The Schalke lineup Spurs might go for
It's that time of your again where every armchair manager puts down their games console, or whatever it is you guys use for these things, and starts picking their team for the upcoming game.
Our final pre-season friendly is against Bundesliga side Schalke at 5.30pm UK time. Last Saturday in Germany they drew 0-0 with our first opponents in the Premier League West Ham and the following day in the same pre-season tournament lost 3-1 to Newcastle United. On Tuesday they drew 1-1 with Bocham, while their early games in pre-season were an 11-1 win against DJK Rosenheim and a 2-1 victory over Stoke City.
They finished second in their Champions League group behind Chelsea before being knocked out by champions Real Madrid in the last 16. In their domestic league they finished third.
Being the last warm up game before West Ham next Saturday Pochettino will want his first XI on the pitch at some point for at least a half. He will also want to give time to players who may still be challenging for certain positions, potentially some time to World Cup players we haven't seen yet or players like Walker if he is returning from injury.
The majority of the side we probably all know but there are a couple of spots probably open to debate.
I would expect to see Lloris start and Michel Vorm probably get 45 minutes as well in front of home fans. It would help him settle at the club to get a warm reception from the fans, it is always nice to be wanted, even for a professional footballer.
Kyle Walker seems not to have made the recovery from injury this summer that we would have hoped and as he didn't figure against Celtic at all looks highly unlikely to start the season next week so Kyle Naughton fills the berth.
There will be great debate as to who plays alongside Vertonghen, we could see Michael Dawson there, assuming he is fit, if not then Younes Kaboul but I have my doubts we will see Chiriches in a Spurs shirt again. New boy Eric Dier is also sure to get time which leaves Zeki Fryers as fifth choice. If however we have decided that Younes Kaboul is definitely leaving then the four centre-backs we use may be Dawson, Vertonghen, Dier and Fryers.
Our two left-backs, Ben Davies and Danny Rose are sure to get 45 minutes each, this time of the season is not the time to annoy Danny Rose by leaving him sat on a bench. Pochettino will want to show them they are still fighting for a starting slot.
Etinne Capoue is our first choice defensive midfielder it seems, with a toss up between Mason and Bentaleb possibly for the West Ham game so whoever gets the nod in the 'first team' today will start then I expect.
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Paulinho needs a rest, as probably does Dembele, but we have Sandro as well to take over from Capoue, he seems to be his understudy in most pre-season games so far.
Ahead of them are the three we have been picking, more game time together to get them ready with the understudies Holtby, Kane and Townsend coming on again to take over.
Up front Adebayor will I expect be starting the first league game so he'll be in the main side with Soldado taking over for a half. All in all it will be very much as it was against Celtic, it's just a question of which half you play the first team in.
If we start playing World Cup players we are, as Arsene Wenger says, risking them getting injured through fatigue in October and missing a chunk of the season, better to rest them now and use the squad for the first couple of games.
Our final pre-season friendly is against Bundesliga side Schalke at 5.30pm UK time. Last Saturday in Germany they drew 0-0 with our first opponents in the Premier League West Ham and the following day in the same pre-season tournament lost 3-1 to Newcastle United. On Tuesday they drew 1-1 with Bocham, while their early games in pre-season were an 11-1 win against DJK Rosenheim and a 2-1 victory over Stoke City.
They finished second in their Champions League group behind Chelsea before being knocked out by champions Real Madrid in the last 16. In their domestic league they finished third.
Being the last warm up game before West Ham next Saturday Pochettino will want his first XI on the pitch at some point for at least a half. He will also want to give time to players who may still be challenging for certain positions, potentially some time to World Cup players we haven't seen yet or players like Walker if he is returning from injury.
The majority of the side we probably all know but there are a couple of spots probably open to debate.
Hugo Lloris
Kyle Naughton Michael Dawson Jan Vertonghen Ben Davies
Etienne Capoue Nabil Bentaleb
Erik Lamela Christian Eriksen Aaron Lennon
Emmanuel Adebayor
I would expect to see Lloris start and Michel Vorm probably get 45 minutes as well in front of home fans. It would help him settle at the club to get a warm reception from the fans, it is always nice to be wanted, even for a professional footballer.
Kyle Walker seems not to have made the recovery from injury this summer that we would have hoped and as he didn't figure against Celtic at all looks highly unlikely to start the season next week so Kyle Naughton fills the berth.
There will be great debate as to who plays alongside Vertonghen, we could see Michael Dawson there, assuming he is fit, if not then Younes Kaboul but I have my doubts we will see Chiriches in a Spurs shirt again. New boy Eric Dier is also sure to get time which leaves Zeki Fryers as fifth choice. If however we have decided that Younes Kaboul is definitely leaving then the four centre-backs we use may be Dawson, Vertonghen, Dier and Fryers.
Our two left-backs, Ben Davies and Danny Rose are sure to get 45 minutes each, this time of the season is not the time to annoy Danny Rose by leaving him sat on a bench. Pochettino will want to show them they are still fighting for a starting slot.
Etinne Capoue is our first choice defensive midfielder it seems, with a toss up between Mason and Bentaleb possibly for the West Ham game so whoever gets the nod in the 'first team' today will start then I expect.
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Paulinho needs a rest, as probably does Dembele, but we have Sandro as well to take over from Capoue, he seems to be his understudy in most pre-season games so far.
Ahead of them are the three we have been picking, more game time together to get them ready with the understudies Holtby, Kane and Townsend coming on again to take over.
Up front Adebayor will I expect be starting the first league game so he'll be in the main side with Soldado taking over for a half. All in all it will be very much as it was against Celtic, it's just a question of which half you play the first team in.
If we start playing World Cup players we are, as Arsene Wenger says, risking them getting injured through fatigue in October and missing a chunk of the season, better to rest them now and use the squad for the first couple of games.
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