Tottenham vs Ajax: Switch shape, start Son and shackle De Jong - what Spurs must now do to win semi-final

Mauricio Pochettino's side travel to the Netherlands next week to try and turn this tie around and reach next month’s final

Tottenham Hotspur were absolutely battered by Ajax in the first-half of the first leg of Tuesday night's Champions League semi-final.

In the opening fifteen minutes on a throughly nervous night at Tottenham’s noisy new stadium, Ajax enjoyed 71 per cent possession, took four shots on goal and eventually took the lead when the impressive Donny van de Beek nonchalantly rolled the ball beyond Hugo Lloris.

Just moments later the 22-year-old had a fine opportunity to make it 2-0, his low shot well saved by Tottenham’s skipper, while in the dying stages of the match — as Spurs began to flood forward in a vain attempt to find an equaliser — David Neres wriggled forward on the counter-attack and hit the post.

And yet despite Ajax’s early dominance, their persistent goal threat and Tottenham’s crippling injury crisis, Mauricio Pochettino’s team still have a chance of reaching their first ever Champions League final, providing that they can win in Amsterdam next week.

With that in mind, here are the five things Spurs must do in the Netherlands to turn this tie around and reach next month’s final in Madrid.

1. Switch to four at the back

Pochettino sprung something of a tactical surprise last night when he named Toby Alderweireld, Davinson Sanchez and Jan Vertonghen in a three man defence. It likely took the Spurs manager all of two minutes to realise that he had made a mistake.

“For the first 20 minutes we were just ball-watchers,” Christian Eriksen said after the game. The problem was that, with Tottenham’s defender all pinned back, poor Victor Wanyama was completely overran in midfield, reduced to little more than a bystander as Ajax’s midfield rugrats scampered past him with impunity.

Not that long ago Wanyama was one of Tottenham’s best players. But injuries have taken their toll since his superb 2016/17 campaign, his knees long since reduced to rubble. Spurs improved immeasurably when Moussa Sissoko was introduced for the injured Jan Vertonghen, with Pochettino wisely electing to switch back to his favoured 4-4-2 diamond.

Pochettino should change shape for the second leg (Getty Images)

2. Shackle Messrs De Jong and Van de Beek

It’s easier said than done, of course. But in that dazzling first-half, when Van de Beek and Frenkie de Jong made mincemeat of a wide-eyed Wanyama, Ajax found themselves with the unexpected opportunity to completely kill off this tie before a quarter of it had even been played.

De Jong is just an obscenely good football player, a Johan Cruyff in glorious Technicolour, providing composure and control as the rest of the matches passes in a blur of movement around him. Alongside him Van de Beek rampaged here there and everywhere, difficult to track and impossible to stop.

It is hardly rocket science: Tottenham cannot afford the pair so much time and space in the second leg. They need to flood the midfield rather than stand-off as they did in the first-half. The difficulty is that, last night, Ajax manager Erik ten Hag confessed that Ajax “did not anticipate” Tottenham’s change in style — they will be well prepared for it next week.

Van de Beek excelled for Ajax once again (Getty)

3. Play Moussa Sissoko from the start

The Frenchman hit the nail on the head when asked why Tottenham had struggled early on against Ajax. “The start of the match was not good on our part, we were perhaps intimidated by the challenge,” he told RMC Sport. “We did not play our football, but I tried to bring back the impact and in the second half it was better.”

Sissoko may still be striving for full fitness, but until his arrival Tottenham lacked bite. He quickly helped to plug the numerous gaps in the club’s midfield, neatly extinguishing Ajax attacks from source before barrelling forward on the counter-attack. It was just a shame that Fernando Llorente and Lucas Moura never looked like capitalising on any of the chances he created.

Pochettino faces an impossibly difficult choice this weekend: does he play Sissoko away from home against Bournemouth, another crucial match in the race for the top four, or give him further time to completely recover from his groin injury?

Sissoko made a difference in the second-half (AFP)

4. Switch Llorente with Son

The thinking behind starting Llorente, Tottenham’s tree trunk of a striker, was obvious. Daley Blind is 5 ft 11 in. Nicolás Tagliafico is 5 ft 8 in. The impossibly composed teenager Matthijs de Ligt is the only Ajax defender over 6 ft. The Dutch side have a small defence and it was hoped Llorente could help to expose that.

The veteran forward also offers an out ball, with Pochettino perhaps concerned that Lucas would have been too easily frozen out of the game if deployed up front on his own. However, both struggled desperately, failing to muster up a single shot on target between them.

At least Spurs will welcome back Son Heung-min for the all-important second leg. They missed the South Korea international’s running and ingenuity, with Dele Alli frequently flicking the ball into space only to realise with a frown that nobody had anticipated the pass. Son will not be able to singlehandedly turn this tie around — but at least he will cause Ajax’s defence some problems.

Son should return in place of Llorente (Getty)

5. Don’t gamble too early

Ajax’s early dominance in last night’s semi-final cannot be overstated. But Tottenham are still in the tie. And their mini resurgence after such a difficult opening period demonstrated that this Ajax team, while impressive, are not infallible.

Yet there was a lesson to be learned as Spurs pushed to find an equaliser last night. With most of their players thrown forward, Ajax waltzed away on the counter-attack, with Neres striking the base of the post having beaten a flailing Lloris.

Spurs cannot afford to gamble too early in Amsterdam. They are a team prone to sustained attacking bursts, but Ajax are too effective a counter-attacking team for them to thrown caution to the wind before absolutely necessary. With Son and Sissoko back in the starting XI, they will have their chances.