Spurs: Perisic let Conte down last night

Tottenham Hotspur suffered a notable setback of their bid to achieve the Champions League knockout levels, having been held to a irritating 1-1 draw with Sporting Lisbon on house soil on Wednesday night.

That disappointing stalemate has ensured that the north Londoners’ hopes of development are nonetheless very a lot in their very own fingers, though it’s seemingly a removed from ideally suited situation to must go Marseille in want of a optimistic end result on matchday six.

The overriding feeling within the aftermath of that match will doubtless have been certainly one of fury for Antonio Conte’s facet, with the Lilywhites having seemingly had victory snatched away from them on the loss of life following a usually contentious VAR determination.

It had, nevertheless, been a fairly limp first-half show from the house facet previous to the eventual late drama, with the Portuguese outfit maybe deservedly taking the lead halfway via the primary half, as former Tottenham youth starlet Marcus Edwards nearly inevitably returned to hang-out his earlier employers with a shocking effort from vary.

A much-improved efficiency would observe after the break from the hosts, though it might take till the eightieth minute for an equaliser to lastly emerge, with Rodrigo Bentancur persevering with his current effective kind to header house.

The Premier League facet then appeared to have accomplished their comeback – and secured their place within the last-16 – with nearly the ultimate kick as Harry Kane lashed house from shut vary, just for the objective to be controversially denied following an excruciatingly lengthy VAR wait.

That agonising finish to what was an eventful evening in N17 has left Conte’s males nonetheless in want of a point heading into their last group stage sport subsequent week, with it probably set to show a pivotal second within the membership’s Champions League future.

For all that undoubted rage, there might be query marks as to why Spurs couldn’t have began the sport in the identical method through which they completed it, having once more appeared considerably torpid off the again of two successive top-flight defeats.

One determine who notably underwhelmed was summer time signing Ivan Perisic, with the skilled Croatian having confirmed notably wasteful from his wing-back berth, dropping possession 19 occasions from his 68 touches.

Whereas the 34-year-old did tee up teammate Bentancur with a pleasant nook for his facet’s objective on the evening – in addition to play a job within the ultimately disallowed late effort – the previous Inter Milan machine was largely ineffective from his broad berth.

The £9m-rated man was discovered wanting together with his “poor” supply – as per journalist George Periods – with the attacking asset having accomplished simply five of his 19 crosses, whereas additionally proving one thing of a legal responsibility defensively as he was dribbled previous thrice and received simply three of his 9 complete duels.

Because the Night Customary’s Dan Kilpatrick famous, the 115-cap veteran ‘could surely be doing more from open play‘, having proven a “lack of quality” since making the transfer to England within the current window, in line with The Athletic’s Alex Kay-Jelski.

For all of the finger-pointing at that notable late refereeing determination, Conte may properly be higher served wanting on the issues inside his personal ranks, with concern probably rising over Perisic’s current struggles.