After an awful showing in the weekend, Thomas Frank would have hoped a midweek match could get Tottenham Hotspur back on track. The problem? It was against defending champions Paris Saint-Germain. The French giants have essentially left off from where they finished last season, and went into this match in such a position of strength that manager Luis Enrique felt comfortable leaving some of their stars, such as the likes of Ousmane Dembele and Ilya Zabarnyi, on the bench.
Thomas Frank continued to show a worrying lack of clarity as to the shape of his best XI; once more, big summer signing Xavi Simons was left on the bench, but returns to the starting XI for Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, and Pape Matar Sarr (with no wide attackers in the lineup) seemed to signify a defense-first approach once more.
That wasn’t quite the case in reality, though, with Spurs showing improved verticality both with their running and their passing, while also appearing more robust in defense. A number of times in the first half, Spurs attackers found themselves in space, but the final ball just didn’t come, while PSG were largely restricted to potshots from outside the penalty area. Spurs finally made one of those opportunities count 35 minutes in: Lucas Bergvall made a run down the left, before linking up well with Archie Gray making an overlapping run. Gray chipped a cross across the face of goal the Randal Kolo Muani headed back centrally, where Richarlison was on hand to knock the headed equivalent of a tap-in into the net.
Unfortunately, Spurs’ advantage did not last for long, as one of PSG’s long-range efforts finally played dividends. PSG worked a corner short via Quentin Ndjantou, with Spurs slow to react, sitting deep in the 18-yard box. This gave Vitinha acres of space just outside the area, as he received the ball and ripped an unstoppable shot off the crossbar and in to leave the scores level going into half-time.
The scores weren’t level for long, though, with Spurs scoring soon after the break with a set piece proving provider. Pedro Porro’s corner was kept alive well at the back post by Richarlison, which Gray did well to flick goalwards. PSG’s goalline clearance fell to Kolo Muani, who thumped home a volley against his parent club to put Spurs back into the lead. The rollercoaster continued, though, with PSG quickly snatching an equalizer. It was Vitinha again: he cut inside Djed Spence, with Lucas Bergvall slow to support, and curled a left-footed shot around Bentancur to take the score to 2-2.
PSG began to turn up the pressure, and soon went into the lead. Cristian Romero played a perhaps ill-advised pass into Sarr under heavy attention from Lucas Hernandez, with Sarr losing possession under pressure. There was perhaps a slight indication of a foul, but Sarr should have been stronger, and the ball fell to Joao Neves with the Spurs defense completely out of shape. Neves played a simple pass into Fabian Ruiz, and he finished calmly from the penalty spot. PSG then doubled their lead, with Sarr and Richarlison conspiring in their failure to clear a simple corner as Willian Pacho capitalized from close range.
Spurs soon struck back once more: Kolo Muani nicked possession from Vitinha, before slaloming through the PSG defense and finishing well to double his tally. The goal would have given the Spurs faithful hope, but those hopes were quickly dashed as PSG were awarded a penalty. Romero threw himself in to block a shot, but his arm was struck by said shot and adjudged to be in an unnatural position. Vitinha lined up the spot kick and struck it well to secure his hat-trick.
With the result all but gone, Frank made a number of changes to try and get back in the match. A late red card for Lucas Hernandez for throwing an elbow into the face of Xavi Simons created some momentary late drama, but Spurs were unable to capitalize, with the match finishing with a perhaps undeserved 5-3 scoreline.
Reactions
This match was absolutely crazy, and unfortunately ended in another big loss - but one that probably wasn’t reflective of the performance. Weirdly, Spurs actually out-performed PSG by xG: 2.06 to 1.76. Sometimes, though, things just don’t go your way and those long-range Vitinha efforts were lethal.
I know it seems strange to feel positive after a loss, but… is that possibly the best Spurs have played all season? It was definitely the most fluid they have looked in build-up, though that wasn’t necessarily consistent either as Spurs began to struggle with an improved PSG press in the second half.
The formation was a bit of an odd one. The midfielders were all quite fluid in their movement when in possession, which at times caused PSG problems. Off the ball, Spurs seemed to press in a 4-4-2 diamond, with Archie Gray interestingly often leading the press from the #10 role, before dropping into a 4-2-2-2 mid-block, with Gray dropping into the double pivot and Sarr and Lucas taking up wide attacking midfield positions.
That fluidity in midfield and the vertical movement from Spurs often pulled PSG out of shape and created a fair amount of space in buildup. It begs the question, though: why haven’t we seen movement like this pretty much at all this season?
Can we maybe chalk one up on the ledger of the “play the kids” folks?
Lucas Bergvall’s little backheel around the corner to Gray in the buildup to the first goal? Chef’s kiss.
Pape Matar Sarr - boy, I just don’t know what to do with him. He was kind of the odd man out today, and while he can be useful in front of goal, he was partially responsible for two of PSG’s goals today. He just seems to drop off and disappear sometimes.
Richarlison was putting in WORK. His hustle around the ball did a great job of occupying defenders and helped create space for the likes of Lucas Bergvall and Kolo Muani.
Next up: Fulham on Saturday. COYS.