Gazzaniga – 6
A mixed night. Granted he was made to look foolish letting the first goal in through his legs. His inability to adjust to several other players having already done the same was forgivable. He made a couple of good stops and some thrilling distributions. He looked nowhere near the penalties
Match Summary
You don’t want to hand out assessments and judgements in these circumstances. We were close to a final and it was not to be. The players, I have no doubt, will be desperate in their disappointment. Nobody could tell me that Pochettino didn’t want it really badly. But, it was not to be.
In the first half, Spurs had not one ounce of self-belief. How lucky, in many ways, they have been, in the last few years, to have scooped a tiny handful of world-class players from nowhere. Without the substantial part of that group they had no faith, they could pass the ball, let alone retain possession, let alone have a shot, let score a goal.
I blame the centre spine of the midfield diamond. Dier was mainly responsible for the fact we were overrun through the centre, time and time again. If the team was swamped, no one was more so than Eriksen who gave us no promise of managing possession, let alone threat.
The character to come out in the second half and fight the way they did contribute to one of our finest ever recoveries, given how firmly our neck had been under the Chelsea boot in the first half. The positivity in these grades is in recognition of that character.
Otherwise, amidst the brutality of a thrilling cup tie, amidst the freezing temperatures, God knows where that leaves us in terms of injuries.
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