In a dramatic night in the Netherlands, PSV and Spurs played out a 2-2 draw.
The match had a bit of everything; some great pressing, some lovely passes and crosses, another Harry Kane goal and a massive goalkeeping blunder. Who were the winners and losers?
1. Eriksen excellence
Spurs were 1-0 down and in desperate need of a hero to step up and drag them back to a much-needed victory. They simply couldn’t afford to lose this match if they harboured any ambitions of actually qualifying from Group B.
Enter Christen Eriksen. In the general phase, Eriksen got on the ball and clawed possession of the ball back for his side. Then came the hocus pocus. Eriksen produced three moments of creative magic. One resulted in a disallowed goal (more on that later) but the two others enabled the turnaround.
First Eriksen picked the ball up on the edge of the PSV box and measured a gorgeous pass inside Angelino for the surging Kieran Trippier. The Englishman cut it back and Lucas slotted home. No assist for Eriksen, but the goal was all him. Then the second goal saw Eriksen pick out Harry Kane from the left flank with an absurdly well-measured cross. Kane had an easy finish all because Eriksen’s cross was so good.
2. PSV pressure aka Toby misses Jan
Jan Vertonghen has been missing for a while with a hamstring injury (and is expected to miss more time yet) but, luckily for Spurs, they have the centre-back depth to render this problem moot. Or… do they? Against PSV we saw the major problem Vertonghen’s absence causes: Spurs are very much vulnerable to the press.
PSV pushed up high, particularly in the first half, and whenever Spurs were in possession the centre-backs looked decidedly uncomfortable. Jan Vertonghen is Spurs’ best defender when it comes to negotiating the press. His combination of experience, agility and technique allow him to better circumnavigate the press.
There was no surprise that PSV’s opening goal came from them pressing Spurs. First forcing Davinson Sánchez into a dangerous pass back to Toby Alderweireld; and then when Alderweireld tried to lazily control the ball he had it stolen off his toes by Hirving Lozano. 10 seconds later, it was 1-0 PSV. Spurs will be hoping Vertonghen is back soon or this weakness could become endemic.
3. VAR > Fifth Official
With just over 33 minutes gone, a corner came curling into the Spurs area. Toby Alderweireld stooped and headed it goalwards. Jeroen Zoet dove and palmed the ball away, but the ball fell invitingly for Davinson Sánchez to slide Spurs level. The two players who had given PSV the lead had just snatched it back from them!
Except, not? The referee had blown his whistle and ruled the goal out for offside. Now, Harry Kane was stood behind a diving Zoet as Sánchez’s shot came in, but he was also on completely the other side of the goal to where the shot ended up going. He had nothing to do with the goal going in, and disallowing the goal made no sense.
The fifth officials behind the goal are meant to be on-hand to spot things like this, yet even with their presence the goal was disallowed. This was the type of situation where VAR was very much needed. The Champions League will introduce it starting from next season, and tonight showed exactly why it is so important.
4. Chucky’s potential?
PSV’s opening goal was a spectacular, rapier-like thrust right into the heart of Spurs. At least, everything but the finish was, Hirving “Chucky” Lozano is a player admired by many, especially after his exploits in the World Cup. And in that goal we got a glimpse of why.
We also saw just why he is still at PSV. First, his movement and ambition is sensational. The instinct to press Alderweireld was spot-on; Lozano started sprinting as soon as Sánchez played the back-pass to the Belgian. Second, the tackle was great, as was the run, mostly. Instead of keeping himself between Alderweireld and the ball, he turned and hesitated one last time, allowing the Belgian to get back and block it.
The shot looped up and went in anyway, but it betrayed Lozano’s lack of consistent decision-making in the key moments. He was lucky that his bad decisions still ended up in a goal. In the second half this didn’t happen, as he raced between Spurs defenders and saw Hugo Lloris charging out. He could have tried to lob him with his first-touch, instead he tried to play it around him and got fouled.
Sure, Lloris saw red and PSV later equalised, but Lozano had to leave the field injured. Had he made a better decision and lobbed Lloris, PSV would have equalised 10 minutes earlier and had their best player on the field to chase a winner. Lozano is lightning, but there’s still much to learn.
5. Hugo LOLris
Hugo Lloris has been in some incredible form this season, especially domestically where he has helped Spurs make their best-ever start to a Premier League season. The Spurs captain has rebounded from his error in the 2018 World Cup final (probably helped because he actually ended up lifting the trophy) and had a supreme domestic season.
But in the Champions League? His old weaknesses have come out to play. First, against Barcelona, his urge to surge from his goal-line allowed Barcelona to take the lead at Wembley (and nearly cost them a goal in the second half, too). And tonight Lloris came flying off his line despite the presence of two defenders in the area – and if you’re going to do that then you absolutely must take the ball. Lloris missed the ball, hit the man, and got sent off leading to Spurs’ win turning to a draw and leaving their Champions League progression looking unlikely.
The post PSV 2-2 Spurs: five things learned as Lloris’ madness undoes Eriksen’s genius appeared first on Squawka News.
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