1-0 Loss to Paços not the end of the road for Tottenham in Europe

Losing to Paços hurts and leads to some questions about the team, but Tottenham Hotspur is far from finished in Europe after just one match. 

Tottenham Hotspur has now lost their last two matches in European competitions by a combined score of 4-0. However, with something as simple as a 2-0 win next week, the Spurs can truly put last season’s tragedy against Dinamo Zagreb behind themselves and move on in Europe.

No sugar coating the loss

The loss on Thursday was not a good look nor a good display from Tottenham Hotspur. New defensive signing Cristian Romero was far too stiff and too easily beaten with one straight pass. Ryan Sessegnon and Jack Clarke look far short of Premier League performers despite years at the club. And although Tottenham maintained the lion’s share of possession in the match, they managed only two shots for the game and neither was on target.

Any way you look at the performance itself and the result, it was bad for Tottenham. Yes, Paços was fifth last season in Portugal but they have lost two straight and are still in the process of settling after a busy transfer window.

Nuno Espirito Santo and the team went to Portugal talking about creating competition and expanding the depth in the Tottenham side. Instead, the starters must all feel more secure in their places and the lack of quality in the depth of the Lilywhites was clearly exposed.

As we have known since the transfer window began and before Tottenham even had a coach – or a football director – this team needs a major rebuild. This rebuild includes moving some players out and bringing some new players in. Thus far this summer the overall turnover has been inadequate to begin to really address the club’s needs in a meaningful way.

Bright spots for Tottenham from a bad loss

If there are bright spots for Tottenham it is that most of the players on the pitch for the team are not expected to be big contributors this season, although some certainly are. Nuno Espirito Santo was able to give his starting XI an entire week off before another tough Premier League match and that extra rest before potentially playing against Paços next week.

If Tottenham had been playing their starters or even some of them and this had been the result then maybe we would be concerned more. However, the senior players bar a few new additions and Giovani Lo Celso are all players that likely need to start finding playing time somewhere else.

Finally, we know Tottenham does have one more shot at Paços, this one at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and hopefully on Paramount+ for those in the States. Given Paços won in the prior round 4-0 at home and then lost 0-1 on the road, the Spurs do have some reasons to bring some confidence into next week’s second leg.

While we can live with this week’s loss and the opportunity to stretch the squad, if the club wants to play in Europe this season, we need more next week. The good news is we now Spurs are capable.