Spurs were absolutely honking against a relentless yet wasteful Bodo/Glimt as Thomas Frank was given a Champions League reality check in Norway.
Bodo/Glimt are one of the most overachieving football clubs in Europe, having won the Eliteserien four times in the last five years. They’ve punched above their weight on the continent too, reaching the Europa League semi-final last season after knocking out Lazio, Olympiacos and FC Twente.
Spurs, despite their Premier League woes, proved a step too far. Back in May, they made light work of an awkward tie, winning 5-1 on aggregate. On Tuesday night, though, they did not show up. At least not until there were only 20 minutes left. They had been battered. Absolutely smacked.
Every time Bodo attacked, they looked like scoring. Every time Spurs attacked, they looked like they were down to nine men. The home side’s wastefulness kept giving Frank and his players hope they could sneak something, but it felt like a goal before half-time was absolutely crucial for Kjetil Knutsen’s side. The more they missed, the more inevitable it seemed it wasn’t going to be their night.
A first-half penalty conceded by Rodrigo Bentancur should have been the breakthrough, but Kasper Hogh skied it in bizarre fashion. Lucy Ward on TNT Sports compared the effort to a “golf wedge” – and she wasn’t wrong.
How Bodo weren’t ahead at the break was baffling, and just as baffling was how Spurs came out looking no better. They couldn’t get out of their own half and were powerless to stop wave after wave of attack from a side smashing the door down.
Eventually the breakthrough came with a wonderful Jens Petter Hauge finish. After wasting easier chances with rash efforts, Hauge composed himself and curled the ball into the far corner.
The floodgates should have opened, but football being football, Spurs immediately equalised – only for VAR to rule it out as Micky van de Ven was caught grabbing a Bodo defender’s shirt.
The Spurs captain lost his head at the decision and then lost it again with a reckless tackle that earned him a yellow and summed up the mood.
Bodo sensed it was theirs to win and struck again, Hauge once more the difference as he chopped inside and drilled into the bottom corner. Guglielmo Vicario had no chance with either goal, and Spurs were staring at humiliation.
Van de Ven briefly reattached his head to thunder in a goal that halved the deficit and set up inevitable pain. Spurs pressed late, Wilson Odobert hit the woodwork, and in the 90th minute, fortune intervened as a rebound went in off Richarlison. It was brutally unfair on the Norwegians.
The fight to salvage a draw, as they did against Wolves on Saturday, will encourage Frank. But the fact Spurs are consistently allowing so many chances and counter-attacks is a huge concern. People talk about Liverpool’s late winners being unsustainable, but it’s far more realistic than Spurs having to rescue themselves every game.
They were fortunate Villarreal were wasteful on matchday one, and they were fortunate again here. Bodo should have been out of sight before half-time. If Spurs keep turning up for only 20 of 90 minutes, they will be punished by better opposition.
That especially applies in the Champions League, where Frank has already been given a reality check after seeing off Villarreal two weeks ago. The saving grace is their league phase schedule: Monaco, Copenhagen, PSG (not ideal), Slavia Prague, Borussia Dortmund and Frankfurt. That looks more Europa League than Champions League, PSG aside.
There’s a genuine chance Spurs can coast through and grab a top-eight finish. But by the time the knockout stage comes around, Frank has to have found a way to get a tune out of his players for a full game, not just one fifth of it.
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