Dortmund took a large (and loud) away contingent to London for this midweek tie that would see the winner jump to the automatic qualification spots. Thomas Frank’s Spurs came into it on the back of five winless games, with stale displays seeing ever-increasing numbers of fans voice their discontent with his management. By contrast, we had only lost one in our last twelve and, while our own game wasn’t much to write home about, it was effective enough that one might reasonably expect us to win this one.
Unfortunately, we started on the back foot and never quite got off it, as the hosts headed into the break two goals and a man up. Niko Kovac attempted to steady his obviously shaken troops, making two defensive changes at half time, and while Spurs looked far less threatening, our offensive play remained non-existent, with our first (and only) shot on target a Nico Schlotterbeck header in the 91st minute. A well-deserved loss, then, and a huge missed opportunity. Here are your match ratings.
Starting XI
Gregor Kobel: 6
Not much he could’ve done about the two he conceded. Stood up well to Kolo Muani’s late chance.
Waldemar Anton: 4
Gets a point extra for his very obvious desire to keep going even after several of his teammates’ heads had dropped. Timing of the challenge was often poor.
Nico Schlotterbeck: 5
Possibly the only defender to leave this game without a serious blot on his copybook.
Ramy Bensebaini: 3
Really struggled with the pacy Odobert after Svensson’s sending off, didn’t cover himself in glory today.
Yan Couto: 3
I have no idea what he contributed.
Felix Nmecha: 4
One of the first players to lose steam after the second goal. Made several careless errors.
Jobe Bellingham: 4
Started brightly, but looked increasingly lost as the game wore on.
Daniel Svensson: 1
Unfortunately, can’t really have complaints about the red. It put us in an awful position, which Spurs really exploited.
Julian Brandt: 3
The red card left him marooned on the left wing, chasing the shadows of quicker players without support.
Karim Adeyemi: 3
Should really have done better on the break in the first half, but I can’t fault him for his second 45; he had absolutely no support up there.
Serhou Guirassy: 3
Didn’t press, didn’t run, didn’t even look interested in trying to contribute.
Substitutes
Emre Can: 5
Added some spine to the midfield.
Julian Ryerson: 5
Fabio Silva: 6
Gets a six simply because of the insane work rate he demonstrated immediately after coming on. Was clearly up for it and I could imagine things being very different if he’d started up top. A must-start.
Carney Chukwuemeka: 5
Maximilian Beier – N/A
Overall: 3
Spurs were (unexpectedly) legitimately good today and good value for their win. We, by contrast, looked stunned from the get-go and never really got going, with Svensson’s red card effectively sealing our fate. Several poor individual performances were compounded by an apparent lack of belief post the red, making the rest of the game more or less a formality. It’s clear to me that, while a hard worker, Bellingham lacks the requisite nous for this level, and Couto cannot be relied upon to consistently perform. The final player I’m going to single out is Serhou Guirassy, who once again provided zero industry up front; I have no problem with a striker not scoring when he isn’t receiving service, but he really has to have a bit more grit about him and a much better first touch. Fabio Silva looked miles ahead when he came on.
Overall, Kovac’s approach was typically pragmatic, but one has to wonder if things might’ve been different had he reacted better to the red. Shifting to a 4-4-1 resulted in Bensebaini going up against a winger he had no hope of catching and relegated Brandt to a spectator’s role, especially without the more active Silva to make things happen up top. It also put a whole lot of responsibility on the as-yet unready Bellingham and forced Adeyemi into an unnatural wide position. After the substitutions at half, the team was entirely rudderless going forward, as Adeyemi was tasked with making something out of absolutely nothing all on his own. Things improved marginally after Carney and Silva came on, but nowhere near enough for us to even dream of a point. Once, more I’m left wondering if Kovac has the ability to really inspire a team to rally against adversity; we seem more likely to lose from a winning position than win from a losing one, and that was on full display today.
