| Match report
Tottenham were their own worst
enemy as they lost at the Round of 32 stage for the second season
running, committing basic mistake sin handing FIorentina two goals
to allow the Italian side to go through 3-1 on aggregate.
Mauricio Pochettino changed
things around once more, with the League Cup Final on the horizon on
Sunday. Lloris, Eriksen, Vertonghen, Bentaleb and Chadli
started, while Rose, Walker, Kane and Mason all started on the
bench.
The game was an odd one with
Fiorentina playing more like the away team, with Spurs controlling
much of the play apart from the Italian club's breakaways.
Fiorentina only needed a draw, while Spurs needed to score one more
than them, unless it got to more than one goal for Fiorentina.
The first shot of the match came in the fifth minute when Badelj was
on the edge of the D and was forced to shoot early by being closed
down, but his effort went wide, while Eriksen mis-controlled the
ball on a bobbly pitch just outside the Fiorentina box, with it
running to Lamela, who drove a shot at goal that bounced just in
front of the keeper, but he was right behind it.
On the half hour, Spurs had the golden chance to open the scoring,
as they broke from a Fiorentina corner. Lamela received the ball
towards the halfway line and played a through ball where Eriksen had
run into an offside position just inside the home team's half, but
Soldado had run from deep and was onside to take the ball towards
goal. As he approached the penalty area, the keeper Neto slipped and
Soldado looked to play the ball left to Nacer Chadli, but there
wasn't enough weight on the pass and Neto managed to grab the ball
before the Belgian could reach it. Had it been a better ball, there
would have been an open goal for Chadli.
Crosses came into the Fiorentina area as Tottenham pressed in the
Italian's half, but few found a white shirt and for all the control,
they did not have the goals to match.
Fiorentina claimed a penalty when Gomez's shot popped up off Fazio's
foot and hit his arm, but it wasn't predictable as to where
the ball would have gone, so any award would have been harsh in the
extreme. Lamela got on the end of a long cross, but was penalised
for a foul, just before the half time whistle blew.
Five minutes into the second half, Spurs failed to clear a
Fiorentina attack effectively, with the ball dropping kindly for
Badelj inside the box, but his shot was straight at Lloris. After a
dispute over a throw in which was obviously Tottenham's, Tony
Jiminez was dismissed to the stands and a free-kick was given to the
home side ... what for I don't know.
A minute later Mario Gomez had put the Italians ahead with a
breakaway goal. Fazio gave the ball straight to Badelj on the
halfway line, who played a straight ball through the middle. Fazio
couldn't catch up and the German went on to shot under Lloris to put
Fiorentina 2-1 up in the tie on aggregate. It didn't change much, as
Spurs still needed to score to go through, but they would have to
get at least one to take it to extra time. Perhaps it would be
another case of Spurs doing better when they go behind ?
It didn't look like it when another break on 62 minutes saw Salah
set free through the middle by Joaquin, who picked off Lamela's
pass, but the Chelsea loanee went for a low sliding shot past
Lloris, who blocked it with his legs and grabbed the loose ball.
When Spurs attacked, their final ball was lacking, usually fired
over the men in the middle or played to a man with a couple of
violet shirts around him.
The 71st minute saw the mistake that would condemn Spurs to being
knocked out of Europe for this season. A confused move that saw the
ball bobble off legs as they moved into the box, led to Gomez
back-heeling the ball through into the area. Vertonghen looked to
have the ball, but fell over and left Salah the chance to lift his
shot over Lloris to find the net.
Both goals were easily avoidable and Spurs failed to stop simple
chances arising.
With fifteen minutes left, Walker came on for Vertonghen as Eriksen
lined up to take a free-kick 20 yards out from the right hand corner
of the box. That hit the wall, as one in the first half had, while
at the back, Chirches dropped into the middle with Walker taking the
right back slot. Spurs did walk the ball into the net with Kane
knocking the ball in from close range, but Davies had been offside
before he played the ball across to the Spurs goal-scorer.
Salah raced away from Chiriches, but the Romanian slid in to block
the ball and almost handled the ball when on the floor in the box,
but the Italian side started to win free-kicks with falls every time
they were challenged to run down time and disrupt Tottenham's
chances of moving the ball forward.
With five minutes left, Eriksen drove a left foot shot that was low
and on target, but Neto dived to his left to push it away for a
corner. Gomez then took out Townsend wide on the Spurs right, giving
a free-kick that Soldado got a head to at the near post, to send
Andros' set piece just over the angle at the far post.
I don't doubt that Spurs wanted to do well in this competition after
coming so far, but the League Cup final was no doubt on their mind.
They didn't play badly, but in the crucial moments, they failed to
make good decisions. Fiorentina made sure that they swarmed around
the Spurs players in the last twenty minutes to pressure them into
losing possession and they will have to be careful, because Chelsea
will have looked at our last two matches in which teams have been
playing that way and gaining some reward for it.
Once more, it was a case of Spurs being too loose with the ball at
both ends of the field ... and in the middle. Final passes were
inaccurate, while Soldado's failed pass to Chadli could have put
them ahead in the game to make life more difficult for Fiorentina.
All we can hope is that Tottenham got these errors out of their
system before Sunday, but, while different players might be fielded
on Sunday, the way the defence plays needs to be much tighter.
Players need to think of safety first rather than trying to be too
clever in their own last third.
Here's to a happier day out on Sunday !!
Sparky Marky |
