Tottenham Hotspur fans were hoping to see the side take our second half RB Leipzig performance into today’s early clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but sadly that wasn’t the case at all and what was another bad day for the side could’ve been significantly worse has Giovani Lo Celso seen red for his challenge on Cesar Azpilicueta.
With plenty of pundits now commenting that we look like a side that is feeling ‘a bit sorry for itself’ given our struggles this year and notably, the injuries we’ve again had to contend with, manager Jose Mourinho needs to lift the boys somehow.
Some fans will be in meltdown, others will have seen positives and have more understanding but Mourinho certainly isn’t shying away from what he felt were the positives and he knows there are excuses.
Speaking to the BBC following the game, he explained.
“I think you are going to be very bored with me, because I think I’m going to be very repetitive. I’m going to say exactly the same words I said against Leipzig. I’m very proud of the players – they gave absolutely everything. We don’t have a striker. Our attacking players are not strikers and are in huge levels of fatigue, so very, very difficult for us. No tactical problems, completely in control of the space, punished by a couple of individual mistakes. A defeat is a defeat, but the good thing is, in the last seconds the players were still fighting for a result and that for me is a very important thing. In the last part of the game when Chelsea was scared of the 2-1 we didn’t have that presence, that power, we didn’t have that to do more than what we did.”
Again, fans will have their own thoughts and given the injuries, even if you allow that wriggle room for Jose and the team, the blame just goes higher in the club I’d have thought.
All eyes to Wolverhampton Wanderers now but our chance to put pressure on Chelsea when it comes to the Champions League places has been missed and it’s now a four point gap.
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7 Shots & 2 Key Passes In Only 44 Touches – Spurs’ Reliable MotM
Stamford Bridge
Premier League
22/02/2020 1:30 pm
Attendance: 40608
Referee: Oliver
| Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Giroud (15), Alonso (48) | Rudiger (og 89) | ||||||
| Caballero | Lloris | ||||||
| Azpilicueta | Tanganga | ||||||
| Christensen | Sanchez | ||||||
| Rudiger | Alderweireld | 78 | |||||
| James | Vertonghen | ||||||
| Jorginho | Davies | ||||||
| Kovacic | Lo Celso | ||||||
| Alonso | Ndombele | 63 | |||||
| Mount | Winks | ||||||
| Barkley | 77 | Lucas Moura | |||||
| Giroud | 71 | Bergwijn | 78 | ||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Arrizabalaga | Lamela | 63 | |||||
| Abraham | 71 | Dier | |||||
| Willian | 77 | Alli | 78 | ||||
| Loftus-Cheek | Gazzaniga | ||||||
| Zouma | Aurier | 78 | |||||
| Emerson | Skipp | ||||||
| Gilmour | Gedson Fernandes | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 17 | Goal attempts | 5 |
| 7 | On Target | 3 |
| 3 | Corners | 5 |
| 14 | Fouls | 14 |
| 1 | Yellow Cards | 2 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 49 | % | 51 |
Yet again another very poor performance. Chelsea were better, stronger, more skilful, more committed in every department. We did well to come out of it 2-1. Very defensive lineup which meant we would not win this win. As always, we were under the cosh for most of the first half…we had 1 attempt on goal in the first 25 minutes. You can tell Jose is already bored with this and making the same old excuses. I am sure he will be looking for a way out soon. As someone has pointed out… we have a wonderful stadium, great training facilities but a very mediocre squad of players and no youngsters on the horizon. Champagne facilities, lemonade players.It has been madness and counter productive not to invest in the squad.
Have to agree With WW here. Not for the first time we were 2nd best. We were slow in build up caught with the high press. Panicked play surrounded by 2/3 players with no outlet every time when going forward. Just over a year ago these players were out classing every team in Britain we were losing games but we were the better team every game. Not any more. Yes we are getting the odd result but we’re not dominating games it seems smash and grab every time. We have little flashes of the team we could be but not enough to instill confidence. I enter every game with trepidation. I’m back to being a bit negative this week. Like Mourinho I wish it was July with a new season ahead of us.
Ref today’s performance much of the same. 8 or 9 defensive players 2 or 3 forward players who have too much distance between them there is no cohesion in the team. No real outlet.
We maybe deserved a pen with N’Dombele today but it would be a Liverpool penalty (soft one).
Jose is living on his past not good enough this time
N DOMBELE what is he good at cannot tackle cannot pass another waste of money,why didnt we buy a forward or play the kid Parrot,We need two centre halfs a forward and a creative midfield.
We are in a mess the last two games we have been a disgrace
pb…further to your post regards ND, though I am not generally in the “mock some players squad”, I have to ask have we bought a cheaper version of “Paul Pogba” esp in attitude? COYS
Paul – agree we need atleast 1 centre half and a RB to challenge Aurier. Another striker to help cover HK10. That said with Dele, Lo Celso and even Lamela think we’re covered for creative midfield not to mention the likes of Sonny, Bergwijn and Moura as winger/forward types.
On N’Dombele disagree completely though – once he gets his fitness sorted and fully acclimatised to the Prem League think he’ll be a monster of a player for us. You can see he’s got it all already – just needs to get ship shape and some games under his belt and gain some proper form – the boy is class and will prove it. Expecting a big campaign and future from him starting from next season.
Parrott is clearly not ready to lead the line otherwise JM would have thrown him in already – needs to be eased into the game – probably by going out on loan first.
Sorry Jose but that is a lame weak opinion, if you think they gave everything, the one you have watched a different game, and 2nd Ur not the special one anymore.
Discussion on Ndombele, i think we need to be concerned. His fitness is nowhere near at the level needed to apply his trade i the middle in the PL and its not going to be easy to get to that level because that level should be there at his age. Its not about the pace its his general fitness levels which usually by his age is at a high through years of training. You cant get to those levels quick imo it takes several years which happens with all players. Why hasn’t he reached them by now? That’s the question. Is it life style and he managed to get away with it in lesser leagues or is it a physiological thing, where he just hasn’t got the physiology to be a top athlete? Im concerned. I hope i am wrong but it doesn’t look good. He had a pre season so for me its concerning.
Unleash the parrots! !!
I’ve been getting really wound up over the debate among pundits over the Lo Celso ‘tackle’ in the match. I think they got the original decision dead right, Lo Celso didn’t make any tackle, he went to trap the ball and Aspilicueta made a sliding tackle on Lo Celso (which happened to be late) and in trying to play the ball his leg went under Lo Celso’s foot as he attempted to trap the ball. There was absolutely no intent or foul play whatsoever.
Quite agree TQ2. I would like to know where else he could have put his foot in that situation. Looks like the pundits and others are pushing for retrospective red card which would really finish us off this season.
I think what we are seeing under jose is what we saw at utd. Interesting how Dele looks miserable already, isnt that how Pogba was under jose. But the negative football and negative comments isnt going to work at Spurs.
This squad after the efforts under Poch didnt need a jose type manager. Many fans and the club thought they did, a serious winner, but they didnt. They are not the type of players to be playing for a manager who plays this way. We have loads of creative players and goal scorers yet we are playing a defensive game.
The feeling around once again is bleak. We know its not working, we know jose brings controversy and we know all is not well. Its only a matter of time before it comes to an end. Levy will pull the plug.
Its funny, reading the posts on this site you wouldn’t know we didn’t have any strikers. Jose said it was like going to a gunfight with no bullets which is a pretty good way of putting it. But I guess in fantasy football land missing your main goalscorers doesn’t actually matter.
It’s not a compelling argument Jod, Burnley have their two main strikers missing through injury but still beat Bournemouth 3-0.
What do you expect when you have Daniel Levy running the club ,failure to sign a striker in January and him knowing Kane would be injured for most of the season if not the entire season.Same same but different.
Well, I was backing Jose right up to kick-off to work things out for this match and the one before it. He didn’t and his tactics were poor. Very poor.
We have a team and squad full of internationals and he is now making such negative statements about them before and after kick-off. It’s not what I want to hear from our head coach and I doubt very much that the players will like it either.
Not having Son and Kane is a hindrance, of course it is. But so is Jose’s current negativity in his comments and tactics…
It’s not easy for him. And it won’t be. But showing some positivity and backing and encouraging the players he does have, would help…
The only consolation I can find from the past two matches is that we were not thrashed…
That’s all folks!
TQ2Spurs – Vydra is a striker, so is Rodriguez. So two out of three Burnley goals were actually scored by strikers. Do you not understand the difference between playing with different strikers and playing without any strikers at all ?
You’re being condescending again Jod, of course I know the difference. You are missing the point, if a club of Burnleys means can provide sufficient cover why can’t Tottenham? This is where you say ‘where are we going to find these imaginary strikers’ – yes? Well Rodrigues is a perfectly capable back up and one I have proposed we try to get going back to his Soton days before he picked up the serious injury, I offered his name again after he recovered from the injury and was playing at WBA. The fact is, for whatever reason, the club have failed miserably in their attempts to bring in suitable cover for Kane for how many season now? Most of those they have brought in have been spectacular failures in recruitment.
Just to add to that….if you believe our current poor performances are largely down to our two main strikers being injured then you yourself are living in that imaginary world that you think we all live in. :- )
Blimey…..have we been fixed?
Oh….probably not, forgot we are still on page 1. :- (
Yes we are missing out 2 attacker’s, but also it seems we are missing a whole defences, we just keep on conceding goals
Players like verts Toby airier Davies Dele lamela moira diet, should all be gone if most of these players still here next season we will have the same issues, is it really Jose fault or he’s tactics ornis it the players are just not good enough , I really though he would of out a better winning mentality in their minds
It also seems Jose is getting a free pass now because he doesn’t have kane or son to play.
At the moment the biggest question is “what is wrong at Spurs?” something is drastically wrong for all to see, which then brings up numerous questions…
1 Is it Levy/Enic?
2 Is it JM himself because his way is dated?
3 Is it the players themselves?
4 Do the players not believe in JM so are not working for him?
5 Do the players and JM believe in the excuses being made?
6 Have the wrong sort of players been bought?
My answer to all above is simple…”I have no bloody idea” I am only a 60+ years fan.
I try and keep optimistic, but as I have said on another article “it is waning” COYS
And maybe, it’s partly because we are playing in the most (arguably) competitive football league in the world.