The game against Rochdale certainly was filled with emotion as we came back from a goal down to lead the game with a few minutes to go but the League One side battled hard to claim a deserved draw.
Playing away from Wembley on a not so great pitch might have been an excuse but we also rotated our squad a lot and handed a start to Lucas Moura.
The recent £25m signing from Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain might have found it tough to play against the Dale but he did pretty well and even scored the equaliser for us in the second half.
The Brazilian was taken off after an hour as he looks to work on his fitness but the attacker was a little upset given that we could not get the win and progress into the next round.
Moura was speaking to the club’s official website and said:
“I’m so happy, my first game (start), my first goal – of course I wanted the win.
“It was a very hard game. Rochdale were strong and made if difficult but we tried and now we need to prepare for the second game (replay) at Wembley. I’m sure we can play a big game and we can win.”
Another Big Match Coming Up At Wembley
Well, Tottenham should have defeated Rochdale rather easily but the lower league side did extremely well and were the better side in the first half, taking a deserved lead. The second half saw us do well as we dominated the game and even took the lead, thanks to Harry Kane’s penalty.
The replay will be another match where we have had two bites of the cherry, something we had to do against Newport County.
Playing extra matches would not be great for our chances of doing well in the Premier League and the Champions League but there was one good thing from the game, which is the game time we provided Moura and even to players such as Michel Vorm and Juan Foyth.
We have to worry about Juventus and the second leg at Wembley after the 2-2 draw in Turin and this extra game against Rochdale should be a walk in the park should we play our strongest side.
Hopefully, Moura will have learned a lot about English football and will be performing better and setting new standards in the months to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCyraT9y7WE
