Defensive mistakes cost Tottenham Hotspur badly as despite their dominance they lost 2-1 to Leicester. What did we learn?
Harry Winks is essential already
Spurs dominated the game, sure. They even bombarded the Leicester goal with 18 shots, 13 from inside the box. But only 6 were on target. Tottenham should have won, sure, but this was no masterclass.
In fact their midfield was quite prosaic. Neither Moussa Sissoko nor Moussa Dembélé created much (just 1 chance created between them, 1/2 successful dribbles, 2/4 tackles won).
The two Moussa’s didn’t move the ball fluidly, and although Dembélé didn’t give it away much, that’s not always enough when facing an obstinate defence like Leicester. The fact that both were removed as Tottenham tried to claw their way back into match spoke volumes.
Harry Winks’ absence was clearly felt. The Englishman is just 21 years-old, but has already displayed an incredible ability to not only move the ball around with security, but with intent and purpose.
Winks gets the ball forward with expediency and accuracy, finding Spurs’ best attacking talents in more promising positions in the final third. All of that was missing from Tottenham’s performance against Leicester.
It’s clear that despite his age and lack of experience, Harry Winks is an essential member of Spurs’ midfield.
Lamela is the X-factor that Tottenham need
Erik Lamela came off the bench after 77 minutes. His first appearance for Tottenham in over a year. By the time the clock had changed to 79 minutes, Lamela had quite brilliantly set-up Harry Kane to smash home Tottenham’s consolation effort in a 2-1 defeat.
Recall that even though Tottenham are widely acknowledged to be a superb team, one thing they definitely lack is an X-factor coming off the bench. A game-changing talent in attack that can turn struggling games around. Erik Lamela, on his very first appearance back from injury, did exactly that.
Rather than heading into the transfer market in January, Tottenham can simply rely on their majestic Argentine. If he stays fit then there’s not many who can do what he does with the ball whilst still understanding and buying into Mauricio Pochettino’s philosophy.
Spurs will just always be like this
Why? Just, why? Why are Tottenham always like this? Why can’t they play to the tactical and technical quality that is so obvious in the team? Why must they always find a way to let themselves down?
Mauricio Pochettino dismissed the importance of the league cup (as he did similar with the 2015/16 Europa League) and since then, Spurs have lost every big game they’ve had (except against Liverpool) and have even bungled some small ones too.
Against Leicester, they had a chance to move up to third in the table and apply pressure on Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool before their games tomorrow. Now with the loss, they could end these midweek games as low as 6th, potentially 16 points behind league leaders Manchester City.
When a team as well constructed and drills as Tottenham just keep shooting themselves in the foot, maybe it’s time to accept that’s just how they’ll always be. It would certainly save us a lot of headaches when discussing Spurs’ merits as a title challenger.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
