Chris Waddle delivers Tottenham verdict, criticises Mauricio Pochettino’s tactics

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Tottenham suffered defeat at the Giuseppe Meazza on Tuesday evening.

Chris Waddle has claimed on BBC Sport’s Live coverage of Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 defeat to Inter Milan that Mauricio Pochettino was wrong to instruct his players to sit back after taking the lead.

Christian Eriksen had given Spurs a 1-0 advantage as his deflected effort span over the top of Samir Handanovic. But in what was Inter’s first Champions League match in six years, they were not willing to go down without a fight.

Spurs sat off Luciano Spalletti’s side and invited pressure, rather than looking for a second, and that contributed to Inter equalising through an exquisite volley from captain and leader Mauro Icardi.

Deep into injury time, Matias Vecino scored a header from close range after Spurs failed to deal with a corner to win 2-1. Former Spurs man Waddle was furious with Spurs’ set-piece defending and tactics, and reckons confidence will be low.

“That was a header back across the goal and it was a simple header into the back of the net,” Waddle said. “Spurs are a big side so I do not know why they concede so many goals from set pieces. It’s about taking responsibility.

“Tottenham have thrown it away by dropping deeper and deeper and they invited Inter on. Tottenham gave everything. They got themselves in the driving seat but they can’t deal with set pieces. Mauro Icardi has been quiet all evening, but one piece of magic changes everything.

“Spurs would have taken a draw ahead of tonight, but to lose it the way they did, confidence will be even lower now.”

The defeat sees Spurs lose their third consecutive match in all competitions, after losing 2-1 to Watford at Vicarage Road before Liverpool dispatched the north Londoners 2-1 at Wembley.

Tottenham now travel to Brighton ahead of Saturday’s clash against former Spurs man Chris Hughton, as they look to get their 2018-19 campaign back on track after it had started so well with wins over Fulham, Newcastle and Man United.