OPINION
Tottenham Hotspur gave up a lead as they lost 2-1 to Inter Milan in their opening Champions League game on Tuesday night, and there were plenty of talking points to take away from the game.
Tottenham opened the scoring in the second half when Christian Eriksen’s shot took a wicked deflection to loop over the goalkeeper, but Mauro Icardi’s stunning volley saw Inter equalise late on before Matias Vecino’s injury time winner.
This is Futbol have picked out three things we learned about Tottenham v Inter Milan below.
Davies poor form continues
Ben Davies has had an up and down season for Spurs so far, a far cry from his consistent performances at left-back for the club for the majority of last season. The Wales international was always expected to start against Inter because of his better defensive capabilities, but none of that was on show against Inter. He was constantly caught out at the back and misplaced pass after pass, with his touch letting him down on multiple occasions as well. You feel that if Rose continues his run of improved form then he will take the left-back spot on a more regular basis from Davies.
Eriksen shows improvement
Christian Eriksen has been disappointing for Tottenham so far this season, with the Denmark international failing to replicate his brilliant form on the international stage. The playmaker has been anonymous at times for Spurs and has drifted in and out of games making little impact. In the early stages of this one it looked like that would continue for Eriksen, but the 26-year-old really grew into the contest and put in a much-improved display. The highlight was a perfect chipped pass to Harry Kane in the first half which should have been put away, and he deserved his goal in the second half even if it was a complete fluke.
Aurier puts doubters to bed
When Mauricio Pochettino revealed he had left Kieran Trippier at home for ‘technical’ reasons, it quickly became obvious that Aurier was set to start for Spurs against the Serie A side. That led many Spurs fans to let their feelings be known about that happening, with the Ivory Coast international getting a lot of stick on Twitter. He did however prove those doubters wrong with a brilliant display against Inter. The 25-year-old, who is on £80,000-a-week [Spotrac], was really solid at the back, looked calm in possession, and made several key tackles and interceptions. Going forward he was on form too, with some brilliant runs down the right and some quality balls into the box. Possibly deserves a start in the Premier League soon.