Eintracht Frankfurt 0-0 Tottenham: Player ratings as much-improved Spurs held to draw
By Tom Gott
Tottenham did everything apart from score on Tuesday evening as they were held to a goalless draw with German side Eintracht Frankfurt.
Both sides had plenty of shots, with Spurs seeing the better opportunities, but of the 23 shots on goal the two teams managed, just four of those were actually on target.
Spurs were on top in the opening stages, with Emerson Royal looking particularly dangerous inside the first few minutes, but Frankfurt grew into the game and even had the first real opportunity of the match as Sebastian Rode strike needed scrambling away by the Spurs defence.
Harry Kane and Son Heung-min began clicking, with the former seeing a nice strike from distance whistle wide of the post.
The pair linked up again five minutes before the break and this time it was Son who fired wide, with Spurs looking dangerous in flashes and just about asserting their dominance against a Frankfurt side who also had more than a few good moments across a fairly even first half.
As was the case in the first period, Frankfurt had the first chance of the second half. Ansgar Knauff ran on to a nice ball from Djibril Sow but had to stretch to connect with an acrobatic shot which Hugo Lloris dealt with fairly comfortably.
Son then fired over following a poor cut-back from Richarlison, and continuing the trend of somehow not hitting the target, Jesper Lindstrom skied his strike after some unconvincing work from the Spurs back line.
The half-chances kept flying in, with both sides doing more than enough to score a goal but somehow failing to break the deadlock.
As the clock ticked on the tempo slowed down, with both sides seemingly happy to take a share of the points.
Tottenham player ratings vs Frankfurt (3-4-2-1)
GK: Hugo Lloris - 6/10 - Solid with his hands but continues to be terrifying with the ball at his feet.
CB: Cristian Romero - 7/10 - Nice and solid at the back. Flashed some nice pace to keep up with Frankfurt's forwards.
CB: Eric Dier - 7/10 - Did an impressive job of leading his defence, screaming at them to push forwards and get more involved. Played some gorgeous passes.
CB: Clement Lenglet - 8/10 - Kept Kolo Muani very quiet down the left. Continues to look like a shrewd signing.
RM: Emerson Royal - 7/10 - A good response to his derby day disaster. Looked really threatening down the right and regularly found himself in acres of space going forwards.
CM: Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg - 6/10 - His passing limitations continue to be a bit of a problem for Spurs. Didn't get much wrong and did well to walk on eggshells after being shown a harsh yellow card in the first half.
CM: Rodrigo Bentancur - 5/10 - Found it hard to get into the game and didn't really exert the level of control you'd expect from him.
LM: Ivan Perisic - 6/10 - Deserves a higher rating as he made some excellent runs which went unspotted by his teammates. A little sloppy when he did get the ball in the final third.
AM: Richarlison - 6/10 - Some nice moves, dropping deep to try and link things up, although his sloppy first touch slowed things down more than they needed to be.
AM: Son Heung-min - 7/10 - Played much closer to Kane and clearly benefited from that link-up play. Looked a real threat but perhaps a little sloppy in the final third.
ST: Harry Kane - 6/10 - Had a subtler role as he spent more of his time winning the physical battle against the Frankfurt defence and trying to set up those around him. A real shift and unfortunate not to get anything from it.
SUB: Ryan Sessegnon (72' for Perisic) - 7/10 - Had some good moments down the left. Got involved almost immediately.
SUB: Ben Davies (78' for Lenglet) - 6/10 - Didn't get involved too often.
SUB: Bryan Gil (78' for Richarlison) - 6/10 - The odd nice flash.
Manager: Antonio Conte - 7/10 - The front three played far closer together in this one than they have done this season, and the fluidity was clear to see. Can't fault the tactics for Spurs' struggles in front of goal.