Eintracht Frankfurt (Away) 04.10.2022

A great diagonal pass from deep by Dier found Emerson Royal getting in beyond Knauff, but with little on, he shot first time and couldn’t get the ball to dip as it flew too high.  Spurs were pressing high up the pitch and more aggressively than in the last match, and a free-kick for a crude tackle on Royal allowed Son to whip the ball in after it was taken short and Romero missed getting his head on it as it swung in, putting Kane off behind him in the process.  Lenglet had got away with a tackle in midfield on Lindstrom, as it didn’t look too different to Royal’s sending off on Saturday, although it looked accidental when his follow through caught the opponent after winning the ball.

Seventeen minutes in, Eintracht had their first opportunity, working the ball across the edge of the penalty area before Rode shot, but it was deflected off the back of a Spurs defender for a corner.  That was played to the far post and won by a Frankfurt player, causing Lloris to nervously punch the ball away low at his near post for another corner.  This one was stepped over by two players and the resulting shot was blocked, but played wide, where Kane had to block a shot.

When we finally strung a few passes together, there was a great move from Tottenham that released Son on the right after he left a pass for Richarlison who put him through.  Unfortunately, his ball across the front of goal was too strong for Kane to get a touch on.  Sonny then set Harry up with a shooting chance, but he dragged his right-footed effort wide of the keeper’s right-hand post from just outside the area.

A good chance was created when Harry flicked the ball on to Son just inside the D, but the ball fizzed past the post rather than rippling inside the net, which was unusual, as Son often produces successful finishes from more difficult positions.  Royal was finding a lot of joy up the right, with Richy sending him into the area and his low ball meant for Son was deflected by a defender to Perisic at the far post.  He struck it first time and another Eintracht deflection this time took the ball agonisingly wide to the left of the keeper’s goal.  Richy had a shot but sliced it wide with Hasebe diving in on him and then hitting him while he lay on the floor, believing he was making a lot of it.  The referee was advised it wasn’t a penalty and gave a corner, which it wasn’t.  When the ball came in there were appeals for handball, but once more nothing was awarded with the half-time whistle following shortly after.

Four minutes into the second half, Sow played a floated pass into the Spurs box and Knauff got in front of Royal to swing a foot at a volley and luckily he didn’t get much on it, allowing Hugo to dive down to his left to keep the ball out.  As the ball moved to the other end, Kane, Son and then Perisic linked well to get the Croatian into the area on the left and his low ball in couldn’t find Kane, who was crowded out at the near post.  Some loose control in the Eintracht box let Richarlison claim possession and he laid it back for Son, but he had to take a touch before shooting just over.

Playing ourselves into trouble by short passes around our own box, the ball was won by Frankfurt, then Dier tried to clear but only diverted the ball into Lindstrom’s path.  He hit it first time with all the goal to aim at, but put it way over the top of Hugo’s goal.  The nervousness when playing the ball out from the back isn’t helped when they don’t have sufficient weight on the passes to give the player receiving it an opportunity to do something with it rather than being hurried into a pressured pass or losing the ball as an opposition player is right on top of them.

Lenglet got booked for pulling a player back, while Royal had been kicked constantly throughout the match without much more than free-kicks given and Clement then blocked off another run by an Eintracht man, but it should only have been a free-kick despite the claims from the black shirts for a second card.  Kamada shot over from a good position on their left before Lindstrom shot at goal and it cannoned off Hojbjerg with claims this time for a penalty.  Pierre’s arm was tucked into his body so it would have been a travesty if a penalty had been given.

Too often the final pass was not weighted well or the control wasn’t sure enough to get a decent shot on goal.  Sessegnon broke on the left but his ball into the near post area was won by Son ahead of Trapp, but could only put it wide under pressure from a defender.  It was hard for Spurs, as there were two men on Kane and Son as soon as they received a pass and there was little time or space to do a lot with it.

The referee was giving everything to Frankfurt and a booking for Kane when Hasebe dragged him to the floor and then wouldn’t let him get up was laughable, but in keeping with the Italian’s officiating.

The game ended in a whimper, with only the noise from the home fans left ringing in the ears, as there was little of note to take from the match other than how much we are missing Dejan Kulusevski.  Playing three in attack isn’t quite working at this point in time and with the wing backs being a bit more attacking tonight, the final ball was not of the quality needed to create the openings we needed.  It wasn’t that the strikers were far off getting on the end of them, but not really near enough. 

The result leaves us level with Frankfurt on four points, two behind Sporting at the top of the Group, with Marseille on three points.  Sporting had their goalkeeper sent off in the first half of their match, having already kicked the ball against a Marseille player to concede the first goal, so how that result reflects on either team is questionable.  One thing that you can be sure of is that we wouldn’t have been on the end of that good luck.

Sparky Marky

• Heung-Min Son made his 50th Champions League appearance.