| Match report
Tottenham's Champions League
campaign ended with a whimper and the 0-3 defeat by RB Leipzig might
be the last time we see the Champions League banners around the
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for some time, with a qualifying place
through the Premier League looking unlikely now. Shorn of key
players, it was never going to be easy, but the resistance put up
against the German side did little to keep Spurs in the competition.
With Davinson Sanchez
pulling out at the last minute, there was a place on the bench for
Malachi Fagan-Walcott, the promising Under-23 central defender.
When the game started, Hugo Lloris failed to come out and deal with
a long ball through, leaving Dier put the ball out of play as he
tried to get it back to his keeper inside the first ninety seconds,
but nothing came from the corner. It wasn’t a great start and
perhaps showed the nervousness among the players. Coversely, Spurs
were better going forward. Lucas was just back on his heels when
Lamela tried to find him with a through pass and then Dele to the
ball past Angelino and put a ball across the box that Lamela
couldn’t quite reach. RB Leipzig broke quickly, moving the ball
across the pitch and it came to Angelino in the box to have a shot
that Aurier blocked. When they next attacked, Dier stood up to
Werner’s shot that struck him in the chest, but the ball came to
Sabitzer on the edge of the D and while his shot didn’t have a great
deal of pace on it, Lloris got a hand to it as he dived to his
right, but couldn’t stop it nestling in the bottom corner of the
net. An initial ball down the RB right caught Alderweireld
struggling for pace and the younger legs created the situation the
led to the goal. It was a big blow when the team were looking
decent going forward and it left them needing two goals to go
through if they didn’t concede again.
Everyone goes on about how wonderful it is that RB Leipzig have
reached this stage of the competition and how the manager Nagelsmann
is doing a great job, but they are not so naïve as to know when to
produce a foul to stop Spurs breaking away. Dele’s neat back-heel
set Lo Celso up in the centre circle brought a cynical foul from
Upamecano and that was his third of the game inside 15 minutes. Lo
Celso won the ball in the centre of the pitch and made a good run to
pass right for Aurier to play a good low ball across the face of
goal and caused a hurried clearance from Angelino. Leipzig were
first to the ball again and switched play to Angelino on the left.
His low ball across the face of the box was turned in by Werner, but
he was goal-side of Sessegnon and it was ruled out.
A couple of minutes later,
Aurier got caught under a diagonal cross-field ball and Angelino got
away space to pick a pacy cross to the near post where Sabitzer
headed it goal-wards. Lloris once more got down to it but could only
parry it onto the post and in, although he did try to pull it out a
la Roy Carroll, but with goal-line technology, you can’t get away
with that now. Every attack was channelled down our right, with
Aurier not getting close enough to Angelino, who was becoming the
main tormentor for Leipzig and with three goals needed now, it was
looking increasingly dark for the Spurs side. It didn’t help when
Spurs broke from a RB corner and Lamela was robbed of the ball when
players were coming up to support him. The same happened with Moura
losing the ball without many options when he moved forward from the
halfway line with the ball.
Spurs weren’t helping themselves when Ryan Sessegnon have it
straight to Werner and then Schick shrugged off a Winks challenge to
return the ball for Werner to shoot, but this time it was saved by
Hugo. It seemed like Leipzig were firs tot every loose ball and then
moved it so quickly that Tottenham were always chasing it, as they
were the game.
While little was done to counter the threat down our right, every
time Spurs looked to go forward, they were outnumbered, with no out
ball or option to attack the home defenders. The ball kept coming
back time and time again, even when Upamecano gave the ball straight
to Spurs, he won it back, with Lo Celso having little chance to find
a team-mate. On the other hand, RB always seemed to have a spare man
to receive the ball, with Spurs players not picking up the man in
space.
It took 42 minutes to have a shot on target. Aurier played a little
ball inside from the right wing to Lo Celso, who turned his man and
shot left-footed to curl it towards the far post, but Gulacsi got
down to parry it away and Moura couldn’t get to the loose ball and
Upamecano brought the ball away to the halfway line. Spurs had
escaped further punishment when Schick and Werner got in each
other’s way leaving the ball to be cleared. They also escaped just
before half-time, when the ball got stuck between three or four
players around the penalty spot in the Spurs area and Dier cleared,
but straight off Schick and Lloris had to stretch left to save it.
It has been perfectly clear
for a long time now that we cannot keep a clean sheet and it would
always be difficult with such a sharp and mobile attack as
Leipzig’s, but the nature of the two goals was a little embarrassing
in the way they were created. Sloppy play and Spurs players not
being alert enough made the goals as much as RB’s good play.
The second half saw
Tottenham a little more offensive, maybe as Leipzig took their foot
off the pedal, but as soon as possession was lost, the German side
quickly moved forward in transition. When Spurs looked to get at the
home team’s defence, there were few passes on and lots of white
shirts back behind the ball. Our set-pieces were looking the most
likely way back into the match, but the delivery from them was poor.
Aimless or incomplete passes only handed the initiative to RB and
that lack of a focus for the attack like Leipzig have made it
difficult to get any threat up front. That caused a rash of yellow
cards, as both sets of players settled scores in their personal
battles.
A chink of light came when Winks broke up a move when Schick found
nowhere to go and ran the ball then passed to Dele, who turned
it left for Moura to run at Upamechano. Driving into the box, he
pulled it back to Dele, who couldn’t get a shot away as two men
closed on him.
The game had died a bit
until Upamecano ran forward with the ball from the halfway line and
went for the return, but Lloris got there first and then Tanganga
got to Upaemcano, knocking him over and seemingly out, as he needed
a bit of treatment before he could continue. A minute later, it was
confirmed what we had known for a while, Spurs were on their way
out. Aurier allowed Angelino to waltz past him and his low ball into
the box was mis-kicked, Sessegnon got a bloc in and the ball ran
kindly for Forsberg to put it past Lloris from ten yards out, just
40 seconds after he had been brought on as a substitute. It was an
untidy goal, but not one that looked like Spurs would be able to
capitalise on should they have caused anything like that confusion
in the opposition’s box.
With the game gone, Mourinho
brought on Malachi Fagan-Walcott for the time added on to give him
some first team experience. A lot of the team had given up by then,
as they didn’t seem to want to put too much effort into getting the
ball, while others were still putting a foot in. A five on three
break didn’t even look like coming to anything, as players weren’t
making runs to stretch the three white shirts and Gedson ended up
having a shot from 20 yards that didn’t trouble the keeper.
With half the team missing through injury, it was important to make
the most of any possession we had, but poor control, simple passes
mis-placed and lack of movement condemned Spurs to a knock- out that
really came from the first leg’s loss. In fact, Tottenham were
fortunate that Leipzig were loose in their finishing,
otherwise the score-line could have been a great deal heavier.
The lack of cohesion between the lines and the lack of communication
made it look like they had just been thrown into the same side
without any prior knowledge of each other. Play broke down too
often, with accusing looks thrown in the direction of the player
thought to have not done what the other wanted. Without everyone
pulling together, the season will end up with some wanting to leave
instead of fight to get the club back where they have been in the
last few years. It’s easy for them, as they can just up and move on,
but they should be fighting to make things right, not for the right
to move away.
It is looking unlikely that Spurs will get Champions League football
next season, with Harry Kane already being linked in the media with
moves to Manchester United and Real Madrid, so the break-up of the
team that Trippier and Eriksen started will speed up with new faces
needed to change the way the team are operating.
It’s going to be a hard road to the end of the season, which might
be only nine games, but nine of the most important games we have
faced for a long while.
Spiky Mikey |
