Vitesse 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur: 5 talking points as Spurs fall to a late defeat | UEFA Europa Conference League 2021-22
A second-string Tottenham Hotspur side were beaten 1-0 by Vitesse in the UEFA Europa Conference League.
Maximilian Wittek scored the winner in the 78th minute with a superb volley, condemning the visitors to a surprise defeat.
Nuno Santos made wholesale changes to his XI, keeping out many first-team stars and giving fringe players a chance owing to their congested fixture schedule. The first-team stars didn't even feature on the bench as Nuno rested them for Spurs' Premier League clash against West Ham.
However, the plot backfired, with the youngsters failing to impress.
Vitesse were the better side on the night all throughout and, following several near-misses, found a breakthrough late in the second-half.
Eli Dasa played a superb cross in for Wittek to volley home the winner as the Dutch side caused a huge upset.
The defeat condemned Tottenham Hotspur to third in Group G of the competition and their path to the knockout stages has become tougher.
Here are the five big talking points from the match:
#5 Spurs colt fail to impress
Given their congested fixture list, Nuno Santos probably thought this was a good opportunity to give some of his first-team stars a rest. Hence he played fringe players.
But the plot backfired spectacularly, with Tottenham Hotspur having a stinker in Arnhem. They had more possession but struggled to conjure anything meaningful with it.
In fact, Bryan Gil's ferocious strike that came off the crossbar was as close as they came to scoring all night.
Defensively, too, the side looked wobbly on the break, struggling to get back to recover. They were exposed horribly on the flanks, where they were guilty of leaving too much of a gap.
This was an opportunity for players like Dele Alli, Bryan Gil, Steven Bergwijn and Harry Winks to impress and possibly stake a claim to a starting XI spot. But alas, they came up short, big time.
#4 Vitesse defended resolutely
Part of why Tottenham Hotspur struggled mightily to score was the defensive resolve shown by Vitesse. They marked them superbly and closed down the channels.
Every time someone in a blue shirt got on the ball, a Vitesse player would immediately press him out of it, or at least put him under pressure. This would eventually force the Spurs man to pass sideways or backwards.
This is the first time in history that Vitesse have ever beaten an English team.
Spursy.
Alli, playing the number 10 role, was a total non-factor. Far from creating anything special, Vitesse nullified his threat superbly, whilst also keeping the otherwise dangerous Bergwijn in check.