Reflections On Tottenham’s Europa League Defeat to Inter Milan

Tottenham progressed to the quarter-finals of the Europa League but Inter Milan who had been so disinterested in the 1st leg, gave them a severe fright before Spurs made it through thanks to the away goal scored by Emmanuel Adebayor in extra-time. Inter will have been very disappointed to lose on the away goals rule, ruing missing a couple of good chances at White Hart Lane. Tottenham, after a gruelling two hours were, quite simply, relieved.

Emmanuel Adebayor – Tottenham’s saviour [Photo: Jav The_DoC_66]From the euphoria of an excellent performance in the first game, Tottenham struggled defensively in the San Siro with Inter’s quick breaks behind the defence and put in a very naive display. Undefeated in their Europa League matches this season, Tottenham in previous away games had been very well organised and composed, doing what was necessary and moving on. On this occasion, that was not the case and for the second time in two games against Inter at the San Siro in three seasons, Spurs conceded four goals.

Spurs were without Gareth Bale through suspension and Aaron Lennon was only on the substitutes’ bench after missing the defeat at Liverpool with injury. The absence of Bale would obviously have buoyed Inter, knowing that they didn’t have to cope with his pace and powerful goal threat. Without Bale and Lennon, Spurs lacked the pace necessary for an away side to counter-attack so they never really got into a position to put Inter under pressure.

On the ball, Tottenham initially displayed some very controlled and composed passing, denying Inter the ball but they rarely threatened and Inter just waited patiently for a misplaced pass to pounce with a quick counter attack which often caught the Tottenham defence wide open and struggling to recover as they had too many players up-field in attacking positions.

Andre Villas-Boas, whether conscious of the benefit of an away goal, played both Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor in a 4 – 4 – 2 formation. With no natural wingers the two full backs were expected to provide width but this was the source of most of Tottenham’s defensive problems. As Kyle Walker and Kyle Naughton pushed forward in support, Inter quickly played the ball out wide into the space that the full backs had vacated. On more than one occasion they threatened in this way and if the Inter strikers had been more alert to the off-side rule, Tottenham could have been on the end of an embarrassing defeat.

Playing Mousa Dembele, wide on the right was not a success nor had it been at Anfield. Out of position, he looked uncertain of his role and it is no surprise that on moving into central midfield it was from his more natural position that he got forward to fire in the shot which the goalkeeper parried, enabling Adebayor to rescue Spurs with their only goal of the game in extra time.

The pairing of Adebayor and Jermain Defoe again failed to work – there is little link up play or understanding between the strikers who tend to play as two individuals rather than as a striking partnership.

The heavy defeat in the San Siro, showed up some failings in the team which have been masked over the past couple of months by Gareth Bale’s exceptional form and goal scoring ability. The one positive that can be taken was that even when faced with a heavy defeat, the players kept going and were rewarded for a positive start at the beginning of extra time when they could have scored three times in the early minutes. Putting that defeat behind them Tottenham need a quick recovery ahead of the Fulham match and the prospect of two more European games in April.