Anyone saying Mendy should be punished for his action to Lamela needs to have a word.
In other news, I’ve been flabbergasted to read today that we were lucky and that the pitch played fine.
1. We were in near total control of the game and could have stepped it u if necessary. This element of our play - game management - is a a distinct improvement on last season and aeons away from the season before, and bodes very very well going forward, particularly in Europe. The option/willingness to play long passes (NB not ‘long balls) also gives us another dimension, particularly if playing on a ploughed field.
2. The pitch played better than it looked but that’s not saying much. It clearly affected the way both teams play, although affected us more as we were always going to have more possession even allowing for more long passes than usual. Lamela’s miss following a bobble was delicious poetic justice, both for him personally and Spurs as a club presiding over this new stadium shitshow.