Tottenham October review: a crunching slide tackle and winning ugly

As usual it was a busy month at Tottenham. Here is a recap of October.

Magical Messi at Wembley – October 3

Floodlit Champions League evenings against the best in the world are what any football fan dreams of. But the Spurs faithful would have been forgiven for hoping Lionel Messi wasn’t quite at his magisterial best as a depleted Tottenham side faced Barcelona.

Unfortunately for the hosts, Messi was in the mood – even by his unparalleled standards – and the turbo charged extraterrestrial’s full repertoire of passing, dribbling, and finishing were on show at the national stadium.

He partly orchestrated Barca’s first two goals before clattering the woodwork on a couple of occasions. To be fair to Spurs, they put up a gallant fight and threatened to snatch a draw until two deft finishes by the Argentinean put the game to bed.

That slide tackle – October 15

It was poetry in motion of the dying art of slide tackling.

Ten minutes into the UEFA Nations League fixture between Spain and England Sergio Ramos took a heavy touch on his own byline, triggering Eric Dier to take off like a teenager in a hot rod. No prisoners were taken as Eric took the ball and left Ramos in a heap on the turf.

What made the tackle even more irresistable for fans was how unnecessary it was. The best possible outcome for Dier would have been a goal kick rather than the ball resting at David de Gea’s foot in open play. But it proved to be the catalyst for an iconic English performance that inflicted Spain their first defeat on home soil in 15 years.

The tackle had social media abuzz for days after and even Mauricio Pochettino couldn’t help having his say:

"“The tackle was nice, eh?” said the manager. “I feel proud about that. It’s a fantastic attitude, that always we need to keep pushing.”"