English Premier League side Tottenham suffered a surprise 3-2 defeat at the hands of Young Boys of Bern last night in their Champions League play-off.
In truth it turned out to be a good result for the North London side.
Great Defeat
Even Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp thought it was a ‘Great defeat’, he told Sky Sports: “That was a great defeat in the end if there is such a thing as a great defeat. At 3-0 we were out of it,”
“They started off, they got after us, we didn’t look happy on the surface, we couldn’t get hold of the ball, it kept bouncing away from us and we didn’t look confident in our play and we were in desperate trouble to be fair.
“Full credit to the lads. We come back to 3-1 and then a great goal from Pav to put us right back in the tie, and the tie is evenly balanced now. We need to win at home and it gives us a great chance still.”
Shell-shocked
Tottenham looked shell-shocked after going 3-0 down in less than half an hour in Switzerland. They looked like a bunch of strangers. Centre-backs Sebastien Bassong and Michael Dawson were awful and Young Boys looked like they could score every time they came forward in the first half.
Tottenham cannot use playing on artificial turf as an excuse for their poor start, although they wouldn’t have been used to playing on such a surface Spurs still shouldn’t have been so sloppy at the back.
Tottenham did start to play towards the end of the first half and got back into the game with a goal through Bassong. Before Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko scored Tottenham’s second with a superb effort, Young Boys had chances to add to their lead but didn’t take them.
Substitute Christian Schneuwly missed two glorious chances to put the Swiss side in even healthier shape. Those misses could cost the Swiss side a place in the Champion’s League group stages, despite their superb display against Spurs.
Away Goals
Tottenham had an off day but they managed to score two crucial away goals. Those two goals mean that Tottenham only need to win the second leg 1-0. However that’s easier said than done. Young Boys went to Fenerbahce in the last round and got the result they needed to go through.
Better
If or when Tottenham get through to the group stages of the Champions League then they will have to do far better than they did last night. If they were playing against better opposition last night then they probably would have conceded six or seven.
Tottenham now have to go out and put things right in the second leg next Wednesday. It’s crucial for Tottenham to start showing their quality.
They could easily go out of the Champions league before they have even made it into the group stages. I’m sure that Young Boys will give it everything they have at White Hart Lane but I just think that Tottenham will have too much for them back in England.
Learning Experience
Tottenham need to use this game as a learning experience and they must now realise they can’t take anything for granted and that no game will be easy for them in the Champions league. I’m sure Tottenham won’t make the same mistakes they did last night and will get the opportunity to come face to face with some of the biggest clubs in Europe.
Source: www.soccernews.com
