Angry Conte
Following his quick return from gallbladder surgery to take his place in the dugout at Leicester City last month, Antonio Conte took a backseat role with Cristian Stellini the man barking out orders to his Tottenham players at the King Power Stadium. Now back in north London following a further rest to fully recuperate from his operation, the Spurs boss was back to his usual animated self on the touchline.
Bouncing around and shouting out instructions to the team as they looked for a way back into the tie, the Italian found himself in the referee's book midway through the first half after Clement Lenglet was cautioned for fouling Olivier Giroud. The head coach wasn't happy about it at all, with his angry reaction seeing Clement Turpin flash a yellow card in his direction.
Conte carried on arguing seconds after his booking as he had a word in the fourth official's ear and pointed his finger in the direction of Milan's coaching staff in their technical area. Not long after he was furious once again after play was halted so one of the AC Milan team could tie their shoelaces when Fraser Forster wanted to get on with the game.
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs AC Milan: Reckless Romero and Son, Kane, Kulusevski and Perisic poor
Yellow peril
Having seen Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg miss out on the first leg at the San Siro through suspension and Eric Dier in a similar boat for the return leg in north London, two Tottenham players came into the game on Wednesday knowing that a yellow card would see them miss out on a potential Champions League quarter-final first leg. The two in question were Cristian Romero and Lenglet.
So it was probably no surprise at all to see the Argentina international given a yellow after only 17 minutes following a rash challenge that sent Rafael Leao flying to the turf. Four minutes later and Lenglet was the next player in the referee's notebook after catching Giroud when jumping for the ball.
Always playing on the edge and going full-blooded into tackles, Romero's day went from bad to worse as he saw red in the closing stages after a reckless tackle on Theo Hernandez. The duo needn't worry about a one-game ban, however, with Spurs crashing out of the competition after such a poor showing.
Slow start proves costly
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg at the San Siro and with it all to do at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Conte's Spurs team had to start on the front foot and make a fast start to proceedings. A problem for the team all season with the Lilywhites more often than not only getting going after the restart, the issue unfortunately repeated again on Wednesday evening on such a crucial night for the club.
Always going to be hard to break down the Rossoneri with them holding a one-goal lead and with one foot in the quarter-finals, Tottenham were so flat in the opening 45 minutes and did nothing of note to even call Mike Maignan into action in the AC Milan goal. You couldn't tell at all that Tottenham needed to win this game in order to go through given what was served up by them.
There was no creativity or no imagination in the side and Stefano Pioli's team were so comfortable and in no real danger at all. It was no surprise to hear a number of boos throughout the first half, with plenty making their opinions clear once the half-time whistle sounded.
Son and Kulusevski repeat
On a night when Tottenham needed their big players to stand up and be counted, Spurs' big hitters just didn't step up to the plate. Much was expected of their front three but they just had no impact at all on proceedings.
Harry Kane was extremely quiet with chances not coming his way, while Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski failed to even test the Milan backline. The duo were major players in Spurs' run to the Champions League 12 months ago, forming a fearsome trident alongside Kane and scoring goals for fun as Tottenham wowed with some excellent attacking displays.
Unfortunately this season they have been a shadow of their former selves and only have 11 goals between them all campaign. Non-existent and way off the pace, Conte kept faith with them at the start of the second half when other managers may have hauled them off and put some fresh legs on.
The introduction of Richarlison and Arnaut Danjuma would have given Tottenham a much-needed boost but it wasn't until midway through the second half when the former was introduced. Persisting with out-of-form players is just not working and a major reason for their struggles all campaign.
It needs to change but there's no guarantee it will.
The need for change
In the space of a week Tottenham's season has completely unravelled. Passing up such a golden opportunity to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, they then couldn't open up a six-point lead in the race for the top four following their defeat at Wolves.
Despite the double setback, there was still hope that then Lilywhites could progress in the Champions League but that dream came crashing down to earth against AC Milan. It means Tottenham, just like 12 months ago, now just have the one competition to focus on as they look to seal another top-four finish.
Such a disappointing season for the club given how they ended last season in style and with all the optimism coming into the new term, plenty of Tottenham fans would love the campaign to draw to a close right now. A change needs to take place, both in terms of Conte's Tottenham team and Spurs' plans moving forward, as this is simply not good enough for a club of Spurs' stature.
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