Spurs’ mid-week first-half Champions League performance against Marseille was one of their worst ever.
That is the view of TalkSPORT pundit Tony Cascarino, who has labelled the Lilywhites and manager Antonio Conte ‘cowards’.
Cascarino’s assessment will undoubtedly take some fans by surprise, especially considering the North Londoners went on to beat their French opponents 2-1 to top the competition’s Group D.
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Sure, Spurs weren’t at their best during the game’s first 45 minutes, but they certainly made up for that in the game’s second half, but Cascarino doesn’t seem to care about that and thinks Conte has a lot to answer for.
“That’s the worst performance I’ve seen for Spurs in 45 minutes. It was dreadful. It shows you the fine margins of sport and football. They offered absolutely nothing. I’m saying this word now because it’s not a very nice word. I think it was a coward’s performance by the coach in the first half,” the 60-year-old said.
“You cannot sit off teams like they do. I don’t know you can be so cowardly in setting up a team. Conte got it wrong again. They’ve got players well capable of playing a brand of football that is going to help forwards and win games.”
? “That was the worst performance I saw from Tottenham!”
? “I thought it was a coward’s performance by Conte.”
? “Conte had got it wrong again in the first half!”
Tony Cascarino describes #THFC’s performance midweek v Marseille as cowardly! pic.twitter.com/Pt8SqKvOrU
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) November 5, 2022
I’ve been a Spurs fan for 62 years and, unfortunately, I can only agree.
Yep. Cascarino’s right. This was non-football and the opposite of Glory. Cowardice? I don’t know, but I do know that these (mostly) opening 45 minutes of Spurs’ games this season are a dour, depressing and embarrassing watch, and none of it makes sense, as they have the squad to do far better (whether they eventually win, lose or draw such games). It can’t be down to a plan, as no one ‘plans’ to play like that in the first halves of matches. Yes, you can have a defensive set-up to invite teams on, and tactics to tire out the opposition, led by an expert coach (which Conte is) who can then alter things, if it’s all going awry, but no team ‘plans’ to play as we’ve been playing in the first 45 minutes, and only good fortune has kept us within range of the opposition, giving us the chance to hit them in what are completely different 2nd halves.
Like Roger Brown, I’ve been a long standing fan too, since 1963, and seen it all (good, poor, bad, ugly and wonderful, with all its glory, agony and ecstasy). There’s glory, like the other night in Marseilles, in our 2nd half comebacks, sure, but this overall repetitive 1st half madness ain’t sustainable for success.