Eintracht Frankfurt 0 Tottenham 1 (1-2 agg) – Was this vindication for Postecoglou?

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Tottenham Hotspur needed a big performance to breathe life into their season — and in one of Europe’s most intimidating arenas, they delivered it.

Eintracht Frankfurt’s Waldstadion was a seething swirl of noise for this Europa League quarter-final but Spurs kept their heads and eked out a 1-0 victory courtesy of Dominic Solanke’s first-half penalty.

It was enough to earn a spot in the semi-finals, with James Maddison’s injury — sustained in winning the spot-kick — the only sour note of the night for the London club.

Here, we analyse the big talking points.

Why this was Spurs’ most important win of the season

Tottenham have had some thrilling wins this season, some thumping ones, but this might just be the most surprising, and the most important.

By grinding out a 1-0 win away from against Eintracht Frankfurt, Spurs showed some sides of their game they have kept hidden all season. They were patient, clever, well-organised and deeply committed to the cause. It was profoundly different from the miserable side we have seen drifting through recent league games.

And of course this win puts Spurs into the Europa League semi-finals. They are just two games away from the final in Bilbao, and the possibility of their worst season in recent history ending in glory. That would be a huge vindication for the embattled Ange Postecoglou. But this win was a vindication, too.

Ange Postecoglou had been under serious pressure at Tottenham before the Frankfurt tie (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

This has been a season of nauseating ups and downs. And there have been far more downs than ups over the last few months. But tonight in Frankfurt, when the season and indeed the whole Postecoglou era looked over, Spurs somehow produced a performance no-one expected.

The rollercoaster of vibes rolls on.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

Solanke keeps his cool and ends his drought

It took an age for Tottenham’s penalty at the end of the first half to finally be awarded after James Maddison was smashed into by Frankfurt goalkeeper Kaua Santos.

James Maddison is wiped out by Kaua Santos (TNT Sport)

When it was, Postecoglou could be seen shouting from the technical area for Solanke to take it, rather than Mathys Tel who was at that point holding onto the ball. Earlier this month against Southampton there had been a row between Tel and Brennan Johnson over who would take a penalty, but the stakes were far higher tonight than they were then.

In the end Solanke stepped up and buried the ball into the net. It was his first goal since January 4, before the knee injury that has spoiled the second half of his season. This was his eighth start in a row following almost two months out, but it has been a slow journey back to his former self.

Dominic Solanke rolls in his penalty (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Solanke’s pressing and hold-up play were integral to Spurs’ game in the first half of the season, as well as his goals. He was one of the players who made the system work. And Tottenham fans will be as happy with the return of his all-round game tonight, as they will with his crucial penalty.

Jack Pitt-Brooke

How Tel proved his mettle

Clearly Tel has struggled for involvement so far during his Tottenham career and — at times — he has tried too hard. That’s an old Bayern Munich habit, which developed when his minutes became scarce and his every touch needed to be impressive.

This was much better; more measured. At this stage of his career, Tel looks more comfortable biting in from the left, rather than carrying the responsibility of a No 9, and he was a menace in the gap between Rasmus Kristensen and Tuta, Frankfurt’s right-back and centre-back.

The first-half highlight was the curling shot that Kaua Santos clawed around the post, but Tel’s performance had an instinctive rhythm that he has rarely shown since arriving. It helped suppress Kristensen, too, who has been one of the more dynamic full-backs in the Bundesliga this season and who prefers to operate as an auxiliary winger at times.

Mathys Tel had a lively night in Frankfurt (Bradley Collyer/PA Images via Getty Images)

As the game developed and Spurs’ defensive line dropped, he was an asset on the counter, too, often working hard to keep pace with breaks out of defence and offer a crossing option at the far-post. Midway through the second half, he had another dart infield, beyond Kristensen again, just lifting a shot high and wide.

It was nothing revelatory and there were still flaws, but it was a display of important dimensions.

Sebastian Stafford-Bloor

Romero stands tall – at last

This was the good side of Cristian Romero.

There was a moment in the first half when Postecoglou was angrily shouting in his captain’s direction. Romero simply turned to his head coach and gestured for him to calm down.

No, Romero is not known for his even temperament and has spent his entire Tottenham career — when he’s been available — playing right on the edge. But when he’s good, he’s really good, and on Thursday he was near-perfect.

He’s at his best when he is aggressive without becoming reckless. When he doesn’t collect needless early yellow cards that neuter his aggression and when he defends as if it’s a point of honour. Much of the game happened in front of him and Micky van de Ven, but there were still plenty of loose balls in the box that required good timing to clear.

Cristian Romero was huge for Spurs (Maja Hitij/Getty Images)

There were some tough headers on the way to full-time, too, and Romero was hard and uncompromising in how he competed under those balls, taking the physical punishment that was the inevitable cost. And while there was a late booking for a rash tackle, it did not cost his team on this occasion.

He has not had a good few weeks. His performance at Molineux was especially limp. But this was a captain’s effort and Romero as the key to a first clean sheet since the middle of February.

Sebastian Stafford-Bloor

How Spurs drew Frankfurt’s sting

Frankfurt did not cope with the evening’s adversities particularly well. Losing Mario Gotze, their elder statesman, was deeply inconvenient on a night which called for composure. SGE are a young side prone to volatility and even though Gotze is well beyond his prime, the experience he provides is valuable.

Tottenham did well to keep digging at their opponents’ ribs, though. The penalty decision angered the crowd and further unsettled the players, and it was probably no coincidence that most of the physical confrontations thereafter brought Frankfurt players rushing in from all sides and — in the first half — saw a member of their coaching staff sent to the stands.

Frankfurt were angered by the penalty decision (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

Spurs managed that nicely. They were aggressive enough in response without ever losing control. The tenor of their football was surprisingly measured, never allowing their opponents’ chaotic energy to be a force for good. They drained the clock when they could. The aggression and risk in their passing was dialled back, and their game management was far better as a result.

For all the noise in the Waldstadion and despite Eintracht’s urgency, they created very few clear chances, with two late scuffed shots from Kristensen the only moments when they really threatened to score.

Sebastian Stafford-Bloor

What next for Spurs?

Monday, April 21: Nottingham Forest (Home), Premier League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET

(Top photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

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