12 minutes ago, Delnino said:

There wont be a better opportunity to beat Spurs than right now, they're missing so many.

 

And if the unthinkable happened & we don't, we'd never hear the end of it for years to come.

Spurs are mostly missing players up front. Our biggest issue right now is scoring goals and that won't be helped massively by the missing players.

5 hours ago, robdog said:

simple FYI:

 

Surely Spurs will spend some money now.

3 hours ago, The Leigh Limpet said:

And if the unthinkable happened & we don't, we'd never hear the end of it for years to come.

f**kin bang on. I can hear em already, "couldn't even beat our reserves at your gaff"

I don't see 2 goals in this team, so  1:0, penalty and Gk wins the day for us.

Even with their injuries it will still come down  to attitude, if we play like we did against arsenal we're out.

Edited January 23, 20197 yr by Kev56

38 minutes ago, Kev56 said:

Even with their injuries it will still come down  to attitude, if we play like we did against arsenal we're out.

Exactly. We all know we are capable of giving Sp*rs a good hiding tonight but when have we looked like giving anyone a hiding this season and the worry is we are equally likely to huff & puff, pass & pass and fail to register a goal again.

I will have some faith if Sarri makes changes - he HAS to make changes, but we're going over old ground here and at the end of the day it's his head on the block if he f**ks up. 

16 minutes ago, Nibs said:

Exactly. We all know we are capable of giving Sp*rs a good hiding tonight but when have we looked like giving anyone a hiding this season and the worry is we are equally likely to huff & puff, pass & pass and fail to register a goal again.

I will have some faith if Sarri makes changes - he HAS to make changes, but we're going over old ground here and at the end of the day it's his head on the block if he f**ks up. 

Could be a defining moment in Sarri's short Chelsea career, it might only be a league cup, but its against that Lot! and after rounding on the team publicly on Saturday night he needs a reaction and a big one!!! If we go out with a whimper on Thursday then he could be in trouble further down the line. I hate to say it but I got a feeling I know which way its going to go and it ain't pretty. I pray I'm wrong about Thursday.

2 hours ago, chi blue said:

Could be a defining moment in Sarri's short Chelsea career, it might only be a league cup, but its against that Lot! and after rounding on the team publicly on Saturday night he needs a reaction and a big one!!! If we go out with a whimper on Thursday then he could be in trouble further down the line. I hate to say it but I got a feeling I know which way its going to go and it ain't pretty. I pray I'm wrong about Thursday.

While us fans will be upset if we go out against Spurs (especially if it is with a whimper using a false 9), I suspect Sarri will be under more pressure from the club if we fail to make top 4 and Champs League for next season. That seems to be the club's main target this season. I suspect Higuain was brought in mostly in support of that goal, and I won't be surprised if he doesn't start until our next league game at Bournemouth.

3 hours ago, chi blue said:

Could be a defining moment in Sarri's short Chelsea career, it might only be a league cup, but its against that Lot! and after rounding on the team publicly on Saturday night he needs a reaction and a big one!!! If we go out with a whimper on Thursday then he could be in trouble further down the line. I hate to say it but I got a feeling I know which way its going to go and it ain't pretty. I pray I'm wrong about Thursday.

Also to add to your point, Don Maurizio has never won anything. Winning the League Cup would be a step in the right direction for Don Maurizio. Remember Brian Clough always took this competition seriously & look how he turned out as a gaffer.

8 minutes ago, robdog said:

Also to add to your point, Don Maurizio has never won anything. Winning the League Cup would be a step in the right direction for Don Maurizio. Remember Brian Clough always took this competition seriously & look how he turned out as a gaffer.

So did Mourinho.

Spurs have 3 out of their 4 best attacking players out. I was trying to make the same comparison with Chelsea and it would be only Hazard  losing Willian, Pedro, Kovacic, Giroud or Morata doesn't really make a big difference.

If we win tomorrow I suspect it will be along the same lines of the way we beat City, with goals coming from midfield or defense. Even if we start with Giroud he hasn't managed to find the net too often this season.

this is a depleted spurs, you would think he would play giroud, cut hazard loose and let him tear them up, but we all know this aint gonna happen "yawn". i actually feel a bit for giroud, good enough to make the world cup winning squad but not good enough for chelsea, i do not think he has been given any sort of chance by sarri, must be pants turning up every morning knowing the gaffer don't rate you, just count your wages i suppose

14 minutes ago, luckywerthers said:

this is a depleted spurs, you would think he would play giroud, cut hazard loose and let him tear them up, but we all know this aint gonna happen "yawn". i actually feel a bit for giroud, good enough to make the world cup winning squad but not good enough for chelsea, i do not think he has been given any sort of chance by sarri, must be pants turning up every morning knowing the gaffer don't rate you, just count your wages i suppose

He was awful in the World Cup though and it’s more a case of France won the Cup despite having Giroud as their frontman. I can’t really fault the manager if in 31 appearances (12 starts) in the PL since he joined us he has only scored 4 goals. 

Puzzled why he hasn’t been loaned out to a West Ham to run down the last 6 months, and allowing Tammy to audition for his long term future till the end of season. 

1 minute ago, ducavis said:

He was awful in the World Cup though and it’s more a case of France won the Cup despite having Giroud as their frontman. I can’t really fault the manager if in 31 appearances (12 starts) in the PL since he joined us he has only scored 4 goals. 

Puzzled why he hasn’t been loaned out to a West Ham to run down the last 6 months, and allowing Tammy to audition for his long term future till the end of season. 

yeah i suppose those stats aint so clever, i just get frustrated with hazard being wasted all the time

I'm confident we will do them. Expecting a massive response from that sh*t show against arsenal. 

 

 

If 'they' had been at full strength, I would have expected them to 'come out the traps all guns blazing' & go for an early goal. But now expect them to sit deep, let us have most possession ( like 2nd half in 1st leg ), & just try to catch us on the break.
Def gonna be interesting from both sides re tactics & game plan.

1 minute ago, The Leigh Limpet said:

If 'they' had been at full strength, I would have expected them to 'come out the traps all guns blazing' & go for an early goal. But now expect them to sit deep, let us have most possession ( like 2nd half in 1st leg ), & just try to catch us on the break.
Def gonna be interesting from both sides re tactics & game plan.

Yes I noticed Harry Winks on the last MOTD and he took his goal very well, it reminded me of Falcao in his prime how he got the ball deep and ended up on the end of the movement.

Sometimes these chaps on the bench play out of their skins when they get their chance, normally just the one match though there is always one exception. 

 

34 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Yes I noticed Harry Winks on the last MOTD and he took his goal very well, it reminded me of Falcao in his prime how he got the ball deep and ended up on the end of the movement.

Sometimes these chaps on the bench play out of their skins when they get their chance, normally just the one match though there is always one exception. 

 

I thought you meant Marc Falco when I first read it!!! One for the older fans, we had him on loan lasted 3 games and went back to Spuds!

39 minutes ago, Strider6003 said:

Yes I noticed Harry Winks on the last MOTD and he took his goal very well, it reminded me of Falcao in his prime how he got the ball deep and ended up on the end of the movement.

Sometimes these chaps on the bench play out of their skins when they get their chance, normally just the one match though there is always one exception. 

 

Winks has been starting more regularly for them this season and looks an impressive player. He has broken into the England squad too.

Tomorrow I would like to see a team effort that feels like the Chelsea of old. I want to see us play every trick in the book. I want to see us ‘leave a bit’ on one of their players early on and set the tone of the game from the first minute by playing aggressively and on the front foot. Surround the referee when they foul Hazard and demand he draws a card, he’s our star man for goodness sake, we need to protect him! Get the crowd on side and really go after them from the first minute, rather that letting them play on their own terms as we did against Arsenal.

My ideal 11 would be

Kepa

Azpi Rudiger Luiz Emerson

Kante Jorginho Barkley

CHO Giroud Hazard

I don’t expect that to be the 11 we go with but I can hope! 

Regardless of who starts let’s really press them and force them into mistakes, rather than vice versa. Be aggressive and let’s have back some of the nastiness that we’ve really lost over the last year or so. I want us to be the team everyone loves to hate because we’re a horrible bunch to play against, not the team you know you can roll over if you’re aggressive and rough them up. For years Wenger bemoaned how aggressive teams were against his Arsenal side which was utter rubbish. Please don’t let us go that way. 

KTBFFH

5 hours ago, forbzy said:

While us fans will be upset if we go out against Spurs (especially if it is with a whimper using a false 9), I suspect Sarri will be under more pressure from the club if we fail to make top 4 and Champs League for next season. That seems to be the club's main target this season. I suspect Higuain was brought in mostly in support of that goal, and I won't be surprised if he doesn't start until our next league game at Bournemouth.

Call me old fashion but getting in the top four is a nice bonus at end of season, but unless we are up there fighting for title, it means Jack sh*t to me, rather win a cup and have a good day out at Wembley. From the day I saw Colin pates lift the full members cup to Wisey lifting fa cup in 97 and the manyy more since, nothing gives more pleasure than seeing us lift a trophy!!! 

Play the false 9 and we go out I think.

We need giroud, CHO and hazard to start to stand a chance of going through.

We lose to Spuds again, this time with three of their best players unavailable, then I'd question Sarri's tactics for the first time.