With four defeats on the spin, Tottenham Hotspur fans were looking for a reaction…any reaction…from manager Jose Mourinho’s first team squad as we made the trip to Turf Moor to face Sean Dyche’s Burnley side.
It was never going to be easy, especially given our current run of form and despite the injuries we find ourselves dealing with, performances should be far better than they are.
Burnley MotM?
Jan Vertonghen
Giovani Lo Celso
Dele Alli
Japhet Tanganga
It was, however, what most expected. The first half was turgid and we managed a paltry single effort on goal, but that wasn’t a surprise given our overall defensive outlook. Burnley dominated and deserved their 1-0 lead (Wood 13th minute) and it could’ve been more.
The only solace was, if that was our poor half, would the second be better and Mourinho rolled the dice with two attacking changes at the break, and we got some reward five minutes in as Erik Lamela drew the foul in the box, and Dele Alli converted from the spot.
1-1 and game on? It might not have been if Davinson Sanchez’s mental five minutes (including a clear penalty) had been punished, but we rode our luck. Despite the improvement in the second period though we couldn’t get enough efforts on target to nick in, and the hosts continued to pose a threat of their own.
Alli’s 50th goal earned the point though and we have to try and build from there again.
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“Not What We Need” – Mourinho’s Recent Words Will Disappoint Plenty Of Spurs Fans
Turf Moor
Premier League
7/03/2020 6:30 pm
Attendance: 20496
Referee: Moss
| Burnley | Tottenham Hotspur | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood (13) | Alli (pen 50) | ||||||
| Pope | Lloris | ||||||
| Bardsley | Sanchez | ||||||
| Tarkowski | Dier | ||||||
| Mee | Alderweireld | ||||||
| Taylor | Tanganga | ||||||
| Hendrick | 89 | Vertonghen | |||||
| Westwood | Skipp | 45 | |||||
| Cork | Ndombele | 45 | |||||
| McNeil | Lamela | 78 | |||||
| Wood | Bergwijn | ||||||
| Rodriguez | 68 | Alli | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Brownhill | Winks | ||||||
| Brady | Lo Celso | 45 | |||||
| Hart | Sessegnon | ||||||
| Pieters | Gazzaniga | ||||||
| Lennon | 89 | Aurier | 78 | ||||
| Vydra | 68 | Lucas Moura | 45 | ||||
| Long | Gedson Fernandes | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 21 | Goal attempts | 13 |
| 8 | On Target | 2 |
| 3 | Corners | 5 |
| 16 | Fouls | 11 |
| 5 | Yellow Cards | 4 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 45 | % | 55 |
Arsenal can over take us enough said
Dark times lads.
Horrible 1st half, half decent 2nd half – lucky to get a point despite me willing them on for the win obviously lol! Much as I expected – don’t think we’ll get CL next season. Onto Tuesday night – hope we can get a result but again doubt it. As PY puts it: “STILL” COYS!
Atleast we saw some attacking football the 2nd half – not great attacking football but atleast we got past the halfway line with some intent on a few occasions. We need a striker in the summer – no ifs or buts and a good one at that as he could well end up being HK10’s replacement eventually as it is very probable that at some point HK10 will want to move somewhere where can challenge for trophies every season along with a pay packet to match. I think he’ll hopefully stay for next season but beyond that I wouldn’t bet on it.
We also blatantly need defenders – having to play 4 CB’s including an in-experienced Tanganga out of position says it all really. RB and LCB – let’s get it done in the summer along with that elusive striker.
Looks like I was right about Jose’s game plan . Keep them out for as long as possible and then bring on our knackered attacking players for the rest of the game..Might have worked if it wasn’t for the ref missing that handball and then Lloris spilling the resulting long shot. Could have worked against Norwich come to think of it for the same reason. Though I appreciate that this is not something the Jose haters want to hear.
Stan, there are “Jose Haters” out there, for sure. I’m not one of them. I don’t hate the guy. It’s his tactics that I don’t like. His tactics and general negativity.
I don’t get why you can defend him yet again for his game-plan yesterday That 1st half was one of the worst performances from Spurs that I have see in many a year. It was truly awful.
By the way what you suggested was his plan, wasn’t. He said himself that he didn’t want to put on Lo Celso and Lucas at half time but felt that he had no choice. (His hope was to rest them). But, he at least got that right. As it was a good call. And I will praise him for that and his change of formation in the 2nd half.
Love, hate, worship or have no feelings at all toward him, Spurs have just gone 5 games without a win and were lucky not to lose the 5th. Can you please tell me the last time that we were this bad? The last time we haven’t won in 5 games… It’s so long ago that I would need to look it up. It’s much too long ago to remember.
HT, not accusing you of being in the Jose hater ranks. But sometimes tactics have to be adapted to the fit players you have and other games coming up. Against Burnley (and arguably in the Norwich game) most of what we have left of our attacking players were well and truly knackered) . So I can understand Jose wanting to save them in reserve for as long as possible. That meant the priority was to stop our opponents from scoring scoring for as long as possible. Didn’t work in the first half because of that unlucky goal being scored against us.. so Lo Celso and Lucas were brought on earlier than planned and it worked but maybe at some cost to how they play in the next game.
And if we have not won in five games I for one am prepared to take account of all the special factors affecting those thos games, not the least being one highly intense game after another with little time to recover in between. You can only get through such a tough schedule these days if you have a full squad to draw upon.
El jefe.,If Harry kane wants to lift a trophy of any meaning he most certainly will walk sooner rather than latter. I agree with you that we need a complete defence, sorry if Im putting words in your mouth yep a complete defence. Just like we needed those reinforcements last summer but just like the lotto numbers very rare chance off happening. We signed Sesengnon, what position did the club envisage him playing?? Considering a championship club allbeit just relegated never trusted him as a fullback. I know your a big fan of Sesengnon but I personally think he’s way overrated. Mourinho needs hundreds of millions to create a winning team and that aint happening under Enic property Inc. He failed miserably at utd with serious dosh what hope has he with the grinch??? I have to say I laughed when the camera went to Levy, you created this mess you tight git.
Hi Pauric, I would take a RB and LCB right now and snap your hand off, also a decent/good striker.
I am indeed looking forward to what Sessegnon will bring eventually but have to agree with you and TQ and HT that so far he has shown very little be it at LB or LW – hopefully he comes good – at £25m I think he was worth the risk mind! I have recently argued that he could do with a loan out to get some vital experience under his belt – ideally and obviously within the Prem but I reckon JM will want to keep him around and work with him – fair enough – let’s see what happens – Bale never went out on loan, had a very slow stop start beginning and then developed into a world class talent so there’s hope yet indeed Ryan is still only 19 with much to learn.
EJ….I’m not sure £25m is worth a risk, Lo Celso cost just £2m more and look what he is already giving us! Also makes you wonder if Ndombele was worth twice as much as Giovani? That said, the lad is clearly talented but isn’t going to improve by being publicly criticised by Jose, he should be doing this on a one to one basis at the training ground.
EJ: £25m for a player that you feel needs to be loaned out? I’m not sure that that can be seen as a positive in respect of Sessegnon. He may still be very young but he was one of Fulham’s 1st team guys for three seasons running. His third season was as a PL player and he was poor, in the main.
So, even as a young guy, he has a fair amount of experience of 1st team football already. He needs to step it up at Tottenham. Not at another club. And, unless the loan was to another Championship club like Fulham are again, he probably wouldn’t get much game time anyway, if in the PL. Even the lower placed PL teams have better alternatives to Ryan at the moment…
I haven’t given up on him because he is so young. But I feel the club will if he doesn’t step it up soon. And with Spurs. Not sitting on the bench elsewhere…. Harsh, I know…
Our best defence at the moment would probably be:
Aurier, Toby, Davy, Davies – with Foyth, Tanganga, Vert’s and Sessegnon as cover. I would give Vert’s 12 months more given his experience and versatility. I would actually keep the 8 together – get rid off KWP and Rose and bring in a RB and LCB. I’m also tempted to ask for a LB and would do if Vert’s was to go but do not think it logical to buy a RB, LCB and LB all in the same window to go straight into the team – I think they would need to be eased in and if they are of the correct quality will likely cost quite a bit anyway meaning signing 3 is highly unlikely – I’ll take 2 and be happy and see how it goes from there.
Also the much needed striker as already explained and everyone knows lol.
Some, including me, have thought that Dier should play as a CB but have to say, while he had a fairly decent first half in this position today he actually performed really well after moving into midfield after the break and threaded some really good through balls to the front guys.
TQ – the true cost of Gio is more like £42m in total including the loan fee I believe so I still think at £25m Ryan was worth the punt and could well come good but at the moment the jury is out. I also was impressed with Dier today especially in CM – long may it continue – loved the tackle in the box in the 2nd half which kept us in it. N’Dombele has the talent but at the moment is looking a bit of a dud due to fitness concerns mainly.
EJ….Sessegnon wasn’t a straight £25m, there are add-ons which could take it to £30m and (as I remember) Onomah moved the other way as part of the deal.
TQ 100% over the last few matches I have seen Dier improving vastly. He seems to be starting to find some of the form he had 2 seasons ago. 2nd half I thought we played well enough against a a team of little more than petty hackers and foulers. Our problem being trying to walk the ball into the net. Thought Dave had a poor game today and of course we had our usual defensive mistake for a goal.
Funny we are nearly all saying the same thing one way or another. We need several players in defence and at least one striker. Also the whole team fit. We want entertaining football.There are differences in opinion over who manages who runs and who owns the club. As PY says still COYS.
If we look at the sheer number of goal attempts against us in the last 2 matches and knowing that it was two goalkeeper errors that saw us concede just two goals. Then our defenders have defended quite well, given the onslaught they faced in those games.
I put the blame firmly on JM’s tactics that we have had to face such large numbers of goal attempts. And when we see that it was a total of 21 goal attempts for Burnley yesterday and knowing that most were in the 1st half. What does that tell us about JM’s overly defensive set-up yesterday, in that 1st half.? It tells us that it’s not working. This is more than obvious.
EJ. you suggested that Spurs risk being trounced on a regular basis because of our poor defence. And so this is good reason for Jose’s defensive, back-to-the wall tactics. Well, if we had played any top club yesterday, with top strikers, I fear that we would have been thrashed out of sight by half-time. And it would’ve been mainly down to our defensive and completely negative tactics that serve to keep us on the back foot, with no outlet and seemingly no midfield to protect our defence or link the defence to our attackers. We were so negative. Poor. Really bad! Bad tactics not necessarily bad defenders…
It happens whomever we play in defence. Or in whatever formation. In the 2nd half, when we went on the front foot yesterday, it all changed. We looked like a proper cohesive team again. A team that had fight and spirit. An attacking team that came close to winning after putting the opposition on the back foot. In other words we were much less defensive and more positive and forward thinking. We attacked! And Burnley had to resort to their own (dirty) defensive tactics in order to keep us out. They had to continually chop us down to stop us… And our players didn’t look anywhere near as leggy. They found some energy in the 2nd half… Like I will insist; A positive. and more attacking Spurs team will find their energy, playing football on the front-foot. And they will win more matches.
Hey, they still didn’t win yesterday. But after that incredibly poor 1st half showing, a draw felt so much like a win to me that I’m almost over the moon……. How sad n bad is that?
I can’t say that I’m looking forward to Leipzig on Tuesday, and that is sad. Because I can’t remember the last time I felt like that watching Spurs week in, week out… Here’s hoping!
Well a much improved performance 2nd half although I am surprised how low we have sunk !!
Jose identified that the French lump and Skipp weren’t functioning ( how many games have they played together ? ) so good subs .
I hate to say it but with Aurier’s introduction increased our attacking option . Didn’t have enough time to make any mistakes !!
Burnley are a poor side and often resorted to high balls identifying Sanchez as one of their own by waiting for his knock downs !!
Lamela won a good pen with his trailing leg but is so left sided that when he comes across from the right is unable to switch play where one of our players was often unmarked .Excellent to see him play a full match ( for how long ? )
Ali put in a great shift but is totally unsuited to the role he is being asked to play but it does highlight the poor transfer policy of Levy and Poch by relying only on Harry and Son as real strikers !!
Of course Aurier came on for Lamela ( so not a full game )
Just seen the Jose interview and hope his criticism of the french lump will get through because if it does then we will have the player we thought we were buying !!
Allan….public criticism of Ndombele isn’t going to make him play better, most likely the opposite, and is very likely to affect the whole squad who will fear the same treatment if they have a bad game. This kind of action brings negativity in itself and contributes to Jose losing the dressing room which he is becoming renowned for.
There is no doubt the lad has talent and it is down to the coaching staff to sit down with him and analyse why he is performing below par. He does appear to be carrying a bit of extra timber but then he always looked the same at Lyon but it didn’t prevent him putting in performances that had all of the top european clubs taking an interest in him. It could be that he is finding it difficult to settle in a new environment and nothing to do with fitness levels or adjusting to the pace of the PL, who knows, but I hope will will come good in the same way that Sissoko did eventually.
HT… your post was fair and mostly what I thought. In 1st half Sanchez made a lot of errors, Burnley attacked mainly down our right side.. pressuring Tangana / Sanchez and scored their goal. Half time a proverbial game of 2 halves. We looked much better with the 2 subs. Lo Celso adapting to PL now. Dier getting confidence back a shape of 4231 really does suit us, as the players know this from poch days. Burnley played the cynical fouls all the game and got worse in 2nd half, 5 players booked. lucky to have 11 players at end of the game.
This game will have boosted confidence for our players, and we can hope for another CL away performance on tuesday night in Germany. COYS
Are we happier, mmmm! just a minute bit I think lol!
I noticed yesterday, after a rather turgid 1st half, JM came up with a brilliant idea at HT, “lets play in their half in the 2nd” am amazed, maybe he is re-learning lol!
During the game I had a thought that we had changed our strip, cos Burnley looked/played more like Spurs and we looked more like Burnley, we must be in a mess if teams like them think/know they can out play us.
HT…my reply to you regards your “Timmy” comment to me on the “game article” HA HA HA HA. Still COYS for me.
Yet another grim performance and poor result sees us slipping down the table. Arsenal are likely to overtake us next weekend. We seem to have a team of misfits with only Lo Celso showing any life and he is not that good. Watching Spurs at present is not a pleasurable experience. It seems ages ago that we were dominating every game with slick passing, fast attacks, tight defending and 70% possession. Now, under Jose , we play 5 centre halves, non existent midfield and no one who can score goals. Unless, Jose is sacked ( he is on 15 million pounds) or we can unseat the tight fisted Levy, I cannot see much change or improvement. Mid table this season and nothing won.
Regards Dier, I have always believed he is a CB, and in my opinion the last couple of games is proving that, yes he has been through hell, injuries etc resulting in lack of confidence, but he is standing up.
Last night I thought that last minute tackle, as much as it was excellent, was also of his own making/fault for letting the opponent go, so he had to make up for that cock up, which he did very well.
In defense of our defense, the 2 goals past us in the last 2 games are both down to gk “cock ups”, it also amazes me that no matter the line up “mistakes” are being made, am starting to think “pressure on shoulders” is causing this, thus panic etc is forcing mistakes.
Mind I also believe our DM’s are not helping our defense, we don’t seem to have a “I would take out my granny rather than you get/keep the ball” type, just a thought.
As others, I believe our confidence is being boosted, though slowly but it is surely getting there. Still COYS for me.
PY, your suggestion that our defensive errors are down to “pressure on shoulders”. I agree with.
But the main reason for me, is Jose’s negative, overly defensive set-up, game after game. (Sorry for my endless repeating of this… And the constant pressure comes from being under relentless footballing pressure. In wave after wave of attack that comes our way. It’s why I have twice highlighted the huge amount of goal attempts against us recently.
The more we have to stop, block and save that is hit at us, the more the odds are stacked against us. The more mistakes are likely to happen the more we sit and let ourselves be in the firing line. It seems so obvious to me. The less we have being fired our way the less the likelihood of mistakes,. Surely. It’s a simple law of averages. We are inviting this pressure. It is a tactical problem of which I’m more than certain.
But like I said before, I am not the expert and it is just my humble opinion… And maybe our players really are all shit! As some keep saying they are…
Did you see what you just did there Wentworth?
In one sentence you highlighted the huge salary that Jose gets from the “tight fisted Levy”. That made me laugh.
As for continuing to put Lo Celso down and saying that “he is not that good”. I don’t know what to think. But I know that you seem to be the only one saying it.
I see a comment of “this season nothing won” do not forget the again! lol, but I have to ask nicely where does this “entitlement!” to win things attitude come from, for me to win things you have “work” for it, we have had chances and basically “not turned up” or have we been “unlucky”.
Can of worms opened here, so have my “hard hat on” lol! Am still COYS always and ever.
Lo-Celso….reaction, excellent and will only get better, simple as that! oh yes! does anyone see what I see, he seems to be getting faster and trying to take the “bull by the horns” and “drive us on” Still COYS for me.