UEFA Champions League QF 18/19: Tottenham Hotspur FC v Manchester City

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Why does he make stupid choices in big games for no reason lol? He really doesn't help himself.

It's the main reason i don't think they'll win the CL.

It's the easiest thing in the world to predict that Pep will sacrifice an AM for an extra CM in a Champions League away game.
He always goes for a Tikinaccio approach and it basically never pays off.

It's not arrogance at all, on the contrary it's too much caution.

Only exception: Bayern away at Jjuve, attacking 4-1-4-1 and very convincing away performance.

That wasn't the only issue i had with the lineup tbh but you're right.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:That wasn't the only issue i had with the lineup tbh but you're right.

Remember last year vs Liverpool when he had Gündogan play in place of a RW?

Yes and i said then he was stupid

Spurs winning tonight was the most predictable thing ever

Still feel they'll bottle it in the return leg

City have the advantage of not playing in a farmer's league otherwise their record in Europe is pretty much similar to PSG. As soon as they meet a half decent team, they crumble.

As I said, they have the talent. Easily the deepest squad in Europe. But they lack the experience and mentality to get them over the line in these big encounters. It takes time to build 'em and I think they are not there yet.

Smashing 10 goals past a near relegation threatened Bundesliga team aint going to convince me.

Can't say I'm surprised. Different year, same story.

Delph has been trash this season, Otamendi is a disaster waiting to happen every big game, Gundogan is much better as a DM, David Silva and Aguero go missing every big CL game, and Mahrez is crap.

At least this time around a comeback looks achievable. Easy dub if City plays this team next leg:

Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko; Fernandinho, KDB, Bernardo; Sterling, Aguero, Sane

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Why does he make stupid choices in big games for no reason lol? He really doesn't help himself.

It's the main reason i don't think they'll win the CL.

It's the easiest thing in the world to predict that Pep will sacrifice an AM for an extra CM in a Champions League away game.
He always goes for a Tikinaccio approach and it basically never pays off.

It's not arrogance at all, on the contrary it's too much caution.

Only exception: Bayern away at Jjuve, attacking 4-1-4-1 and very convincing away performance.

Your first 60 min against Juve in the second leg was some amazing football. I'd say Juve away, Wolfsburg in the DFB Pokal in October 2015, and the 5-1 win against Arsenal in the group stage were my favorite Bayern performances of the 15/16 season.

Arquitescu wrote:

Clutch wrote:Son is the best player at Tottenham this season

Son has been marvellous and very consistent and in big moments yet let us not act like Harry Kane has been comfortably their best and most crucial player this season.

Eriksen a huge consideration as well.

you're probably right since I actually dont watch to many EPL games but when I've seen Tottenham play, hes been the best player by a large margin

Casciavit wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Why does he make stupid choices in big games for no reason lol? He really doesn't help himself.

It's the main reason i don't think they'll win the CL.

It's the easiest thing in the world to predict that Pep will sacrifice an AM for an extra CM in a Champions League away game.
He always goes for a Tikinaccio approach and it basically never pays off.

It's not arrogance at all, on the contrary it's too much caution.

Only exception: Bayern away at Jjuve, attacking 4-1-4-1 and very convincing away performance.

Your first 60 min against Juve in the second leg was some amazing football. I'd say Juve away, Wolfsburg in the DFB Pokal in October 2015, and the 5-1 win against Arsenal in the group stage were my favorite Bayern performances of the 15/16 season.

the first 60 minutes of that second leg saw us smash Bayern, and if there had been VAR Morata's goal would have stood and they were knocked out.

Casciavit wrote:Can't say I'm surprised. Different year, same story.

Delph has been trash this season, Otamendi is a disaster waiting to happen every big game, Gundogan is much better as a DM, David Silva and Aguero go missing every big CL game, and Mahrez is crap.

At least this time around a comeback looks achievable. Easy dub if City plays this team next leg:

Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko; Fernandinho, KDB, Bernardo; Sterling, Aguero, Sane

Excellent post
Agree with the lineup 100%.

With Kane out I'm 99% sure City will go through. He provides so much to Spurs not just with his goals but also he gives Spurs a Plan B to play long when the defence is under pressure. Without him City can attack without being too worried about leaving their backline open. His playmaking skills will also be missed dearly by Spurs.

City have been quite underwhelming since that 7 to nothing rout of a Bundersfodder team. They should have been knocked out by friggin Swansea in FA cup QF if not for the FA bailing them out with weird rules (apparently they wont give you VAR if you aint a premier league team ).
So, yea I believe Tot should be able to finish the job at Emptihad even without Kane. Sir Poch wont let us down.

Casciavit wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Why does he make stupid choices in big games for no reason lol? He really doesn't help himself.

It's the main reason i don't think they'll win the CL.

It's the easiest thing in the world to predict that Pep will sacrifice an AM for an extra CM in a Champions League away game.
He always goes for a Tikinaccio approach and it basically never pays off.

It's not arrogance at all, on the contrary it's too much caution.

Only exception: Bayern away at Jjuve, attacking 4-1-4-1 and very convincing away performance.

Your first 60 min against Juve in the second leg was some amazing football. I'd say Juve away, Wolfsburg in the DFB Pokal in October 2015, and the 5-1 win against Arsenal in the group stage were my favorite Bayern performances of the 15/16 season.

Vs. Wolfsburg was great, but then these Bundesliga teams will let you do that to them.

The single best and most impressive performance was semi final 2nd leg home vs Atletico, first half.
Best 45 minutes of football I have ever seen, from anyone possibly. Simeone did agree.

However, the qualifers we have to keep conceding when making these statements ("first 60 minutes first leg", first 45 minutes second leg") show that sadly we were never quite able to keep it up convincingly over 2 legs vs really good opponents.

Jjuve and Atletico were the strongest opponents that year. I was so unbelievably proud of Pep after that Jjuve first leg for finally throwing his usual self-hampering caution in the wind and go for itlike I knew we could, but even then Max, the elite in game tactician he is, was able to change the game with subs.
In the return leg, Pep made all the good from the first leg go away with another timid approach and we were really poor, and in the end proceeded only luckily, as @rincon rightly points out.

Against Atletico, the first leg away performace was really bad, in typical fashion, and in the end we could not overcome that deficit.

Glory wrote:City have been quite underwhelming since that 7 to nothing rout of a Bundersfodder team. They should have been knocked out by friggin Swansea in FA cup QF if not for the FA bailing them out with weird rules (apparently they wont give you VAR if you aint a premier league team ).
So, yea I believe Tot should be able to finish the job at Emptihad even without Kane. Sir Poch wont let us down.

Shows you how ridiculous the standards are when before last night they've literally lost one game since December and your reaction is "underwhelming".

Wondering if the "this was predictable" crowd put money where their words now are? The odds before the match were 5:1 for spurs to win at home. If you clearly thought this would happen and you disagreed with the betting market so much i hope you guys made some money off your conviction...

Actually, I placed a bet on Spurs winning this game.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Wondering if the "this was predictable" crowd put money where their words now are? The odds before the match were 5:1 for spurs to win at home. If you clearly thought this would happen and you disagreed with the betting market so much i hope you guys made some money off your conviction...

I strongly feel that one is allowed to have an opinion on football and express it without the need to bet money on the outcome.

In fact, betting money on something as volatile as football game results is highly irresponsible and unsustainable, and noone should be required to do it in order to prove something.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:

Glory wrote:City have been quite underwhelming since that 7 to nothing rout of a Bundersfodder team. They should have been knocked out by friggin Swansea in FA cup QF if not for the FA bailing them out with weird rules (apparently they wont give you VAR if you aint a premier league team ).
So, yea I believe Tot should be able to finish the job at Emptihad even without Kane. Sir Poch wont let us down.

Shows you how ridiculous the standards are when before last night they've literally lost one game since December and your reaction is "underwhelming".

Yea they are getting the results, alright. But performance wise, they have dropped a bit.

It's almost like they aren't robots.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Wondering if the "this was predictable" crowd put money where their words now are? The odds before the match were 5:1 for spurs to win at home. If you clearly thought this would happen and you disagreed with the betting market so much i hope you guys made some money off your conviction...

I strongly feel that one is allowed to have an opinion on football and express it without the need to bet money on the outcome.

In fact, betting money on something as volatile as football game results is highly irresponsible and unsustainable, and noone should be required to do it in order to prove something.

Of course you are allowed. But some posts here now speak of this as a long ago foretold event ("same old story" etc) when the GL consensus prior to the match was that city got an easy draw and given spurs bad form it should be a walk for them. And that's not to say that these users didn't think that then, but I am wondering if they were as confident in this result as they now seem, and betting money is an indication of that, given that we don't have posts of these contraria views then. Power to Vlad for it for instance.

To defend my own posts, I said that "it's the easiest thing to predict" that Pep will line up more cautiously in a CL away game, so that the lineup couldn't be a surprise, not that it would have been easy to predict a Spurs win

Pep definitely got things wrong as mentioned above, how can u leave out De Bruyne? Sane? For Mahrez? Just beats me. Hes always too cautious in the away first legs especially, but I guess many coaches do this for the CL games, but still, he does deserve a lot of criticism for failing to get the best out of his team on the big stage too often.

Spurs played very well on the other hand. Wouldnt mind another big team going out though Bookies actually had Man C as the favourites.

rincon wrote:

Casciavit wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:


It's the easiest thing in the world to predict that Pep will sacrifice an AM for an extra CM in a Champions League away game.
He always goes for a Tikinaccio approach and it basically never pays off.

It's not arrogance at all, on the contrary it's too much caution.

Only exception: Bayern away at Jjuve, attacking 4-1-4-1 and very convincing away performance.

Your first 60 min against Juve in the second leg was some amazing football. I'd say Juve away, Wolfsburg in the DFB Pokal in October 2015, and the 5-1 win against Arsenal in the group stage were my favorite Bayern performances of the 15/16 season.

the first 60 minutes of that second leg saw us smash Bayern, and if there had been VAR Morata's goal would have stood and they were knocked out.

My bad. I was referring to the first leg where Bayern played away to Juve and they were leading 2-0 until the 60th minute.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

Casciavit wrote:

Hapless_Hans wrote:


It's the easiest thing in the world to predict that Pep will sacrifice an AM for an extra CM in a Champions League away game.
He always goes for a Tikinaccio approach and it basically never pays off.

It's not arrogance at all, on the contrary it's too much caution.

Only exception: Bayern away at Jjuve, attacking 4-1-4-1 and very convincing away performance.

Your first 60 min against Juve in the second leg was some amazing football. I'd say Juve away, Wolfsburg in the DFB Pokal in October 2015, and the 5-1 win against Arsenal in the group stage were my favorite Bayern performances of the 15/16 season.

Vs. Wolfsburg was great, but then these Bundesliga teams will let you do that to them.

The single best and most impressive performance was semi final 2nd leg home vs Atletico, first half.
Best 45 minutes of football I have ever seen, from anyone possibly. Simeone did agree.

However, the qualifers we have to keep conceding when making these statements ("first 60 minutes first leg", first 45 minutes second leg") show that sadly we were never quite able to keep it up convincingly over 2 legs vs really good opponents.

Jjuve and Atletico were the strongest opponents that year. I was so unbelievably proud of Pep after that Jjuve first leg for finally throwing his usual self-hampering caution in the wind and go for itlike I knew we could, but even then Max, the elite in game tactician he is, was able to change the game with subs.
In the return leg, Pep made all the good from the first leg go away with another timid approach and we were really poor, and in the end proceeded only luckily, as @rincon rightly points out.

Against Atletico, the first leg away performace was really bad, in typical fashion, and in the end we could not overcome that deficit.

Yup, I forgot about that performance, I'd definitely add it to the list as well. Those first 45 minutes were non-stop attacking action. If Mueller scores that penalty, the scoreline would have been ugly, no doubt about it.

Bumper match coming. But none is talking about this.
Pep will be under pressure with an early goal Spurs and things will be spicy for the neutrals.

Let's be honest, City are going to score at Etihad as they have been all season.

If Spurs want to qualify, they need that away goal. Get 1 and City will need 3.

and I think Spurs will get that goal, I don't think City beat them 3-1. 2-1 or 2-2 IMO.