Match Stats

A Tale Of Two Spurs, Conte Is Up & Running – Match Stats

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Antonio Conte welcomed Marcelo Bielsa to White Hart Lane earlier this afternoon as Tottenham Hotspur went on the hunt for his first Premier League win and three points against hard working Leeds United.

It was a slow and sluggish start from Spurs, with the visitors seeing far more of the ball and making inroads through our defence, but in fairness, we were never really in any danger – albeit posing no danger of our own either.

It had largely been a half to forget again, until the sucker punch moments before the stroke of half time as they took the lead. The worry again was we only had two efforts ourselves across the 45 minutes, but had failed to register a single shot on target.

So, would we wake up in the second half and put in a performance we know we are capable of?

It looked promising as Harry Kane had a guilt-edged chance seconds after the restart, but he saw his effort saved. Just when you thought it might be a sign of things to come, we had to rely on Hugo Lloris to ensure we weren’t two goals down.

As we headed towards the hour mark we also had a good shout for a penalty as Son Heung-Min looked to be tripped in the box, but it wasn’t enough of a touch to convince VAR to award it, however, there was a bit more about us now. A few minutes later we were back on level terms as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg made no mistake with his chance.

Kane really should’ve made it 2-1 a few minutes later, but in fairness, the defender got a good block in. At least we’d definitely woken up by now.

After Lucas Moura was cynically taken down, Eric Dier stepped up for the resulting freekick just outside of the box, but he saw his effort bounce off the wall and onto the woodwork (again), but a quick thinking Sergio Reguilon was the first to react and put it in the back of the net.

Leeds almost replied immediately and claimed a penalty for a Kane handball in the box, but VAR was rightly having none of it.

After that mini splurge, the game largely petered out for me, although Conte remained animated on the sidelines.

There was almost a late flourish in stoppage time, but the offside wasn’t even debatable.

2-1 – Conte’s first three points and we were a lot better in the second period, but still nowhere near as good as we know we should be.

Leeds MotM

Sergio Reguilon

Lucas Moura

Hugo Lloris

Harry Kane


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Tottenham Hotspur's foundations lie in another sport, which one?

Tottenham Hotspur
2 – 1
Leeds United

White Hart Lane

Premier League

21/11/2021 4:30 pm

Attendance: 58989

Referee: Andre Marriner

Tottenham Hotspur Leeds United
Hojbjerg (58), Reguilon (69) James (44)
Lloris Meslier
Emerson Royal
 
Llorente
Tanganga 68 Phillips
 
Dier Cooper
 
Davies Struijk
Reguilon 79 Forshaw
 
72
Hojbjerg Dallas
Winks James
Lucas Moura 88 Klich 59
Son Heung-Min Harrison
Kane Gelhardt
 
87

Substitutes

Doherty Firpo 59
Sanchez 68 Roberts 72
Gil Klaesson
Rodon Cresswell
Sessegnon 79 Drameh
Alli 88 McKinstry 87
Gollini Greenwood
Bergwijn McCarron
Ndombele Jenkins

Game Statistics

13 Goal attempts 18
4 On Target 7
4 Corners 8
11 Fouls 12
1 Yellow Cards 4
0 Red Cards 0
43 % 57

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0 comments

  • PompeyYid says:

    Haha Game of two halves!
    Another 3 pts, baby steps we will get there. COYS

  • Love totty says:

    Difficult to pick the bones out of that. So bad in the first half and probably only better in the second as Leeds seemed to run out of steam with their makeshift team. Away at Burnley will be a better test of character and organisation.

  • jod says:

    Leeds are a team with no cutting edge (injured strikers) so yes they had a lot of possession in the first half but really didn’t do that much with it, we were just bad. We didn’t change that much in the second half, same players, same system. But we just did things quicker and that made all the difference. One thing that was striking was how good Dier, playing effectively last man in the centre of the three, looked. Leeds seemed afraid to tackle him and he didn’t put a foot wrong all game. Another interesting thing for me was when Sessegnon came on for Reguilon. There’s no doubt in my mind that Reguilon is a better full back. But if Conte is going to play three at the back then it’s about wing backs and Sessegnon may be a better fit in that role. Which also raises questions about Docherty on the other side of the pitch. Looking at the league table you have three teams who are well clear of the rest but four champions league spots up for grabs. So there is the potential for a real battle for that fourth spot and no clear favourite to get it. Who knows, we’ll see what Conte can do for the rest of the season.

  • block 108 spurs says:

    Yes a game of two halves indeed… We were still in spursey mode and Conte was going mad on the tech. area 1st half, and his face when leeds scored said what we all felt… the boos from fans at half time was what spurs players deserved. Second half much better by spurs,two well taken goals, reggie did a good follow up to score..and a 3rd goal would have been good, but we won and 3 points to go 7th place. Coys

  • Spurfect One says:

    Pierre Emile Hoibjerg is over rated. He often loses the ball and gets bypassed easily, He is fantastic at ball recovery but so is Skipp. We desperately need someone in there to get a hold of the ball and dictate play by setting the tempo, it’s clearly not good enough and i would imagine that is one area Conte will be looking to improve.

  • Niall D says:

    Good result today, as usual we made it difficult for ourselves, but 2nd half we could’ve should’ve had 4 plus, a decent call for a pen.
    Agree with Jod, whilst the first couple of places in the prem are lost to us I’d argue that top 4 or 5 is up for grabs and if we get that elusive midfield playmaker in, who knows😉.
    But happy enough with progress and Contes obvious passion is infectious.

  • Geofspurs says:

    If all the players had the same intent, energy and bravery of Moura and Son we’d be in the top two. They are the only two players who always want to drive forward and take the game to the opposition.

  • jod says:

    Geofspurs – Couldn’t agree more, for some reason Moura in particular seems to be under rated by a lot of Spurs fans but he’s a real fighter and was very effective yesterday. One thing I did notice was that in the second half Son and Moura were able to start their runs a bit closer to the Leeds penalty area which I think did make a difference. In the first half they were often trying to make something happen from the half way line. Players do need the skill to actually take a man on. Reguilon is a great straight line runner but he doesn’t actually beat people, Emerson Royal on the other side is very comfortable going past players. It makes a big difference when you are playing with wing backs and is why we might see Sessegnon come into contention for a starting spot.

  • Geofspurs says:

    jod …. Both goals came from the work Moura did in the lead-up to them.

    I’ve never understood why some supporters don’t appreciate his work, too. The only criticism, which I’ve previously stated, is that he could pass the ball a bit earlier.
    But I’d much rather lose a game that we are trying to win, instead of just going through the motions (does that make sense?).

  • BelgianSpur says:

    Energy and enthusiasm are great but to me, Moura again proved his critics right yesterday. As always, there were bright moments to pick out but as always, plenty of instances too when he got the ball, ran past 2 players and lost the ball to the 3rd.

    I’m not saying Moura is our biggest problem, but he is flawed/inconsistent and for all of his hard work, his end product remains erratic at best.

  • TQ2Spurs says:

    Hi Geof….our WSL game was disappointing on Sunday, talk about after the Lord Mayor’s show!

    I’ve been on the forum lately as it has been so quiet here, our old friend Muttley says he misses chatting with you!

  • jod says:

    BelgianSpur – You play with what you’ve got. We don’t have some brilliant player who has all of Moura’s strengths and none of his weaknesses. We don’t really have anyone who can compete with him for a starting position at the moment. So its just about the coaching staff working on him as they do with the rest of the squad to try to improve him as a player.

  • Niall D says:

    Morning folks all of the above re Moura are indeed moot points, he is brilliant at going past people at speed, he is tenacious and very fast and indeed tricky with the ball at his feet on his day he is unplayable, however it is just trying to beat the third man rather than pass the ball, but still I think as Jod said who have we currently got that’s better.
    I still think we all need to bear in mind that Conte is really only with us for around a fortnight, and for much of that time hasn’t had the full squad to work with, thanks to the international games, hopefully between now and Christmas we will see something of his imprint on our tactics, fitness and playing style.

  • Geofspurs says:

    TQ …. I thought the Ladies were a bit unlucky. They did show that they are going in the right direction …. much better than last season.

    I enjoyed watching Kerr do her thing again and celebrate with her trademark somersault.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    Just because Moura is the “lesser evil” out of a group of players at the club, doesn’t mean we should be excited about the prospect of him playing.

    You claim Moura is “under rated” by lots of Spurs fans, but I think he is being evaluated fairly for what he brings/doesn’t bring to the table.

    If anything, I feel he is over rated and still cruising on that one night in Amsterdam – but the reality is that the rest of his Spurs career is indifferent. And “decent build-up play” is the least we should expect – he ought to be doing a lot more.

  • jod says:

    BelgianSpur – As Geofspurs pointed out both goals came from Moura’s work, so he is clearly doing more than “decent build up play”. Its the old story with some Spurs fans, I’ve seen it for forty years now. Either a player is brilliant and he’s hyped up all the time or he’s terrible and he gets no credit for what he does. Moura is denigrated, N’Dombele is praised despite his obvious failings. It’s always been like that at our club, sadly.

  • Geofspurs says:

    BS …. You missed the point. Moura and Son try to win games. Why don’t you highlight the faults of others who are too pedestrian to win anything? No one is saying they are perfect …. simply that they are the only driving force we have going forward, and you can’t win anything without that.

  • PompeyYid says:

    Lucas another Spurs Marmite players, we always have/get them, you rate him for what he offers or you do not, I rate him for what he offers.

    I also believe he is iratic and I also believe we all know it, so in a good way for us the opposition also know it, they then cannot allow for him because of not knowing which Lucas is going to turn up, thus this works in our favour.

    Mind he does leave it all on the pitch, battles his heart out, a pesky nuisance if you like, yes there is always the trying to beat and failing with the 3rd player and thus I believe we will witness a marked change in him through AC’s coaching, never to old to learn, goals and assists will arrive….COYS

  • Niall D says:

    Hi PY good post there m8, well put.
    As Geof said at least he is not as pedestrian as some of our players, and often tries the offensive move for us rather than side to side or backwards, but hopefully with Contes tutelage he will improve that “final pass”.
    Regardless he gives it all for better or worse, can all of our current squad honestly say this…

    • PompeyYid says:

      Hey Niall, how it hanging mate?

      In answer to your question….simple, certainly not the majority of them.

  • BelgianSpur says:

    A couple of things:

    Moura had a good game at the weekend, credit where it is due. Well done.

    However, the broader context cannot be completely ignored either, and that is that Lucas has played 174 times for Spurs in an attacking role, and scored 43 times and provided 21 assists. One good game in a blue moon doesn’t completely erase all of the times when he is ineffective or worse, invisible.

    I will give him (and Son) all the credit in the world for their positive attitude. Any plenty of Spurs players haven’t always worked as hard as they should have. But this still doesn’t detract from the fact that Moura has flattered to deceive many times. Two wrongs don’t make a right and regardless of what other players’ failings are, Moura has under performed in his own right.

    As I have said before, plenty of ex players have had heart and shown desire – the Michael Dawsons of the world. But that alone wasn’t enough to keep them at the club. Talent without work ethic is useless (although Dimitar might disagree ;-)), but the opposite is true too.

    Is it really unrealistic to ask that players at the 8th biggest club in the world both show desire, and an ability to pick a pass?

    PS/ Moura is 29 and he is largely the player he is going to be. He isn’t some learning 17 year old who is bound to improve with more coaching. If anything, his skill set is likely to deteriorate from 30 onward, if natural progression is to be believed.

    As I said, credit where it is due and we have bigger problems to address, but I don’t think any Spurs fan can be blamed for questioning an erratic player’s inconsistency.

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