Earlier this evening Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino sent his first team squad into battle against Maurizio Sarri’s Chelsea side with both sides looking to take a first leg advantage in the EFL Cup semi-finals.
With the prospect of silverware high on the agenda at Spurs this season following a very solid first half of the season, Harry Kane’s first half penalty in the 26th minute was enough to secure the first leg win and give us the narrow 1-0 advantage as we go into the later trip to Stamford Bridge to complete the tie.
With plenty of complaints about the Video Assistant Referee system, it was our friend on the evening and although the visitors had more of the ball and the greater chances overall, a tight and organised performance from us has to be applauded, even if we weren’t at our best.
Speaking to the BBC following the fulltime whistle, Poch said of the major incident in the game – VAR.
“I don’t like the VAR. Today we get the benefit of it but after watching the World Cup and another league like La Liga I see that nobody is happy from day one that they started to use it. To get the benefit is nice but I am unhappy to win the game like this. We all have to agree, the players, the coaching staff, I watch La Liga every week and nobody is happy, the big clubs and the small clubs. If you are playing to win the title or to stay up nobody is happy. That is a good example for us. We have six months to improve the system and there is a lot of work to do.”
Poch may be right in saying he didn’t want to win by VAR, but it was the right call despite Chelsea’s whinging from what I’ve seen.