Colchester vs. Tottenham: Winners and Losers from FA Cup
Tottenham Hotspur cruised into the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 4-1 win at Colchester United on Saturday.
Spurs dominated the early stages and created plenty of chances but took until midway through the first half to find the breakthrough. Erik Lamela created the space with a pass out wide to Nacer Chadli, and the attacking midfielder curled a fine shot inside the far post to open the scoring.
After the break, Eric Dier saw his long-range shot deflected heavily and loop over the goalkeeper for 2-0. Late on, a flurry of goals changed the scoreline dramatically, as Chadli nodded his second, Ben Davies scored an own goal and Tom Carroll rattled in Spurs' fourth—all in the space of three minutes.
Here are all our biggest winners and losers from the match.
Winner: Kieran Trippier
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Spurs made a number of changes to their team, and one of those who came in was right-back Kieran Trippier—and he really took his chance to impress.
The former Burnley man was a constant threat down the flank, getting forward at every opportunity and delivering a string of impressive crosses, creating shooting chances for the likes of Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen.
Defensively he was rarely tested, and in the second half, a tactical switch from Colchester meant he wasn't able to roam forward as freely, but he had already had a big impact on the match by then.
Losers: Colchester's Pre-Game Plan
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Even before going behind in the match, Colchester's plan for the FA Cup tie was in tatters.
Less than five minutes into the game, an aerial collision between Tom Eastman and Alex Wynter saw the latter have to be stretchered off and taken to hospital with concussion, per BT Sport's live coverage, while Eastman briefly re-entered the pitch after having his head bandaged up.
Within minutes, though, Eastman was also subbed, leaving Colchester without two starting defenders and having to play with 10 men for around five minutes or so in the opening quarter of an hour.
Soon after they were a goal down, and it was all uphill from there. It's tough enough for lower-league sides to compete with Premier League teams with all their players available, but with key individuals missing, it became impossible for Colchester to manage.
Winner: Gavin Massey
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Colchester were clearly a level of quality or two below Spurs for the entirety of the match, but there were plenty of game performers in the home team's ranks.
Gavin Massey was the most fearless and forward-thinking of them, playing from wide and attacking the Spurs back line a number of times, particularly in the second half.
His dribbling at pace caused a few problems for Spurs' defence, his hold-up play was far better than Chris Porter's and he picked one or two passes inside the box to create chances for his team. Massey hit the post for Colchester late on, with the rebound finding the back of the net via Davies' shins for an own goal.
Massey was also given the Man of the Match award for the home team by the stadium announcer.
Loser: Marvin Sordell
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It wasn't a great day all-round for Marvin Sordell.
He was initially named in Colchester's starting XI on the team's Twitter account, but he was actually left on the bench for the big game. He was brought on by his manager after an hour to try to spark an impact in attack, but he only really had two opportunities to shine on the ball.
The second of those was a huge chance to get Colchester back in the game, running through one-on-one with Michel Vorm only to strike his low shot wide off the post. Moments later, Spurs went up the other end and scored to kill the game off.
From Team GB forward at the 2012 Olympics to reserve forward for League One's bottom club in three-and-a-half years, it hasn't gone as planned for Sordell.
Winner: Nacer Chadli
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The big winner for Spurs on the day has to be Nacer Chadli, who came into the lineup and had a huge impact for his side.
Two goals and one assist gave Spurs all the end product they could hope for from their attacking midfielders, with Chadli curling in brilliantly for the opener and finding a near-post header for his second, demonstrating the movement and instinct needed to thrive inside the penalty box.
He was a danger throughout the game, and Colchester simply couldn't get close to him.
