London Football News

Hoddle slates Spurs display – and Pochettino’s tactics

Glenn Hoddle pulled no punches in his assessment of Tottenham’s display in their Champions League defeat to Ajax – and criticised Mauricio Pochettino’s tactics and team selection. 

Spurs were beaten 1-0 at home in the semi-final first leg and were second best, especially in the first half.

Speaking on BT Sport after the game, Spurs legend Hoddle said: “They’ve got to be very disappointed with the way they played. There was no creativity – no width at all.

“Very, very lacklustre performance from Tottenham, really was. They were like this at West Ham at the weekend.

“I thought they had one eye on this game, but they played in a similar vein. They didn’t move the ball well enough.

“Yes we’re missing some top players at the cutting edge of the pitch but even so you expect more from that performance.”

At half-time, with Spurs being completely outclassed, Hoddle suggested manager Pochettino got his team selection badly wrong by playing with three centre-backs.

He said: “I said before the game that I was concerned with playing three at the back tonight.

“You needed bodies to go and press this young Ajax team (who are) away from home. We conceded too much and couldn’t get at them.

“They’ve had far too much time on the ball to play little one-twos. We couldn’t get any pressure on them.”




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