Another week, another corner, another facepalm for Spurs fans
Bournemouth Capitalise on Spurs’ Set-Piece Circus to Claim Victory
Right, let’s rip the plaster off. Tottenham, who seem allergic to marking at corners, gifted Bournemouth a 1-0 win courtesy of 19-year-old Dean Huijsen. Left criminally unmarked at the back post, the lad couldn’t believe his luck as he nodded in Marcus Tavernier’s corner on 17 minutes. Spurs fans couldn’t believe it either—but for entirely different reasons.
Manager Ange Postecoglou’s rueful head-shake on the sidelines pretty much summed up the mood. Here we are again, undone by yet another set-piece calamity. If it weren’t so predictable, it might even be funny.
We actually started brightly, with Dominic Solanke having a lively return to the Vitality Stadium after his big-money summer move. Two of our first three shots came from him—though that stat flatters to deceive, as neither particularly troubled the Bournemouth keeper. Once Huijsen scored, we seemed to lose all sense of direction, allowing Tavernier and Evanilson to run riot for the rest of the first half.
After the break, Ange threw on Son Heung-min for Pape Matar Sarr, sparking some signs of life. James Maddison, Pedro Porro, and Dejan Kulusevski all had decent chances, but our defence continued to hand out opportunities like they were Christmas presents. Evanilson even scored, but thankfully VAR bailed us out with an offside call.
To add insult to injury—literally—Ben Davies hobbled off with what looked like a hamstring issue. With Romero and Van de Ven already out, we’re now down to one fit centre-back ahead of Sunday’s clash with Chelsea. Brilliant.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Sure, we can point to the laundry list of injuries: Vicario, Richarlison, and half the squad seem to be stuck on the treatment table. But even with a patched-up XI, a run of one win in six (granted, that was a 4-0 thumping of Man City) screams bigger problems.
Set-piece defending? Shambolic. Mentality? Questionable. Destiny Udogie summed it up by misplacing a crossfield pass straight into touch. You can’t make this stuff up.
Credit where it’s due to Bournemouth, though. Huijsen, making just his third start, looked like a seasoned pro. After getting the better of Solanke and even clearing a ball off the line, the 19-year-old is already being serenaded by the home fans. Fair play to the lad, but did he have to make his statement performance against us?
As for Spurs, the familiar criticisms are back. Fragility at key moments, a squad that looks mentally rattled, and a manager forced to shake his head in disbelief on the touchline. It’s hard not to feel for Ange, but he’s got his work cut out ahead of the Chelsea derby.
For now, though, we’ll settle for the silver lining: at least the Spursy bingo card is never short of material.
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1 Comment
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06/12/2024 @ 10:11 am
I want to be Ange in… but something has to change in the way we play.
Asking Dragusin and Forster to
play out is football suicide. Effectively playing at least 3 if not 4 players up front just waiting for the ball is football suicide. Dragusin is on a par with Sanchez and Vega albeit totally exposed by the lack of any midfield cover.
I see the logic in signing prospects but our record on that front is not good. I keep reading where Archie Gray does not naturally play …. Where does he play? Do we sign prospects on the basis of their CV (he was at Barcelona once) rather than any clear plan as to what to do with them.
We had a thin squad without Europa football but loaning off the u21 squad from last year leaves us literally with kids.
Bournemouth had that pre sacking match feel where everyone either is clueless, lost, has given up or gets sent off. Ange has also started to give pundit style post match interviews. I want to be wrong and he can find a more solid approach but at the moment this is Hoddle/Ramos football and that only ends one way.
Come on Ange and team get back to some basics. Shape, solidity, low risk, percentages, speed, fitness because the goals will come.