Pundit slams midfielder’s Champions League performance

Craig Burley has slammed Tottenham midfielder Victor Wanyama for his performance in his side’s Champions League semi-final first-leg fixture against Ajax on Tuesday.

Spurs ended up losing the game 1-0. They will now be the underdogs heading into the second leg, which will be played in the Netherlands next week.

Tottenham’s lack of killer instinct showed as they had to make do without the likes of Harry Kane and Heung Min-Son for the game. Pochettino was forced to ring in the changes, one of which involved handing a start to Wanyama. Burley has suggested that Wanyama is a weak link within the current Spurs team.

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He said, as quoted by ESPN: “I think there are bigger issues there and I think that was the middle of the park. There’s no Winks, Wanyama’s not had much game time and he’s got no mobility, Dier’s not had much game time so he didn’t play.

“Eriksen was off the pace, Dele Alli was off the pace. These were bigger problems, almost bigger problems than not having an out-ball for Son over the top or a natural goalscorer in Harry Kane.”

Spurs have a mountain to climb ahead of the second leg. It is hard to see them getting the better of the Eredivisie giants considering that they will have to make do without Kane for the second leg as well. However, one of the beautiful aspects of the Champions League is that surprises do often happen. Nobody expected Pochettino’s side to eliminate Manchester City from the competition in the previous round, after all. If Spurs have a good game in Holland and Ajax are poor, an upset victory could just be on the cards.