Takeaways: Marseille 1-2 Spurs

Spurs’ 2-1 win at Marseille on Tuesday night was a microcosm of Spurs’ overall experience of Group D in the Champions League, switching constantly between the ridiculous to the sublime in 90 minutes of turbulence.

Aside from the overwhelmingly obvious positive of qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition, the most encouraging sign I took from the game was the players’ response to two ostensibly ‘catastrophic’ moments in the first half – first, Son’s injury, and second, Chancel Mbemba’s goal.

Rather than wilt in the face of such adverse circumstances – and granted, the first-half performance was turgid, with no touches whatsoever in Marseille’s box and our only shot on target was Harry Kane’s long-range effort that was tipped over by Pau Lopez – the players rose to the challenge in the second half and secured top spot in the Group.

Indeed, this response was nothing new. As stated here, Spurs have now conceded the first goal in 11 matches out of 19 matches in all competitions this season, but have only lost 4 of those matches.

This video from ESPN football captures this notion perfectly:

In the video, the point that is raised that I wholeheartedly agree with is the argument that these negative starts to matches, where our players invite excessive amounts of pressure by sitting so deep, are not coming from Conte. Rather, they are a psychological response from players to stressful situations, and, in moments where the players have nothing to lose (i.e. they are staring defeat in the face), they take off their self-imposed straightjacket, press high and start to move the ball quicker.

Indeed, Kane earlier this week alluded to this himself:

“…I think when the players are free and we have nothing to lose, we play better – we get more people forward and keep the pressure on in the opposition half.”

I’m not usually one for ESPN’s punditry, as I find it quite often childish in rhetoric and overflowing with histrionics, but occasionally, Craig Burley and his merry men hit the nail on the head, as is the case in the video.

Ideally, we wouldn’t find ourselves falling behind so often, but if that’s what it takes to get the players playing for now, then I’m all for it. Looking forward, however, the players must lift this psychological stupor with which they start matches. While there is a worthy argument to be had that these first-half performances are a means of conserving energy in a marathon season, if the players set out like this every week, we will be punished sooner rather than later (and yes, I firmly believe this is not how Conte wants to set out – doubters, watch the video).

Even if we do not go out all guns blazing on Sunday against Liverpool, we cannot afford to start so poorly this time around. While Sunday’s visitors are ostensibly a shadow of the side that came within a whisper of winning a quadruple, they still have more than enough quality to obliterate us if we approach the match anything like we approached opening proceedings in Marseille.