Oh dear Spurs…oh dear! A match that started in such promising fashion, with Son coming close three times in the opening ten minutes, ended with a whimper as Newcastle became the first team since Brighton in April to end our winning streak at home.
Although the match statistics paint a pretty even picture – we dominated possession by just over 4%, had more efforts than Newcastle and the same amount of efforts on target – I find it hard to dispute the notion that the better team won. I don’t think there was a lack of effort from the lads, but rather, a lack of quality.
Indeed, besides Kane and Son (more so in the first half an hour), I don’t think anyone can emerge from the match with a semblance of credit. As I say, I don’t think the vast majority of the squad is good enough – Son and Kane are class, but yesterday demonstrated that key areas in our squad still need addressing.
While it is easy and understandable to pinpoint yesterday’s failings on Lloris – and yes, he played a big part in giving Newcastle the points and I do not think he is the man to take us forward – the bigger issue for me is that the squad players that step up in the absence of Romero and Hojbjerg are several levels below them.
For instance, I have no faith in Davinson Sanchez whatsoever, and his performance yesterday did nothing to restore that faith. I will be lighter on Bissouma as he is still adjusting to our requirements – as is Skipp, who is still coming back from injury – but the fact of the matter is, when you take our key players out of the equation – and I add Kulusevski and Richarlison to that – then the whole thing falls flat, as it did yesterday.
Moreover, breaking up the Hojbjerg-Bentancur axis – which has its critics, and rightly so at times – tends to yield unsavoury results; we’ve won a solitary league game since Bentancur signed where we’ve done without him and Hojbjerg in midfield for more than 45 minutes (Leeds away last season), failing to win the other five (Saints, Wolves and Burnley last season, West Ham and Newcastle this season).
This hints that the squad is still barely equipped for a top-four challenge, something made more difficult by having to play twice a week, which Antonio Conte alluded to in his post-match press conference:
“My only worry in this moment is that we try to keep the fingers crossed and to not have injuries,” said Conte to Sky Sports. “We’re not a team with so much depth to face so much competition with the Premier League and the Champions League.
“We knew the situation and I spoke to the club and I said we need to go step by step with patience. I said we needed two or three transfer markets. Every three days we’re playing a massive game. Hojbjerg had played every game and in the end, he gets an injury because he was tired and it was the same for Cristian Romero and for Richarlison.
“For Dejan Kulusevski, we hoped to have him back much sooner but instead the situation got worse and now we have to wait. Lucas Moura started the season with a problem in his tendon and now he’s trying to recover. Oliver Skipp played his first game since January.
“When you put all these situations together, you have to understand that at this difficult moment it’s about coping. We’ll try to get to November in the best possible way. For some players, this was the seventh game in a row.”
And therein lies the problem (or at least, a huge chunk of it): an over-reliance on the same group of players. The fact that Dier, Kane, Son, Romero, Hojbjerg and Bentancur all lack adequate cover (I know cases can be made for Bissouma but I’m not an advocate of the argument that Richarlison and Kulsevski can slot in for Kane and Son), will lead to more problems down the line and repeats of yesterday if they are not addressed.
Nevertheless, these are somebody else’s problems, our job is to get behind the team and Antonio Conte (yes, get behind him), and hope and pray that we win that ghastly Champions League Group D on Wednesday.
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I’m gonna repeat this post from another article since I missed it on this latest one…
Last winter Spurs brought in two players who have made a significant positive difference in Bentancur and Kulu while this past summer window looks to have been almost a complete waste with no major difference makers to the side. Maybe there’s a deal that can bring the highly projected wingback Destiny Udogie in early from his Udinese loan back. Spurs are in desperate need of higher quality wingbacks and much better ball handling creative midfield attackers.
What a poor team we are. We have had three difficult away games and have performed unbelievably poorly in all of them – outclassed and out coached every time. We have now had our first difficult home game and guess what- we were outclassed and out coached. Unless Conte ups his game and starts showing a bit more bravery with the team, instead of the usual manager speak when things are not going his way “I need more time, I need more transfer windows, we can’t compete with the big spenders, I can’t change the mentality in one year” he will be out of the door sharpish. Unfortunately it doesn’t look as though he has a Plan B. So much for him being an elite coach.
I suspect he has already started looking for a way out.
I’m traveling, so won’t be on VS for a bit. Hope someone’s still on this site when I get a chance to check in in a few days.
The whole thing is a bit sketchy these days. Never now if there will still be a functioning site.
Hope the team decides it’s worth playing rather than just milling about the pitch vs. Sporting on Wednesday. One never knows these days. Putting in an appearance isn’t the same as showing up ready to play with some passion. I’ll see everyone’s responses if VS is up and running in a few days. If it’s not, then be well and thanks for the years chatting with me.