Papering over the Cracks
Another good result that masked a disappointing performance
That Fulham game was really a nail-biter, wasn’t it? Even a couple of days later, I still feel anxious thinking about that excruciating second half.
Despite the stress Fulham have caused us this season, I do hope they manage to stay up because they certainly deserve it. They haven’t been relegation quality for a while now.
I’m going to try something a little different today and just hit a few key points about the game in the interest of time, because I spent most of today either preparing for Der Klassiker (mentally preparing that is), watching the game, or decompressing from the game because holy crap, was that a great match of football. Kind of Tottenham-esque in that Bayern left it super late to find the winning goals. I love football for its drama, but man, it’s probably going to lead me to an early grave. Here’s to hoping the Crystal Palace match will be far less tense—though something tells me that is wishful thinking.
Anyway, Fulham. It was a pretty painful game to watch (dodgy camera angles included), so I don’t want to revisit it in too much fine detail. Here are some of the big takeaways instead.
The good:
The Sonny-to-Dele goal was the only real moment of quality from Spurs in the match, even if it went down as an own goal for Fulham in the end. It was a Dele goal in my heart at least.
Hugo had a strong performance again, and he was the man of the match for me.
We nearly had a second goal breakthrough from the birthday boy, Lamela. I know we all laugh about his ball rolls, but honestly, let’s put some respect on his name. He’s had a decent season so far!
Besides Doherty, who was poor, there weren’t really any bad performances across the squad. Okay, maybe Kane too… don’t shoot the messenger. Just a lot of quiet shifts when we all would have preferred a more rollicking effort, like in the previous match against Burnley.
The bad:
Doherty. And Davies struggled to contribute going forward on the other side of the pitch, too. We definitely need Aurier and Reguilón starting (when fit of course) for the most important matches—not that this should have been one of them, but we should’ve known Fulham would be up for it since they’re fighting relegation and smell blood in the water with Newcastle’s recent form and injury woes.
This wasn’t quite the full “low block” we saw earlier in the season, but it wasn’t much better, nor was it any easier to stomach as a spectator. We were especially negative in the second half, not making much happen in the attacking third until Lamela injected some much-needed energy in the 75th minute.
We were only spared from a draw by a very, very harsh handball decision that ruled out Fulham’s equalizer. If that call had been made against Spurs, we would have been livid. Can’t blame them for feeling wrongly done by the ref. See below:
So yes, not the most pleasant match to watch. I always feel better when we’re playing on the front foot. When we go this defensive, I’m just bracing myself for a defensive error. And I think I speak for a lot of Spurs fans when I say that I was frustrated to see a reversion to park-the-bus tactics after a few games of more proactive football. Though part of me wonders how much of this performance was down to strategic lineup rotation, assuming that Mourinho sees Crystal Palace as the tougher matchup. Let’s consider that game now.
At least it’s a home game?
Selhurst Park has been a bit of a cursèd venue for many PL teams this season, so I’m glad the away match was taken care of in the first half of the season. And we did get our first win in the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against Crystal Palace, so there’s some lucky history on our side. Perhaps Sonny will fancy another home goal against the Eagles?
Unfortunately, it’s looking likely that Zaha will be playing for Palace after all, whether that’s starting or coming off the bench. Jeffrey Schlupp (our old nemesis from matchday 12) will also be available. For Spurs, Lo Celso is close to being ready for a return from injury, but Mourinho has stated that he’s unlikely to feature this weekend. I personally think a more consistent midfield lineup will benefit us going into this tricky match, so I’m okay with holding Lo Celso out until Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday. That feels like a better opportunity for him to ease back in. There’s never any ease when it comes to Crystal Palace—credit to them, they always make it difficult for us. Like I’ve said before, I sometimes forget that Palace and Fulham are London derbies, too, but that factor shouldn’t be overlooked. On a positive note selection-wise, Aurier is likely to play. Thank god.
I could see Mourinho starting Moura or Lamela over Dele this game, just for the sake of rotation, and because he seems wary of overusing Dele (however José chooses to interpret overuse). I hope he doesn’t tweak the rest of the lineup too much (other than starting Aurier and Reguilón over Doherty and Davies, of course) because it would be nice to see the front three continue to build on their partnership. I do think Sonny is in need of rest, but I’d rather see that happen in the Europa League game midweek since we have another favorable draw for the round of 16.
Hopefully, we’ll be back to a strong offensive effort so we don’t even have to worry about the defense… because that’s always the worry, even with three clean sheets in a row. Alderweireld and Sánchez have worked pretty well together the last few games, but I still don’t feel fully confident with the backline.
On a positive note, we can’t go any lower in the table this matchday, regardless of our result. Cheers, Arsenal and Aston Villa! On the downside, the highest we can go is sixth, and that’s with a win, Liverpool dropping points, and a West Ham loss. Fulham managed a draw with Liverpool in their first matchup this season, and Liverpool have somehow suffered yet another center back injury—to their new loanee Ozan Kabak—so who even knows at this point. I genuinely feel bad for them, because that is taking rotten injury luck to the next level. We will know their result before our game starts, but will have to wait till Monday to see how West Ham fares against Leeds. *broken record noise* And we still have a game in hand! The top 4 battle is definitely still on.
Comic relief
If you haven’t seen this cheeky video with Harry Kane taking on the role of Spurs’ social media admin, you need to. Love to see this playful side of him.
Spurs Women catchup
I also enjoyed this interview with Spurs Women’s manager Rehanne Skinner. You really get the sense that the entire squad is buying into the club’s vision and making progress. It’s still only our second season in the WSL, so there’s always going to be room for improvement, and we’ve seen a lot of positive steps forward this season. I agree with Skinner that it would be nice if we could get a consistent run of games without constant postponements, but y’know 💁🏻♀️. On that note, the next match should be taking place tomorrow at Brighton.
The upcoming international break will be a good time to pause and take another bird’s-eye view of the league, so keep a lookout for that in a few weeks. Until then, Spurs have the round of 16 to handle in the Europa League, as well as the second installment of the north London derby and finally, finally making up our game in hand with Aston Villa.
COYS
You had to like today's result. They were ruthless for at least 80 minutes of the game.