'One of the greatest teams': Tottenham player raves about Chelsea after playing against them last night
Tottenham Hotspur skipper Hugo Lloris hailed Chelsea following the Carabao Cup semi-final contest last night.
Lloris spoke to Spurs TV after the 2-0 humbling at Stamford Bridge and wanted to mention the gulf in class between the two capital city rivals.
There was a clear difference between a team fully submerged by their manager’s methods and one that is still in the development stage.
Tuchel’s understudies take the main roles
Thomas Tuchel has imprinted his mark upon Chelsea, with the players all shifting in the same direction, despite the personnel changing constantly.
Tuchel brought in six new names for yesterday’s London derby, mainly enforced due to injuries and covid absences.
Yet, those who were called upon stepped up to the mark quite brilliantly.
Saul Niguez enjoyed arguably his finest evening for the Blues, a sentence that could also be said for Hakim Ziyech.
Malang Sarr didn’t look out of place in defence, whilst Kepa Arrizabalaga kept Spurs at bay whenever called upon, which admittedly wasn’t often.
The Blues far better than Spurs
Meanwhile, Antonio Conte put out close to his strongest XI and still couldn’t break down the Champions League holders.
They looked dysfunctional at the back and distant in attack.
From virtually the first whistle, the final result never seemed in doubt.
“We cannot forget that in front of us is one of the greatest teams in Europe,” said Lloris.
“They won the Champions League last season and they are much in advance of us in terms of process.
“If we want to grow as a team we need to learn from that type of performance.”
Tottenham taken apart
This defeat will be a bitter pill to swallow for Spurs.
A loss in London is worse than anywhere else in the country.
Plus, heading into the tie, Tottenham were the inform team, having only lost one of their previous eight outings.
Some even labelled Conte’s men as favourites before a ball had been kicked yesterday.
Chelsea doused all of these elements with one foul swoop of their footballing dominance.
Next week’s second leg could either be another whitewash or a closer encounter.
The answer to that really is down to Spurs.
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