Spurs still have chance to see Ajax off but it is slender hope for their worryingly slim squad
THEY have been flying by the seat of their pants for a good couple of years.
Making do and mending, cutting corners, papering over cracks and punching well above their financial weight.
One billion pounds worth of stadium was always going to demand sacrifices in Mauricio Pochettino’s playing ranks.
And here, on Tottenham’s biggest night for 57 years, the giant golden cockerel atop the new White Hart Lane South Stand resembled a chicken coming home to roost.
With the injured Harry Kane in a puffer jacket rather than a No 10 shirt, with Son Heung-min suspended and Harry Winks having gone under the knife, the dilution of their squad was laid bare.
Yes, visitors Ajax were magnificent, operating with a mastery that belied their youth.
But they are a club operating on around half of Tottenham’s playing budget, yet it did not take more than three key players to be unavailable for Poch’s men to be made to look ordinary by their Dutch opponents.
FLOPPERS GONNA FLOP
It is not just the fact that Spurs didn’t sign a single player in the past two transfer windows.
Their recruits had been largely underwhelming for a good few years now.
Decent players but not the sort who have improved the quality of the first eleven.
Even this January, 31-year-old Mousa Dembele – a player who might well have started last night despite his advancing years – was being allowed to head off to China to cut the wage bill.
This Champions League run and the massively-increased matchday revenue streams from their new home mean that chairman Daniel Levy should be able to bankroll some significant signings this summer.
Spurs need them, all right. They have lost 12 Premier League games this season, including six of their last ten.
If Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United weren’t all so poor, they’d be headed to the Europa League next season – a scenario they still need one win from two matches to avoid.
Their European run has been wonderful, not least the epic quarter-final against Manchester City.
But a thin squad has reached breaking point. There were no attacking options on the bench.
The Lord loves a trier but Fernando Llorente – despite his bundled winner against City – is not of this class.
Victor Wanyama is too easy to pass around for a team as polished as Ajax.
Neither Christian Eriksen nor Dele Alli could locate the moment of quality required to unlock Ajax.
NOT OVER YET
This semi-final is not finished yet. No Champions League knock-out tie ever is any more, even with deficits far more significant than this.
Son will be back in Amsterdam next Wednesday and boy how Spurs need their speedy, direct Korean.
But it will be an uphill task against an Ajax side spurred on by a sense of destiny.
There hadn’t been a Champions League semi-final like it for at least 15 years – two packs of underdogs, in their own different ways, who had gatecrashed the elite.
Financial logic dictates that no Dutch club should reach this stage in the modern era and that Tottenham should never even qualify for the Champions League.
Both clubs had seemed desperate to avoid the ‘favourites’ tag and neither would ever have imagined reaching the last four without being considered rank outsiders.
But here they both stood, on the brink of a final in Madrid, both knowing this could be the chance of a lifetime.
Ajax had dispatched Real Madrid and Juventus. Spurs had done for Inter Milan and City.
All wealthier clubs who presume to lock them out for some potential future Super League.
For all the limitations of Tottenham’s squad, they have undoubtedly nailed this new stadium.
The acoustics were seriously impressive, especially as Spurs tried to gain a foothold after half-time, having been out-passed and out-classed in the first 45 minutes.
CRUYFF’S SPIRIT OMNIPRESENT
Ajax, of course, are from the exact same Cruyffian school as potential final opponents Barcelona, as well as Pep Guardiola’s City.
And all the familiar hallmarks were here – bravery in possession, the assuredness of the pass and move, even the love of a tactical foul.
Frenkie de Jong, already bound for Barcelona, is the deepest-lying of playmakers, the 19-year-old manchild of a captain Matthijs de Ligt is one hell of a specimen.
But largely it is all about the team unit. In the first half, especially, Ajax were a joy to behold and you hope they don’t get completely picked apart by wealthy predators in the summer.
Donny van de Beek’s goal was a saucy little beauty, beating Danny Rose to Hakim Ziyech’s throughball then sitting down Hugo Lloris with an impudent dummy and a wink.
Lloris saved smartly from Van de Beek soon after, as Ajax threatened to tear apart their hosts. Spurs were not without chances but Llorente and ex-Ajax ace Toby Alderweireld both squandered free headers from Kieran Trippier free-kicks.
When Jan Vertonghen was forced off with concussion after a nasty clash of heads with his fellow team-mate Alderweireld, Spurs moved from a back three to a flat back four and it seemed to help.
After the break, the aggression levels increased on and off the pitch.
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Ajax keeper Andre Onana received a fearful earbashing every time he even thought about wasting a little time.
But for all Tottenham’s vigour, Ajax crafted the best chance of the second half, a flowing move which ended with David Neres striking the far post with Lloris motionless.
There is still hope of a first Champions League final but it is a slender hope for a worryingly slim squad.