February......"our cups runneth over"

[skiathospurs]

...........................................February`s monthly preview for you
........

I doubt anything this month (and hopefully March as well) will be as contentious for Spurs fans as how Pochettino approaches the cups.With europa league starting again and a more than likely a 5th round FA cup tie providing we dispatch Wycombe at the Lane,how does this months fixtures line up?And what will february hold for us?

Feb 4th Boro home PL
Feb 11th Liverpool away PL
Feb 16th KAA Gent away EL (rnd of 32)
Feb 19th FA cup 5th round
Feb 23rd KAA Gent home EL (rnd of 32)
Feb 26th Stoke home PL

So only three premier league fixtures this month,(and March if burnout in Feb is a worry).At the time of posting we face Sunderland away still in January,a point or 3 will see us top 4 at least into the month.On paper Boro on the slide at the moment and Stoke look very winnable,although Boro may finally wake up to the fact they are in a relegation scrap,Stoke hopefully already in flip flops such as midtable safety may allow their minds to wander.

Well then Liverpool away,the last of our big 6 rivals away days,I feel if we beat Sunderland,this becomes more of a free hit because of points gained already,that makes not losing a magnificent result and winning even more magnificent.Also Liverpools cup fixture overload could work for us too,If they beat Saints away this week,no doubt wembley will be on their minds,if they lose well on the back of recent form questions will start to be asked.They too have a 4th round FA cup game home to wolves,dare he rotate like vs Plymouth?then chelsea in the league and away to Hull before they play us (a 4th round replay at molineux would be awesome for us if only!).A tricky game for us at Anfield,and for them with 3 of their next 4 fixtures being Leics away (or a league cup final?),arse home citeh away (then the merseyside derby if looking that far ahead already is valid?),remember they will have just played us and chelsea too),pretty much a home win is required or it wont be their year and both manchester clubs may well have jumped them in the league.

I would take 6pts gladly,hell even 5pts as it means we remain unbeaten and havent lost at Anfiled,and every chance we could take all 9,if that happens I would expect us to be comfortably top 4 probably 2nd going into march.

Now the contentious part for fans to haggle over.The cups,do we rotate or by how much,who do we wrap up in cotton wool&how do we try and ensure our premier league juggernaut rolls on,its the old top 4 CL money vs silverware and glory that has no truth to either side only opinion.The key in february and March? is the compromise Pochettino achieves in selection,I must state that opponents Gent seem to offer chances for rotation,but the real trick is rotation and still progressing in the cups and the league.Gent offers opportunity to the squad and up and coming starlets (I so hate the terms 2nd XI,"stiffs", B team ) we have internationals like Vorm,davies,wimmer,CCV,Son,Sissoko,Lamela,Janssen (remember them eh!),very capable players Trippier/winks/Nkoudou and up and coming Edwards,Onomah now thats 13 good lads right there,I dont suggest throwing a completly new XI in either EL game but 2 or 3 regulars sprinkled in to guide or glue the team together is my thinking.That should see us through to the round of 16 (9th/16th march) and we can reassess then depending on league standing and opposition drawn.

FA cup 5th round if we are still in it?depends on home/away & opposition far too early to call today,maybe on monday it will be clearer!!What I will add is that winning in the 5th round the next round is qtr -finals when winning trophies actually appears tangible.Oh how I yearn to hear before an FA cup semi-final&final about "tottenham`s wembley home advantage is unfair" after all the wembley curse bollox spouted.

I am hoping into March we are still in this position in the league,FA cup and Europa league,bring it on.

 

[Dorset]

...........................................February`s monthly preview for you
........

I doubt anything this month (and hopefully March as well) will be as contentious for Spurs fans as how Pochettino approaches the cups.With europa league starting again and a more than likely a 5th round FA cup tie providing we dispatch Wycombe at the Lane,how does this months fixtures line up?And what will february hold for us?

Feb 4th Boro home PL
Feb 11th Liverpool away PL
Feb 16th KAA Gent away EL (rnd of 32)
Feb 19th FA cup 5th round
Feb 23rd KAA Gent home EL (rnd of 32)
Feb 26th Stoke home PL

So only three premier league fixtures this month,(and March if burnout in Feb is a worry).At the time of posting we face Sunderland away still in January,a point or 3 will see us top 4 at least into the month.On paper Boro on the slide at the moment and Stoke look very winnable,although Boro may finally wake up to the fact they are in a relegation scrap,Stoke hopefully already in flip flops such as midtable safety may allow their minds to wander.

Well then Liverpool away,the last of our big 6 rivals away days,I feel if we beat Sunderland,this becomes more of a free hit because of points gained already,that makes not losing a magnificent result and winning even more magnificent.Also Liverpools cup fixture overload could work for us too,If they beat Saints away this week,no doubt wembley will be on their minds,if they lose well on the back of recent form questions will start to be asked.They too have a 4th round FA cup game home to wolves,dare he rotate like vs Plymouth?then chelsea in the league and away to Hull before they play us (a 4th round replay at molineux would be awesome for us if only!).A tricky game for us at Anfield,and for them with 3 of their next 4 fixtures being Leics away (or a league cup final?),arse home citeh away (then the merseyside derby if looking that far ahead already is valid?),remember they will have just played us and chelsea too),pretty much a home win is required or it wont be their year and both manchester clubs may well have jumped them in the league.

I would take 6pts gladly,hell even 5pts as it means we remain unbeaten and havent lost at Anfiled,and every chance we could take all 9,if that happens I would expect us to be comfortably top 4 probably 2nd going into march.

Now the contentious part for fans to haggle over.The cups,do we rotate or by how much,who do we wrap up in cotton wool&how do we try and ensure our premier league juggernaut rolls on,its the old top 4 CL money vs silverware and glory that has no truth to either side only opinion.The key in february and March? is the compromise Pochettino achieves in selection,I must state that opponents Gent seem to offer chances for rotation,but the real trick is rotation and still progressing in the cups and the league.Gent offers opportunity to the squad and up and coming starlets (I so hate the terms 2nd XI,"stiffs", B team ) we have internationals like Vorm,davies,wimmer,CCV,Son,Sissoko,Lamela,Janssen (remember them eh!),very capable players Trippier/winks/Nkoudou and up and coming Edwards,Onomah now thats 13 good lads right there,I dont suggest throwing a completly new XI in either EL game but 2 or 3 regulars sprinkled in to guide or glue the team together is my thinking.That should see us through to the round of 16 (9th/16th march) and we can reassess then depending on league standing and opposition drawn.

FA cup 5th round if we are still in it?depends on home/away & opposition far too early to call today,maybe on monday it will be clearer!!What I will add is that winning in the 5th round the next round is qtr -finals when winning trophies actually appears tangible.Oh how I yearn to hear before an FA cup semi-final&final about "tottenham`s wembley home advantage is unfair" after all the wembley curse bollox spouted.

I am hoping into March we are still in this position in the league,FA cup and Europa league,bring it on.

Now you have fucked up my day. Stoke is in the list. i fucking HATE playing Stoke, I will be having nightmares about Charlie fucking Adam kicking poor little Dele right in the downstairs department and then Dele getting sent off for attacking the nasty cunt's foot with his bollocks. Peter fucking Crouch will score a fucking hat-trick in my nightmares, Hugo will have one of his turns and Poketcheeno will nut Mark Hughes and have to spend some match day time with Arsene on the naughty step. I need some of the blue pills now!

 

[skiathospurs]

Now you have fucked up my day. Stoke is in the list. i fucking HATE playing Stoke, I will be having nightmares about Charlie fucking Adam kicking poor little Dele right in the downstairs department and then Dele getting sent off for attacking the nasty cunt's foot with his bollocks. Peter fucking Crouch will score a fucking hat-trick in my nightmares, Hugo will have one of his turns and Poketcheeno will nut Mark Hughes and have to spend some match day time with Arsene on the naughty step. I need some of the blue pills now!

Blue pills?? Oh happy anniversary Mr&Mrs D

(just cos you like emojis)

 

[skiathospurs]

 

[skiathospurs]

Well we did beat wycombe,eventually! so the fixtures this month now read;

Feb 4th Boro home PL
Feb 11th Liverpool away PL
Feb 16th KAA Gent away EL (rnd of 32)
Feb 19th Fulhan away FA cup 5th round (TBC)
Feb 23rd KAA Gent home EL (rnd of 32)
Feb 26th Stoke home PL

Interesting to see in the two weeks without PL fixtures when we have 3 cup games how we mix and match the teams put out,which cup will get priority?Is there even a need to rest the team wholesale?A right old conundrum for people who dont want us to progress in the cups at the expense of top 4.
At the moment,no progression in the cups would see us with only 3 fixtures in march,pick the bones out of that one!Personally that will be a disaster,
We have injuries,but its not an awful situation,Jan will be back,trippier isnt too bad Poch said,lamela?law of averages says he has to return sometime.Edwards should be nearly ready to join the squad,we just need to nurse Dembele and Toby and get through to the business end of the season.the rest of them are traditionally strong as an ox.
Here`s to hoping "our cups runneth over" into march!!

 

[Don Diaz]

Well Poch is obviously marginally better than me and others like Pep Guardiola at this football management lark, but if I was his closest advisor I'd say 'hey MoPo' (that's his pet name) have a look what happens every time we try and play our reserve or even squad team in Europe or the FA Cup..we struggle. So have a word with Danny boy upstairs (so as not to confuse with Danny Rose) and find out what his priority is and play a proper team. Alternatively do the half and half thing where half the first team play against Gent and half against Fulham, but we could come unstuck there like last time when we played Fiorentina and West Ham before the League Cup Final'

That's my advice anyway, good squad team for Genk or Gent or whatever they're called and a proper team against Fulham to win.

In 1981 we only left London once - the semi-final first game draw against Wolves played at Hillsborough. The replay was at Highbury which we won 3-0. It could be the same this year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980–81_FA_Cup

 

[Dorset]

Well Poch is obviously marginally better than me and others like Pep Guardiola at this football management lark, but if I was his closest advisor I'd say 'hey MoPo' (that's his pet name) have a look what happens every time we try and play our reserve or even squad team in Europe or the FA Cup..we struggle. So have a word with Danny boy upstairs (so as not to confuse with Danny Rose) and find out what his priority is and play a proper team. Alternatively do the half and half thing where half the first team play against Gent and half against Fulham, but we could come unstuck there like last time when we played Fiorentina and West Ham before the League Cup Final'

That's my advice anyway, good squad team for Genk or Gent or whatever they're called and a proper team against Fulham to win.

In 1981 we only left London once - the semi-final first game draw against Wolves played at Hillsborough. The replay was at Highbury which we won 3-0. It could be the same this year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980–81_FA_Cup

I hope Pocho ( his proper pet name ) is listening to your sound advice. To win the Europa Tinpot we would have to play many more games and have to travel to some of those nasty foreign countries - possibly even Romania if Astra Giurgiu beat Genk (that's a bit confusing, I keep getting Genk muddled up with Gent) , that would upset Nigel if all those nasty Romanians came to Wembley, they might like it here and decide to move in next door!

To win the FA Cup we just have to thump Fulham, then 3 more wins and we get to hold the shiney thing. Four games, we can win four games especially with the last two being at our new home ground. I don't like prioritising any Shiney-quest, but fuck that for a game of soldiers I WANT the FA Cup!

As usual, I have to add a disclaimer. I might have got that totally wrong, it may be posting fake facts, I think what I said was right, but what the fuck do I know? Is Astra really a Romanian side? Are they really playing Genk whoever the fuck they are? Would we really only need to win four games to bring the FA Cup home? Are Genk the same team as Gent?

 

[skiathospurs]

Dear Dorset,
we may have to only win 4 games to win the cup,yes astra googoo are from the land of vampires,car washers and pick pockets,,Genk,Gent,Gunk,Gonk who cares!!we will beat them all and march on to our DESTINY....

A two legged match with Fiorentina........

 

[skiathospurs]

 

[Ted the Yid]

Interesting that the FA cup is sandwich Jed between the Europa matches, hopefully we can rotate so as to give Janssen an opportunity to play with either Dele or Written or both.

Will give him the best chance of grabbing a few goals and build his confidence.

 

[skiathospurs]

Interesting that the FA cup is sandwich Jed between the Europa matches, hopefully we can rotate so as to give Janssen an opportunity to play with either Dele or Written or both.

Will give him the best chance of grabbing a few goals and build his confidence.

Going to be a sad 10 days for some,which cup should we shun the most,perhaps we could just rotate everyone and play the U18s.
Being less sarky,interesting to see what Poch does for the Gent away game.If the FA cup is priority then how many does he rest?or do you try and win this leg allowing players to sit out the home game before the PL match after?I think he will play the stronger line up in the Fulham game,partially cos Gent is 2 legged and you can pick up the pieces at home in the 2nd game,also do our best to avoid a draw at the cottage a replay isnt ideal,but better than losing!!
I will be disappointed if we exit either cup at this stage with these opponents,but it is cup football,one blip&you`re out.

 

[Don Diaz]

For me FA Cup over Europa League, but I agree that we have the resources to win both matches and do well (win) against Stoke. Big ask I know, bit it's what a squad is for. They used to manage it in the old days so why not now?

Gent away, something like -
Vorm
Trippier, Toby, Wimmer, Davies
Winks, Dier
Son, Sissoko, GKN
Janssen

That team draws or wins

Fulham: 3 at the back
Hugo
Walker, Dier, Toby, Wimmer, Davies
Dembele, Wanyama
Dele, Eriksen
Kane

That team wins.

Combo for the Gent return at home, full first XI for Stoke at home. Sorted.

 

[Liam]

For me we gotta get through in both cups as we just don't know how Chelsea are gonna be the rest of this season if we put all our eggs in the title race basket and the chavs don't drop enough points then we'll be kicking ourselves. Obviously I want us to win the league more than anything but it's out of our hands now really so best to put a good enough team to go through both whilst offering a bit of game time to other fringe players, I'm confident enough in the squad to to this. If Chelsea drop points and the title race is bang on then maybe we sacrifice a cup to go for it but I'd rather finish 3rd and win a trophy than finish second and win fuck all. Top 4 is obviously a must but I think we'll get that anyway, so it's a case what shiny things can we also try to collect for me.

 

[birdonaball]

6 games in 28 days. 3 league games, 3 cup games. I have never believed in banking on the league so to sacrifice the cups where we have the same chance as everyone else IMO is plain daft.

League: Boro (h),Liverpool (a) and Stoke(h). We have to pick up maximum points truthfully at home, our away record this season hasn't been brilliant, but always time to improve it. I want 9 points (obviously) but expect 7. At some point this season we have to beat one of the top 6 away from home.... Anfield is as good as place as any to start. Now I'm posting this before the boro game, so lads don't make me look even more daft.

I genuinely believe that we should play a strong team (which for me, considering the amount of injuries we have at the moment is what we will have to do until we get some players back fit) which will be a mixture of A and B 11. Play the best team we can manage away at Gent and try and get a tidy lead and come back home for Fulham. While injuries are not on our side, travel is thankfully. Belgium isn't too far away and Liverpool is ok. We can play a mixed team (if all went well in Gent) and hopefully by the time the second leg comes round we may have a few more bodies back so we can mix the team up.

Stoke.... well we all remember what an assache they can be. Anti football at its best.