NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO’S selection gamble backfired as his Spurs stiffs lost this battle in Arnhem.
The Tottenham boss started a kid called Scarlett up front – which was apt because that was the colour of his face after this defeat.
Nuno’s decision to leave all of his big stars at home did not pay off as his second string were deservedly beaten by the club currently sixth in the Eredivisie.
Maximilian Wittek’s 78th minute winner was just reward for the Dutchmen’s dominance.
As for Tottenham, they hardly had a shot on target, with Bryan Gil’s shot against the bar just after the break their only effort of note.
You wonder what their late legendary striker Jimmy Greaves – whose funeral is on Friday – would have made of playing in a team with tactics like this.
You had to feel for 17-year-old Dane Scarlett, who was asked to fill Harry Kane’s boots in the Spurs attack.
Holland recently relaxed some of its Covid restrictions. But the poor kid was still left in isolation on a bad night for the North Londoners.
There is no doubt whatever Nuno says, he underestimated Vitesse – and paid the price.
Arnhem is of course famous as being the location of the true story which inspired the classic World War II flick A Bridge Too Far.
This was arguably a step too far for Nuno as his second string showed no stomach for the fight – unlike their hosts.
Vitesse came into this clash off the back of two successive league wins, including a 1-0 victory at NEC Nijmegen, which literally brought the house down.
The visiting Geel en Zwart – yellow and black – supporters jumped up and down so much they caused the stand to collapse.
Fortunately no one was seriously injured but Vitesse followers were just as raucous on Thursday night as Vitesse celebrated their first sellout crowd at the GelreDome since a 1-1 draw with Ajax SEVEN YEARS ago.
In the noisy home end a fan waved a giant flag with the words “We’re all mad here”.
While across the entire front of the stand, the local ultras had made a banner specially for the occasion which read: “For the city, the colours and our club: This is our night!”
With the hosts in yellow and black striped shirts and white shorts and socks and Spurs in all purple, we at least had two awful kits befitting this tinpot competition.
Spurs started slowly and their keeper Pierluigi Gollini had to race off his line to deny Nikolai Baden Frederiksen in only the third minute.
The Londoners escaped again when Jacob Rasmussen’s near-post header from a Wittek corner flew across the goal and narrowly wide of the target.
The best Nuno’s stiffs could muster in the first half were a couple of Giovani Lo Celso set-pieces. Half-chances at best.
Things appeared to be looking up after the break when Gil curled a shot against the bar within 90 seconds of the restart.
But it turned out to be a false dawn as they again went on the back foot.
Wing-back Eli Dasa went close for the hosts with a 25-yard drive which went inches wide.
Dasa then had Gollini diving to the other side of his goal with another long-range effort that was saved by the Italian.
But there was nothing the Spurs stopper could do when Dasa delivered a cross to just inside the box where Wittek showed great technique to send a volley into the bottom corner with 12 minutes remaining.
With a bench full of kids there was nothing Nuno could do to salvage a situation he had created.
Vitesse had taken it to the Max.
Sorry Spurs hardly managed to get out of first gear.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
