The Frank Engine Stumbles Into A Winning Formation 🚂
📍Tottenham 2-0 Borussia Dortmund 📈
Let me start by saying that I am so glad that Tottenham finally won a game of football at home fairly convincingly!
Now that bit is out the way let me get to how this happened.
How did Spurs beat the Champions League Top Scorers and keep a clean sheet in the process?
Well my own theory consists of a perfect storm of fortunate and unfortunate circumstances that led to Frank having to pick this team due to the fact that there are more injured players in this squad than players that are actually available (slight exaggeration I know).
This meant that Spence played on the left wing and was in the mood to terrorise his left back at every opportunity! It was the Spence we saw last season breaking into the Tottenham team with no fear and it was a joy to watch.
Let’s get this straight, it wasn’t a piece of Frank Engine tactical nous it was purely lucky that he had Spence to call on and Udogie was fit to slot in at Left Back.
The other piece of luck was that the Dortmund sending off meant that the inevitable second half fight back from Dortmund was stopped in its tracks and instead Dortmund could only huff and puff with 10 men in the second half while Spurs seemed to revert to type and retreat, but by then the damage had already been done so Spurs could afford this luxury.
My favourite performance of the night was Simons who was pulling strings like a young Modric (even before the red card) and it was a joy to see a player enjoying his football for once in this Spurs team (shame he can’t shoot for sh*t, but hey they used to say that about Modric too).
There was also the return of Solanke who managed to score one of the weirdest goals I’ve seen in a while and he seemed to really enjoy that moment whilst also providing the work rate and target that the team has needed for a long while now.
A win is a win and that was a great win BUT let us not let it paper the cracks.
Spurs have been awful this season despite what the manager says about 8 games in a row of getting better. Therefore there is no way that I can see Spurs miraculously turning up on Sunday against Burnley Away and turning in a display similar to this one.
The Premier League is obviously a different beast and this team doesn’t have the squad numbers to maintain a push for the rest of the season. I sincerely hope that this is a turning point but I doubt it.
I am hoping that Frank Engine has learnt that Spence is probably the best bet at Left Wing that we currently have but let’s face it, he probably won’t learn that lesson as Tel is waiting in the wings to slot right back in there.
Current Champions League Position: 4th