Hopes of qualification from Group E are literally hanging by a thread.
“It’s clear that tomorrow is the most important game,” Pochettino said. “Our selection for tomorrow will be if the players that are fit or not, that can play 90 minutes or not.
“We need to assess Harry Kane, Mousa Dembele and Dele Alli, if they can play 90 minutes and don’t take any risks that can affect for the next games.
“We have one day less than Monaco to recover because they play Friday, we play Saturday. Today is a very important day to assess and see if the players are fully recovered to play tomorrow.”
“It’s a game that we must win but we need to find a way how,” Pochettino said.
“We have a good team in front [of us], we know Monaco very well. We always want to win every game we play but it’s not about taking more or less risks but to be clever, follow the plan and try to win after 90 minutes. That’s our idea, our challenge.”
That line in bold is what bugs me.
Poch’s plans are neither proactive or responsive.
Which is I guess, what Southampton fans so many moons ago were on about when talking about the lack of Plan B.
What Mauricio offers is a system that produces players that can play to, but rarely deviate from the script.
Hence the fact that we have frequently been so bloody boring to WATCH this season.
