Tottenham quietly bow out of Carabao Cup with 3-0 aggregate defeat

Tottenham Hotspur's Italian head coach Antonio Conte gestures during the second leg of the English League Cup semi final football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in London on January 12, 2022. - - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by Glyn KIRK / IKIMAGES / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No video emulation. Social media in-match use limited to 120 images. An additional 40 images may be used in extra time. No use in betting publications, games or single club/league/player publications. (Photo by GLYN KIRK/IKIMAGES/AFP via Getty Images) /

Tottenham bowed out quietly of the Carabao Cup after another scoreless performance, losing 1-0 on the night and 3-0 on aggregate.

Well that was uninspiring. If only Tottenham’s on-pitch performance matched the lively atmosphere from kickoff.

We hoped for better. We hoped for a more enterprising, energetic Tottenham side than the one we saw brushed aside at Stamford Bridge last week. Unfortunately Antonio Conte’s side proved all but a few eternal optimists right.

Aside from two rightly overturned penalty decisions and one offside call by VAR, a deflected Pierre Hojbjerg long-range attempt and a decent two-handed Kepa Arrizabalaga save off Emerson Royal’s arrowed header, Spurs didn’t do enough, especially in an entirely placid first half.

Conte’s strange decision to start Pierluigi Gollini backfired when the out-of-practice keeper was beaten to an aerial ball by Antonio Rüdiger. The Chelsea defender headed into an open goal, putting Chelsea out of reach.

While Spurs’ performance improved measurably in the second half, turning around a three-goal deficit against Thomas Tuchel’s side was an impossible task. It looked like Harry Kane provided Spurs a much-needed lifeline but was marginally offside after Kepa’s telegraphed outlet pass.

With the predictable loss, another excellent chance to win silverware vanished. Conte will now turn his undivided attention to the Premier League, where his side look to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Spurs also have a fourth round FA Cup match against Brighton to look forward to, though that competition will take a pronounced back seat to their Premier League exploits.

The impetus on Tottenham to secure top-tier talent in January’s transfer market is reinforced more markedly with each setback.

So far the transfer market, like we’re accustomed to, has centred solely on rhetoric and speculation, with nothing tangible to show. Expect something, anything, to happen before the deadline closes at the end of January.

Next. Promising news on potential Dusan Vlahovic signing. dark

Otherwise their chances of securing a top four spot will be only marginally better than the probability pre-match of overturning Chelsea’s two-goal advantage. And we just saw what happened to those chances.

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