With mixed fortunes for Tottenham Hotspur last Sunday as we took victory over Aston Villa, but suffered yet another injury blow with Son Heung-Min potentially now ruled out for the remainder of the season, well, it wasn’t the perfect preparations for tonight’s return to Champions League action as we welcomed RB Leipzig to White Hart Lane for the first leg of the Round of 16 clash.
In a way too reminiscent of last season’s Champions League ‘adventure’, we ultimately lost 1-0 on the night as Timo Werner’s penalty was all decisive. The scoreline does not reflect the game though and I imagine goalkeeper Hugo Lloris’ critics will be silent tonight after the effective master class he put in between the sticks to at least keep the scoreline respectable – and possibly salvageable albeit, the caveat being, our options upfront.
There was definite threat improvement in the second half performance given their first 45 dominance and credit has to be given for that, but truth is, they should’ve been out of sight before we even got to the oranges at the break.
At times, you take what you can and be thankful a second leg isn’t a dead rubber – more of the second half, less of the first please!
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White Hart Lane
Champions League Round Of 16 - 1st Leg
19/02/2020 9:00 pm
Referee: Cakir
| Tottenham Hotspur | RB Leipzig | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lloris | Gulacsi | ||||||
| Aurier | Mukiele | ||||||
| Alderweireld | Halstenberg | ||||||
| Sanchez | Klostermann | ||||||
| Davies | Angelino | ||||||
| Winks | Laimer | 83 | |||||
| Gedson Fernandes | 64 | Ampadu | |||||
| Lo Celso | Sabitzer | ||||||
| Alli | 64 | Nkunku | 74 | ||||
| Bergwijn | Schick | 77 | |||||
| Lucas Moura | Werner | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Vertonghen | Haidara | 74 | |||||
| Lamela | 64 | Poulsen | 77 | ||||
| Dier | Forsberg | 83 | |||||
| Gazzaniga | Lookman | ||||||
| Ndombele | 64 | Wolf | |||||
| Skipp | Olmo | ||||||
| Tanganga | Mvogo | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 12 | Goal attempts | 16 |
| 5 | On Target | 5 |
| 6 | Corners | 7 |
| 11 | Fouls | 17 |
| 3 | Yellow Cards | 3 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 44 | % | 56 |
Yet again another team comes out of the blocks faster than us in the first half they were sharper quicker to every ball. Yet again we give away a stupid penalty. Aurier though good in attack as, a RB oh my god. The last 30 min it was as if the shackles were off I thought we were starting to look like the Spurs of old. Just no one really to put the ball in the net. Dele, LoCeslo, N’Dombele, Lamella, and Lloris all worthy of a mention. Stats time again, for all their play Leipzig were limited to the same amount of chances as us and one of those was a pen. That ref in my opinion is not a fan of English teams I’ve watched him on several occasions now in CL, and National games he gives English teams very little or to be more precise gives more leeway to the other team. BTW I’m not English. He sent a ManU player off when his back was to the player he supposedly fouled. Back to Spurs Jose’s tactic of an hour soaking up pressure didn’t work this time. Hopefully we’ll take em out in Germany. Roll on Saturday.
What I don’t understand about our performances is the inability of the players to start the game well. This is nothing to do with the size of the fit squad or fatigue. If anything we get better later in games.
LT …. I agree. Perhaps the squad start the game more worried about losing than going for a win. Once we go behind and there is nothing to lose we start playing. As confidence in each other increases so will the performance. Hopefully.
The first half was such a disaster that the 1-0 loss felt like a win in the end!
Lo Celso was absolutely brilliant. He was everywhere for ninety minutes. I think he has just acclimatised to the PL. And I don’t think he will go missing in big games.
I have sometimes had the impression that when we play teams that start off with a fast high press, like RB and Liverpool, we look to play a more defensive game and hope to keep them at bay until they run out of steam as they often do by about 60 minutes.
I’d really like to put up a few articles (the usual crap) but there is no point with the way things are on the site.
I said before the game this was a free hit, I still think that. Without our two main goalscorers we created chances but struggled to put them away, not really a surprise. RB broke quicker than any premier league side is currently doing and that did cause problems. But we only actually lost the game through a “what the hell was he trying to do there” moment from Davies. On reflection he probably couldn’t explain what he was trying to do, it was a penalty from the moment he started moving forward. One thing that did help nullify RB’s speed on the break was Sanchez’s pace in defence. He closed down a number of potential openings and even Werner didn’t seem able to outrun him. Realistically even without Davies moment of madness I doubt a nil nil draw would have been enough with the away leg to come and no strikers. You never like to lose but there were actually positives from this game. We defended well for most of it. The players we have brought in look promising, Lo Celso looks brilliant. It was the first real look I’d got at Fernandes and he looks to have real potential, just needs to learn to get rid of the ball a little quicker. Realistically I don’t see what other options Mourinho actually had, however you play with the line up you come back to the fact the players that put the ball in the net are missing. But while the rest of this season could be a nightmare I actually feel positive going forward, Jose has something to work with over the summer and next season could be a lot better.
One other thing, in recent years our experience of German football has consisted of games with Dortmund. I’ve always felt they were a great advert for the Bundesliga, I can’t say the same about Leipzig. Whether it was their fans throwing toilet paper on the pitch or their players feigning injury in the last quarter they really are an obnoxious bunch.
All comments on this article so far, spot on.
There is a good team forming here, esp the showing in last 20 mins, there were more positives than negatives to be taken from the game in general.
My minimum breakdown…
Lloris…immense, back to his old self, mom for me.
Sanchez…best game for us so far, kept Werner very quiet really, played with his heart on his sleeve.
LoCelso…build the team round him, who are ya CE, keep him further forward.
N’Dombele…20 mins of that’s why we bought him, excellent
Lamella…great attitude of you ain’t going to beat me, a real Spurs battler, hopefully can keep injury free.
The 2 players above made an immense difference.
Bergwijn…sorry still not won over by him, probably needs more time.
Lucas…ran his heart out, but am afraid he doesn’t put any real fear into oppo’s defenders.
Why didn’t Tanganga play? I really don’t have an answer for that.
But we still seem to have the same old problem, passing to a team mate, lost possession so many times through this.
In general I believe if we take the game to them, as the last 20 mins last night, in the return fixture, we will make the next round, as I have said before “it ain’t over till” COYS
If what Jose says is true and we are down to the bare bones then I feel that he ought to prioritise what he can realistically achieve with a small group of fit players who will be worn into the ground without the aid of rotation ? It appears we can’t rely on Ndoubele or Lamela , however good they were in their cameo appearances last night as they aren’t fit !!!
Leipzig are not Southampton or Aston Villa where we can hopefully score more than them so I suggest we put this down to a lost cause and if we want silverware then concentrate on the cup ?
I see there are already negative comments ref Bergwijn . Give the guy a chance .
I have been a strong critic in our inability to pass to other team members when pressed .It has happened even against a team , with respect such as Norwich .
So how do we expect to pass correctly when up against a well drilled team such as RBL ?
Surely it came as no surprise to anyone watching last night ?
Allan…I totally agree regards passing to a team mate, even playing a well drilled side, our lads should still be able to pass to a fellow team member, not doing this is as far I can see is simply…panic!
When I played I was always taught “on receiving the ball know what your going to do with it” this it seems doesn’t seem to be the case, and that quite simply gives way to some very poor passing, not reaching, being cut out easily and not knowing what to do with the ball, though I am confident this will all change.
Just had some thought’s regards last night’s game and the even more important game on Saturday lunch time…
Is it possible that we didn’t go full belt last night because of the quick turn around for Saturday’s game.
Because of not going full belt it saves energy for the Chavs game, which as I said is more important.
Is JM and Spurs treating the CL as a “luxury” and not important as we certainly are not going to win it.
I am thinking that Spurs have two no more important scenarios…finishing in top 4, trying to win the FA Cup.
Completing the two scenarios would make our season sweet in the end.
Just some thought. COYS
PY …. I don’t think any player at this level starts one game whilst worrying about the next one. It’s simply a case of ‘one game at a time’ and give it your all. Otherwise there is no point. It’s up to the manager to juggle the squad …. but no manager worth his place would tell his players to take it easy because of another game coming up.
We were out played in 1st half, did better from 60mins onwards. Sonny and HK10 is massive setback. Now we will see the Jose of old.. tactical and personality will see how he has won so many trophies so far. Dele needs to show adult attitude now, and try to lead the line when playing… Talking of that, Troy Parrot should be given a chance now, as a 60 min sub to see how he can play in 1st team under pressure. I think troy will do ok….
Sissoko I seem to remember after he scored a goal at WHL he said that he played as a striker before, so as soon as he is fit Jose could try him upfront.
Chaves will be pressing us like mad on saturday, so it will be….action stations…all hands on deck time. I just hope we nick the 3 points like last week… COYS
block 108…..I believe Sissoko is expected to be out for about the same time as HK10.
A lot of fuss being made about Dele’s strop when substituted, I don’t believe it was anything to get fussed about, he was clearly frustrated that he wasn’t able to affect the game in the way he would have liked. I’m sure Jose also had Saturday in mind when taking him off.
Seen quite a few reports and comment going on about our being outclassed in this game. Being outclassed means losing 7-2 to Bayern Munich (with Poch in charge btw) not losing 1-0 to RBL as a result of a penalty given away by a player barely back from a long term injury.
In fact the stats show a much more even game with a 43:56 split in possession (The Guardian puts it at 50:50 btw), a 12:16 split in shots off target and a 5:5 split in shots on target. Not bad for a team lacking their two most potent strikers and no recognised striker good enough for a match like his.
And in a two legged game where away goals are doubled in the final countdown a crucial consideration for the home teams is to keep the away team from scoring and if they do score keeping it down to one goal. Spurs did that despite the shock to their system of losing Son just a few days ago and they showed enough attacking prowess in the last quarter of the game to indicate that this tie is not all over. As I’ve said about other games that’ll do me for now in present circumstances.
PY……I think there is some logic to what you intimate about priorities. Let’s face it, given the circumstances we aren’t in with much of a chance of winning the CL this season, while I’m sure we go into every game wanting to win there is some logic to using squad rotation as a form of prioritising the PL and FA cup. It would serve us better to ensure CL qualification for next season if we can (rather than go out at the semi stage this season for example) as it would aid our ability to recruit in the summer window.
* given the circumstances we ARE in
* I was right the first time, jeez I had better reduce the tablets! lol
TQ2.. yes April Moussa due back. so a few games for him and HK10 and for Jose to get his summer transfer plans in place.
Stan have a look at the stats as more detailed in newspapers / online. In 1st half Spurs were well down across the board, yet lucky at 0-0 to half time. We were outplayed. Then got going a bit better after the germans penalty.
Seems the therory of Jose tactics of starting slow, then upping tempo at 55 mins to max effort 70 mins to end of full 90 mins is happening every game.
Block 108, Jose’s tactic of starting slow etc to the degree used in the RBL match was used only once before, against a City team playing a similar kind of game. We won that one so it’s not surprising that Jose tried it again against RBL, particularly in the dire circumstances of that match.
TQ….thanks for the response, I will take the defeat yesterday and a win on Saturday, every time, esp as things are at the mo, plus I do believe 4th spot and the FA cup are the main targets, esp with a depleted squad.
If memory serves me right a couple of seasons ago we resorted to a back 3 with wing backs and finished the season well, maybe that time is here again, so say for v Chavski….
Lloris
Sanchez…Toby…Tanganga
Aurier…Winks…N’Dombele…Davies
Deli…Stevie…LoCelso
Fairly good bench
Just some bored thoughts again lol! COYs