Aaron Lennon: Spurs Lacked Game Management in Painful PSG Super Cup Defeat

Aaron Lennon Explains What Spurs Failed to Manage in PSG Super Cup Defeat

Tottenham Hotspur’s UEFA Super Cup heartbreak against Paris Saint-Germain left plenty for the players to reflect on, and former Spurs winger Aaron Lennon believes the main lesson is painfully clear.

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Leading 2-0 with six minutes remaining, Thomas Frank’s side looked destined to mark his first competitive match in charge with silverware. Goals from Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero had put them in control, and with the clock ticking down, the Ligue 1 champions appeared beaten.

But Lee Kang-in’s strike and Gonçalo Ramos’ stoppage-time header dragged the contest into a penalty shootout. Portuguese left-back Nuno Mendes eventually sealed PSG’s triumph from the spot, leaving the Lilywhites empty-handed and visibly dejected.

Lennon, speaking in the aftermath, didn’t sugar-coat his assessment.

“You can see that the Tottenham players are hurting,” he told BBC Radio 5. “As a player, you know games which you should win, and this was one of them.

“Five minutes to go, 2-0 up, see it out. Even when it goes to 2-1, you’ve got to know how to see a game out. Tottenham didn’t handle that well enough.”

Lennon also reserved some praise for Luis Enrique's side, saying: “PSG never know when they are beaten. They showed their quality all last season and today.

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“They have only been back a wee,k and they were really rusty today. They started to creep into the game and then took control of possession and once they scored that first goal we called it. PSG stepped up another gear.”

For Lennon, the sting isn’t only about losing to Europe’s champions, it’s about the manner in which the lead slipped. Managing tense closing stages, he suggested, is a skill Spurs must sharpen quickly if they’re to compete for major honours under Frank.

It’s a painful introduction for the new manager, whose first competitive match in charge has provided an immediate reminder of how costly lapses in game management can be.