So here we come. With the qualifiers done and dusted, and a nice challenging game against the much rejuvinated Getafe we are now turning our attentions to the CL where we are up against the very confident Spurs side.

This is a game of our current coach vs our future coach

Benzema is back, having started against Getafe. Dani, Kova and Bale are still out with iniury

Spurs I believe may be without Dele Alli, Dembele and Rose. Perhaps Wanyama too (CSpurs please confirm)

Probable line up:


Spurs seem to have a good defence so I don't think we'll be able to score more than one. Though I still think we'll win. I think if Varane and Ramos are tight on Kane all the time, they'll find it hard to find him with passes. Casemiro should be able to deal with Eriksen. We are going to need to cut out the silly passes and win the second balls. I think spurs will sit back for most of the game. So we need to make sure they don't have time to make those passes to Kane running in the channels and try to isolate him when they do find him

Brb off to watch Spurs v Dortmund again. Want to see what tactics they used

Spurs are without Dele Alli, Rose, Lamela, Davies and Wanyama. Dembele might play but is coming back from injury so no one really knows. Danny Rose also traveled to Madrid so it's possible he'll play, but I don't think it's likely given how long he's been away and that he just started training again. Could get the last 20 minutes if the game is competitive.

Honestly my guess at a lineup is as good as yours. Spurs are currently without a proper LWB...so Son might play there and Sissoko might play alongside Eriksen, or he'll just play RB Trippier at LWB. It's also possible that Spurs go four at the back with Vertonghen at LB. It's going to be a problem area, which I don't know how Poch will approach (he's taken multiple approaches to it this season).

Beyond that, there is a shortage at CM so it's difficult to say who will play unless Dembele is available. My guess is the youngster Winks gets an outing at CM since Poch is fearless about playing youth in any game.

Poch has said that he wants to take the initiative against Madrid but that if they're quality pins Spurs back, that's how they must play. Given that Spurs are missing several starters including an entire position, I think Madrid will pin Spurs back and Spurs will try and hit on the counter. It's not something they're used to doing, but they showed they can accomplish it against Dortmund. That being said, Madrid won't be as suicidal as Dortmund.

I predict that Madrid will pin Spurs back with Spurs enjoying spells of possession. Spurs will only get a couple chances while Madrid will get more than enough to the point that they should score at least one and probably a couple. I think Madrid will win without the game being too difficult for them.

That's just being realistic, not trying to reverse jinx tbh. I think for the return fixture Rose, Lamela and Dele should be back--that will be a much better fixture.

That's a lot of injuries for the Spurs... a shame tbh. Wanted to see a proper game. Still may happen.

Tbh this Madrid team is abit bipolar this season so we don't know which one will turn up. My understanding is that their front 3 don't track back that much particularly Son and Eriksen which will make it easier for the likes of Isco to find space. If Spurs play anything like they do in the league this should be a cracking game. Aurier is abit of a hot head too so he has to be careful against Ronaldo.

Thank you for the Spurs news CSpurs.

Hopefully Benz builds on his game against Getafe and plays with the same energy against these guys. We'll need it especially if Ronaldo luck carries over into his European campaign.

I'm reading Davies might be in today after recovering from illness. If true, he'll play LB and Son will be one of the two behind Kane.

Would also be huge for Tottenham and instantly turn this from what I see as an L to a game where if Spurs massively overachieve, they can MAYBE get a point (or all 3 one can dream)

Why are we playing like we are alright with a draw. No fight at all. Somebody kick these guys up their backsides at HT

Spurs have come over not to lose, we should target the blofk head Aurier. No way he rests without giving us another penalty

You can read from marcelo's defending that thereis no urgency from the players. Hope Zidane kick some ass at half time. They are treating it as a casual game.

He defended the same way against Getafe. He got taken off then. ZZ needs to do the same today. He has to learn to actually make an effort when defending in non knockout/Clasico/Derby games

Hala, I am with you on your second point. I'm not sure why we haven't gone down the left flank much. Aurier has pushed way too far up at times leaving them vulnerable, yet we continue to push the right side and go through Vertonghen with Achraf which hasn't worked all half.

I'm actually glad the guys aren't losing their heads. We have had the lion share of the chances, so I feel it will be a matter of time (hopefully). Benzema had 2 easy chances we should have converted, and overall attacking play has been decent. The problem is Tottenham are playing pretty well and with 5 defenders they have looked better than they probably are.

I hate benzema

Achraf looks good no?

Obviously, we have no other options, but I think it's been pretty evident in this match that Achraf simply isn't good enough for this level of football.

No complaints about Achraf from me. He has been decent going froward and has made some breakthroughs, but he is playing against a very good Vertonghen who isn't going forward much. On the other side of things he hasn't had to do any defending so we can't really criticize him there.

Thimmy, what makes you think he isn't good enough for this level?

I still have nightmares about Danilo, and Carvajal hasn't had a performance this good this season.

I honestly thought Nacho would have played, but I am happy so far with Achraf.

I'm not necessarily complaining about him, just saying it doesn't looks like he's ready for this level of football. His crosses have been poor all match, and he's really been struggling against Vertonghen. Sure, Vertonghen has been good, but at this level, you expect your players to be better. Hence, why I'm saying he's not ready.

Seriously what can be done with Benzemas finishing? It's beyond repairable.

We need a goal and ZZ subs on wingers. Yet have only Ronaldo in the box. Someone remind this guy that Morata and Mariano are gone. Ronaldo gets outnumbered

Ronaldo hasn't exactly been finishing tap ins all that well either... or anything else really. Honestly, we have no finishing across the board period. It's a miracle that we score at all lol.

Doesn't help that our CMs are absolute non-threats on the attack... so unless our strikers finish, there is no hope.

Our CMs probably have the most assists and goals in Europe. They aren't the problem, it's the attack. Ronaldo played good today. Linked up well, got on the end of a few crosses. Benzema is hopeless, no offense but I am sure some guy from our U13 team can finish the chances he constantly misses. His compilation on YouTube will become so long it'll become a sequel. I thought Marcelo was really poor today and was last game too. Aurier did really well against him. Oh and Varane was atrocious, one of those games he kept having last season and here I thought he turned a leaf. Achraf for all his huffing and puffing didnt put one decent cross in. Casemiro put one on the silverplatter yet the kid put terrible crosses in all game. All in all it was a very disciplined performance by Spurs, they left very little space between their midfield and defence which made it difficult to play 1-2s. I am not going to complain about the performance, I'll still maintain that we've started 10x better this season than we did last season. We just need another striker and Mayoral isn't it. The fact that he gets cut from the squad should tell us all how much ZZ admires him

I feel like we didn't play poorly. Tottenham are a good team with a good coach, played with 5 defenders who all defended pretty well apart from Aurier's mistake. I wouldn't even call their goal a chance they created, but apart from that their chances were incredibly limited.

Overall for us I felt defense was decent, really liked Achraf today. Midfield was good, Modric MotM. Forwards played okay, but lacked the killer touch/instinct.

Really disappointing but understandable. We have been playing better away than home so far this season, which is indicative of how teams set up against us at the Bernabeu v. at their own home. I'm fairly confident of an away win on the return leg.

Good game. Obviously finishing is still our crutch as Sports has said.

Really impressed with Hakimi, especially defensively, he has been more solid then dani in that respect. He's definitely a little poor with his crossing, however more often then not he at least tried to switch it up by going in side and linking up with modric/etc. He still needs to work on his attacking to match carvajal, but that will come in time. Absolute mature performance for an 18 year old, I'm seriously impressed.

vanDEEZ wrote:I feel like we didn't play poorly. Tottenham are a good team with a good coach, played with 5 defenders who all defended pretty well apart from Aurier's mistake. I wouldn't even call their goal a chance they created, but apart from that their chances were incredibly limited.

Overall for us I felt defense was decent, really liked Achraf today. Midfield was good, Modric MotM. Forwards played okay, but lacked the killer touch/instinct.

Really disappointing but understandable. We have been playing better away than home so far this season, which is indicative of how teams set up against us at the Bernabeu v. at their own home. I'm fairly confident of an away win on the return leg.

They had about as many chances as we did, and their defence was a lot more compact and organized. I consider us lucky that both Kane and Eriksen wasted each their 1 on 1s against Navas. As for Hakimi, I think maturity is his biggest strength. However, I personally don't think he's ready to start in the CL ahead of Nacho, let alone Carvajal. Dani may have had a poor start to the season, but I have no doubt in my mind that he would've been more productive going forward. I'm not saying that Hakimi is poor, I simply don't think he's ready to start in the CL. Against Tottenham, he was hardly tested in defence and I personally don't think he provided any end product to our attack, despite his efforts to do so.

not seen anything of the game but a point away at madrid was a great point for spurs. how did they play. was it a park the bus job to get a draw or did they show a bit of balls and have a bit of a go.

They didn't park the bus as such. They sat back for large periods but this was anything but a smash and grab. Their counters weren't that good but they tried. I know alot of us are frustrated that we didn't get the win but they were very disciplined. They played a tactic that we normally struggle with. Sit back and play long balls to a tall physical striker. You saw very little of their star men Kane and Eriksen but I am confident they'll be more ambition at home. A point is what they came for and a point is what they got. So kudos to Pochettino. It's not like Lloris had to do many superhuman saves, I can think of two wonderful saves, the rest were just straight forward saves

Lloris' save on the Benz header was a bit of superhuman ability and luck, gotta give him credit on that one.