Tottenham Hotspur are left with work to do in their final Europa Conference League group game after they endured an embarrassing evening in Slovenia.
Antonio Conte’s recorded his first loss since taking over from Nuno Santo as his side were agonisingly beaten by NS Mura in the final minutes of the game.
Tommy Horvat fired in a world-class opener from long range for the home side after just 11 minutes before Spurs wing-back Ryan Sessegnon received his marching orders for two calamitous and rash yellow cards by the 31st-minute mark.
In the second half, the Italian made vast changes and it looked to have paid off when his pair of substitutes Lucas Moura and Harry Kane combined for an equaliser in the 72nd minute.
Did Sessegnon let Spurs down in Slovenia?
Absolutely!
No way!
But with seconds left on the clock, Amadej Marosa powered through Spurs’ messy backline to condemn them to a shocking, shocking loss.
Sessegnon, who was massively talked up by Conte during the pre-game build-up, badly let the manager and his side down with his erratic short-lived display.
“I can’t wait to see his performance because he’s a talented player, very young with great space for improvement,” the 52-year-old told reporters in his press conference.
There were plenty of superlatives used to describe his red card from the press, ranging from “daft” by football.london’s Alasdair Gold to “stupid” by the Evening Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick but perhaps the most accurate came from The Athletic’s Charlie Ecclesshare, who claimed it was “really needless.”
Indeed, it was. And the 21-year-old gem will have it all to do to convince his manager that he can be trusted again this campaign.
As per SofaScore, Sessegnon was graded at an abysmal 5.1 rating – comfortably the worst of any player on the pitch – and during his 36 minutes, he managed only eight passes and 16 touches, fewer than even goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini (19 passes, 25 touches).
He also lost 80% of his five duels, showing just how much he struggled with the lowly Slovenian minnows.
After being talked up so much ahead of kick-off and then named as a starter a few days in advance, the England U21 international very much let Conte down, so it would be a surprise to see him involved again anytime soon.
An absolute nightmare and disaster evening for the young lad.
AND in other news, Fabio Paratici could seal Spurs’ best signing since Son with £45m-rated “world-beater”…