Tottenham 3-0 Slavia Prague: Spurs ease to Champions League home win

Two things happened before Tottenham Hotspur hosted Slavia Prague in the Champions League on Tuesday night. The first one was controversial — Slavia reportedly demanded that Spurs relocate the pride flag that has a regular home in the left corner of the stadium, reportedly due to “security issues” but mostly because their ultras are homophobic. Slavia caught heck for that (as they should), as did the club for caving to unreasonable demands (as they should). The other thing was much happier — Son Heung-Min returned to North London to say a belated goodbye to the Spurs fans he left behind in Korea this summer, and was welcomed with rapturous applause and a new street mural on the high road.

Oh, and also a match was played! Tottenham Hotspur continued their recent renaissance at home, going ahead in the first half thanks to a David Zima own goal, then added spot kick penalty goals from Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons as they easily dispatched Slavia Prague by the final score of 3-0. It was a confidence-building win for Spurs, who have had it pretty rough lately at their home ground lately, and the match also saw the return of Spurs’ longest tenured player Ben Davies for his first minutes of the season as he came on as a late match substitute.

The win put Spurs, at least for now, up to ninth in the Champions League table, just outside the zone for a second round bye, but in a prime position heading into the final two group stage matches.

Here are my match reactions from a glory, glory European night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Match reactions

• Slavia Prague have a player with the surname Chalupa and another named Zima. Sounds like a typical Saturday night meal for me in college, ngl.
• The xG (2.55 – 0.96) looks gaudy, but those are inflated by the two penalties. The npXG is actually kind of hilarious — a pretty even TOT 0.94 – 0.71 SLA. Slavia’s keeper was annoyingly good today, with several outstanding saves including one on my godson Mathys Tel, whom I wanted to score desperately.
• Amazing that Spurs weren’t up inside the first minute. Odobert put in a wonderful cross to a wide open Richarlison and he somehow managed to shoot it straight at the Slavia keeper. Really good work by Odobert, and a good hit by Richy — just unlucky.
• Micky van de Ven plays with a nasty streak that I don’t remember from last season. I wonder if he’s been a student of the Dark Arts by the current Tottenham master Cuti Romero.
• Van de Ven got screwed in the first half — got called for a SUPER soft foul while dribbling with the ball in what looked like could turn into a promising attack, then got yellow carded for (rightfully) arguing the call. Now he’ll miss the Dortmund match due to card accumulation, which really sucks.
• I don’t know if Slavia Prague just isn’t very good or if Spurs are just better these days — might be both! — but Tottenham looked a lot more incisive going forward in this one. Spurs had a number of really fun looking pass-and-move attacks in the first half that didn’t result in a goal, but probably should’ve.
• So it’s funny then that Spurs’ opener came from a corner and an own goal. Spurs’ early corners were lofted affairs, but Porro’s ball in was a bullet, and it paid off after being flicked on by Cuti and deflected in by Zima.
• I am not Palhinha’s biggest fan by any means, but he got yellow carded for an absolutely perfect sliding tackle that was 100% clean and I think I hate this ref.
• Slavia did a lot of tight man to man defending and I wish Spurs had done just a little better with beating their defender and opening up room behind the back line. Still not many chances created, but at least they looked a lot better in buildup.
• Sanyang’s tackle on Pedro Porro was nasty. The penalty was deserved, and I think it was only sheer luck that he avoided a red card. Good penalty by Kudus (though I admit I was nervous about him taking it). Also loved Xavi starting to celebrate even before Mo started his run.
• Archie Gray had another really cromulent match in midfield, by which I mean he was not especially outstanding at any one thing in particular but his buildup and passing were good enough that he unlocks a lot of Spurs’ offense. I like him and think he’s improved a lot.
• A first match for Ben Davies! I don’t think he’s very good anymore and should probably retire and join Tottenham’s coaching staff, but I do love the guy. (Question from the Carty Free chat: was Ben brought on because Sonny was in the building?)
• I have no idea how Igoh Oghu didn’t pick up a second yellow card for the tackle on Xavi that led to the second penalty. Maybe the ref took pity on him? Anyway, happy to see Xavi score (even if it was a pretty terrible penalty).
• Going into this match, Spurs probably needed four points to ensure at least the playoffs. So a win today puts them in great shape heading into the final two matches, home to Dortmund and at Frankfurt. Win out and I think they finish top eight and get a bye. But that’s a pretty big if.