365 saying it like it is ..............
"Spurs were schooled as Ajax dished out a football education with a masterful, measured performance. They were too clever, too cute, too intricate for these Tottenham darlings in a ridiculously one-sided semi-final first leg"
Unlike Neil Ashton of The Sun – because of course it is Neil Ashton of The Sun – we waited until full-time before passing judgement on this ‘ridiculously one-sided’ 1-0 win from Ajax.
But of course the scoreline can be deceptive and even 1-0s can be ‘ridiculously one-sided’. Of course they can. So let’s look at some of the other statistics, as helpfully provided by The Sun themselves.
Passes: Tottenham 476 Ajax 458
Possession: Tottenham 51% Ajax 49%.
But of course that means nothing, because maybe all Tottenham’s possession was in their own half?
Touches in opposition box: Tottenham 30 Ajax 22.
Oh so maybe Ajax just got more shots away? Maybe Spurs somehow managed to have sterile possession within Ajax’s box. Sounds weird but…
Total shots: Tottenham 12 Ajax 10.
But of course it’s all about the shots on target. There must have been a gulf…
Shots on target: Tottenham 1 Ajax 2
It doesn’t sound like, to quote The Sun, that Ajax had ‘ruthless, compelling passing and possession stats’. And it doesn’t sound like ‘Ajax just boxed Mauricio Pochettino’s players inside their own penalty area’.
It sounds like typical Media Bias
He really used the phrase 'Tottenham darlings'? If so that is absolutely shocking and he should be reprimanded. What happened to getting behind English teams in Europe?!