Tottenham beaten in Europa Conference League first leg tie

Nuno Espirito Santo's plan of playing with a second string side backfired as his team were beaten by Pacos Ferreira in a Europa Conference League play-off first leg. A place in the group stage is up for grabs and it will be interesting to see whether Nuno decides to bring in some of the senior players such as Son Heung-Min, Lucas Moura and possibly even Harry Kane in the second leg next week. 

In Portugal, despite a positive start, Spurs were soon second best and a good goal on the counterattack goal by Lucas Silva after a lovely pass from midfield saw Pacos Ferreira take the lead. In the second period, the hosts protected their lead while Spurs were unable to trouble the goalkeeper Andre Ferreira. The Portuguese outfit were comfortable and it was obvious which team were taking the tie more seriously. 

Tottenham fielded a completely different XI from the team which defeated Man City at the weekend, but there were starts for Lo Celso, Bryan Gil and Harry Winks, who all came off the bench versus City. Spurs could have scored in the third minute after a fine run by Bryan Gil, but Ryan Sessegnon was unale to get his feet sorted and that allowed a defender to clear. After a positive opening 15-20 minutes, the home side recovered and began to take charge. 

Goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini had to deal with a couple of long range efforts, but the game looked to be heading into half-time goalless. However, the hosts, who were playing on the counter, worked the plan to perfection right on the interval. Nuno Santos picked out Lucas Silva from midfield, he was completely unmarked and he beat the keeper to his left to give the hosts a huge goal. 

In the second half, after a decent spell of possession by Nuno's men which saw them force a couple of corners, Spurs continued to lack that spark. They were restricted to long range efforts, but they hardly ever got close to the opponent's goal. At the other end, Pacos had decided that they would shut up shop and settle for a 1-0 lead going into the second game next Thursday. Their best chance came in the 85th minute after an indirect free-kick was awarded, but Vitorino Antunes' free-kick struck the wal. 

At the other end, Spurs' substitutions made little impact and when Bryan Gil finally made another positive run in second half stoppage time, substitute Paskotski was penalised for a push on a defender in the box. Nuno will have little to be happy about when it comes to the performance, but his team are still in the tie and they have 90 minutes to turn it around and guarantee European football until at least Christmas.

 

August 19, 2021