‘No disrespect to them’ – Ashley Cole questions quality of Spurs first-team players
Ashley Cole has blasted the Tottenham players for making basic mistakes in their Carabao Cup defeat to Chelsea.
Tottenham came into the second leg on Wednesday with a mountain to climb after Chelsea ran out 2-0 winners in the first leg at Stamford Bridge.
Just like the first-leg, the Lilywhites started sluggishly and allowed the Blues to dictate tempo in the opening exchanges.
When Antonio Rudiger gave the away side the lead after Pierluigi Gollini’s error from a corner, the result was all but done and dusted.
Spurs did show some fight in the second half but they had two penalties and a goal ruled out owing to VAR’s intervention.
Conte, who said after the first leg that there was a gulf in class between the two sides, insisted on the back of Wednesday’s result that his side deserved more from the second leg, although he did admit that Chelsea deserved to progress to the final.
Cole stated that the Spurs boss’ frustration was evident in his post-match interviews.
The former Chelsea left-back told Sky Sports Football (12/01/22 at 10:20 pm): “It is basic defending. But that’s all you can get out from them. No disrespect to them.
“He (Conte) looks frustrated when he is speaking. I think if you look at the first leg to the second leg, did he change or adapt anything? No.
“I don’t think that’s due to him as a manager because I think he is a top, top manager. Sometimes you look at other factors, is it the quality of the players? And the basic mistakes that they play.
“Play out from the back. They can’t do it. Can’t play under pressure. Midfielders, do they drop a little deeper. Are the lines too big between the strikers? This is all basic.”
Spurs Web Opinion
It is worth remembering that we were without five first-team regulars yesterday in Dier, Romero, Son, Lloris and Reguilon.
I thought we gave a decent account of ourselves under the circumstances but our confidence clearly took a big hit when Chelsea opened the scoring.
I was not as unhappy with our performance as I was after the first leg at Stamford Bridge, where I thought we hardly competed.
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