Fiorentina vs Tottenham a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
February 19, 2016
1,654 Views
- Honours even at The Artemio Franchi Stadium last night
- On the balance of play it was probably a fair result
- Spurs looked very comfortable in the first half hour but had no real threat with a long range Christian Eriksen effort being the only real chance of note
- Federico Bernadeschi passed up a great opportunity to put Fiorentina but he mistimed his header after a great cross into the box eluded Toby Alderweireld
- Ben Davies picked up where he left off against Watford and made a fair few attacking runs into Fiorentina’s Penalty box and was rewarded for his endeavor by earning a Penalty for Spurs
- Nacer Chadli duly stepped up and slotted home, for every goal he scores he makes the case for being the backup Striker that Tottenham supposedly needed ever stronger
- The main talking point was again Dele Alli. But this time for the wrong reasons
- His petulant kick as the ball was going out of play was spotted by the German Referee although thankfully for Spurs and Alli he was only cautioned
- Straight after break Spurs thought they were 2-0 up but Heung Min-Son’s header was correctly disallowed for Offside
- Fiorentina hadn’t really threatened bar that early Bernadeschi effort in the first half but then thye hit Spurs with a sucker punch
- It was Bernadeschi again and this time his luck was very much in. A speculative effort from outside the box deflected off Ryan Mason’s foot and looped past Michel Vorm and into the net.
- A spectacular looking striker which agonisingly cannoned off the bar past the helpless Vorm and in to level things up
- Fiorentina then when in search of a winner and had a spell where they were very much on top
- Ex Blackburn Striker Nikola Kalinic was then bought on and although his aerial presence was a nuisance he couldn’t quite make the difference
- Once Fiorentina leveled things up it took the wind out of Tottenham’s attack as they looked ready to settle for a draw
- Harry Kane was bought on but in all fairness was quite ineffective maybe he didn’t need to come in and was harshly booked late on for supposedly raising an arm
- The introduction of Eric Dier was a smart one as his presence managed to stifle Fiorentina and made sure Spurs saw the game out
- Mauricio Pochettino’s men will no doubt be pleased with getting a vital away goal and will feel they have the advantage going into the Second Leg next week at White Hart Lane but it is still very much to play for
- I did predict a 1-1 draw beforehand so the result came as no real surprise, if you have offered me the draw beforehand I would have taken it so I’m not too upset with the result
- That and it will make for an interesting return next Thursday as in all fairness the atmosphere was a little dull in Florence last night.
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