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Flop: Serge Aurier
Tonight saw another frustrating performance from Tottenham’s right-back Serge Aurier, who Jose Mourinho almost certainly needs to replace – or at least find an alternative to – this summer. The Ivorian found himself in great positions on numerous occasions, but was simply wasteful with the ball throughout the match, ending with a disappointing pass success rate of just 64%.
Aurier hinted at the poor showing that was to come before the ten-minute mark; a shoddy pass from him led to Giovani Lo Celso having to make a reckless lunge at an opponent, causing him to be booked and thus have to slow down his all-action style for fear of receiving a red card later in the game.
In the second half, meanwhile, Aurier lost the ball on a number of occasions – more than any other player in the game – and also saw his crosses get far too close to either Leipzig’s defenders or their goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi. This was one to forget for the Ivorian international.
Hit: Ethan Ampadu
Tottenham had plenty of injury concerns leading into this match, most notably shorn of any kind of genuine striker, but the same could be said for Leipzig, who were missing key central defenders Willi Orban, Ibrahima Konate and Dayot Upamecano. That meant that Julian Nagelsmann made a risky call, selecting Chelsea loanee Ethan Ampadu – who has yet to start a Bundesliga match this season – in the centre of his team’s defence.
Thankfully for Nagelsmann, the Welsh international barely put a foot wrong all game, showing that the hype that surrounded him around 18 months ago was probably well-deserved. Ampadu shut Tottenham’s attackers out throughout the game, making 5 interceptions – more than any other player during the game – and 2 clearances.
Ampadu was also fantastic on the ball – registering a 95% pass success rate – and his last-ditch tackle on Steven Bergwijn in the dying seconds of the match may well have saved the game for the Bundesliga side. Tonight was a major opportunity for the Chelsea loanee and he grabbed it with both hands.
