Five things we learned from Tottenham 1-1 Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League

It’s half-time in the Europa League quarter-final between Tottenham Hotspur and Eintracht Frankfurt as the Lilywhites record a 1-1 home draw in the first leg.

We go again in Germany next week, but for now, let’s take a look at the five things we learned.

Slow start costs Spurs in the end

The last thing you want to do in the quarter-finals of a European competition is suck the atmosphere out of the stadium by conceding in the first seven minutes. Enter, Tottenham Hotspur. While the Lilywhites controlled large portions of the game in North London this evening, they immediately put themselves on the back foot with some shocking defending on the break against the lethal Hugo Ekitike.

Pedro Porro was left isolated and failed to usher the Frankfurt attacker down the line, Cristian Romero was passive in closing down the space, and the likes of Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall arrived on the scene too late. Four Tottenham players surrounded Ekitike when he let fire, yet not one of them broke their neck to throw themselves in the way of the shot. If you start any game casually, you often get punished. If you start a huge European knockout game casually, you always get punished.

Fantastic performance but a missed opportunity

It has to be said that this was Tottenham Hotspur’s best and most comprehensive performance in a long time. Ange Postecoglou’s style always leaves the Lilywhites a little open at the back, and they were punished for that a couple of times tonight, but the payoff was huge. Not only did Spurs score a goal of their own thanks to a cheeky finish from Pedro Porro, but they also carved at least five other great chances.

Lucas Bergvall smashed the bar with a long-range shot. Rodrigo Bentancur rattled the woodwork again from a corner, before going close once more later in the second half. Heung-min Son and James Maddison both called good saves out of the Frankfurt keeper, and Micky Van de Ven had a golden chance to head home in the dying seconds. Spurs should be walking away with a 2-1 or even 3-1 win this evening. You have to say – I hope they don’t live to regret those misses.

Destiny Udogie’s best Tottenham game of the season

Destiny Udogie clearly heard that Manchester City are interested in signing him. After a stop-start season of injuries and poor form, the Italian left-back saved his best performance of the campaign for the biggest stage. Udogie has lacked fitness and match sharpness since his return last month, but he was arguably Tottenham’s most powerful runner down the left this evening.

The full-back overlapped Son time and time again in the second half, delivering some dangerous crosses that his Spurs teammates should have really done better with. One particular run saw Udogie danced between two Frankfurt defenders before earning a dangerous free-kick on the edge of the box – the kind of run we saw him make so often in his breakthrough season last year. Better still, Tottenham looked far more solid defensively down the left than on the right when Pedro Porro went on similar marauding runs.

It’s a shame Udogie went down with an injury towards the end of the game, but fingers crossed it was more fatigue than anything. Spurs need three full-backs at their very best to push this tie over the line next week.

Ange Postecoglou played his cards late

Ange Postecoglou got his starting XI bang on tonight – there can be no questions about that. Udogie over Djed Spence was the main question mark, but the former proved his manager right in the end. Wilson Odobert could have started over Brennan Johnson, but there were rumours of a knock before the starting XI announcement earlier this evening. Furthermore, the XI on the pitch ended up performing at a very high level, even if some individual performances could have been better.

The one thing I was slightly disappointed in was the timing of Postecoglou’s substitutions. Spurs finally have a near-fully-fit squad to play with now, meaning some big guns on the bench to bring on and influence games. With 25 minutes to go, Spurs were all over Frankfurt, before the game started to drift. It felt like the ideal time to introduce some fresh legs to maintain that ascendancy, rather than allowing the Germans to get a foothold once more.

After all, Tottenham had so much firepower in reserve – including Mathys Tel, Wilson Odobert, Richarlison, Mikey Moore, etc. In the end, Tottenham failed to score while they were on top and minutes 75-85 felt like a missed opportunity to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.

Tottenham players need a rest against Wolves

I know Ange has pride and wants to win every game, and winning is a good habit to get into. However, no player in line for a start in Germany next Thursday should be playing against Wolves at the weekend.

Tottenham need completely fresh legs for the away trip to Frankfurt and the Premier League campaign is long since dead. Romero, Van de Ven, Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison, Solanke, and Son – none of them should be starting that fixture.

• READ MORE – Tottenham player ratings vs Eintracht Frankfurt – 8/10 midfielder led the charge