Gallery: Player Ratings – Olympiacos 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Sanchez – 4

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There are some central defenders that look like they can play full back, not many, not many at all. (I have a secret crush on Jan Vertonghen at full back.) Davinson Sanchez is not one of them. His positioning is out by five yards, his body positioning is set to pass back along the line. I wonder if it’s fair to play him there. The club’s Trippier sale strategy seems founded (if we take Dier to be one of them) on using one of three centre backs out there, or an untried youngster or a full back they were trying to sell. Hmmm, questionable.

Sanchez – 4

Image 4 of 12

There are some central defenders that look like they can play full back, not many, not many at all. (I have a secret crush on Jan Vertonghen at full back.) Davinson Sanchez is not one of them. His positioning is out by five yards, his body positioning is set to pass back along the line. I wonder if it’s fair to play him there. The club’s Trippier sale strategy seems founded (if we take Dier to be one of them) on using one of three centre backs out there, or an untried youngster or a full back they were trying to sell. Hmmm, questionable.

Opinion

This is how I’d liked to have seen this game: glancing down at my phone at full time for the final score and then have a mate tell me Olympiacos are tough opponents at their own place. So, a draw not the worst result, as Liverpool and Chelsea fans would attest.

But …

And we’re right back here where we’ve been before: the performance. When we were strutting about with a two goal lead, we’d had just two shots and they’d had something like eight. It was like scoring against Man City with one attempt on goal. It’s a result (a draw) but not a performance.

Olympiacos were quicker and more incisive and, if you were looking around for class players, they were the team that had them. Spurs were collectively sloppy throughout, seemed strangely unfocused and lacking in confidence – manifested most tellingly in the performance of Christian Eriksen.

In these circumstances, you can think to blame the players, but when it’s all of them, you have to blame the manager, the man responsible for setting up the project. Granted, he must have laid into them at half time because they had their best spell just after, nonetheless he has to carry the can for another unsatisfactory performance.