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Despite Tottenham Hotspur’s win over Villarreal on Tuesday night, Troy Deeney believes that the Lilywhites are in danger of crashing out in the league phase of the competition if they do not improve.
While Tottenham would be delighted to get three points on the board and emerge with a clean sheet, most of the Spurs attackers flattered to deceive against Villarreal.
Thomas Frank himself has admitted that his side struggled offensively, but the Danish coach would be relieved to have won his first-ever Champions League encounter as manager.
However, Adrian Durham and Troy Deeney suggested that there were more alarming signs for Spurs than positives to take from their 1-0 win.
Troy Deeney says every Champions League team will relish facing Tottenham
Deeney has insisted that if Tottenham continue playing like they did against Villarreal, they will struggle to even get out of the league phase.
He suggested that every side in the competition will fancy their chances of beating Spurs, and Adrian Durham agreed with that assessment.
The former Watford striker told talkSPORT: “For Spurs, it just feels like they’ll be happy that they’ve got the job done. But I just think for us as commentators and for people watching this, they’ll struggle to get out of the Champions League group phase playing like this. They have to raise the level. Maybe there’s a nervous energy.
“Maybe there’s a ‘Just get the job done for the first night.’ But Thomas Frank will have to look at this and go, ‘Right, yes, we won and we can enjoy it…’But I just think they’re going to be in a position where every team playing against Spurs will go, ‘We can get at this team.’ And that’s not a good sign going into the Champions League.”
Durham responded: “Thomas Frank, I’m hoping he’s going to be realistic after this game and give an honest assessment of it. He’ll be relieved they hung on for the win. He’ll be relieved they’ve done that, but he should be admitting they’ve got to do a whole lot better.”
Tottenham accused of being arrogant against Villarreal
Deeney pointed to the lack of impact of Frank’s substitutions as a point of concern for Tottenham and referred to their performance as “entitled”.
Durham went a step further and suggested that the Lilywhites’ display against Villarreal reeked of arrogance.
Deeney added: “I don’t think anyone could say this is a vintage Spurs performance. They’ve got a resilience now under Thomas Frank where they will get the job done. But again, they’ll be looking and I’m looking at the subs saying, did the subs offer us much?
“Brennan Johnson’s been poor since he came on. Probably [Joao] Palhinha is the only one who can say he came in and steadied the ship. The rest have flattered to deceive, again, I say that word, it feels a little bit entitled.”
Durham concluded: “There was a bit of arrogance, maybe out of nowhere that they haven’t earned. It’s the Champions League, they’re not Champions League regulars, they’ve never won it.
“There’s no reason why any Spurs player should be feeling arrogant in the first game back in the Champions League for quite a while. I personally don’t understand it at all, and I think there’s been some poor performances all around from Tottenham Hotspur.
“They have to step it up, and they should be stepping it up as well. And there’s a confidence they should get from winning a European trophy, but they’ve got to do better than this.”
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