Ben Davies created the Royal Antwerp move, with a desperate lack of concentration which resulted, not in the Welshman being fouled, rather him falling over as he managed to lose his bearings when put under pressure.
Davies fell over and the game was afoot as they say in all good Sherlock Holmes reruns. Royal Antwerp broke, seizing upon the gift that was a Tottenham backline of just two men, one of whom was doing the breaststroke in the grass.
Note the position of Giovani Lo Celso. He’s stood just ten yards behind the fall, and yet is stationary. As the break gets underway, Sanchez is left in the unenviable position of having two attackers bearing down on his 18 yard box. The Spurs figure in the top right of this picture is Ben Davies, who has got back on his feet and is chasing back. Inevitably, the ball is crossed at the moment Davison Sanchez commits, Davies’ arrival is too late, and just breaking into a jog to the right is Lo Celso. Within a nano second of the final shot peeling off, Davies is still a yard shy of getting a shoe into proceedings. With the entire goal to aim at, Mbokani hits the ball to Lloris’ left and it’s all over.
Lo Celso’s involvement was not just pitiful, but what happened to defending as a team? With Aurier miles out of position, the chance of being caught on the hop was always there, however nobody other than Davies bothered to move.
The two attacker versus one defender sketch was immediately obvious to everyone watching – bar- a good number of our lot. Shocking standards and no wonder Mourinho went berserk at half time, making 4 substitutions, including Lo Celso.
If we can’t rely on these players to start this game we need to ship them out , my god what’s the point of them being here if they can’t be started in a Europa group match
Davies, Winks, Sanchez, Sissoko, Lo Celso and Bergwijn not good enough for a team chasing the title based on what I’ve seen so far. Just my own personal assessment.
mikey hughes
3 years ago
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t rate Lo Celso on what I’ve seen so far.
Expectation is high from some sectors of the Spurs community and yet we cannot beat a Championship quality Antwerp team, nevermind a Ch Lg final. Add this to the inability to put Newcastle to bed, hold on to a 3-0 lead and get schooled by the only decent and top half team we have played (Everton) and we are not as good as some may think we are. Trophy winning teams do not play like this do they, but in Jose’s defence, if a trophy is on the line that team will be nowhere near playing? The Utd game was good, but the sending off changed the game so that is an anomaly. It just needs to be better, which obviously Jose knows. But there are too many games where it needs to be better, Burnley being another. Will be interesting how he plays the second string again because he has to to spare the legs of Son, Kane, Hojbjerg et al.
All of this. Did you also notice that when faced with 2 players bearing down on goal Sanchez has to choose to close down one or the other. He does neither and doesn’t even block the pass. Terrible.
CowSpurs
3 years ago
So much wrong with last night. Our second string did themselves no favours at all. You would think these lads would want to play for the First XI wouldn’t you? I think until Bale is fit he should be played as a 10. When you play out wide you have to be able to run beyond and stretch a defence. Bale was no way near. Bergwijn is lost, but for me he needs to play wide right. He is a square peg in a round hole at the moment and he looks totally bereft of confidence. How do you get a tune out of a lad who cannot even play well v Antwerp though? Jose made a half time statement that didn’t work. I would have given the starting 11 an almighty blast and looked to get a reaction. We were only 1-0 down after a stupid error, so the game wasn’t lost. When the subs came on they forced it too much, Son even ran around like a headless chicken. I would have kept Lo Celso and subbed Winks, but Jose has to stand by his decisions. To get a tune out of Dele he needs to play as a False 9, like Gerrard did with Torres. The deeper Dele goes the worse it gets for him. Irrespective of Lo Celso, who didn’t do Davies any favours I thought he, Reggie and Carlos V were ok in the first half, but ok isn’t good enough. Sanchez needs a spot on Rishi Sunak’s retraining scheme because a defender he is not! An I.T. job, working from home might be just up his street. To think £40m+ was spaffed on him. For once, Aurier is absolved of any blame on major disasters, I bet he had a chuckle at the good squad player, Davies!
Legoverlass
3 years ago
When I saw the line up to start I felt uneasy. We had Winks and LoCelso in midfield and Davies and Sanchez at the back with two wingbacks who hold forward positions. To many changes. Playing Bale with these fringe players is not helping him either. He needs to be playing with Kane and Son. We have more depth in our side but we need to kill off games and then bring on our fringe players and not start with them go behind and then have to battle through a 10 man defensive block. Let these teams get their noses in front and you give them self belief and make the game that much harder to turn around. In saying that Davies is just not good enough,Ali hasn’t the character to fight his way back into the squad and Aurier is a defensive disaster along with a light weight Winks and confidence lacking Sanchez. Bergwijn is also a worry. He looks to be carrying to much weight and has lost his pace.
Thats the bit I didnt get in first half alli seemed to always be playing like a striker whilst bale casually jogged back and forth its and no one seemed to be anywhere of use .. …
Maybe all were having cup of tea or going for a poo
ministers cat
3 years ago
You mean the player who in pic 1 is near the halfway line?
Where were the rest of them Winks/Alli etc
You should count to 100 sometimes before putting up your agendas.
Me personally I know where the fault lies.
Poch out
Not planning on killing myself over this result. Anyone would think that we had just lost the Champions League final last night. Some Spurs fans need to man up as do some of our players. Thankfully Davies wasn’t injured. Had it been a Liverpool player he would have done his knee and we would never hear the end of it.
Tappaspur
3 years ago
Another lacking baller not good enough for Tottenham. He’s rubbish. Yeah he played well LCB recently but he’s still not Good enough for my club.
Celly shouldn’t be on that list
If we can’t rely on these players to start this game we need to ship them out , my god what’s the point of them being here if they can’t be started in a Europa group match
Davies, Winks, Sanchez, Sissoko, Lo Celso and Bergwijn not good enough for a team chasing the title based on what I’ve seen so far. Just my own personal assessment.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t rate Lo Celso on what I’ve seen so far.
Sums up Dele!
Expectation is high from some sectors of the Spurs community and yet we cannot beat a Championship quality Antwerp team, nevermind a Ch Lg final. Add this to the inability to put Newcastle to bed, hold on to a 3-0 lead and get schooled by the only decent and top half team we have played (Everton) and we are not as good as some may think we are. Trophy winning teams do not play like this do they, but in Jose’s defence, if a trophy is on the line that team will be nowhere near playing? The Utd game was good, but the sending off changed the game so that is an anomaly. It just needs to be better, which obviously Jose knows. But there are too many games where it needs to be better, Burnley being another. Will be interesting how he plays the second string again because he has to to spare the legs of Son, Kane, Hojbjerg et al.
Not a fan of ‘Falsies’ no matter what context it is used in.
All of this. Did you also notice that when faced with 2 players bearing down on goal Sanchez has to choose to close down one or the other. He does neither and doesn’t even block the pass. Terrible.
So much wrong with last night. Our second string did themselves no favours at all. You would think these lads would want to play for the First XI wouldn’t you? I think until Bale is fit he should be played as a 10. When you play out wide you have to be able to run beyond and stretch a defence. Bale was no way near. Bergwijn is lost, but for me he needs to play wide right. He is a square peg in a round hole at the moment and he looks totally bereft of confidence. How do you get a tune out of a lad who cannot even play well v Antwerp though? Jose made a half time statement that didn’t work. I would have given the starting 11 an almighty blast and looked to get a reaction. We were only 1-0 down after a stupid error, so the game wasn’t lost. When the subs came on they forced it too much, Son even ran around like a headless chicken. I would have kept Lo Celso and subbed Winks, but Jose has to stand by his decisions. To get a tune out of Dele he needs to play as a False 9, like Gerrard did with Torres. The deeper Dele goes the worse it gets for him. Irrespective of Lo Celso, who didn’t do Davies any favours I thought he, Reggie and Carlos V were ok in the first half, but ok isn’t good enough. Sanchez needs a spot on Rishi Sunak’s retraining scheme because a defender he is not! An I.T. job, working from home might be just up his street. To think £40m+ was spaffed on him. For once, Aurier is absolved of any blame on major disasters, I bet he had a chuckle at the good squad player, Davies!
When I saw the line up to start I felt uneasy. We had Winks and LoCelso in midfield and Davies and Sanchez at the back with two wingbacks who hold forward positions. To many changes. Playing Bale with these fringe players is not helping him either. He needs to be playing with Kane and Son. We have more depth in our side but we need to kill off games and then bring on our fringe players and not start with them go behind and then have to battle through a 10 man defensive block. Let these teams get their noses in front and you give them self belief and make the game that much harder to turn around. In saying that Davies is just not good enough,Ali hasn’t the character to fight his way back into the squad and Aurier is a defensive disaster along with a light weight Winks and confidence lacking Sanchez. Bergwijn is also a worry. He looks to be carrying to much weight and has lost his pace.
Thats the bit I didnt get in first half alli seemed to always be playing like a striker whilst bale casually jogged back and forth its and no one seemed to be anywhere of use .. …
Maybe all were having cup of tea or going for a poo
You mean the player who in pic 1 is near the halfway line?
Where were the rest of them Winks/Alli etc
You should count to 100 sometimes before putting up your agendas.
Me personally I know where the fault lies.
Poch out
Started well, needs to get over whatever this alleged injury is/was
Hahahahah
Not planning on killing myself over this result. Anyone would think that we had just lost the Champions League final last night. Some Spurs fans need to man up as do some of our players. Thankfully Davies wasn’t injured. Had it been a Liverpool player he would have done his knee and we would never hear the end of it.
Another lacking baller not good enough for Tottenham. He’s rubbish. Yeah he played well LCB recently but he’s still not Good enough for my club.