Tottenham (H) - League Cup Semi Final (2nd leg), Thu 6th Feb 2025 (8:00pm)

[Trumo]

Strange to schedule this game on Thursday, given that we played at Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon while Spurs made the short trip to west London to play Brentford on Sunday afternoon. I can only assume it's because the semi final coverage is being spread between Sky Sports and ITV, and as Sky chose to air our first leg leaving ITV to show the other game, it's a role reversal for the second leg. Given that Spurs only played on Sunday, they couldn't schedule our second leg on Tuesday. In any case, ITV have live coverage of this week's game.

 

The first leg was a bit of a disaster in that we didn't create enough against a makeshift backline. If anything, their defence was even more makeshift than the one we'd dismantled in the league a few weeks earlier. A bigger problem was that this venue was the scene of yet more shambolic officiating to our detriment. Spurs' midfielder Bergvall should have received a second yellow for his lunge on Kostas with only 5 minutes left on the clock. The ref waved play on as we still had the ball, but not in any sort of advantageous situation. Worse still, Kostas had to leave the field for treatment, during which time Bergvall himself ended up free in the box to fire the winner past Ali. And then there is the non-penalty in stoppage time when Curtis had his legs taken away from him. How VAR decided there was nothing doing when you see far lesser infringements result in a spot kick being awarded beggars belief. Mind you, VAR is run by an organisation where Michael Oliver can see a simple trip as a studs-down-the-achilles moment of serious foul play and not be corrected, as well as seeing a studs-into-the-chest as a simple coming together and not be corrected. We hadn't played well enough to merit a first leg win, but a draw would have been the right result and these moments took that away from us. As it is, we have to push to turn the tie around.

 

Spurs still have issues in defence but have added Austrian defender Danso from Lens. I've no idea if he will be eligible but some teams seem to get deals and the necessary paperwork (international clearance and work permits in this instance) sorted ridiculously quickly so you never know. They are apparently pushing to sign Guehi from Palace too although that one seems unlikely. It's what Daniel Levy and Spurs do though. I've not checked the records but they love a deadline day deal, and that's been the case even when 'Arry was not the manager. As far as I know, they will be missing one or two for this game meaning that while they can field a team, they might have issues with depth.

 

For us, we have had a number of players return to training over the past week. I was a bit surprised that Diogo and Curtis were available at the weekend, and apparently Joe is close to a return to the squad. As I write, we await news of Trent's injury that cause him to have to come off at Bournemouth, which means that he'll be the only absentee. In the news today is that Danns is going to Sunderland on loan for the rest of the season, which is a shame as I would like to see him involved more with us in the domestic cups at least, but also necessary as he needs a more regular platform to showcase his ability. Since we have Plymouth at the weekend, I would expect Slot to go full strength for Spurs and look to earn our place at Wembley. Should we manage that, it would be the first time since 1984 that we've got to the final of the League Cup as holders. And it would be the first time since 1985 that we've got to the final of any cup competition we won the season before. This game is about giving it the beans and putting Spurs back in their box.

 

How have our previous managers got on in their first League Cup tie against Spurs? This part of the opening post presented a challenge to me as I'd already put these stats in the first leg thread. I've decided to count our various managers' second game so that this section isn't a straight repeat of the last one. It's grim reading unfortunately. In the game under Shanks, we were blown away in the opening 15 minutes having drawn at Anfield a couple of days earlier. Under Rafa, it was the second defeat at White Hart Lane that month as we suffered from the new manager bounce they were enjoying under Harry Redknapp. The first had seen us lose our unbeaten record and suffer the first of only 2 league defeats in a season that saw us mount a title challenge but ultimately come up short due to our inability to turn some draws into wins. In the League Cup (against the holders at the time - they had beaten Chelsea in the final in 2008, with Juande Ramos in charge), Rafa had opted to use his squad so only the likes of Torres and Hyypia (and maybe Agger and Babel) were first-team regulars. The team includes the likes of Cavalieri, Dossena, Degen, Plessis and Ngog, and found itself 3-0 down at half time. We let that bum Fraizer Campbell make hay against us and score twice. The other scorer was a player who was a bit Darwin-esque in that he looked like he should be decent, and had a reasonable goal record, but lacked the consistency and prolific output of the very top players to be classed as a success. Remember Pavlyuchenko?

 

Shankly...06/12/1972...5th Round (replay)...Tottenham 3-1 Liverpool (Callaghan)

Paisley...N/A

Fagan...N/A

Dalglish...N/A

Souness...N/A

Evans/Houllier...N/A

Benitez...12/11/2008...4th Round...Tottenham 4-2 Liverpool (Plessis, Hyypia)

Hodgson...N/A

Dalglish...N/A

Rodgers...N/A

Klopp...N/A

 

I don't ask for much. Maximum motivation, control, application, attitude and concentration from minute one. Let's get to Wembley please. Get it done!

[Wembley Trophy]

Nice comfortable 3-0 win please. 

[Anubis]

Just win.

[Anubis]

And do an early goal

[diamondjoe]

Rio Ferdinand is a grade A moron. 

[Bjornebye]

Best possible side. Another final please Reds. It’s what we do. It would be beautiful to batter the barcodes there if they make it and all. Shankly > Saudi 
 

 

 

[Creator Supreme]

The last time we lost a 1st leg semi away in this competition was Soton in 2017 (to the best of my memory).

 

We lost the home leg 0-1 to a late goal and went out.

 

Expect the same here.

 

Fuck of Mange mate.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

I love a good final and I love the League Cup: it's our trophy and I don't want these bums getting their mitts on it.

 

Just get these beat, Reds.

[Butch]

2 hours ago, Trumo said:

Strange to schedule this game on Thursday, given that we played at Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon while Spurs made the short trip to west London to play Brentford on Sunday afternoon. I can only assume it's because the semi final coverage is being spread between Sky Sports and ITV, and as Sky chose to air our first leg leaving ITV to show the other game, it's a role reversal for the second leg. Given that Spurs only played on Sunday, they couldn't schedule our second leg on Tuesday. In any case, ITV have live coverage of this week's game.

 

The first leg was a bit of a disaster in that we didn't create enough against a makeshift backline. If anything, their defence was even more makeshift than the one we'd dismantled in the league a few weeks earlier. A bigger problem was that this venue was the scene of yet more shambolic officiating to our detriment. Spurs' midfielder Bergvall should have received a second yellow for his lunge on Kostas with only 5 minutes left on the clock. The ref waved play on as we still had the ball, but not in any sort of advantageous situation. Worse still, Kostas had to leave the field for treatment, during which time Bergvall himself ended up free in the box to fire the winner past Ali. And then there is the non-penalty in stoppage time when Curtis had his legs taken away from him. How VAR decided there was nothing doing when you see far lesser infringements result in a spot kick being awarded beggars belief. Mind you, VAR is run by an organisation where Michael Oliver can see a simple trip as a studs-down-the-achilles moment of serious foul play and not be corrected, as well as seeing a studs-into-the-chest as a simple coming together and not be corrected. We hadn't played well enough to merit a first leg win, but a draw would have been the right result and these moments took that away from us. As it is, we have to push to turn the tie around.

 

Spurs still have issues in defence but have added Austrian defender Danso from Lens. I've no idea if he will be eligible but some teams seem to get deals and the necessary paperwork (international clearance and work permits in this instance) sorted ridiculously quickly so you never know. They are apparently pushing to sign Guehi from Palace too although that one seems unlikely. It's what Daniel Levy and Spurs do though. I've not checked the records but they love a deadline day deal, and that's been the case even when 'Arry was not the manager. As far as I know, they will be missing one or two for this game meaning that while they can field a team, they might have issues with depth.

 

For us, we have had a number of players return to training over the past week. I was a bit surprised that Diogo and Curtis were available at the weekend, and apparently Joe is close to a return to the squad. As I write, we await news of Trent's injury that cause him to have to come off at Bournemouth, which means that he'll be the only absentee. In the news today is that Danns is going to Sunderland on loan for the rest of the season, which is a shame as I would like to see him involved more with us in the domestic cups at least, but also necessary as he needs a more regular platform to showcase his ability. Since we have Plymouth at the weekend, I would expect Slot to go full strength for Spurs and look to earn our place at Wembley. Should we manage that, it would be the first time since 1984 that we've got to the final of the League Cup as holders. And it would be the first time since 1985 that we've got to the final of any cup competition we won the season before. This game is about giving it the beans and putting Spurs back in their box.

 

How have our previous managers got on in their first League Cup tie against Spurs? This part of the opening post presented a challenge to me as I'd already put these stats in the first leg thread. I've decided to count our various managers' second game so that this section isn't a straight repeat of the last one. It's grim reading unfortunately. In the game under Shanks, we were blown away in the opening 15 minutes having drawn at Anfield a couple of days earlier. Under Rafa, it was the second defeat at White Hart Lane that month as we suffered from the new manager bounce they were enjoying under Harry Redknapp. The first had seen us lose our unbeaten record and suffer the first of only 2 league defeats in a season that saw us mount a title challenge but ultimately come up short due to our inability to turn some draws into wins. In the League Cup (against the holders at the time - they had beaten Chelsea in the final in 2008, with Juande Ramos in charge), Rafa had opted to use his squad so only the likes of Torres and Hyypia (and maybe Agger and Babel) were first-team regulars. The team includes the likes of Cavalieri, Dossena, Degen, Plessis and Ngog, and found itself 3-0 down at half time. We let that bum Fraizer Campbell make hay against us and score twice. The other scorer was a player who was a bit Darwin-esque in that he looked like he should be decent, and had a reasonable goal record, but lacked the consistency and prolific output of the very top players to be classed as a success. Remember Pavlyuchenko?

 

Shankly...06/12/1972...5th Round (replay)...Tottenham 3-1 Liverpool (Callaghan)

Paisley...N/A

Fagan...N/A

Dalglish...N/A

Souness...N/A

Evans/Houllier...N/A

Benitez...12/11/2008...4th Round...Tottenham 4-2 Liverpool (Plessis, Hyypia)

Hodgson...N/A

Dalglish...N/A

Rodgers...N/A

Klopp...N/A

 

I don't ask for much. Maximum motivation, control, application, attitude and concentration from minute one. Let's get to Wembley please. Get it done!

Good job and a nice write up pre match as always. If we can score first they might shit themselves. 

[El Rojo]

Do we start Alisson or our penalty shoot-out specialist?
 

I reckon it will be Alisson with Kelleher playing against Plymouth. 

[Megadrive Man]

2 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

Do we start Alisson or our penalty shoot-out specialist?
 

I reckon it will be Alisson with Kelleher playing against Plymouth. 

 

Same.

I reckon we go,

 

Ali,

Bradley

VVD

Konate

Robbo

Grav

Mac

Szob

Mo

Diaz 

Gakpo

 

[Dapower]

We should handily have enough to to beat these by 2 clear goals to get to our 15th final 

[Butch]

Good Memories 

[magicrat]

Spuds season on line Thursday 

Taking nothing for granted 

[Barnesey]

I'm not sure why Spurs have this belief they are a big club. Fantastic stadium yes but Im in my 70th year and they have never had a top side in the era in which I have been conscious of footy. They won the double in 1961 (well done lads) but I knew nothing of it at the time. When we were winning our first Big Ears they got relegated.

 

Ever since they have won the odd Cup and qualified for the CL a few times but generally been....meh. You listen to their fans and they sound like they've experienced a ManU style collapse. It irritates me to the point I've written a little ditty for them:

 

You don't care about Levy,

But here's what you don't see,

Spurs are all about,

Mediocrity.

 

Just stuff 'em Thursday.

[an tha]

There can't be a less successful 'big club' than Tottenham...People will say Newcastle, but Newcastle are not considered one of the big 5 or big 6 or whatever it was supposed to be in the past or is supposed to be now.

 

Tottenham have won 2 league titles in their entire history - less than Huddersfield, Blackburn, Wolves and Sheffield Wednesday.

 

Just get these nomarks beat, Reds.

[elvis]

1 hour ago, Barnesey said:

I'm not sure why Spurs have this belief they are a big club. Fantastic stadium yes but Im in my 70th year and they have never had a top side in the era in which I have been conscious of footy. They won the double in 1961 (well done lads) but I knew nothing of it at the time. When we were winning our first Big Ears they got relegated.

 

Ever since they have won the odd Cup and qualified for the CL a few times but generally been....meh. You listen to their fans and they sound like they've experienced a ManU style collapse. It irritates me to the point I've written a little ditty for them:

 

You don't care about Levy,

But here's what you don't see,

Spurs are all about,

Mediocrity.

 

Just stuff 'em Thursday.

If they weren't from London no one would consider them as remotely a big club . No bigger than city before their sugar daddy's arrived on the scene.

[Butch]

1 hour ago, an tha said:

There can't be a less successful 'big club' than Tottenham...People will say Newcastle, but Newcastle are not considered one of the big 5 or big 6 or whatever it was supposed to be in the past or is supposed to be now.

 

Tottenham have won 2 league titles in their entire history - less than Huddersfield, Blackburn, Wolves and Sheffield Wednesday.

 

Just get these nomarks beat, Reds.

You forgot to mention city, without the billions they'd be mid table where they belong. 

[Dapower]

I never knew they were relegated in 1977 I was born year after and growing up I was football nerd i could name all the players like the panini sticker books but I think the double they did some of the famous players and the early 80’s cups and uefa win is about it oh and the cockney El Tel love affair with the media 

[Butch]

Can we smash this cunt Thursday. He belongs in the "cunts like to smash thread. 

[The Midnight Rambler]

Can any of these panic buys gravy chops has signed play Thursday?

[AngryOfTuebrook]

17 hours ago, elvis said:

If they weren't from London no one would consider them as remotely a big club . No bigger than city before their sugar daddy's arrived on the scene.

Nice kit, though.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Is this too much to ask for?

 

[Scott_M]

20 hours ago, Butch said:

Good Memories 

Of the FA Cup?

[Scott_M]

I see Radu Dragusin has done his ACL.