Strong Second Half Sends Tottenham Hotspur to Top of Group J
By Aaron Coe
After a half of chances, Tottenham Hotspur found the quality to finish and used a strong second half to beat Royal Antwerp and win Europa League Group J.
If we listen to the players and the coaches all Tottenham are concerned with is winning each game they play. If that is true, Spurs accomplished their goal and then some behind a strong second half showing against Antwerp in London on Thursday evening. With the 2-0 win, Tottenham won Group J and now await the draw on December 14 to learn their opponent in the new year.
Forgettable First Half
The most memorable thing about the first half was probably the lack of anything memorable. Other than trying to figure out what kind of formation Tottenham were playing – which seemed to puzzle the players at time too – the first half was rather non-distinct.
Tottenham were not the team that has been sitting back over the last few weeks, far from it, they were much more aggressive and forward thinking, despite only holding 47% of possession. Tottenham outshot Antwerp 10 to 1 in the first half, with four shots on target. Had any one of those four gone in, the first half might have ended up looking quite different, but Tottenham never had that moment to get on top.
Spurs had their first chance just a few minutes into the match as Japhet Tanganga – making his third straight start in Europa League – got free on a header off a Giovani Lo Celso free kick. Tanganga won the header and got it on frame, but it was one of several saves from Alireza Safar Beiranvand on the evening in goal for Antwerp.
A few minutes later Gareth Bale got up and won a header off a corner kick but could not direct the shot on frame. Just before 20 minutes, Carlos Vinicius got off one of three shots he had on the night, forcing another save from Beiranvand. Spurs were finding something on the right side where Vinicius got room for the shot.
Matt Doherty and Lo Celso began to combine and find that space out wide of the penalty box. Lo Celso missed with one effort and then a few minutes latter forced another save. Spurs needed to continue to force the ball wide as the middle was very congested. The formation with Doherty and Reguilón as both sort of wingers in a hybrid 4-4-2/3-5-2/5-3-3. Honestly, it was hard to decipher at times and left the team without the usual assuredness in their passing and approach.
Antwerp had some decent possession but only got off one shot and it was not on target. The best chance of the half was also Spurs, as late in the in the half Lucas Moura got the ball in the middle of the pitch and played in Carlos Vinicius. Vinicius was on the left, with his favored foot, but again Beiranvand was up to the challenge taking the ball off his midsection and saving the day again.
If any of what were four decent chances go in, the story of the first half and game would have been much different. However, despite the persistent attempts, Tottenham had not found the goal and were level at half-time. Worse yet, it appeared that Reguilón may have picked up a little knock late on in the half and was replaced at halftime by Steven Bergwijn.