Some fans my be stupid enough to think that a draw is a good result, however to look at this purely as an outsider, they have once again FAILED.
A fast paced start to the game saw Spurs go close on several occassion only for Soldado to step up and score an unlikely volley from a corner. Great you would think but from there it was more missed opportunities and and a complete lack of character.
You have to wonder what Pochettino said to the players at half time as it was like EPL title contenders until they conceded an unlikely goal, to EPL relegation battlers in the second half.
From the outset you would be disappointed to see that Lamela was not started against a team that he would know well and that Paulinho was given a starting berth instead of Stambouli. But within the opening 10 minutes Spurs could have put the entire round to bed.
I found myself scratching my head when Soldado scored a difficult volley from a corner (I would forgive anyone to think it was Kane). Leaning back, tight space vollied the ball just before the bounce and slotted it to the keepers right.
Spurs defending as usual was made to look uneasy allowing Gomez to sneak in and then for Salah to run into the box pick up his own deflection for Jan to dart in and deflect the resulting shot wide.
Chaldi played in Eriksen who had a great opportunity on the edge of the box to shoot over (he slapped his forhead to show he knew he should have scored). But to be honest Eriksen got worse throughout if anything!
Soldado going from good to great and tries an overhead kick, but it was straight at the keeper. By this stage it was 20 minutes into the game and Tottenham were running rings around Fiorentina and in full control.
Next is a definete controvesrial deicision by a ref that let himself down on several occasions. Townsend gets in a cross aimed at Soldado and Savic clears for a corner. As the ball floats in Savic handles Jan to the floor in obvious fashion and was lucky not to end of with his shirt in hands. The ref had clear view so without a doubt he is either thick, blind, unsure of his job or a cheat. Given some of his decisions I would say he's unsure of his job (blowing that whistle must be hard work)!
Now anyone who blames Robbie for the equalising goal can
1. Re-watch the resulting freekick
- Watch Paulinho stand "close" to a player and do nothing to mark him in any shape or form
- Watch the player that Paulinho should have marked score
- Finally headbutt the wall as you need to knock sense into yourself!
Paulinho was completely at fault, he did not mark Basanta at all, Walker had the post and his man, Lloris was there, but Paulinho did nothing. This was pretty much the same for the rest of the game.
In all honesty I cannot be bother to go into the second half or a poor miss from Chadli that was easier to score than miss (by simply falling on to the ball and following up with intelligence).
The second half should have seen Eriksen and Chaldi both come off and allow some players with passion and willingness to come on and win the game, but no MoPo was as lathurgic in his decision making as the team was on the pitch. They went from controlling the game to forgetting they were even in a game.
Mark my words this was a drastically bad result. Heads will be down now for Sunday at WH, plus some tired legs (so there is no momentum), which could see a run of bad results with 6 games in 17 days. This was a must win game to build momentum for Sunday, allow the team to relax next Thursday and rested legs and some decent results behind to be ready for a cup final.
For me the players and manager have let themselves and the club down with this result as it puts far too much pressure on now and with the lack of common sense to strengthen in January will cause further issues.
I would like to see otherwise but this was a dreadful mistake to make by the team and staff today. I for one hope they can break a habit of a life time and play well following Europe!
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