Tottenham Hotspur were rolling for most of the UEFA Supercup Final against defending Champions League winners PSG, who were also finalists at the summer's Club World Cup. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead after well-worked set piece routines, Tottenham were thinking they'd repeat rivals Chelsea's trick by shutting out the arguable best team in the world.
But the PSG juggernaut woke up in the second half, and Tottenham's inexperience and thin bench were exposed. Tottenham pulled another Spurs, melting down again at the critical moment and blowing the 2-0 lead.
Then, in penalties, Tottenham couldn't get the job done, with young left winger Mathys Tel, just signed permanently this summer window, skewing his penalty horribly wide as PSG fought back to sink Spurs and hand Lucas Chevalier some redemption on his debut.
Meanwhile, Tottenham supporters had a right go at Tel for his role in the defeat, as he missed a penalty and had a few ill-disciplined moments with fouling while contributing nothing compared to what starter Mohammed Kudus did in the match. The criticism in the replies to the Tottenham official account were harsh, with some fans pointing to the Frenchman as THE reason why Spurs blew the game.
Tottenham's loss isn't down to one man
But obviously, a young winger isn't the reason why Tottenham couldn't hold onto a 2-0 lead. Although Spurs should be praised for going toe-to-toe with the best team in Europe from the 2024/25 season, the reality is that this is a squad that finished 17th in their own league last season and has serious holes.
Thomas Frank is just starting as manager, and Tottenham are morphing their squad and are still actively trying to sign two new starters to their team. This time, the defense could not hold up against the immense pressure PSG were putting on them, and they didn't have the midfield personnel to keep the ball or hold enough ground to avoid breaking.
Tel can't answer for an entire team's failure, and while it would be disingenuous to lie and state that he played well when he took an abysmal penalty and had a minimal offensive impact before that, it would be just as unfair to blame him for the loss.
After all, Vitinha, a Ballon d'Or candidate from the last season, missed his penalty in as pathetic fashion as Tel did. Would he have been blamed if PSG lost? Tel was a young substitute who came in with his team in the lead and struggled, but so did most of his teammates through that last half-hour in Udine. Sure, Tel needs to step up, but, well, the same thing can be said about at least half of Tottenham. There are more positives to take away from this loss than negatives, but Spurs have work to do as an entire team.