Tottenham Hotspur got their Champions League campaign underway again tonight as they attempt to follow in the footsteps of their final appearance last season.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the dream beginning for Pochettino as his side gave away a 2-0 lead to draw the match 2-2 against Olympiacos in Greece.
Let’s take a look at the five things we learned:
Not the worst start –
Considering the fact that Spurs played poorly, Olympiacos are tough to beat away, and it was the first match of the campaign, an away draw is not the end of the world. However, Spurs will want something out of the next match against Bayern to set them on their way.
Too many returning players –
Shuffling th pack was always going to be a reality, but I think Poch played too many players returning from spells out. The likes of Ben Davies, Dele Alli, and Tanguy Ndombele are all recovering from injuries and it showed out there. They looked sluggish and sloppy, which really hurt Spurs, particularly in the centre of the pitch.
A no again for Davinson –
An actual right-back in the space that Sanchez had tonight would have torn Olympiacos to shreds. Not only did he play too narrow in defence, but he wasted countless chances to get in behind on the attack. Poch simply must stop forcing this new role on him.
Defending a lead –
The game followed the same pattern as the Arsenal match a couple of weeks ago. Spurs went 2-0 up and looked comfortable, then gave one away on the stroke of half-time and eventually gave away a 2-2 draw from the jaws of victory. They need to work on seeing a game out.
No effort? Fatigue?
I’m not sure whether it was a lack of effort of fatigue, but the Spurs lads looked to be playing at 60% for the entire match. This is the Champions League and I wanted to see players putting themselves on the line out there. If they want to reach another final, the effort levels and intensity has to increase.
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