Are Tottenham Up To Finishing The Italian Job Against Inter Milan?

A week ago, all was good at White Hart Lane. Tottenham had acquired a comfortable three goal advantage over Inter Milan to take to Italy for the 2nd leg in their Europa League, last-16 tie. A disappointing and disinterested Inter team posed little threat and Spurs could have won more convincingly.

[Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]Even with the realisation that Gareth Bale would be absent for the trip to the San Siro, following his booking in the first half for simulation, confidence was high among Spurs fans, even if Andre Villas-Boas was sounding a note of caution after the victory. He was quoted on the SkySports  site,

"“Unfortunately, we’re not through yet because we have to go there and the San Siro is a very difficult place to go.”"

The news of Aaron Lennon’s possible absence which reduces further the Tottenham pace and threat for a counter-attack from the wings became an additional problem for the manager to resolve. The hamstring strain he picked up against Inter keeping him out of the game at Anfield on Sunday. The loss to Liverpool who recovered from 2 – 1 down in the second half to win courtesy of two goals conceded through defensive mistakes by Spurs, was disappointing. It brought to an end Tottenham’s unbeaten League run stretching back to the defeat by Everton at Goodison Park in early December.

Tottenham can not afford a repeat of such calamitous defending at the San Siro. Spurs know from first hand experience the problems of conceding early away goals to Inter. In their 2010 Champions League game they were three down after 14 minutes and reduced to 10 men. Spurs problems increased as they conceded another goal before the interval. Everyone knows they staged a second half fight-back, led single-handedly by Bale. This time, of course, Bale will not be there to bail them out of any similar difficulties.

The defeat to Liverpool also raises questions for Andre Villas-Boas about his priorities for the season. Spurs remain only two points ahead of Chelsea who have a match in hand as do Arsenal in 5th place. Villas-Boas clearly would love to win the Europa League as he has demonstrated with near full-strength teams throughout the competition. The desire and need to secure Champions League football for next season, however, is also vitally important for the growing status of Tottenham as a ‘top’ team in England and Europe. How the coach copes with these conflicting interests, along with a growing injury list, will determine the outcome of Tottenham’s season.

Inter at Home

Traveling to play Inter Milan in the San Siro is never an easy task although the team has changed greatly from the one which they played in 2010. Inter are currently 5th in Serie A, level on points with Lazio but 15 behind the leaders, Juventus. On Sunday, they suffered a home defeat to Bologna who are in mid-table, losing by the only goal, scored in the second half. That is their third home defeat of the season having lost their opening two matches in September. Their previous home game had ended 1 – 1 against AC Milan with Inter recovering from a half-time deficit to equalise.

In the Europa League, Inter have played 6 home games, to date. They lost their home game in the 3rd Qualifying Round to Hadjuk Split (0 – 2) but progressed as they were three ahead from the first leg win in Croatia. In the Play-off Round they drew at home, 2 – 2 but again had a two goal advantage from the away leg against Vaslui of Romania. In the Group stage they drew at home with Rubin Kazan (2 – 2), defeated Partizan Belgrade 1 – 0 and drew the final match 2 – 2 against Neftchi Baku of Azerbaijan. They were comfortable 2 – 0 winners in the last Round against CFR Cluj of Romania, recording a 5 – 0 aggregate win.

Andre Villas-Boas is taking the game seriously as he indicated in his press conference which was reported by itv.com

"“There is no scoreline that could make us change six or seven players so we will play a strong team to make sure we go through in this competition. We take this game very seriously.”"

Spurs will be confident of making the next round but they can expect Inter to try to unsettle them early on. Early goals for Inter, however, would very quickly change the complexion of the tie so Spurs will want to make a solid start to avoid giving them any morale boosting encouragement. They will have to show composure throughout the ninety minutes as they face up to a partisan home crowd in the San Siro stadium. Equally, an away for Spurs would further strengthen their position with a view to the next round.

For Tottenham to fail to progress to the quarter-finals of the competition would be a disastrous result for Spurs, given their position of strength from the 1st leg last week. It would also have a very damaging affect on the team morale and confidence as they face a challenging sequence of games in the final two months of the season.

Can Tottenham complete the ”Italian Job” in Milan? Of course they can but it might not be as easy as at White Hart Lane last Thursday evening.