Spurs News
10 reasons why the Real Madrid tie is not over
Fan Articles, Match Previews, News, Our Season | idv | April 12, 2011 at 10:00 am
So if heroes were needed for the first leg then it’s miracle workers we need to find a few of for the return. Real Madrid are due at White Hart Lane on Wednesday evening and will be confident that a 4-0 lead is probably enough to see them into the semi finals.
Nothing went right for us at the Bernabeu what with Little and Large’s early disappearances from the fray and the general lack lustre efforts by those who remained on the field. We seemed nervous and tentative from the start and by the end were verging on the punch drunk. We were taken aback by the home side’s pressing from the word go and never got into anything that could be called our ‘stride’.
This time though, things should be different. In most respects the pressure’s off. We don’t have a game at the weekend so we can just go for it and see what happens. The players have no reason to leave anything on the pitch; they should be drained when they return to the dressing room. If nothing else they should be reminded that the fans will each have spent fifty quid and upward for their tickets and so deserve to see the players give their all.
Where do our hopes lie? How can we possibly win? Ten reasons why it’s not over -
1 – Complacency. If any team is going to believe that they only need to turn up to win it’s one with Ronaldo and Mourinho involved surely?
2 – Yellow cards. Real still have Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Ricardo Carvalho, Ãngel Di MarÃa and Raúl Albiol only one game away from suspension. Surely this is a game in which to rest these players and keep them out of the firing line.
3 – Red cards. Pepe will be missing from the visitors line up
4 – They have been beaten 4-0 in the UK not that long ago, by Liverpool in November 2009. If the Scousers can do it…
5 – They’ve already been beaten 5-0 this season. Okay, it was Barcelona, but they were only a Bendtner sidefoot away from going out of the competition themselves so are no great shakes either if you think about it.
6 – They play Barcelona in the league at the weekend then in the cup next week. Surely after the embarrassment of the defeat mentioned in 5, they will again be resting players eager for revenge and the others will already have one eye on Saturday.
7 – Bottle. Look at Rory McIlroy. There’s no point leading by four if you haven’t got the balls to see it through.
8 – Fitness. Our side is getting stronger. Gareth Bale looked more like his old self on Saturday and there’s no doubt that Modric plays better with big Tom alongside him.
9 – Aaron Lennon will not only be virus free, he’ll be ready to prove the doubters wrong. Or as Azza would say judging by his tweet of last week ‘I will proove 2 doze hu sA I av no bottL 4 d fyt, dat thyre fools’.
10 – One day a team will come back from four down in the Moneybags League, why shouldn’t it be us?
We’ve never beaten a Spanish team at White Hart Lane. Now’s the time to do it in style. COYS.
By MF
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I’d tell the lads just to forget the scoreline, go out there and enjoy their day in the sun. Play it like a normal game, if we win 2-1 then great, it would be a fantastic achievement. But if we start chasing crazy comebacks it could be humiliating. We dont want to be remembered as the team that lost 10-0 on aggregate.
I know people want to believe and to go down fighting, but forget what the bookies say, the real odds of Spurs turning this around are probably a million to 1. If RM keep their heads, keep 11 players on the pitch and play to even 75% of their potential, there is absolutely no chance whatsoever. Apologies for being defeatest, but I just dont want it all to end in humiliation. Any kind of win would be a lovely ending to whats been a fun first go at the CL.
ps Harry – drop Gomes. He has been poor this season, retaining him in the team for a game like this sends out all the wrong signals
Also it's a big if, if they drop few of there players but I don't see that happening
I agree with the comment above about trying to score 4, we risk conceding 6. Mourinho is not stupid, I am not a footy manager and I would have done the same. Teams lose to us by trying to avoid losing. They beat us when they attack, until we fix that attacking teams will ALWAYS turn us over, or it will end up being 4-4 or another ridiculous scoreline. 4th may not be silver ware, but a few years of qualifying for the CL will save our future.
1. It's Jose Mourinho and he HAS been to white hart lane and never lost there while managing Chelsea
2. Even if Ronaldo doesn't play, they still have some of the best players in the world. We didnt even see Higuain play last week
3. They will be playing with posession and defensively. "If we don't get the ball, we can't score" is what Jose will be telling Los Blancos.
4. We have no Crouch who has been one of our top goal scorers in the Champions League.
5. Harry will probably play Defoe up front and he's hardly the goal scoring machine Ramos, Albiol, Marcelo and Carvalho will be fearing.
6. We can't even beat West Ham or Wigan at home
7. Huddlestone's only just returned from injury so won't be the threat he used to be.
8. We still have some of our best players injured – Kaboul, King, Kranjcar, Corluka and Lennon is still recovering
9. Ref's will always favour the big clubs – expect lots of bad decisions coming our way and it's not like the Spanners need much persuasion to go down after a tackle.
10. I have been correct about most champions league results this season : )
I'll be happy if we score a goal though to be honest.
But anyone who thinks there's even the remotest possibility of going through this tie is clearly an idiot. 1-0 Madrid or 1-1.
Semi we beat Barca 2-1.
Final – Meet & beat ManU 1-0.
What's wrong with some cheery blind optimism!?!?!?
Cheer up!
Would be great if we can pull it off. I hope you’ll all post replies here telling me “we told you so”!
COYS!
6-1 tonight greatest comeback since the Battle of Britain.
You silly silly boys….hey…back to thursdays next year huh?
Silver linings and all