Spurs Draw Level with Fiorentina in Evenly Played Match

A 1-1 draw for Spurs at the Stadio Artemio Franchi is a positive result as they will now look to exact revenge during the return leg at White Hart Lane next Thursday.

With Hugo Lloris out for two games with a shoulder injury suffered in the closing minutes of a 2-1 win against Manchester City on February 14, yesterday’s match-up against Fiorentina would give Michel Vorm his biggest test to date this season: stop a high-flying Fiorentina team from scoring (44 goals and third in Serie A this season).

And for 90 minutes, the Dutch international was great between the sticks, providing two saves on three shots at goal despite Fiorentina racking up a 14 total attempts.

A goal by Federico Bernardeschi might be the only blemish on Vorm’s night, but the goal would be deflected in by Ryan Mason’s right foot, as the 24-year-old tried to stop the long range effort. So conceding a goal shouldn’t necessarily count against Michel Vorm.

Embed from Getty Images

Along with Vorm, there were other standout performers such as Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-Min, Ben Davies, Kieran Trippier and Eric Dier. Each outfield player brought something to the table, but Alli stood head and shoulders above the rest by constantly finding pockets of space to knife through Fiorentina’s defense.

Whether it was starting counterattacks or simply moving without the ball and being left open by himself. Which was fitting, considering that’s what Mohamed Salah (now with Roma) did a year ago when these two teams squared off against one another.

Throughout this entire match it was a back and forth affair, but a tale of two half’s.

The first 45 minutes saw Fiorentina’s defense play a bend but don’t break mentality. This allowed Spurs freedom to move all over the pitch and hog 58 percent of the possession. Although upon entering the attacking third, there wasn’t much room to maneuver around so Tottenham were barely able to get any shots — two attempts with two on target in the first half.

Then with eight minutes left, a foul on Ben Davies inside the box would award Spurs with a penalty kick that Nacer Chadli would take and coolly slot into the bottom left corner. This gave the Lilywhites a 1-0 lead heading into the break and their confidence only growing.

More from Hotspur HQ

A half-time substitution saw Mousa Dembélé replace Tom Carroll to help shore up the midfield with the Belgian midfielder pairing up with Ryan Mason; it was a like-for-like move.

But then, Fiorentina manager Paulo Sousa, decided to switch things up — he had to because his team were trailing at home — so he became more proactive on offense and opened things up more.

Gone would be a stingy defense that tried to stop Spurs. Instead, the Viola were looking to get an equalizer and 14 minutes later — with the help of Mason’s right foot — Bernardeschi would get a deflection to reach the upper lefthand corner to slip past an outstretched Michel Vorm to bring the game level at one-all.

The tides had now turned, Spurs were looking to play defensively with their next two subs: Harry Kane and Eric Dier. Sure, Kane was there to get another goal, but his play to hold the ball up and wait for reinforcements while also helping out defensively were needed to stop Fiorentina’s on-rush of getting into Spurs’ defensive third and adding more pressure (nine more shot attempts, none were on target though).

Dier’s introduction into the game saw Tottenham have three central midfielders on the pitch with Dembélé and Mason still playing. With this last substitution, Pochettino was looking to hold Fiorentina off long enough to earn a crucial draw and the advantage of having the away goal which is currently putting his side ahead.

Next: Tottenham Player Ratings: Away vs Fiorentina

Ninety minutes eventually passed and Spurs got a much deserved result on the road. But they had to work very hard for it in a evenly contested match.

After not managing a goal (or two) last term when they traveled to Florence, Italy before eventually being knocked out of the Europa League. Spurs managed to get get a goal and now hosts the return leg in front of a raucous crowd at White Hart Lane.

A win will see Tottenham reach the round of 16 in this season’s Europa League.