesday & we are going to be roundly thumped.

Been away for a couple of days, back in time for todays fun and games. Buckle up guys......... Its going to be a bumpy ride !

Those comments are interesting because they could equally well be applied to the performance of an almost entirely different Spurs team against Liverpool in the EFL cup. That does suggest that it is a result of coaching rather than player ability or form.

I feel a bit ambivalent about the game today (at the moment ). If we win, we'll likely snigger and gloat and if they win they'll do the same so nothing really changes in that respect.

After midweek, I can only hope it's a case of things can't possibly get any worse so I'd hope to see a bit of fire and commitment at the very least.

Interesting that the messiah is in from the start. Clearly it means we'll be 5-0 up after half an hour ..

Wimmer back in from the cold for a huge game as well is an interesting decision. Perhaps the thinking is for Dier and Wanyama to just kill anyone that moves ...

Looks like 3 at the back. Could be interesting.

He went for Wimmer over CCV, and it looks like Deli is absent so Wanyama.

But he made the big call: we get our shape back

Deli injured his knee in training yesterday apparently.

... and could be out for several weeks

Don't see it as 3 at the back. Dier and Wanyama holding, with Dembele pushed forward. Of course I could be wrong

I think it'll be at 4-2-3-1 with Dier and Wanyama just as you've said.

Dembele, Eriksen and Son behind The Saviour ..

Oh well, here goes nothing ..

There are straws to clutch at -

1) everyone is expecting us to get spanked. We always mess up when we are favorites so maybe today the reverse will happen.

2) Arsenal may be complacent like they were against Middlesborough
well I guess anything can happen.

3) this mid day Sunday time slot normally results in a crap game. Crowd half asleep and its rarely a good game. If its a tight affair thats in our favour

4) Form goes out the window in a derby.

Theres positivity for you haha.

it IS a back 3 .. wimmer, jan and dier

Well .. goodness. It must have looked very good on the training pitch.

I'm going to close my eyes and think of England.

Well people wanted more service from the wings and rose and walker are fast enough to create problems.

oh well ..

That was unlucky for Wimmer, spec as .they were off side..

We are playing and passing much better than mid week so there is hope.

Well said. I can't be too mad at him because he had to go up for the ball - he'd have likely got stick if he hadn't gone up for it and they'd have scored so it was a no-win really and he was unlucky.

It's been very cagey but i think we've done ok. Still too many sideways passes for my liking, but it's a huge improvement on the performance midweek.

makes up for the offside goal

sweet buggery moses that was close

come on vinny.. time to be a hero

There's a good chance he will score with rose and walker getting up and down.

Good to see Eriksen has finally woken up this season.