Team for Qarabag

[djhotspur]

We are not good enough at the moment to be a team that can make wholesale changes. I would've thought that Ange would know this by now.

I expect to see our strongest 11. Win the game then make the changes you want to give players a rest.

I do agree but the only caveat is that if you keep playing the second string together they will start to all look much better and be ready to go, they need game time

 

[Mooger Fooger]

I 100% agreed with this for Coventry away, however I think there is far less at stake on Thursday. If we can't make 5 or 6 changes and beat a team from Azerbaijan at home we might as well pack up and go home as far as our European journey is concerned.

I'd go as far to say I'd be pissed off if he made 9 changes against Coventry, and then played our strongest squad against Qarabag. It was clear as day it should be the other way around.

Did you see how bad we were against Coventry?!?!?!

Last thing we need is any more negativity. Strongest 11 IMO and then change it once the game is wrapped up.

 

[EastUpperDK82]

We are not good enough at the moment to be a team that can make wholesale changes. I would've thought that Ange would know this by now.

I expect to see our strongest 11. Win the game then make the changes you want to give players a rest.

Exactly... but it's nothing new at Spurs... we almost always get in trouble when making wholesale changes.... it's been happening for many seasons in cups.

I do think we should rotate a bit... but not as much as against Coventry... we need to manage the physical condition of players like Udogie and Son and our CB's... some players like Vicario, Solanke, Johnson and Sarr need to find momentum... Bentancur should just play with the ban looming... and we also need to give Dragusin, Gray and Bergvall more action. Because we need them to be sharp.

It's all a balancing act... especially with United away on sunday. But we can't underestimate Qarabag at all.

We need to keep the good atmosphere we created last week... a win is the only way to do that... so I would prefer a stronger 11 than in the Carabao Cup and hopefully we can kill the game early.

 

[coy-spurs1882]

this is not an easy game considering they lost to Leverkusen by 4-5 in aggregate in the knockout stage last season

 

[djhotspur]

Did you see how bad we were against Coventry?!?!?!

Last thing we need is any more negativity. Strongest 11 IMO and then change it once the game is wrapped up.

Yes but we then have United we can’t run our first team into the ground

 

[zonbon32]

United having the extra days rest is a bit of a fucker, I'd still go fairly strong though:
Vic
PP Drag VDV Spence
Biss
Sarr Maddison (Sub for Kulu on 45/60)
Johnson Son Werner

 

[tubbygold]

United having the extra days rest is a bit of a fucker, I'd still go fairly strong though:
Vic
PP Drag VDV Spence
Biss
Sarr Maddison (Sub for Kulu on 45/60)
Johnson Son Werner

Spence is not registered for Europe.

 

[hughy]

Did you see how bad we were against Coventry?!?!?!

Last thing we need is any more negativity. Strongest 11 IMO and then change it once the game is wrapped up.

Problem is we will need to rotate, otherwise we'll get to Christmas with the likes of Udogie, Deki, Son etc. having played 25 games already and everyone will be moaning because they're fatigued and it's showing on the pitch.

As I mentioned there's a bit more margin for error in the EL as there are 8 games of varying difficulty. I'd definitely be picking the strength of the team based on the opponent and risk making an error or two. It would take a monumental fuck-up for us not to get the points required to progress, even if it's as one of the teams in 9-24.

 

[Mooger Fooger]

Problem is we will need to rotate, otherwise we'll get to Christmas with the likes of Udogie, Deki, Son etc. having played 25 games already and everyone will be moaning because they're fatigued and it's showing on the pitch.

As I mentioned there's a bit more margin for error in the EL as there are 8 games of varying difficulty. I'd definitely be picking the strength of the team based on the opponent and risk making an error or two. It would take a monumental fuck-up for us not to get the points required to progress, even if it's as one of the teams in 9-24.

I'm ok with the rotation of one or two in the starting 11, to give some rest and then make other changes when the result is sorted.

Dragusin for either Romero or VDV for example. Or Bergvall for Madders.

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

Be helpful to know when the FA are going to ban Bentancur, if he is banned for Man U then best he was given the whole 90 for this match and keep Biss fresh for Sunday unless UEFA also bring in a ban before Thursday then we are struggling to keep players fit and fresh with so many matches coming up.

 

[spurs mental]

Thinking about this and the rotation, and under Poch we used to struggle with rotation obviously because of squad depth. However, Poch always liked to have more games as he felt it gave us more rhythm moving forward.

I wonder, this early in the season if there is an argument to make minimal changes and use the subs a bit more.

Eg: Madders off after 55/60, Son/Dom etc the same. There's 5 subs to use, or vice versa and sub them on at that time instead. Ideally we'd be ahead and comfortable but Qarabag are obviously a decent side as they showed last season. We need to start as we mean to go on in the EL.

 

[Cochise]

Ideally I think swapping out 4-5 is the maximum we can do without completely ruining our flow.

Davies might have to play LB so Udogie can have a rest.

 

[DiamondLites]

We cannot take the Europa League lightly, I’ll be horrified if Forster starts and we make wholesale changes

Vic

Gray Dragusin VdV Udogie

Sarr Bentancur Bergvall

Johnson Solanke Moore

Strong spine with some young talent. Bring on the likes of Davies, Werner etc if the game is safe. We need to stop throwing these cup games and build a winning mentality

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Problem is we will need to rotate, otherwise we'll get to Christmas with the likes of Udogie, Deki, Son etc. having played 25 games already and everyone will be moaning because they're fatigued and it's showing on the pitch.

As I mentioned there's a bit more margin for error in the EL as there are 8 games of varying difficulty. I'd definitely be picking the strength of the team based on the opponent and risk making an error or two. It would take a monumental fuck-up for us not to get the points required to progress, even if it's as one of the teams in 9-24.

Also, we play such a high intensity style of football if we play most of the 11 in the europa that we expect to start against utd we're asking for a drop in performance. It's just not feasible for the team to go high octane against Quarabag and then do the same a few days later against Man Utd.

The reason we have a squad is to allow us to rotate for matches like this. It also gives those young/fringe players much needed game time to ensure they are not rusty when being asked to step up in important matches.

We simply can't play our strongest team in every competition we're in.

 

[ERO]

this is not an easy game considering they lost to Leverkusen by 4-5 in aggregate in the knockout stage last season

But what if we consider they more recently lost 5-0 on aggregate to Dinamo Zagreb and lost 0-1 at home to Turan..?

 

[Misfit]

We can't play our strongest every week, no doubt about it. I'd put an emphasis on trying to win the Europa though.

Obviously the financial reality means doing as well as poss in the league takes precedent which is why I expect a rather underwhelming season all round, in all comps tbh and yet another potless one. Squad isn't there yet.

 

[spurs mental]

We can't play our strongest every week, no doubt about it. I'd put an emphasis on trying to win the Europa though.

Obviously the financial reality means doing as well as poss in the league takes precedent which is why I expect a rather underwhelming season all round, in all comps tbh and yet another potless one. Squad isn't there yet.

Money isn't too bad for EL, loosely based on Internet articles and figures the winner could get around 20 million, obviously in comparison to the league where 5th last season netted us 50 odd it pales in comparison but not to be sniffed at either. The obvious added bonus is into the CL for next season.

 

[mil1lion]

Levy doesn't care about the money he just wants to win it

 

[SirHarryHotspur]

EL well worth winning , decent prize money and CL Pot 1..

UEFA has outlined the distribution of funds for this campaign and the share for clubs participating in the Champions League league phase onwards equates to €2.437 billion. The share for Europa League clubs accounts to €565 million while the share is €285m in the Conference League.

I know many want to win any kind of pot but in todays football world where money is everything The Carabao Cup is way down the list of priorities for most clubs.

EFL League Cup prize money 2024 | Statista

How much prize money did Liverpool earn for winning the League Cup in 2024? That year, the winners of the competition were awarded 100 thousand British pounds.

www.statista.com

Sure Ange will pick a team that he thinks can win but help might be needed from the bench like Coventry.

 

[Whitey]

Vicario
Spence Dragusin VDV Davies
Bissouma Gray Bergvall
Johnson Dom Werner
​

I really want to see Gray in the middle of the pitch, that's where his future lies.

I would winner this, but think we'd struggle to Spence on the pitch now