Tottenham Hotspur lost 1-0 to West Ham United on Saturday.
Pundit Ian Wright has told Match of the Day (27/04, 22:50) that he thought Tottenham Hotspur ‘lacked width’ against West Ham United on Saturday.
Spurs sneaked past Brighton and Hove Albion in midweek with a late Christian Eriksen goal, and they were just as uninspiring against the Hammers this weekend.
Tottenham lacked sharpness and couldn’t break West Ham down, before Michail Antonio put the visitors in front, scoring the first away goal at Tottenham’s new stadium.
Spurs did attempt to force their way back into the game, with Vincent Janssen having an effort cleared off the line, but ultimately couldn’t find the all-important goal.
Mauricio Pochettino suffered his first defeat at Tottenham’s new stadium, and will have some concern about his players ahead of the midweek Champions League semi-final clash with Ajax.
After the game, pundit Wright reacted to Tottenham’s performance, criticising Spurs for a lack of width – which isn’t exactly a surprise given that Juan Foyth was one of he wing backs on show.
Wright suggested that West Ham left some space out wide but Spurs simply didn’t exploit it, even when target man Fernando Llorente came off the bench in the second half, allowing West Ham to crowd the box and deal with any danger.
“They did lack a bit of width today, and I think they played into West Ham’s hands, but Diop did play well.” said Wright. “There were a few instances when Spurs could have stretched West Ham, opened them up, but they didn’t do it.”
“They brought Llorente on, so you’re thinking they might get crosses into the big man, you could see where the space is, but again they don’t quite get it worked out there. West Ham were very, very strong and they snuffed them out at every opportunity,” he added.
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