We'd lost our last two home games (in the league) against today's opposition so you'd have thought we'd know what to expect. Alas, it was to be three in a row for the Geordie boys who are fast becoming something of a bogey team at White Hart Lane. It's hard to pinpoint precisely where things went wrong. I'll try to detail some of the contributing factors but on the whole, I think we can all agree it was just a bad day at the office.
Fatigue is one element that will slowly creep into our game the more the season progresses. Players such as Kane and Lamela run themselves into the ground week in week out and cannot be expected to keep up their energy levels at all times. Although the Argentine put in another solid performance, Kane in particular suffered the effects of being the only recognised centre forward in the squad. It's embarrassing to think how many minutes he has had to play so far this season. We're so reliant on him turning up that if he fails to affect a game, we're in trouble. The pessimist in me also wonders if the effectiveness of Pochettino's high pressing game can actually last a full season or whether the players will simply be too exhausted to chase the opposition come May.
Team selection. Pochettino deserves endless praise for the massive mess he has sorted out but today the decision to start Tom Carroll was naive at best. The young Englishman performed well midweek against a poor Monaco side but couldn't adjust to the physicality of the Premier League, getting overrun in midfield and losing almost every 50/50 battle. Dembele was missed no end but perhaps deploying Dele Alli in a deeper position or using Nabil Bentaleb would've been a wiser choice. The beauty of hindsight ey. Tactically, the substitutions were naive at best. Bentaleb should definitely have come on to replace an attacking midfielder at 1-0. There was more space in our midfield than the top of Mclaren's head.
But, largely, this result was coming. We haven't performed well in the league since the West Ham game and if we had enough about us we'd have beaten Chelsea and West Brom as well as today's opposition. Although Newcastle were resilient and resurgent on the occasion, our early goal should've been enough to win the game. Still, it's not all bad. At least this loss might finally put an end to the premature "Tottenham for the title!" talk. If we're to win a title with this current crop of players we'll need time, greater investment and a hefty stroke of Leicesteresque luck. As for the top four? That's anyone's guess. Liverpool and United dropped points today and it'll be a three horse race as to who occupies the remaining Champions League spots as I fully expect City and Arsenal to have secured first and second respectively. Let's just wait and see what happens.
No comments:
Post a Comment