Opinion: San Siro stutter shows Tottenham still lack creativity

After a three-month hiatus, Tottenham returned to UEFA Champions League action on Tuesday night in what was a forgetful first leg against AC Milan.

Ahead of the game, both sides were missing big players; captain Hugo Lloris remained absent whilst midfield trio Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Yves Bissouma, and Rodrigo Bentancur missed the game through suspension and injury respectively (Sofascore).

As for the hosts, keeper Mike Maignan, defenders Alessandro Florenzi and Fikayo Tomori, midfielder Ismael Benancer, and forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic all also missed the tie through injury, meaning neither side could field anything close to their strongest Xi.

Conceding in the opening 10 minutes saw Spurs get off the worst possible start, giving an already electric San Siro crowd something to get behind.

A simple ball over the top saw Theo Hernandez get the better of Romero before Dier allowed him too much space to drill a well-hit shot at Fraser Forster which the Englishman saved with his chest.

Unfortunately, the rebound fell kindly in the box for Brahim Diaz and despite Forster making a spectacular reaction save to keep the Spaniard’s initial effort out he was able to finally tap in the rebound on Milan’s third attempt.

Whilst the goal was chaotic and a tad unlucky, it was ultimately still a product of poor defending, as in Europe’s premium competition getting beaten with a long ball from a centreback simply isn’t good enough.

We responded well to going behind, but still struggled to threaten the hosts with any real purpose with Dier’s close-range header and Emerson Royal’s shot from distance being our only notable attempts at goal.

With an xG of just 0.23, Spurs in truth deserved to trail at halftime, with fans hoping Antonio Conte would get to work on rectifying the side ahead of an important second half of football.

However unfortunately that wasn’t to be the case, as whilst Milan defended well when they had to, Spurs again offered little going forward, with Kane, Son and Kulusevski all failing to make an impact.

And frustratingly for Spurs fans, as is often the case, Conte took an age to make changes, waiting until the 70th before introducing Richarlison for Kulusevski and only switching Son for Danjuma with 10 minutes left.

Granted, on their day, Son and Kulusevski are world-class forwards, no one is questioning that. But they – particularly Son, have been out of form for a while and it begs the question of why have Richarlison and Danjuma on the bench if we’re going to allow them such little time to change the game?

That being said, neither Richarlison nor Danjuma did anything of note, and as the game drew to an end Milan looked to be the team most likely to add another goal.

In what was a let-off from more poor defending from Spurs, Charles de Ketelaere and Malick Thiaw both missed guilt-edge headers before Rafa Leao’s poor first touch denied him a one-on-one with Forster all in the last 15 minutes.

As the final whistle sounded, whilst the San Siro erupted, given the hosts’ flurry of late chances it may well be Conte who walks away the happier of the two managers, as with the game still at 1-0 there’s a chance we can turn the tie around in London.

However, if we are to do so, Conte will need to rethink how he is going to cope without Bentancur, as the Uruguayan’s presence was a massive miss for Spurs.

Considering they were thrown into a Champions League tie with little to no game time between them this season, Skipp and Sarr performed admirably, particularly the latter.

The Senegalese midfielder was Tottenham’s highest-rated player on Sofascore, once again passing the eye test following impressive performances against Portsmouth and Arsenal earlier in the season.

Winning an astounding five tackles, Sarr was ever-present in midfield, and he was always keen to progress the ball up the pitch and at least tried to make things happen, even taking three shots himself.

But even so, Bentancur was still a big miss, as although it’s not his primary role in the team he’s been one of Spurs’ most creative players this season.

With six goals and two assists in all competitions, he clearly contributes in front of goal, but it’s the work he does deeper that was amiss on Tuesday.

Bentancur is adept at picking up the ball in deep position, then either turning and running himself or releasing the ball to his teammates, averaging an impressive 5.19 progressive passes per 90 (FB Ref).

This in turn allows Kane to occupy a more advanced position compared to last season where we frequently saw him dropping too deep, thus allowing the Englishman to be the focal point of Spurs’ final phase attacks.

But with Bentancur out the side, the absence of a link between attack and defensive was clear, with no one capable of transitioning play as regularly as the Uruguayan.

Whether in time that could be Pedro Porro from out wide remains to be seen – let’s hope so, but in Milan, Spurs looked like a disjointed, dysfunctional side when it came to starting killer attacks.

Conte will be acutely aware of this, and whilst it’s unlikely he will shift from the 3-4-3, it’s clear something has to change whether it’s a slight tactical tweak or a personnel issue.

Hojbjerg’s return from suspension will certainly help solve this problem, as like Bentancur he also has an eye for a progressive pass averaging 6.7 per 90, but ahead of this weekend’s derby with West Ham Conte will have to address what in truth has been a long-standing issue.

For Spurs, it’s certainly been a week to forget, however with a tough run of games on the horizon West Ham looks more like a must-win game than ever in order to rekindle what had been a good run of form until last weekend.

And in managing to escape the San Siro with just a one-goal deficit, Conte and co at least have some realistic hope of turning the tie at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in three weeks’ time.

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