Tottenham Hotspur have turned in some rotten performances this season, but this was surely the most deflating game of the Ange Postecoglou era.
No fight, no real quality, no mitigating circumstances.
At Chelsea on Thursday night, in what was probably their last chance to keep their top-four hopes alive, up against one of their fiercest rivals, who were missing 14 players and managed by former favourite Mauricio Pochettino, Spurs offered almost nothing. For the second game running, they didn’t have a shot on target in the first half, and once again set pieces were their undoing defensively.
Having conceded twice from corners against Arsenal on Sunday, they let in two more set-piece goals in a 2-0 defeat. The first was a well-worked free kick, the second was a rebound when Cole Palmer’s shot cannoned off the bar and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Son Heung-min ran towards their own goal rather than the ball.
Ange Postecoglou was angered by Spurs’ performance (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Spurs have now conceded 16 set-piece goals in the Premier League this season. Only three teams, all in the bottom four, have conceded more. The two at Chelsea came after a pre-match press conference when Postecoglou had said he wasn’t “in the least” bit bothered about the criticism of how his teams defend dead-ball situations, adding that he didn’t “see it as an issue”.
Maybe so, but Chelsea had clearly identified it as a weakness. At corners, Noni Madueke was tasked with Ben White’s role from Sunday of agitating Guglielmo Vicario. And for Trevoh Chalobah’s opening goal, Marc Cucurella performed a similar job in blocking off Brennan Johnson. There was then a point later in the first half when Cucurella was fouled in a promising position and the referee tried to play an advantage. Chelsea, however, pretty much left the ball where it was, as if saying to the referee, ‘We’ll have the free kick, thanks very much’.
Tottenham’s difficulties defending set pieces have contributed to them keeping just one clean sheet in their last 17 Premier League games. Their six clean sheets for the season, meanwhile, is their lowest tally since 2006-07. They have four games to add to that total but, given the way they’re defending, does anyone feel confident that they will?
The feeling that this was a low point for Spurs this season was supported by Postecoglou’s reactions on the touchline. The Tottenham head coach is generally pretty good at keeping a lid on his emotions, but there were points in the first half when he was visibly furious. He could be seen screaming at his players, asking for more.
“He has snapped”
Ange Postecoglou is not happy 😡 pic.twitter.com/eC0HKNa38v
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 2, 2024
After the game Postecoglou turned the focus on himself, saying: “We didn’t have the mindset that I expect us to have. That’s on me and I’ve got to take responsibility for that ultimately as I’m the one who is putting them out there and preparing them for it. We were so far off it. I’ve got to look at myself and see how I’m preparing this team for it.”
On Wednesday, he had spoken about the need for players to do things not just because he told them to, but because they believed in his methods. Postecoglou said he felt the majority of his squad had not fully bought into what he’s trying to do and on Thursday, it felt like there was a disconnect between the head coach and the squad.
Even in that dark period in November and December when the squad was ravaged by injury, Spurs still looked like a Postecoglou team. But at Stamford Bridge, there was no real identity, nothing to suggest a group of players in sync with one another. They didn’t draw a save of note from Chelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic, and their talismanic captain Son Heung-min was once again anonymous.
There was dissent from many in the away end when Richarlison was substituted soon after the hour mark — though in mitigation this was a change likely brought about because of the forward’s lack of match sharpness. Either way, Richarlison’s withdrawal was part of a triple change that checked Tottenham’s momentum just as it looked like they finally had a grip on the game.
Postecoglou’s final changes were even more dispiriting, with Bryan Gil one of the players sent on. Gil has been loaned out twice, and is patently not part of this team’s future, but still came on for his first appearance in three months. The chances of him helping Spurs rescue the game from 2-0 down seemed so remote that it almost felt like one of those messages to the board managers send out about the desperate need for reinforcements.
Bryan Gil was brought on as a late substitute – but why? (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
But it’s worth remembering that Spurs could have no complaints about their bench when they looked across and saw Chelsea’s. Pochettino’s substitutes were all unproven youngsters (the eight Chelsea outfielders on the bench had an average squad number of 53), which was why he didn’t make a change until the 75th minute, with his team 2-0 up.
Despite that, it was Chelsea who grabbed the decisive second goal in the game’s final quarter, which must have been galling for Postecoglou. Especially given how much he has attempted to build a team that can outrun their opponents and will always keep going until the final whistle.
Defeat means Spurs have won just two of their last 11 away games, losing five and drawing the other four. This was also the eighth time in 14 Premier League matches this year that Tottenham have trailed at half-time. They have led at the break in just one of those 14.
But, for once, this wasn’t a night to focus on wider trends or discussions around the bigger picture. It was a dismal evening in its own right. Whether it’s on Sunday against Liverpool, or next season, Spurs need to make major improvements.
(Top photo: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)