Who stood out and who disappointed for Tottenham in the Europa League quarterfinals?
Tottenham are through to the Europa League semifinals against Cinderella side Bodo Glimt, as Spurs were able to vanquish one of the Bundesliga’s better sides in Eintracht Frankfurt with a narrow 1-0 win at the Deutsche Bank Park to squeak by 2-1 on aggregate.
Although the penalty was won by James Maddison and scored by striker Dominic Solanke, neither player was the best on the pitch for Tottenham. In fact, Spurs best player in the second leg of the Europa League semifinals wasn’t an attacking player at all.
Guglielmo Vicario and the entire defense had a strong day at the office, but by my wager, no player had a more profound impact on the back than center back Cristian Romero. One of the best players in the Premier League at any position, the former Serie A standout bounced back from two poor showings against Eintracht in the first leg and Wolves in the Premier League at the weekend.
Romero marshaled Frankfurt star Hugo Ekitike expertly on Thursday night in enemy territory. The Argentinian international intercepted four passes and made ten clearances while leading the team in passes, even creating a chance in the process. It was a vintage leadership and defensive display from Romero, who was impervious at the back and no-nonsense in his approach. He read the game perfectly and used his athleticism tremendously to, along with Micky van de Ven, put the talented Ekitike back in his place.
Brennan Johnson still isn’t clicking
Because Tottenham were so professional in their clean sheet victory on the road, it is more difficult to pick out the worst player on the pitch, but in a game in which their only goal was a penalty, it conversely has to be an attacking player who gets the nod here.
That has to go to Brennan Johnson. While he wasn’t all bad and did create a few chances for his teammates, he himself carried no real goal threat. With an all-around striker like Solanke who doesn’t base his game on scoring goals, it becomes that much more important for the wingers on Tottenham to provide that goal threat.
Johnson just isn’t clicking consistently enough for Tottenham. Again, he was far from dreadful, but the young talent could stand to show more ability and danger on the ball. Whereas Mathys Tel flashed a few teasing shots and created opportunities for himself, Johnson still struggles to do so and seems to be lacking that killer edge of individual quality on the ball to be a true weekly starter for a club with Spurs aspirations.
