Tottenham’s lack of Champions League experience costs them dear
Tottenham’s flirtation with the Champions League this season looks to have come to a dramatic end after last night’s mauling at the hands of Real Madrid. Despite showing a resilience and craftiness to cleverly dispatch Milan in the previous round, this was Spurs returning to the naïve and overeager side that suffered early on against Young Boys and Inter in two of their earlier Champions League away games.
Tuesday night’s game at the Bernabeu was again a case of this Spurs side throwing away a match early on, as firstly they conceded from a straight-forward corner before Peter Crouch’s five minutes of pure madness resulted in the England forward seeing red in just the fifteenth minute. Whether it's nerves, inexperience or over-eagerness, Harry Redknapp’s men have given themselves a mountain to climb too often in order to succeed in Europe’s elite competition.
Their early gung-ho approach against Young Boys almost scuppered their Champions League adventure before it had even begun, before Inter had the Spurs defence all over the place as they tore them to pieces in a disastrous first half for the north Londoners back in October. As it was, Spurs were still able to overcome Young Boys, while their performance in the home game against Inter made up for their calamitous opening at the San Siro.
This time however, they have almost certainly dug themselves a hole that is insurmountable. It’s a shame that their Champions League run - which has offered the neutrals so many exciting games - had to end in such a mild manner, but in truth, it had been on the cards. Crouch will never have made such a ridiculous challenge as he did when diving in on Marcelo for his second yellow in his entire career.
The capitulation after half-time was one of a side who didn’t know how to cope with the difficult situation they found themselves in. Spurs seemed eager to hit Real on the break, when they really should have been trying to keep the ball as much as possible. Redknapp’s men were too direct in trying to get the ball forward, looking for Bale in particular, when the likes of Luka Modric, Jermaine Jenas and Sandro should have tried taking the sting out of the game and keeping possession. Instead they overturned possession far too easily and found themselves under wave after wave of attacks.
A more experienced team may have coped a little better, although it was such a hard task for Spurs after the sending off. Playing against a team with as much quality as Real is difficult at the best of times, but with 10 men, it was a tough ask to keep themselves in the tie. Redknapp would have done well to seek his opposite number’s advice in that situation after Jose Mourinho’s Inter resisted Barcelona with 10-men so valiantly last season for much of the game. The Special One’s know-how that night was vital, as was the experience of the likes of Lucio, Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso and Samuel Eto’o who snuffed the life out of that game - something this inexperienced Spurs side were unable to replicate last night.
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