BBC pundit Chris Sutton has labelled Tottenham Hotspur’s recent first-half performance in the Champions League as ‘baffling’.
Spurs were indeed left rather shell-shocked and red-faced in the first half of their Champions League game last night against Sporting as former youth player Marcus Edwards opened the scoring for the away side.
Rodrigo Bentancur saved their blushes as he headed home Ivan Perisic’s corner in the second half, although the three points continued to evade them, thanks to VAR, which ruled out a stoppage-time winner from Harry Kane.
Sutton, however, slammed Spurs’ slow and laboured start to the game on the BBC Football Daily podcast after being left baffled.
He said: “I thought the first-half performance was really baffling, just because of what’s at stake. The urgency was required; I thought Tottenham would come out really fast, try and go a couple of goals up and coast.
“This isn’t a Sporting team who have been flying this season and the second-half performance really was excellent, but it was too little, too late.
“They had that dramatic moment [at the end], but it’s a really tough position now for Tottenham to be in, and a position which Conte wouldn’t have wanted where they have the chance of not qualifying.”
Should Kane's goal have been allowed?
Yes!
No!
TIF Thoughts on Spurs’ performance vs Sporting Lisbon…
Last night was the third straight game in which Spurs have fallen behind after doing so in back-to-back Premier League matches, although this time around, it didn’t end up in defeat and the draw has indeed kept their Champions League hopes in their hands.
As things stand, Spurs are indeed top of their Champions League group with their last game being away to Marseille, which may well be seen as an easier game as it did earlier in the season, as the French side have lost back-to-back games on home turf.
While Spurs players, fans and Conte will likely point towards the VAR decision in stoppage time as to why they failed to beat Sporting, if they’d come out the blocks firing in the first half and stamped their authority on the game, they could have gone ahead and not had to rely on a late strike to help them progress to the knockout stages.