Anderlecht 2 Tottenham 1: Spurs beaten in Brussels despite early Christian Eriksen opener

Disappointing result: Spurs were beaten in Brussels
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From Tom Collomosse22 October 2015

Not even Harry Kane could rescue Tottenham on a night when they made life needlessly complicated for themselves in the Europa League.

Claiming his only centre-forward had a knock, Spurs head coach Mauricio Pochettino left Kane out of his starting XI for the Group J fixture at Anderlecht.

At first, it looked a smart move. Christian Eriksen scored in the fourth minute as the visitors dominated, with Erik Lamela missing an excellent chance to make it 2-0. But Guillaume Gillet equalised in the 13th minute and Anderlecht grew in confidence to such a degree that when Stefnao Okaka scored the winning goal 15 minutes from full-time, it was no surprise. Kane came on after an hour and missed two good chances.

It leaves Spurs with four points from their opening three games and means Pochettino can ill afford to rest players in the matches that remain – a potential blow to their league ambitions.

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Spurs had the perfect start when Steven Defour gave the ball away to Eriksen, who swapped passes with Erik Lamela before collecting a lucky rebound off Serigne Mbodji and firing past Silvio Proto.

Eriksen then sent a 25-yard free-kick just wide, and Lamela should have made it 2-0 in the 10th minute.

Eric Dier fed Eriksen, who was extremely lively at this stage, and the Spurs playmaker found Lamela, who had timed his run between Anderlecht’s centre-backs perfectly. One-on-one with Proto and eight yards from goal, Lamela could only steer his shot into the body of the Anderlecht ‘keeper.

The Belgians looked to be there for the taking yet with their first attack, they punished Spurs. Defour’s right-wing corner was not cleared and Gillet drilled a fierce diagonal volley beyond Hugo Lloris and into the bottom-right corner.

Poor defending from crosses was to be a theme of the night for Tottenham. In the 28th minute, another weak clearance fell only to Stefano Okaka on the edge of the penalty area, but the Italian – who once had a loan spell at Fulham – fired his effort too close to Lloris.

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With the home fans going through a repertoire of chants that are usually heard in English grounds, Anderlecht advanced steadily. Although Spurs had nearly 70 per cent of the possession in the first half, there was little penetration after Anderlecht’s goal.

Kane replaced the ineffective Clinton N’Jie after an hour but his struggles in front of goal continued, as he was denied by Proto when clean through.

Once again, Spurs were punished quickly. Taking advantange of Kieran Trippier’s poor positioning, substitute Frank Acheampong crossed low for Okaka, who held off Jan Vertonghen to score from close range.

There was still time for Kane to waste another opportunity, firing wide from inside the box after a clever reverse pass from another sub, Dele Alli.

Match rating: 8

Man of the match: Leander Dendoncker.

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