CSKA Moscow vs Tottenham a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
September 28, 2016
2,110 Views
- Mauricio Pochettino’s men opened their Champions League account with an impressive win in Moscow last night
- The lineup at the start of the Match against CSKA may have raised some eyebrows with so many players left behind what with a top of the table clash against Manchester City on the horizon but the result only highlighted the squad depth that Tottenham now have
- It seems lessons have been learned after the defeat to Monaco at Wembley and Tottenham looked a much more composed outfit last night
- The first half saw them take command of the game but they lacked that real killer instinct to make their possession count
- Dele Alli came closest as his effort from outside if the box hit the top of the crossbar
- The England international did well to shift his feet and get the shot away but unfortunately his effort was always rising a little too high
- Toby Alderweireld headed a header late in the first half straight at Igor Akinfeev as the two sides went into the break level at 0-0
- Thankfully for Tottenham, CSKA weren’t as ruthless as Monaco were and failed to punish them for their first half wastefulness
- That said you did begin to wonder where a winner from either team would do come from and the longer the game went on Spurs began to get more and more frustrated
- The key moment of the game was being bringing on N’Koudou for Janssen
- That almost instantly gave Tottenham an extra spark as they pressed forward for a winner
- And that winner would come with 20 minutes to go as Erik Pamela’s slide rule pass found Heung min-Son
- With the South Korean advancing through on goal, he then managed to nudge the ball past the outstretched Afinkeev who could only agonisingly get a hand to the ball as it trickled over the line
- It wasn’t the prettiest of goals that Son has scored lately but it mattered just as much
- It’s now 5 in 5 for the former Bayer Leverkusen man
- Both he and Lamela had chances to get a second and kill off the game
- That didn’t come about and it meant that Spurs did have to dig in to protect their slender lead but come the final whistle they were fully deserving of their three points
- With Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco drawing it puts Pochettino’s side second in the group with the Leverkusen double header in the horizon
- If they can get at least a point in Germany then it will put them in a strong position to make the Round of 16.
- Next up the focus shifts to the visit of Manchester City on Sunday as they look to be the first team to take points off of Pep Guardiola’s men
- They did the double over them last season can they spoil Guardiola’s perfect start this weekend?
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