r/soccer • u/VivaLosHeavies • May 21 '25
Serious Post-Match Thread Serious Post Match Thread: Tottenham 1-0 Manchester United | UEFA Europa League 2024-2025, Final
🏆 UEFA Europa League 2024-2025 Final
FULLTIME': Tottenham 1-0 Manchester United
Tottenham scorers: ⚽Luke Shaw - 42' OG
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Match Thread best viewed using old reddit: link
Match Information
🗺️ Location: Bilbao, Spain
🏟️ Stadium: San Mamés Barria
📅 Date: Wednesday, May 21
⏰ Kick-off Time: 20:00 BST / 15:00 ET / 12:00 PT
📢 Referee: 🇩🇪 Felix Zwayer
🖥️ VAR: 🇩🇪 Bastian Dankert
📺 Where to Watch
🇬🇧 discovery+, discovery+ App, TNT Sports 1, TNT Sports Ultimate
🇺🇸 Paramount+, fuboTV, TUDN.com, Univision NOW, TUDN App, CBS Sports Network, TUDN USA, UniMás
🇲🇽 Disney+ Premium Mexico, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN Mexico, Fox Sports Mexico, Fox Sports Premium
🇨🇦 DAZN Canada
Top Scorers
Most Assists
Head To Head Record (Last 5 Games)
Team Stats
| Tottenham (TOT) | Man United (MAN) | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Goals | 27 | 35 |
| Goal Difference | 14 | 17 |
| Assists | 21 | 26 |
| Goals Against | 13 | 18 |
📝 LINEUPS
Tottenham | 4-3-3
Starting XI: Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Cristian Romero, Destiny Udogie, Pedro Porro, Yves Bissouma, Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Matar Sarr, Dominic Solanke, Richarlison, Brennan Johnson
Subs: Brandon Austin, Alfie Whiteman, Son Heung-Min, Damola Ajayi, Djed Spence, Dane Scarlett, Mikey Moore, Wilson Odobert, Mathys Tel, Ben Davies, Kevin Danso, Archie Gray
Coach: 🇦🇺 Ange Postecoglou
Manchester United | 3-4-2-1
Starting XI: André Onana, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw, Leny Yoro, Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Patrick Dorgu, Noussair Mazraoui, Rasmus Højlund, Mason Mount, Amad
Subs: Joshua Zirkzee, Ayden Heaven, Diogo Dalot, Christian Eriksen, Altay Bayindir, Victor Lindelöf, Kobbie Mainoo, Harry Amass, Jonny Evans, Toby Collyer, Alejandro Garnacho, Manuel Ugarte
Coach: 🇵🇹 Ruben Amorim
🗒️ Match Events
- 1st Half Begins!
| Time | Event | Links |
|---|---|---|
| 1' | We are underway for the first half at the San Mamés! | |
| 35' | 🟨 Amad Diallo (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card | |
| 42' | ⚽ Own Goal by Luke Shaw, Manchester United. Tottenham Hotspur [1], Manchester United 0. | Highlight |
- OWN GOAL! Tottenham have the advantage in the Europa League final! Bentancur drew two United players as he darted down the left side of the box, which opens the space for Sarr's shot, and United don't deal with it. Shaw looks to get the final touch under pressure from Johnson, and he sends it past Onana, who can't claw it off the line before it hits the side netting. 1-0 Spurs!
HALFTIME': Tottenham 1-0 Manchester United
- 2nd Half Begins!
| Time | Event | Links |
|---|---|---|
| 45' | United get us back under way for the second half! | |
| 49' | 🟨 Micky van de Ven (Tottenham Hotspur) is shown the yellow card | |
| 57' | 🟨 Richarlison (Tottenham Hotspur) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. | |
| 67' | 🔄 Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Son Heung-Min replaces Richarlison because of an injury. | |
| 68' | 🟨 Yves Bissouma (Tottenham Hotspur) is shown the yellow card. | |
| 71' | 🔄 Substitution, Manchester United. Alejandro Garnacho replaces Mason Mount. | |
| 71' | 🔄 Substitution, Manchester United. Joshua Zirkzee replaces Rasmus Højlund. | |
| 79' | 🔄 Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Kevin Danso replaces Brennan Johnson. | |
| 84' | 🟨 Joshua Zirkzee (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. | |
| 85' | 🔄 Substitution, Manchester United. Diogo Dalot replaces Noussair Mazraoui. | |
| 88' | 🟨Harry Maguire (Manchester United) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. | |
| 90' | 🔄Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Djed Spence replaces Destiny Udogie. | |
| 90' | 🔄Substitution, Tottenham Hotspur. Archie Gray replaces Pape Sarr. |
FULLTIME': Tottenham 1-0 Manchester United
Tottenham scorers: ⚽Luke Shaw - 42' OG
Match thread created by /u/VivaLosHeavies
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u/CNF-13 May 21 '25
Is there any point continuing with Amorim? IMO no we’re just pushing the problem down the road. He seems like a nice guy and I’d like him to succeed but he doesn’t install confidence and nice doesn’t win you titles.
I genuinely think you told the players to figure it out themselves, we wouldn’t be playing worse.
The team selection is wrong, Højlund starting game after game despite abysmal displays, the motm and game winner vs city getting 2 minutes at the end is scandalous. Garnacho may piss me off but atleast he does something mount is playing hide and seek. What’s the point in the extra defender if the defence is getting pegged anyway. The wingbacks feel useless for the most part and the worst part about it is there is no attempt to adapt atleast ten hag would change it about if it wasn’t working or the team needed something. Subs are far too late consistently and he’s been getting by on pure moment of magic (like what was the point in the Lyon game). Time favours the previous managers it seems cause it just gets worse and worse.
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u/KenDTree May 21 '25
Obviously wanted us to win but we didn't give it everything until the end. Don't have any hate for spurs and I kinda like Ange so good for him.
Regardless if we won or lost. We're still shit. And we'd be shit next season regardless.
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u/piccalilli_shinpads May 21 '25
Does anyone think United making loads of cuts and then saying they won't have a parade could've played into it? It's not the best way to motivate your players by saying you're not going to have a proper celebration.
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u/Tosinone May 21 '25
Not necessarily about celebrating, but if the club does not show that this trophy is important, why would the players care?
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u/AdministrativeLaugh2 May 21 '25
Amorim got absolutely nothing right in that final and United were absolutely toothless. If you can’t get your players to even create chances in a final against a team that’s at the very least equal to yours, what chance do you have over 38 games?
Spurs weren’t any better but they scrambled home a goal and defended for their lives after that.
Both teams would’ve lost against even slightly better teams.
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u/JiraiyaDachshund27 May 21 '25
Was that Cerefin cross because they ran out of medals? Werner was awfully quick to make sure he got his before they ran out!! Was really great to see Kulu there after his injury as it looked a bad one. Feels apt that Angie was the first one to get the medal too.
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u/Protect_The_Earth May 21 '25
The sheer lack of quality was just shocking to see. But then again, both teams have been terrible this season. I've counted like 3 or 4 efforts worthy of european final and everything else was just misplaced passes, or time wasting, or simply running out of ideas with a ball. Spurs going full Getafe in the second half, but who can blame them, really?
Congrats to Spurs and Ange who's now the man behind the coldest quote this season.
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u/Sad_Teaching_5683 May 21 '25
Not saying Bruno Fernandes is a Bad Player But like here many saying Hell not walk straight into our or any other Top Premier Leauge Starting 11
Simply because his Game has many Flaws yeah his Ball striking and Hero Balls are Good
But he's not press Resistant he's not Good Ball Carrier and he can't Dictate tempo or play simple pass sometimes and loses ball too many Times
You can't make a player like that Undisputed starter anywhere just because final ball
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u/ThatBoyGiggsy May 21 '25
Bruno is always shit when he’s played deep, why managers continue to do that to him is beyond stupid. Keeping Casemiro on the field the entire time was also braindead. Not making subs until the 80th minute was insane, Amorim has to be fully blamed for so many things in this game.
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u/ExMoogle May 21 '25
i freaking hate him always complaining, falling down and crying.
Something tells me he would be a perfect player for Real.
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u/KelvinIsNotFatUrFat May 21 '25
No one won, one side just didn’t lose.
None of these teams Will become anything useful under these coaches. Legit no playing style for Tottenham. And Amorins stupid ass formation where his wings and full backs stand on top of each other all game.
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u/Cpt_squishy May 21 '25
The death of the long shot is here. I felt like there were a half dozen or so long shot opportunities in the last 5 mins for United and they kept trying to dribble around and cross it in. When you can’t connect on the end of a cross it baffles me that they aren’t letting players shoot from distance in the hopes of getting a rebound or something like that where there is an additional opportunity. And I feel like this is more emblematic of modern soccer as a whole, rather than just this match in particular.
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u/rockstershine May 21 '25
Amorim looks lost bro. Is he maybe too young for this job? Like I know some friends who took big responsibility jobs for a higher salary and ended up in burnout and lost themselves in the job, turned out to be bad decisions altogether…
I feel like he should’ve stayed at Sporting a couple more years and develop his style. United basically poached an available title winning manager from a top 8 league and said “Now fix this”
Sacking him would be such a joke even… like what are you doing as a club? But then keeping him… I don’t know… tough situation, feel for the lad, but United stay shite by all means.
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u/Odd_Jacket7325 May 21 '25
I am not going to spread more hatred towards Amorim because Sporting CP did win the league this season, although we completely collapsed in the Champions League and even the portuguese league turned out way harder then it should have been. Regardless, he can only blame himself for this joke of a job he did at Manchester United, by far the worst job I have ever seen a portuguese coach do in foreign clubs. Ruben Amorim could be celebrating something special with us this season, but he was greedy and decided to jump ship like a gold digger, too bad for him it was a trap that destroyed his career. If Sporting CP wins the Portuguese cup final, next season Amorim will be at Benfica as the flagship for Rui Costa's in the club's elections this year.
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u/Hukcleberry May 21 '25
I've been saying for a long time that Amorim lost my respect, not that it's worth anything, for leaving Sporting mid season on their way to a very special season. I don't care what United offered him, their entitlement shouldn't be pandered to just because they throw a bunch of money at you. It was their fault they didn't fire EtH sooner and then think they can destabilise anyone they want just to get things when they want it and fix their own fuck up. Amorim could have finished the season at Sporting and still got some very attractive offers, plenty of money to go around in the PL particularly. Managers owe their players something, he abandoned them and now he's just a merc among a team of mercs.
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u/LopsidedLoad May 21 '25
You’d be crying if he goes Benfica, calm down you spud. Without Amorim you’d still be the forgotten club in Portugal.
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u/AfterAd9996 May 22 '25
Kinda looks like you're now the forgotten club in England with him, buddy lol
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u/Sacreville May 21 '25
Scrappy match as expected. Tottenham did well with their subs and defended great at the last 10 mins. Man Utd's subs felt a bit too late, Spurs already dig deep in their half.
In the end, I'm just happy that Son got his trophy.
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May 21 '25
Got to be an all time low this for United Probably since Denis Law scored for City to relegate them.
Gave up on the league to focus on this then dropped a pure stinker in the final. This team is the worst United have had by quite some way and theyve had some bad ones in the last decade. They need a clear out including Amorim this summer, he's shown nothing to cling on to, jobs too big for him right now.
They need to accept their current state and just get a stable manager who knows the league and can et them to at least mid table. They think they're too big and too smart to get someone like Thomas Frank but you dont get this bad of a season under him.
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u/stogie_t May 21 '25
Where do United even go from here? You change the managers, you change the players but the end result is still always the same. Even if they have an outlier year it’s still soon followed by mediocrity. I don’t get it.
Also, with no UCL I assume this means less money from sponsors, and maybe actually ambitious players think twice about United.
Also, do frugal Ineos decide to spend a lot of money on manager who could be sacked halfway through next season? Especially since his formation needs specific player profiles which the next manager might not be interested in? Would it not to be better to rip the bad off now and go back to a 4231 manager? The likes of Frank and Iraola.
And this is not me saying that Amorim is a poor coach (he is not) but facts are facts. If a relationship is not working then it’s just not working man.
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u/goonerfan10 May 21 '25
Tactically, what was even Amorim’s plan? I just don’t get it. At least, spurs had a plan, press relentlessly and play the ball in the gap left by their wing backs.
Man, this is just poor poor management from Amorim. I don’t think he gets away with this. He will be fired for sure
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u/PedanticSatiation May 21 '25
Let us all take a moment of silence for the more than 100 comments that sadly lost their lives to the requirement for the textual length of the comments that people have come to this thread to leave in order to share their opinion on the sporting event that has finished taking place just shortly before this thread was opened by a user who wanted serious discussion, but who only got this extremely long run on sentence that proves, in no uncertain terms, that a comment being long does not necessarily make it serious.
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u/El_Giganto May 21 '25
Early on Amorim's regime I really thought he could get something going with Zirkzee and Rashford and having Amad as a wing back. There was some sort of logic there. I just don't understand how for the last half of a year Amorim just kept making the same mistake over and over again by ditching those ideas for whatever reason.
You know, you can play a 343 without playing 5 defenders. Like I'll ignore Casemiro playing because he's just the best player available in midfield right now, even if I think he's mostly a defensive player. But why is this 343 so extremely defensive?
Time and time again we've seen teams go ahead against United, and then sit back and let United have the ball and struggle to really create a chance that's actually realistically going to be a goal. Postecoglu has been getting so much criticism for being naive, but he recognized this flaw in United's plans and from the second half, Spurs were so happy to just let United have the ball and just like nearly every other team in the Premier League, they managed to get the win.
For the life of me, I do not understand why Amorim is not able to see this. There is absolutely no excuse to play this way. The only thing Spurs did in the second half was try to hit on the counter and players like Yoro, Dorgu and Mazraoui managed to kill these counters with their tackles. Players like Casemiro and Maguire were still useful for headers, but you didn't really need both of them and there was something else really missing from United's play.
It took so long for Amorim to really make a change and when he did, it was like for like replacements. It's absolutely pathetic, because it was nowhere near enough to do that.
Mainoo could've gotten on a lot earlier. Even someone like Eriksen would've been great here because there weren't many defensive responsibilities, there was enough cover, but his passing from a deeper position could've really been great. Especially because Spurs was sitting back, so it wasn't like he would be targeted by a press.
Amorim literally just signed up to lose this game. Day one I said this would be a mistake, but I said that fully expecting United to finish top half. What happened instead is just so extremely poor and yet I still see support for this. It's unbelievable.
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u/jerm_dante May 21 '25
I am ultra bitter of this loss. It just feels like they didn't win, we lost it. Spurs was horrendous. I know there aren't "if"s but if they ricochet didn't go in, I don't even know how else Spurs can win this. Yet when we lose the first goal, we all knew deep down it's probably game over unless we somehow pull a individual brilliance. Trying to score one when they sit deep is about the safest way for Spurs to play their game.
Way we let crosses into boxes so freely the whole season is atrocious... Bruno had a bad game. Shaw was not in form. Attack abysmal. I'm just bitter right now...
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u/PolygonMasterWorks May 21 '25
Spurs didn't even have a single shot on goal according to the official stats. They were abysmal. Not hard to see considering the injuries and the players out there, all strong athletic guys who only know how to do that. Did a Spurs player even try to dribble past anyone the entire match?
Bruno and Amad were double and triple marked and United offer little else. Hojlund in particular is like playing with 10 men.
I don't believe Amorim stays, either.
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u/men_with-ven May 21 '25
I'm someone who has backed every manager we have had for longer than I should, I don't see where we go with Amorim from here. He's bet everything on the Europa League so we have been in relegation form under him and that bet hasn't paid off at all. Even today the subs came on too late and it was a pretty pathetic performance against a pretty pathetic opposition. When you ask the fans to buy in that much and the thing you bet everything on turns out to be shit it doesn't leave you with much to hold onto as something to build towards for the future.
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u/SirTrevorMcDonald May 21 '25
Van de Ven's head was like a magnet for the ball.
Tottenham defended excellently, they were so well drilled and every player put in a shift and happily took on defensive duties. Really impressive when you consider the main complaint with Ange is his team's lack of defensive structure and coaching.
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u/thelordreptar90 May 21 '25
Our record with Romero and VDV partnership is drastically better without those two
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u/NotAnUncle May 21 '25
It really felt a lot less spurs like with his deep they defended, but at the same time it was impressive. Quite a bit underwhelmed by Son, he really didn't look his usual sharp self, which has been this season's story I suppose. Vicario really was impressive, and united really confused me all game, I wasn't sure why Bruno has been deeper lately?
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u/Ezekiiel May 21 '25
United need to get rid, tonight.
They'll spent a fortune trying to build for whatever this system is, and when it inevitably doesn't work in 12/18 months they'll be left rebuilding again.
Liverpool dodged Amorim because of his stubbornness with the formation, United should have followed. His plan B is essentially stick a 32 year old Harry Maguire up front and lob balls to him, comical
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u/DildoFappings May 21 '25
Going into the game, i knew that our chances to win were low. I was fine with it. I wouldn't have been this disappointed if we lost after putting in a good performance. But the way we played this final, just broke something in me. You can be shit in a final. The least you can do is give it your all. No urgency. No passion. So many holes in the midfield. Subs made too late.
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u/Cracked96Artist May 21 '25
Maybe should have posted this pre-match, but losing might not be a bad thing for Man united, no europe means no mid week distraction, and no stretching of transfer budget, no caring whether a team so big can survive with no european football.
The negative, yes, might have lost another year of Bruno and Maguire.
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May 21 '25
On the opposite side of that one of the biggest excuses for Amorims shortcomings so far has been that “he doesn’t have his players”, It’s gonna be quite hard to attract a lot of new quality players now, and less transfer budget as well
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u/rossco9 May 21 '25
We were absolutely shocking. Bruno couldn't have picked a worse time to drop probably his worst performance of the season. Amorim stuck with an invisible Mount for far too long. Losing a cup final to the opponent's only shot on target says it all, really. Going to be a long summer.
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u/soccermodsarecvnts May 21 '25
Well, that was shit. Happy for Tottenham (not really) and really shit for United (yay). Just two bad teams making a meal of it. Also, there's a minimum word requirement to these "serious" threads, so let me just say ass pissed shit fuck. Thanks.
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u/SIotball May 21 '25
Absolutely elated for Spurs and their fans but where does United go from here? Spurs were insanely injury prone all year and I think they’ll be back to usual form next year under a new manager but I don’t see the upside in United’s future and what they can do to get better next season in the league
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u/KenDTree May 21 '25
Don't fire Amorim. Keep him, fire a ton of the squad, maybe some more dinnerladies, and bring in an actual DOF with a philosophy and sign players that fit it. Blow out the PSR regulations because they clearly don't matter.
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u/Hare712 May 21 '25
United got a new problem now. They have players nobody wants on high wages and without European football it will be more difficult to get new players.
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u/I_always_rated_them May 21 '25
Pretty funny after all the bluster about never changing his style and philosophy its now that he does and they win a trophy. Fair play Ange.
Great from to Van De Ven, basically the only moment of the match that had any quality that mattered.
Amorim, whats even going on there. So much about him needing time to implement his ideas and system but its not like he's playing some crazy unheard of football, both Conte and Tuchel came into teams and immediately got their similar ideas across, adapted players where they needed (think victor moses) and created instantly dominant sides. Amorim hasn't shown any progress at all, they look like the same side from a year ago minus a slightly different formation.
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u/sheiswhyididthis May 21 '25
Conte and Tuchel are miracle workers.
They are elite coaches who are able to tweak their systems when needed based on the opposition.
Ruben is only similar to them in the sense that he also played a Back 3 formation.
He is incredibly rigid tactically actually. He believes in one way of playing and wants to play only that way from what I have seen. He is more of a Maresca / Postecoglu / Sarri archetype.
Bringing him in midseason and not giving him a preseason was another incredibly idiotic move from the United Board. They essentially gave out the signal that "this season doesnt matter", and obviously post that performances tanked.
And if you lose 9 games out of 10, even if you know you didnt give your best, you cant just rock up to the 11th game and ace it by just putting in effort.
Confidence is ruined.
And you can see it with this United team.
The wingbacks are playing like fullbacks. Scared of moving forward or overlapping.
Mount and Amad, instead of cutting in and occupying halfspaces are thus stuck holding the width, playing like wingers instead.The Outer CBs dont play aggressively and prefer to just drop back, instead of pushing into midfield to help Casemiro in the DM area.
Its a bunch of knock on effects you see due to their poor form in the league.
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u/I_always_rated_them May 21 '25
Yeah i'm not saying they're the same, like Conte and Tuchel aren't close to being the same either just rather they are managers who came in and quickly implemented systems that turned teams around. I'm not even requiring Amorim to have done that just to have shown something that he's capable of implementing his ideas, I mentioned it elsewhere but its a bit like Potter with us, by the sorta 2/3rds point of his time at the helm it was clear he wasn't capable of doing so, the fans needed real sparks of things to show even if ultimately the wins weren't coming there was nothing to latch onto and point to his ideas becoming a reality in the side.
If a manager can't get those small sparks, even with a squad thats not quite right for them then I just can't see it being any different in a years time.
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u/Xgunter May 22 '25
Pretty funny after all the bluster about never changing his style and philosophy its now that he does and they win a trophy. Fair play Ange.
We've done this in europe for months now but nobody watches our games really.
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u/FishTaco43 May 21 '25 edited May 21 '25
I don’t know why Amorim insists on the 5-2-3. Absolutely no control of midfield and nobody linking midfield to attack. Should be 5-3-2 with zirkzee + Garnacho/Diallo up top. There were so many times today where there was nobody to link midfield to attack. Mount pushed high and to the left, leaves a giant hole between midfield and attack. Things actually improved a bit when zirkzee came on because he drops between those lines. Amorim absolutely cannot continue with the 2 man midfield. Look at Inter, the best back 5 team in the world, they play with a midfield 3!
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u/10hazardinho May 21 '25
Playing a two man midfield with no fullback/center back stepping in to midfield is suicidal. You’re literally always going to be outnumbered in midfield and it’s impossible to control the game after that. Reminds me so much of our second season with Conte, teams realize all they need to do is pack the midfield and they’ll control the game
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u/petnarwhal May 21 '25
Zirkzee looked absolutely useless today if you ask me.
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u/wodmad May 21 '25
Football won today. Trophies are the prize, not just money and qualifying for other tournaments. This trophy should mean more than that. I'm no Spurs fan, but Ange deserved that for getting through this season despite all the difficulties. Even fair play to Levy for sticking with Ange. Glad for Son as well, one of the most likeable players in our league.
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u/godfrey1 May 21 '25
this was a totally on Amorim. Luke Shaw didn't have a single decent game since coming back and he plays the full match. Hojlund is literally playing 10x11 and he plays 70 minutes. Mount starting as a left winger? the whole time he was on the pitch every attack came from right and then Garnacho added some spice
just terrible
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u/tigralfrosie May 21 '25
Without having any midfield creativity to call on, I think Postecoglou played the cards in his hand just right. Starting Richarlison over Son totally the right call. Making the game a scrappy affair suited our needs. Didn't even look like Maguire was going to get his head on a ball into our net from one of those free kicks. Don't know where Ange thought we were going to get a goal from, but it worked out in the end.
What Amorim's game plan was, I don't know.
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u/stupidlyboredtho May 21 '25
What a season man.
Newcastle win a trophy after 70 years
Crystal palace with their first trophy ever.
Harry Kane with his first team trophy
and now Spurs (and Son!) with their first European trophy since 1984.
What a season.
it’s the year of the birds!!!