Spurs seem to have the opposite, with players coming in and slotting straight into the team set-up to play their part.  The previous round wasn't as fluent as we might have liked, but Barnsley came to have a go and that is as important for our developing players as it is for the Championship side to test themselves against better players.  With a raft of young players pushing to break into the first team pool, there is a lack of opportunities for them to get senior football experience.  Poch will be without Tashan Oakley-Boothe who came on against Barnsley, as he is away with the England Under-17 (with TJ Eyoma) where they face Brazil in the World Cup semi-final, but it might give another youngster a chance on the bench, even if it is to sample the big match atmosphere.  Everyone is clamouring for Marcus Edwards to be given his chance, having played a short cameo against Gillingham last season, but Pochettino is handling him carefully, so he is not as likely to feature. 

Spurs will be a bit of a "mix and match" side, with the likes of Foyth getting another chance.  Walker-Peters might play and Llorente will start up front.  GK Nkoudou might get a rare start and while Lamela is not ready to come back yet, Poch has hinted Danny Rose and Mousa Dembele might be on the pitch form the kick off.

West Ham will be up for it, as playing Spurs is always their Cup Final and being at Wembley, even more so.  Being so far behind in the league this early, this might be the only realistic trophy they might win, so expect plenty of Mark Noble type effort,

Also expect Spurs to pick the Irons off and probably declare early.
 

TV
Sky Sports Main Event - (live coverage)
Sky Sports Main Event - Full game repeated at 09.00 Thursday.  Highlights 01:00 Thursday (repeated at 13.30; 16.00; 17.30; 19.30)

For coverage in all parts of the world, check here and here.

Radio :  
BBC LONDON 94.9FM (London area only), Digital Radio (London area only) &  Sky Channel 0152  (live coverage)
Commentary may be found on
>   BBC Radio Five Live (live coverage)  606/939 MW
>  TalkSport (DAB or 2nd89 MW)
>  Absolute Radio  (1215 AM/MW)

If available on BBC radio, it can supposedly be heard in these countries on these stations ...
Australia (Melbourne) SEN  -  116 AM  Live Transmissions: TWI, Saturday. 12.45 & 15.00 matches
Australia (Sydney)  Radio 2  -  1611AM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 12.45 Match
Singapore Media Corp Radio  -  93.8 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
South Africa  SABC (Radio 2000)  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
Uganda  Radio 1 (English) 90.0 FM, Radio 2 (Lugandan) 87.9 FM  Live Transmission: TWI, Saturday, 15.00 Match
North America (USA, Canada, Mexico, Caribbean)  Sirius Satellite Radio  Live transmission: Saturday - 12.45, 15.00 (TWI) & 17.15 (BBC) Wednesday - 14.00 & 16.05 (BBC) Mon, Tue, Wed - Various times (BBC)

Internet :
www.spurs.co.uk   Live webcast  - subscribers only
BBC London - http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/2nd/12/live_commentaries_feature.shtml click on link to "Listen to Tottenham Hotspur live commentary" on top right hand menu.

  2  Kieran TRIPPIER
15  Eric DIER
17  Moussa SISSOKO 
20  DELE Alli 
  3  Danny ROSE  (23  Christian ERIKSEN  83)

  7  Heung-Min SON  (14  Georges-Kevin NKOUDOU  83)
18  Fernando LLORENTE  (19  Mousa DEMBELE  81)

Unused subs: 
22  Paulo GAZZANIGA
37  Kyle WALKER-PETERS
  6  Davinson SANCHEZ
29  Harry WINKS

  8  Cheikhou KOUYATE
41  Declan RICE
21  Angelo OGBONNA 

22  Sam BYRAM
31  Edmilson FERNANDES  (14  Pedro OBIANG  77)
16  Mark NOBLE  (c)
  3  Aaron CRESSWELL

10  Manuel LANZINI  (  7  Marko ARNAUTOVIC  88)

20  Andre AYEW   
  9  Andy CARROLL

Unused subs: 
25  Joe HART
26  Arthur MASUAKA
23  Sead HAKSABANOVIC
  4  Jose FONTE
17  Javier HERNANDEZ
 

Spurs fans may have got their wish after first half chants of "Slaven Bilic, We want you to stay" when the team were in the ascendancy, but the ease of the first half may have lulled them into a false sense of security as West Ham United London came back to win 3-2. 

A meagre turn out for a game between two much changed sides in a less than meaningful competition lead to a half-empty Wembley witnessing not quite a game of two halves, but a game of a half and a fifteen minutes.  Spurs put out a reasonably strong side, as did West Ham, but there was little for either side to take out of the match in terms of performance, although the Irons will be more than happy with the result. 

The first half saw Spurs dominate totally and that might have been the cause of their downfall.  Playing the ball around with supreme confidence, West Ham were never in the first 45 minutes, with their only tactic to hoof the ball in the direction of Andy Carroll's head, with either the diminutive Juan Foyth beating him to it in the air or nobody jumping with him ,as he headed the ball on to ... nobody !!  This left Tottenham able to play the ball about and bide their time to create chances.  They didn't have to wait too long.  Juan Foyth beat Carroll in the air in the Spurs box and the ball fell to Danny Rose, returning in a midfield role tonight.  He passed to Ben Davies inside him and the ball down the left found Llorente, who slid the ball off the outside of his right boot to Heung-Min Son, running on outside him.  Running inside him, Moussa Sissoko took a pass from the winger and took it first time, slotting it low to Adrian's right as the keeper came out to meet him.  It was another excellent goal on the break by Spurs, showing how deadly they can be when using the pace in the team to hit the opposition with a break out of defence.

Tottenham were keener in the tackle, with Ben Davies' crunching challenge on Lanzini being a prime example of how on it, the white shirted players were.  In stark contrast, the Irons were way off the pace and looked like a side destined for the Championship and an exit from the League Cup.  Few of their passes wee completed and their movement was negligible.  This allowed Spurs to move the ball comfortably across the back line and up the field when they found space.  They were getting into the West Ham area, but there was often a defender there to hoof the ball away.  Adrian was brought into action when Trippier's free-kick from the left wing picked out Dele Alli rising at the far post to power in a header that the keeper was alert to and slapped it away.

The lack of quality in the Irons front line was ably demonstrated by Andy Carroll, who tired to half volley a cross from the left, but his swing at it completely missed the ball and it ended up hitting up the arse.  His second go was just as comical and Tottenham had no problem clearing the loose ball.  There was a moment of nervousness when Lanzini's free-kick was knocked straight up in the air in our box by Toby, but after it bounced and still no Iron got near it, Vorm came to claim the ball.  Kouyate shot wide, Son shot into Rice and the game sort of went end to end, but with Spurs having more purpose in their play and were picking off West Ham attacks at will.  it was from one of these that the second goal came.   

A fifteen pass move from right to left and then back into the middle before Son and Dele exchanged passes for  the latter to shoot at goal and Rice obliged with a glancing header that flew past his own keeper and into the net for 2-0 with ten minutes to half-time.  Some West Ham fans started to leave at this point and with Tottenham having had such an easy ride of the game to that point, it must have had all the hallmarks of other games they have walked out of this season.  Dele got a bit over-excited almost handing West Ham a chance when he squared the ball to one of their player 20 yards for our goal, but Juan Foyth got across to win the ball and Dele got a touch at the expense of a corner.  The England midfielder was involved in a break from that corner, but with Son in a  good position, he just ran out of legs and was dispossessed.

Vorm had to make a slow dive to his right to get behind a tame shot from Noble from 20 yards, but then the Irons captain was left floundering, as Eric Dier swerved past him, played it to Dele on the right and his cross into the box was looking for his bromance partner, but it was knocked away before he could get there.  The half-time whistle should have been gratefully received by the visitors, but boos rang out from the claret and blue section as their players trooped off. 

At the start of the second half, Son went down in a heap after losing the ball, but when the ball was put out for a throw-in, Davies threw it back for it to be lumped back to Adrian.  The little jerk Noble took exception to this and started a little set-to, during which he stuck his head into Rose and created an even worse situation.  The referee didn't really deal with it and failed to punish the Irons captain and it was this incident that probably sparked them into action.  They won a corner straight away, but from it, Tottenham broke away and Dele and Sissoko were away, but the ball from Alli didn't find Sissoko and the chance was gone.  Sissoko was having a good game and was always available to receive the ball, even showing a nice line in drag-backs to out-fox a West Ham player. 

When Foyth won another tackle against Carroll to concede a corner, it didn't look too dangerous, but when Davies headed it out at the near post, it fell for Fernandes to shoot and Vorm got down to it well, diving to his left, but the ball was knocked back past him from close range by Ayew.  It was a goal that wasn't something that could have been predicted, so poor had they been in the first half, but Tottenham had come out playing with the flicks on display, which handed an impetus to West Ham that grew from that point for 15 minutes.

In that time they turned a deficit into a lead and both of these came from corners too.   Ayew had already missed a close header, with the ball coming off Vorm for a corner, before a later one wasn't cleared properly and it went on Lanzini on the left, whose low pull back was shot high into the net by Ayew again from just inside the six yard box.  That was two goals in five minutes, with the momentum now with the Irons. 

Tottenham almost hit back immediately, with a ball in from Sissoko hit powerfully at goal on the volley by Dele, who brought a save from Adrian.  But ten minutes on form the equaliser, the winning goal came.  A Lanzini corner to the near post found Ogbonna rising highest and glancing the ball across Vorm to score.  It rocked Spurs, who had declared too early at two.

Once more Tottenham moved forward straight after the goal and Sissoko smacked a shot at goal from 22 yards, but Adrian managed to get his hands to it and flap it wide.  Sissoko was on hand when Rose crossed to the far post but he could only lift his shot over the bar.  Dele was picked out after substitute Dembele's run, but he also shot too high, then Trippier clipped a 20 yard free-kick over the wall but only just past the near post.  Moussa was cynically brought down by Obiang as he looked to breakaway from a West Ham free-kick.  Eriksen had come on for Rose and then Nkoudou replaced Son, but his first involvement was to mis-control the bal and it ran out for a throw-in. 

The last Spurs chance came in added time, with Davies driving a shot in from the left of centre and Adrian could only scramble the ball out to the left, where it was picked up by Spurs, but they couldn't work it to a decent shooting position and the Irons fans were ecstatic at the end of the game.  But then it was literally their cup final, playing it at Wembley and all.  For them, the win will keep Bilic in a job and they can have something to sing about for a while.  Criticising our support was a bit rich, as  when they are not fighting with each other, they are leaving a mass of plastic bucket seats on show at their home ground.  This wasn't for points and would have been approached differently, but the result isn't what Poch would have wanted, as he wants to maintain the winning mentality.

The plusses were Foyth, who looked well in advance of his age, with his reading of the game and his use of the ball, while Sissoko had a good game and Danny rose got some playing tie under his belt, while linking well with Davie son that flank, handing Pochettino another option to his array of systems he can adopt.  Son looked lively and Dele was on the score-sheet again, so it wasn't all bad and it now removes some fixtures form our busy calendar.

At the final whistle, I departed as quick as Wembley will allow, while there were many more Irons fans still inside the ground than one might have expected at the end of a game.  It was a shame, but with the horror of trying top get a tube home, I missed the presentation at the end of the game.

Aidenby Quernhow