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After coming up short in the final of last season’s Champions League, Tottenham Hotspur have begun their European campaign for 2019/20 with a 2-2 draw away at Greek side Olympiacos.
Spurs – who started the game slowly – took a surprising lead through a Harry Kane penalty and then swiftly doubled it after a beautifully taken goal from Lucas Moura. But a well-taken goal from Daniel Podence on the stroke of half-time reduced the lead for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, and just minutes into the second half, a penalty from Mathieu Valbuena levelled the tie.
Tottenham continued to push forward and had chances to win the game, with both Erik Lamela and Dele Alli missing close chances, but Olympiacos held strong to collect what could be an important point.
Here are 3 reasons why Tottenham drew with Olympiacos.
#1 Olympiacos committed defensive suicide during a 5-minute period
Despite taking a 0-2 lead at the Karaiskakis Stadium, few fans could’ve argued that Tottenham deserved to be in front at that stage of the game. Mauricio Pochettino’s side looked lethargic and sloppy in possession during the opening portion of the game, and striker Miguel Guerrero even hit the post with a clear-cut chance.
The game was flipped on its head though, when Olympiacos simply committed defensive suicide over a-5 minute period. Firstly, Yassine Meriah actually won the ball from Harry Kane just inside the penalty area, but needlessly threw a leg out to trip Kane afterwards, conceding a penalty which the England captain comfortably dispatched.
Just 4 minutes later, Olympiacos’s defence were horribly exposed, with two of their defensive players practically running past the ball to allow Lucas Moura a clear sight on goal. The Brazilian took his goal wonderfully with a hard, right-footed shot, but the truth is that the ball should never have reached him in the first place.
Essentially, if Olympiacos could’ve defended with more strength during that period, they could’ve won this game.
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#2 Tottenham’s defence was equally flimsy
At 0-2 up and with the crowd in the Karaiskakis Stadium largely quietened, it felt like this game would be business as usual for Tottenham. But for the second time this season, they allowed their opponents to score on the stroke of half-time, shifting the momentum of the game entirely and bringing the raucous crowd back alive.
Daniel Podence and Mathieu Valbuena – who were already combining to give the left side of Tottenham’s defence plenty of problems – teamed up once again to finally break through on 44 minutes. Podence took his chance excellently, slotting the ball low and hard past Hugo Lloris into the right-hand corner of the goal, but the defensive aspect for Spurs was questionable, with Ben Davies and Jan Vertonghen parting like the Red Sea as Podence ran through.
Things would get worse, though. While Jan Vertonghen’s tackle on Valbuena to concede the second-half penalty that proved to be the deciding goal was sloppy, the incident was entirely the fault of Christian Eriksen, who dallied on the ball on the edge of the box before losing it to an opposing player.
Tottenham’s two goals should definitely have been avoidable for Olympiacos, but equally Spurs should easily have avoided the Greek side’s comeback.
#3 Some of Spurs’ key players struggled
The main takeaway from this game for me was that Tottenham’s players should’ve been far better than their Olympiacos counterparts, if only they’d been on top form. Mathieu Valbuena and Daniel Podence were outstanding as was defender Ruben Semedo, but outside of that, the Greek side didn’t offer all that much.
The problem was that a handful of Tottenham’s key players had poor games, making this a far tougher match than it really should’ve been. Most notably, Christian Eriksen had a terrible game and was very lucky not to have been substituted.
Much has been made of the Dane’s talents this season – particularly as it looked like he’d be departing North London before the transfer window closed earlier in the month – but despite all the talk of Spurs being toothless without him, tonight he showed nothing of his talents. He seemed to misplace almost every pass he made, and was constantly caught taking too much time on the ball by Olympiacos’ defenders and midfielders.
People will perhaps point at Harry Kane, who had a quiet game, but when a player performing as badly as Eriksen is the man expected to provide him with chances, what could the England captain really do?
Eriksen wasn’t the only disappointment, though; Dele Alli also didn’t look completely sharp, understandable given he hasn’t played much this season yet, while Tanguy Ndombele very much resembled a player returning from an injury layoff.
The other issue was purely of Pochettino’s doing. Although he didn’t affect Spurs negatively from a defensive point of view, Davinson Sanchez had another weak game as a right-back, simply coming in too narrow throughout the game and blunting Spurs’ right-sided attacks. Quite why Serge Aurier – who was outstanding in the weekend’s 4-0 win over Crystal Palace – was left at home is anyone’s guess.
