REACTION: Tottenham 1-0 Villarreal | Spurs Start Their Champions League Campaign With A Win

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1:32And that's it. It's Tottenham 1, Villarreal 0. We've kicked off our Champions League campaign with a win. Big three points. And ultimately, that's all that matters.

1:52We've definitely come through that one, especially that second half. by the, I wouldn't say the skin of our teeth quite. I think that's pretty dramatic. But it was definitely less comfortable than I'm sure we all would have liked, right?

2:11Villarreal, let's not forget, are a good side. Seasoned European opposition. They're one of those sort of sides I was talking about in the preview with Billy. we're sort of saying how they're the type of team that when you draw them in something like the Champions League, you kind of think, yeah, we'll have them. We'll do them easy. If you were to draw Villarreal in a Europa League quarterfinal, semifinal vote, for example, you would almost definitely be more concerned, right? I think that's what we'd say. purely because you know that on a on a good day Spurs should be Spurs should be overcoming a team like Villarreal we know that right and we have done that we have done that on a on an all right day but they're by no means a pushover and I think it's important to remember really when you look at the starting 11 for Spurs.

3:19This is a young side. It's an inexperienced side. I know like there was some kind of mention of the fact that it's Thomas Frank's first Champions League game, his first game as a manager in the Champions League. I guess there's probably something in that, but you know, he's still, he's a top flight manager. I don't think it's quite the same as a player making their debut, but yeah, maybe I'm wrong. That's just my sort of projection from the outside. What I would say is, though, we've got a young side there. We've got like a galvanized nucleus to this side. I was surprised to see Bentancur start again, but not unhappy about it.

4:06So he's obviously trusting him. I was quite surprised to see Spence start again. I thought he might bring a doggie in after Spence played just a few days ago. But again, not disappointed with that decision. Jed's a brilliant player. Pat Matassar, I think he started his first game for Spurs. I don't think it was his debut, but I think his first start for Spurs was away in the San Siro in the Champions League against AC Milan. So he has some experience playing. He is also a kind of a fully-fledged international player. But still, he's a relatively young player, learning his trades. There's a number of examples of that.

4:50You've got Xavi Simmonds making his home debut.

4:54It's a work in progress. It's a young side, and still, we have... This kind of sounds like I'm being negative. I'm not. The point I'm trying to drive at is we've got plenty of different factors around this game that had we lost this, we would look at those and say, well, yeah, it stands to reason that we might lose to an opposition like Villarreal. Young players, team kind of going up through the gears, starting to still try to learn what one another are doing. A manager who hasn't managed at this level before. And we've come through it. We've won. We've got another clean sheet. I don't really think there's anything to complain about at all today.

5:34what I would want to complain about is the referee in this one and I know that's always kind of like the battle cry of like a bitter fan that can't take his own team's kind of failures or whatever in a match but I don't think that's the case I think the referee completely killed the occasion he bought everything that Villarreal was selling you know and they were being cynical I think at every opportunity they could I think it was a really bizarre and quite surprising decision to give Kuala Mane a yellow card immediately for something that wasn't you know particularly you know it wasn't a bad challenge you know he had his back to the player he was trying to knock the ball over his head I know somebody might say it's a high foot but you know I think that's a I don't know it's a strange one the decision from VAR not to give us the penalty in the first half is a 50-50 one I've seen a lot of kind of really incredulous Spurs fans on Twitter talking about it I think it's it's one of those ones isn't it where I didn't look at that especially in the slow-mo and think that's definitely a penalty we've been robbed of won there but had we been given a penalty for that I would have been all right with that I mean obviously but what I'm saying is I wouldn't have thought well we've gotten lucky there I think it's just one of those where some days you're going to get that and some days you're not on this occasion we didn't get it but ultimately it didn't it didn't matter did it because we've got the three points on to the next and that's you know it's a fairly difficult game that one I look at kind of Benfica I'm not sure exactly how it ended but Benfica were 2-0 up at home against Carabag and last I saw Carabag had come back and were winning 3-2 Juventus Dortmund was end-to-end by the looks of things just judging by the goal alerts it's a Champions League you know this is an unforgiving level of football where the majority of teams are pretty seasoned and pretty good and I would count Villarreal amongst those teams so for us to win kick off our campaign with a win for with a clean sheet um and really if we're being honest about it although they kind of enjoyed a fair amount of I would say they pressured us quite a bit in our own half in the second half Villarreal but their actual meaningful chances I feel like we largely restricted so I feel like we we stuck to the plan we were organized it wasn't the most beautiful spectacle at all times but we've come through it like I say we've got the three points and on to the next so you know I'm not I'm not by any stretch of the imagination upset or unhappy about that um I think we've got to take that as a good performance and a good win for Spurs.

8:52John Benfield has said muggy referee in the game. Yep, I agree. I do think that. Stephen King says, Evening Jack, first half Spurs new order. Second half, same old Spurs. The ref can get in the bin and clean sheets for us. See, what I would say, Stephen, is if it was same old Spurs, I think we might have conceded or maybe even lost the game I think the fact that we've managed to kind of dig deep and come through that is still indicative of you know the times changing to a degree I know what you're I kind of I feel like I get what you're you're intimating that you know the first half we were knocking the ball about it looked quite nice it looked like we had a plan and we were sticking to that very well.

9:42Whereas in the second half, it felt like we were very much under the caution. We weren't really getting to play the game on our own terms. I do get that. But I do think that's kind of part of Frank's thing, isn't it? Frank can... I think that's very much part of his MO. It's the side of his shtick, if you like, that people aren't as warm to the idea of. but maybe Spurs need to embrace a bit more because we've come unstuck quite a bit down the years, haven't we? The idea that, yeah, when we are in control of a game, we can play nice football, but if need be, when we're pushed back, we can suck the life out of a game.

10:23And I think we did that pretty competently at most points tonight. Van de Ven had that one little kind of mishap, didn't he, when he ran back and barged into the back of the player. But for the most part, both him and Romero were supreme in their defensive duties. Pedro Porro put in a really good shift. Judd Spence had a few sloppy moments, I think, but largely was good for most of the game. So it's just interesting. Steve H says, Evening Jack, morning here from Down Under. G'day, mate. sloppy game still think the shape is a little off um but love the players uh the midfield is lacking a calm presence at the moment yeah i i i won't lie but this in the second half i was kind of hoping for polinia to come on and i was happy that he did and i do feel that i know it's not popular really weirdly but as soon as he did come on i feel like we looked like we had much more control over the fixture again um it felt like it was starting to slip away from us for a while and i know i tweeted something to that effect and the sort of the response from a few was you know we're struggling to string passes together bringing him on isn't going to help us do that i kind of disagree with that to an extent um in respect to i feel like part of our our sloppiness was caused by playing under pressure Villarreal were turning the screw Villarreal were you know they were on top of us for most of the second half and had we that calmer more controlled presence in somebody like Polinia there it would have allowed us to I feel like play the game at our own tempo somewhat more and I feel that is what started to happen I feel like we ended the game all right you know much stronger than we started the second half anyway um just gem says missing matters yeah maybe um gage reynolds says a little concerning the amount of sloppy passes straight to the opposition directly to a yellow shirt especially in the second half yeah and like i was just saying i think that's partly due to villarreal just putting us under a lot of pressure um not really giving as much time to breathe to think um they wanted to dictate the pace of the game and I think they achieved that pretty well in that second half but we still came through it and that would be a great learning to for a lot of those players um how to kind of cope in those situations against those cannier oppositions those sort of teams like Villarreal that can suddenly switch into another gear from out from almost out of nowhere and I mean it wasn't from almost out of nowhere because they started the second half very brightly and it's obviously a result of whatever um tactical um or instruction you know tactical instructions that Marcelino is it um fed them uh Anon says remember when West Ham lost to FC Carabag back in the day well Carabag are in the Champions League now and just beat Benfica yeah they've been in the Champions League quite a few times I think they've done did Carabag have they beaten Real Madrid at one point in the past few years I don't know I feel like they've had at least one big result in their recent history Carabag

14:16Jack Underhill where has he gone certified stink fest glad for the win but the complete lack of push for another goal by long throws was concerning i think it's all right mate i think it's this type of competition like i say lots of young players we've managed a fixture and we've done it really well we've come away from this with three points you know i would be more concerned if we had totally kind of fallen to pieces um and i think it's worth remembering as well that a lot of these players have just come off the back of an international break. There's been a lot of travel there involved straight into a Premier League game and then straight into this Champions League game, what, two, three days later than that.

15:02Football is starting to come thick and fast. I think we're finding our feet. We're finding our feet as a team, as a unit. And we keep winning and keep getting clean sheets. So, you know, I didn't really feel like it was an uncontrolled performance. I'd have been more concerned if I felt like we were really, really hanging on or we came through that, you know, luckily. But I don't really feel like that was a lucky win. I feel like we were on balance fairly good value for that win today.

15:42Aris says ref was shocking agreed Sam Salinas says Bentancur is just a worse version of Polina safe backward passer but not as good in the tackle I think he's somewhat more of a progressive passer Sam but I don't think he's like you know Rodri by any stretch of the imagination so you know Seamus Hart says Aston Villa have just gone out to Brentford on penalties but aren't Villa in the Champions League I thought they were bigger than Spurs nowadays I don't know

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17:52Terms and conditions apply. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. listening to this podcast instead of doom scrolling smart move another smart move getting help from one of state farm's 19 000 local agents when you choose to bundle home and auto bundling just another way to save with the personal price plan prices are based on rating plans that vary by state coverage options are selected by the customer availability amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state jack underhill also says that bergval was our best player he essentially plays 10 but I really want to see Xavi in the middle maybe Berg Polina or Berg Saar with Xavi ahead when we're playing the weaker teams yeah I would quite like to see Xavi in the middle some really nice sort of flashes from him this evening I thought he's an exciting player isn't he Seamus Hart would the game have been different if there wasn't an early goal well we can only speculate that can't we mate but I dare say we probably would have played somewhat more openly but I don't think we really sat back.

19:01I think we chased another goal for most of the first half and then simply the second half was just Villarreal pushing us back because they were trying to get an equaliser. So, you know, I don't know. Maybe I'm seeing what I want to see. Maybe I'm being a happy clapper but I feel like Spurs played pretty well tonight And again, Villarreal, they're not a pushover side. They're a decent team. Pretty sure they've won the Europa League a couple of times in the past few years. Yeah, they're a decent side.

19:42Wilson T says, worried about our attack, if I'm being honest. They all seem a bit flaky. I think Richarlison started the season really well. and he could just be a bit tired. It wasn't a vintage performance from him tonight. Yeah, I agree with that. But, you know, let's just see where it goes. We'll see what, you know, Mawani, I don't think he had really any opportunity to show what he could do this evening. So, you know, we'll see.

20:16Gage Reynolds says, they said on CBS commentary that Foith was on the bench for us in the Champions League final seems mad that by the way that does seem very mad wow that really does surprise me I don't want to look at the starting line up or anything to do with that Champions League final so I'll take CBS's word for it but that does seem quite mad and he had a good performance tonight I was not really a fan of Juan Foy when he played for Tottenham I thought he was a bit of a disaster but quite a few people have pointed out is that maybe sort of positionally technically speaking he was somewhat ahead of his time being kind of progressive ball playing centre back and he was really good tonight he was really really good against us really controlled really disciplined and did kind of make a few kind of

21:18he carried the ball all the way into our half several times linking up play started building Villarreal's attack at least a couple of times reminiscent of a younger Yang Vertonghen in some respects it's funny isn't it I could actually see him maybe playing alongside Romero I think they play alongside each other at international level So it's not exactly a hot take, but yeah, it's what it is. He's probably gotten the experience and exposure that he's needed playing elsewhere, playing abroad. And that's partly, you know, seeing him become the player that he is today. But he was very, you know, he was very respectful of Tottenham in the pregame presses and everything like that.

22:08talking about how he'll always be appreciative of Tottenham giving him an opportunity bringing him to Europe and it's just nice to see isn't it, it's nice to have a few we've spoken about on here before how few former players we have that actually seem to like us so whenever you get one who actually seems to be quite alright with us I'll take that, I think we'll all take that won't we

22:38let's have a look Hacker BLCPS says maybe Frank is managing the performance level with an eye on Brighton but it was a weird night I don't really disagree with that it's quite an interesting point you raised there about the Brighton game Paul's beer reviews hi Paul do you do that on YouTube maybe I'll check you out I like the sound of that I'm not actually a big beer drinker but I like all that type of content when people are you know looking at I don't know craft things and stuff whatever Pugl's beer review says early days for Frank and the players are still working out the minor details however slightly concerning how little we seem to be creating an open play made a very average Villarreal side look good yeah but I think you'd nail it yourself didn't you at the top you know early days for Frank and the players are still working out the details I think we saw flashes especially in that first half of what we are capable of and what we could become on a more regular basis so you know I'd uh I'd keep the faith a bit more for now

23:51um Alan Leslie says messy game full of bad passing but three points in the bag Coys yes salad mate that's it that's it um Cameron Arthur says long time listener first time commenter about something that isn't the billabong this is in reference to my uh if you weren't aware my t-shirt that I often wear um sometimes we need to accept that winning isn't always pretty content with the three points at this stage oh just con just content with the three points are Joey Cameron. It's very big of you. Very big of you, mate. Content with winning football matches. I see. Tough crowd. Tough crowd for Tommy Frank.

24:37Soul Sniper Gaming says, best midfield is Polina, Bergvall and Xavi. Sar and Ben Tanker are really poor, both of them. No. I'm not having Sar. I'm not having Sar as very poor, mate. He's a wonderful player. Justgem says Foyth was about 20 when he was with us yeah yeah I know he was young but still I'm impatient so

25:07Agency Panic says loving the clean sheets Jack yes I was wondering if you were making a comment about my bed linen or something there but no you weren't talking about Tottenham Hotspur Football Club Steve DePoe says Polinia and Danso as late game subs when Spurs are ahead is a nice option to have time for a doggy to get a few games as well we are going to see 39 in the striker role very soon

25:43who's number 39 is that Calamuane

25:51I'm having to have a look now yeah Kalamuani is number 39 I thought as much yeah maybe yeah

26:03Stephen King said did you hear Berber pre-game saying we're going to have Champions League winners on the front of the stadium this time next year I did hear him saying that type of stuff I didn't hear him say exactly that but I did hear him saying being very very effusive in his praise of Tottenham and I've just I've got a feeling we're going to go deep in this competition um nights like tonight are good you know I've seen down the years I've seen plenty of times obviously Liverpool capable of winning games beautifully but also Liverpool winning games like tonight in this fashion grinding them out um as it was said earlier you know I think it was Cameron winning isn't always pretty um but we've won like you know I think it's fine.

26:51Brian Park makes a really good point here saying, it's easy to forget we finished 17th last season. This is a huge improvement. Defensive organization and shape is night and day. Bang on, Brian. Absolutely spot on there, mate. Absolutely spot on.

27:11James Nicholson says, think we will improve if we can get Shavi into the middle of the pitch. most creative player and a bit too peripheral on the right on the wing expect Mouani might get some minutes on the left soon enough yeah it would be nice to see Xavi come more centrally I'll talk about him a bit more in a minute when I do the players Destiny 5 says Spence was bad today and Simmons is wasted on the left K9 Magurn 1 says Ref was poor but we were a little lucky to end with 11 men we were xavi simmons we we definitely got away with one there um so you know fine what i will say i think the thing i will say is i think his uh i think his first yellow card was pretty harsh really if i'm being brutally honest so as much as we kind of did get away with one because when he was booked he arguably should have had a second yellow um i I think his first yellow was a pretty harsh one anyway.

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28:59At home or on the go, never miss a moment. All on Fox 1. Stream now. Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy mocha frappuccino drink? Or a sweet vanilla? Smooth caramel, maybe. or white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries. Julien Vacario, I... Look, I know he's kind of... His, like... Stats have been pretty good in the Premier League this year. I think he's been kind of one of the most effective goalkeepers, saves-wise and everything like that. I'm still not overly convinced by him, if I'm brutally honest.

29:44I feel like there are a few, a couple of occasions today where his decision making could be questioned. One of those was his kind of, I can't remember when abouts in the game it was, I think it was the first half. But I seem to recall him kind of faffing about trying to kick the ball about around the box and it nearly kind of coming back to bite us. And then he sort of threw the ball out in a less than convincing fashion. and there was also that moment where destiny a doggy was shielding the villa real attacker um who was trying to run onto the ball that had been played through and vicario as he often does just didn't read it very well wasn't very alert to it um and it almost resulted in the in the sort of the villa real player getting around the doggy and getting on the ball um i think i personally feel like a doggy had made the right decision there and vicario should have been more alert to that and been straight out and claim the ball um i do think he's a good player i'm not saying he's terrible by any stretch of the imagination but i do think he is i do think he's replaceable um vicario he's a very good shot stopper um but so is herelia gomez and he actually he actually reminds me quite a lot of her Elio Gomez in that they're both really good players they're amazing shot stoppers and they will by virtue of that win you games at times um but I do think they can also be responsible for putting you under undue pressure um when you might need a sort of karma presence there in the goal um and I do just think he physically just gets I think he gets bullied constantly and I really I really resented it when Neville said that because Neville said that after about five six games into his Tottenham career but uh you know like that the meme says you know the worst person you know on the internet just made a good point I do feel that Vicario you know he's he's not a small lad you know he's a big lad um needs to needs to put himself about a bit more again I think there were a couple of times this evening when he got kind of bullied in the air a bit by Villarreal players so yeah try and sort that out but a decent performance and a clean sheet again from him tonight so fine Jed Spence I love Jed he's flying at the moment and I don't want to be somebody to like you know poor negativity on one of the you know brighter sparks of our you know of Tottenham's campaign um so far this season um somebody that's on this sort of like personal redemptive arc at the moment so what I will say is I think tonight was a uncharacteristically poor performance from him you know he was largely okay but he completely went to sleep in the first half and you know Villarreal almost capitalized on that and I think he misplaced passes quite a few times and he wasn't really making the usual kind of smart or well-timed runs that he often does maybe you know maybe he's a bit tired maybe he's kind of played a bit too much football lately I don't know maybe it's simply an adjustment to this level as I keep saying Villarreal are a good seasoned side so you know by no means is this a you know me signing the kind of you know the execution warrant or bill or whatever for Jed Spence I'm just simply saying that it was from what we from the from the from the bar he set of late it was below that a below below par performance from him I feel just overall tonight Mickey Van Der Ven really good him and Romero both you know I think what you'd expect from that partnership um they were cool controlled for the most part barring like i say that one incident towards the end when van der van was rushing back and was just somewhat rash um it was about three four foot outside of the penalty box so you know i don't even know why that had to be var to be honest um surely the linesman should have seen that but anyway um he didn't give away a penalty um fine and Romero really good the the two of them made some a succession of really good clean decisive tackles held the back line really well and for the most part kept Villarreal at bay so yeah no real complaints there Pedro Porro I thought had one of his better games tonight um I feel like defensively he was pretty solid solid enough and I feel like going forwards he was very positive um he pressured Villarreal a lot down that right hand side um I liked seeing his I just liked seeing his endeavor I liked seeing his constant marauding runs down the right hand side his ability to sort of whip balls into the box dangerous balls create danger he links up pretty well with Kudus a good I thought it was a really good performance from Pedro Poirot tonight I really did Papsar Starboy

35:50much like with Spence I would say per his own par per his own per that he has set he was below but he was still doing lots of the good things that we expect from Papsar which is never giving up lots of endeavour lots of reading the game pretty well breaking up opposition play there were a couple of times in the first half when he didn't drop back in his usual fashion and I saw Romero kind of berating him a bit on the pitch as you Romero was in possession of the ball and Villarreal weren't really pressing. And he was saying, look, why aren't you lot dropping back? And I think he was directing it largely at Saar, being like, why are you not dropping back to come and receive the ball from me?

36:39Come on, come on. So yeah, I wouldn't go as far as to say it was an off night for Saar, but again, somewhat below par just by his own personal high standards. But, you know, fine. Young player, adapting to this level, has played a lot of football lately as well. So, you know, fine. Rodrigo Bentancur, I think he started the game pretty well. I think he gave us a real sort of level of control in the first half. I was surprised to see him last the whole game because I think by about the 55th minute, he looked spent. I thought he looked totally spent. I thought he was largely ineffective for large parts of the second half.

37:25I was very surprised to see Sarr come off, honestly speaking, rather than Bentancur for Polina. I guess the thinking was that with Polina coming on, Bentancur would be required to do less if he was looking tired and we could still capitalize on his more experienced, seasoned head in a game such as this. So I can understand it, but it still wasn't a particularly progressive move, if you like. But fine, we got the win, didn't we? Bergvold, brilliant performance. I really can't believe, I know I'm echoing myself here, but I really can't believe he's 19 years old. He's such a wonderful player, such a wonderful talent.