Oliver Skipp bemoans early Tottenham defending in Milan loss
By Sean Walsh
Tottenham midfielder Oliver Skipp has bemoaned that his side conceded a 'goal they didn't need to' in their 1-0 loss at Milan on Tuesday.
Spurs fell to defeat in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie at San Siro, with Brahim Diaz grabbing the only goal, taking advantage of some slack defending.
Theo Hernandez won an aerial duel with Cristian Romero and had a shot saved by Fraser Forster, with Diaz burying it at the second attempt from close range to hand the Rossoneri victory on the night.
Skipp started alongside Pape Sarr in midfield - both making their first Champions League appearances from the off - and were Spurs' best players on a night to forget in Italy.
Speaking to BT Sport post-match, the Tottenham midfielder admitted it was nice to repay the faith shown by Antonio Conte and make his full Champions League debut, focusing on the positives from the first leg despite conceding a such a sloppy goal.
"I enjoyed every minute of it. It wasn't the result we wanted but there's a second leg to come. We'll take the positives from that. It's nice to make my debut from the start [in the Champions League], it's something you always dream of as a kid," he began.
"It wasn't the best start, after 10 minutes maybe just before. It was a goal we didn't need to concede, but I think we reacted well. Neither team created too many chances. There's a second leg and there's a deficit to come back from.
"I think we would have delivered [faith shown by Conte] if we had won! Me and Pape did our jobs in midfield, things we could have better and things we did well, but I think it was nice to gain the manager's trust and hopefully we repaid it.
"There weren't too many chances in the game like I said, a couple of times on the counter attack they were dangerous, we knew they had threats in forward runners and crosses into the box. They're always dangerous. Maybe there were a couple of times we could have defended them better but we had set pieces and opportunities into the box, maybe not creating clear cut chances.
"We have to keep positive, it's only the first leg. We know with our fans at home we'll be a dangerous side."