Key events
Half time: Spurs 2-0 Dortmund
He’s getting backed in the morning. Okay, maybe not, but that was a brilliant half for Thomas Frank and Spurs. Cristian Romero put them in front with a striker’s finish, Dortmund’s Daniel Svensson was sent off and Dominic Solanke made it two with a defender’s finish.
The red card has the potential to be a red herring: Spurs were much the better team when it was 11 v 11.
45 min Three minutes of added time.
44 min Dortmund have had one touch in the Spurs penalty area. Funny old game.
42 min A marvellous piece of control from Porro leads to a shot from Odobert that is held to his right by Kobel.
39 min Almost a third for Spurs. A cross is half cleared and breaks to Simons, who belts the bouncing ball into orbit.
The finish was lucky but the move was superb. Odobert played a smooth give-and-go with Porro before sliding a first-time cross into the middle. It was slightly behind Solanke, who tried to flick the ball behind his standing left leg and into the net. Instead it hit his standing leg, rebounded back onto his right ankle and then rolled slowly into the net. He played a one-two with himself!
It’s Solanke’s first Champions League goal. And though the finish was fortuitous, his movement was textbook.
GOAL! Spurs 2-0 Dortmund (Solanke 37)
Dominic Solanke, making his first start of the season, puts Spurs 2-0 up!
36 min Spence lashes a volley over the bar from the left side of the area. Spurs are well on top and should be looking to put this game to bed before half-time. If it stays 1-0, Dortmund will surely come into the match in the second half.
If Spurs can extend their lead to 3-0, against 10 men, it’ll be game o- oh.
34 min Dortmund have offered very little going forward, with 10 men or 11. Thomas Frank must be thrilled with Spurs’ performance – and exasperated that they haven’t played like this more often this season.
30 min No idea whether he feels more comfortable playing against German opposition, as he did at Leipzig for two seasons before joining Spurs, but Xavi Simons has been superb tonight.
28 min A fabulous inswinging cross from Simons just evades the stretching Porro at the far post.
As things stand – I know, I know – Spurs are fifth in the Champions League and heading straight through to the last 16.
26 min: Svensson is sent off!
The referee is sent to the monitor and Daniel Svensson is on his way. It wasn’t malicious but he caught Odobert high on the shin with his studs. It was a bad tackle.
25 min Daniel Svensson is booked – but he may be eligible for a VAR upgrade. It was a poor tackle on Odobert, studs landing jut below the knee.
23 min This is a really fun game. Spence beats Yan Couto agian and cuts the ball back to Solanke. His shot is blocked, as is Porro’s follow-up.
21 min Gray plays the ball back to Vicario, who is pressured by Guirassy and almost makes a monumental Horlicks of the situation. After miscontrolling the ball, he has just enough time to turn and boot it away.
20 min Kobel’s kick downfield threatens to put Adeyemi through on goal, with Vicario in no man’s land. Adeyemi tries to twist outside the last defender but leaves the ball behind.
20 min No penalty, check complete.
20 min The check is ongoing. Spence and a Dortmund player went ionto a block tackle, after which the ball ricocheted towards Bellingham right on the edge of the area. Did it hit his hand? Was it inside the area? I DON’T KNOW.
19 min Odobert beats Svensson with a stepover and cuts the ball back to SImons, whose shot deflects behind off Bellingham. There’s also a VAR check for a Spurs penalty apparently.
17 min Spurs have had 64 per cent possession; this isn’t a reactive performance. They’ve been terrific.
15 min The reason Odobert got a second bite at the cherry was because Brandt turned his back on the ball when Odobert shaped to volley.
Porro’s corner was headed up in the air by Guirassy and looped towards Odobert near the edge of the area. He miskicked a volley but got lucky when the ball fell nicely for him to hammer a low cross into the middle. Romero, eight yards out, calmly turned it into the net. That’s a smart finish because the ball was slightly behind him.
GOAL! Spurs 1-0 Borussia Dortmund (Romero 14)
The Spurs captain Cristian Romero opens the scoring!
13 min Spurs have started well. Spence, who looks lively on the left wing, runs at Yan Couto to win a corner. Porro comes across to take it…
8 min This is a good spell for Spurs. Simons plays a lovely delayed pass inside Svensson to release Porro, whose low cross is kicked away at the near post by Schlotterbeck.
6 min A good break from Spurs. Spence plays the ball down the right to Odobert, who tries to find Simons in front of goal with an early low cross. There isn’t quite enough pace on the ball and Svensson stretches to slide it past his own keeper and behind for a corner.
4 min Dortmund have made the more confident start, and their supporters are making a terrific racket. When did English crowds become so inferior on the European stage?
3 min Adeyemi has an early run at Udogie in the area; Udogie gets between Adeyemi and the ball and sees the danger out.
1 min Peep peep! Spurs kick off from right to left as we watch.
The only player on a yellow card is the Spurs substitute Randal Kolo Muani.
The players emerge from the tunnel. It’s hard to make out the atmosphere because the Champions League music is blaring out around the ground.
Thomas Frank’s pre-match thoughts
We have good memories from the Champions League; we’ve done well in a lot of games. We have an opportunity against Dortmund tonight and we’re looking forward to it.
It’s good to have Dom [Solanke] in the team. His experience and what he gives the team on and off the pitch is crucial, with his communication. Really looking forward to having him in there tonight.
[On the lack of match sharpness in some Spurs players] There’s a difference when you have played five games on the bounce. But sometimes football is mental. Are you strong? You just push through it and there will be no problem.
Dortmund are a very good team. We need to close down their front three, but on the flip side there are opportunities the other way.
And Will Unwin is in the one and only Clockwatch seat, with Inter v Arsenal and Real Madrid v Monaco on the agenda.
Manchester City are having a miserable trim in Nordland. You can get the latest from their match against Bodø/Glimt with Barry Glendenning.
This, by David Squires on Spurs and Thomas Frank, is too good
Team news
Thomas Frank makes five changes, four of them enforced, to the team that lost against West Ham. Kevin Danso, Destiny Udogie, Lucas Bergvall, Djed Spence and Dominic Solanke replace Micky van de Van (suspended), Ben Davies (injured), Conor Gallagher, Mathys Tel (both ineligible) and Randal Kolo Muani.
With Spurs down to the bare bones, either Djed Spence or Destiny Udogie will start as a wide attacker.
Dortmund, who beat St Pauli 3-2 on Saturday, make three changes. Ramy Bensebaini, Yan Couto and Serhou Guirassy come in for Emre Can, Julian Ryerson and Fabio Silva.
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1) Vicario; Porro, Romero, Danso, Udogie; Gray, Bergvall; Odobert, Simons, Spence; Solanke.
Subs: Kinsky, Kolo Muani, Austin, Scarlett, Olusesi, Thompson, Hardy, Byfield, Williams-Barnett, Akhamrich, Rowswell.
Borussia Dortmund (3-4-2-1) Kobel; Anton, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Yan Couto, Bellingham, Nmecha, Svensson; Adeyemi, Brandt; Guirassy.
Subs: Beier, Duranville, Chukwuemeka, Fabio Silva, Can, Sule, Ryerson, Anselmino, Ostrzinski, Meyer, Mane.
Referee Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Borussia Dortmund are the best of the rest in Germany. They’re second in the Bundesliga, just 11 points behind Bayern Munich, and like Spurs they have taken 11 points from their six Champions League games. Dortmund are above Spurs on goals scored.
David Hytner
Thomas Frank has insisted the Tottenham hierarchy are standing with him in the face of the storm gripping the club.
The manager’s job is in the balance, his situation precarious after the home defeat against West Ham on Saturday. The Spurs support were so incensed by the result and the continuation of the team’s terrible Premier League form – they have won twice in their past 13 league matches – that they demanded Frank be “sacked in the morning”.
Frank has survived, for now, and will be in the dugout for the Champions League tie at home against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. It remains to be seen whether it proves to be merely a stay of execution. Frank has a selection crisis for the Dortmund clash, with only 11 available outfield players – three of whom he said would struggle to complete the 90 minutes. His back is firmly against the wall.
Preamble
Spurs’ Champions League campaign is going swimmingly. They’ve picked up 11 points from six games and are on course for a playoff place, perhaps even an automatic passage to the last 16. Alas, as Ange Postecoglou found out, progress in Europe does not keep the wolf from the door, or the boos from the shell-like, and there is widespread expectation that Thomas Frank will be the next Premier League manager to lose his job.
Frank has been forced to carry the entirely imaginary Dead Man Walking Stick™ after a run of two wins in 15 domestic matches. At the weekend Spurs were beaten by West Ham, extending an unfathomably poor home record – at least in the Premier League.
In the Champions League, Spurs’ home form has been perfect: three games, three wins, eight goals scored, none conceded. Tonight’s opponents, Borussia Dortmund, are a step up from Villarreal, FC Copenhagen and Slavia Prague. Spurs could do with a good performance, but all that really matters is the result.
Kick off 8pm.
