Tottenham beat Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the Champions League.
Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a strong display against German giants Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League yesterday night as the Lilywhites took a step closer to a last-16 qualification. That win will also take massive pressure off Thomas Frank, and that showed in the post-match press conference as well, where the relieved Spurs head coach joked about how he would be having “two big glasses of red wine”.
Tottenham had half a squad but played with full heart
At times that 2-0 scoreline does not give us the full picture, and this was one of those times. If we look at a bit of stats from that first half, it gives us a glimpse of just how good Thomas Frank & Co. were in that opening forty-five yesterday night.
In that first half, Tottenham not only outplayed Niko Kovac’s visitors but also, in a sense, completely took them out of the game.
And it wasn’t that Dortmund was having an off night. It was more of the tactical dominance that Tottenham showed. More so that came from a Lilywhites side that could barely put on a first-team eleven given that a huge number of players were missing. Adding to that was this sense of pressure with Thomas Frank’s job at the helm at Hotspur Way hanging by a thread.
But from the get-go, you could see that the hosts were pressing aggressively and winning the second balls. It was a sense of confidence and a tempo that we have barely seen from Spurs this season in the Premier League.
Djed Spence was playing out of position on the left wing. But the former Middlesbrough defender had quite an impressive display while Wilson Odobert was constantly stretching their back line from the right channel. The duo of Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray had a wide sense of control in the middle of the park. And Cristian Romero and Kevin Danso won everything at the back.
The Lilywhites barely gave the North Londoners any space to breathe. And that opening goal from Cristian Romero felt inevitable as the Argentine powered the corner home. And then Dominic Solanke announced his arrival to fitness with that second one soon.
Time to translate these performances in PL as Dortmund stat reflects Lilywhites dominance
By the time we went into half-time, the shocking thing was not that Thomas Frank & Co. were finally winning at home. But it was that they kept Dortmund on leashes so much that the visitors did not manage any action, which gave them attacking value. No shots. No crosses. No corners. No chances. Absolutely nothing.
Now Tottenham have to keep this quality at the weekend and translate these impressive displays in the Premier League, starting with Burnley this Saturday.
