Well that was dreadful.
The worst 45 minutes of the Jose Mourinho era thus far is saved for the first half of his biggest game yet – the visit of his former club Chelsea.
We’ve been completely outplayed – and Mourinho out-thought by his beloved Frank Lampard – with Willian’s brace, including a stoppage-time penalty giving the Blues a deserved 2-0 lead at half time.
MORE: Double Aurier Sloppiness Sets Up Chelsea Opener – Video
The main problem has – again – been passing the ball through midfield, which a combination of Eric Dier and Moussa Sissoko is not designed to do.
They have not been helped today by the poor distribution of the defenders.
So far, Mourinho has overcome that problem by playing more direct, often missing out midfield, but that has not worked this afternoon with Lampard deploying three strong centre-backs.
We need to change the dynamic in the centre of the park – and these Spurs fans on Twitter think they know the man to do it.
Record summer signing Tanguy Ndombele is back on the bench after missing a couple of matches with a hamstring injury.
This game is crying out for Ndombele
— Hols (@HollieAgombar) December 22, 2019
Get ndombele on
— Hamid (@HamidTHFC) December 22, 2019
Ndombele on, Sissoko or Dier off
— Mälu (@DJMalu_official) December 22, 2019
Stop playing Dier and Sissoko its so boring and crap. You see we're not getting anything change the midfield You have Ndombele there ffs
— Nush (@ManushRafatjah) December 22, 2019
Screaming out for a creative outlet in midfield. We’ve got Eriksen, Lo Celso, Ndombele and Winks on the bench
— Tom (@tomackyyy) December 22, 2019
Awful from #Spurs this half. Feel like a broken record, but once again Aurier at fault for much of our poor play down the right. Sissoko simply not good enough as per. Ndombele is seriously needed at half-time. Kane anonymous, although that's mostly due to a lack of service.
— Fraser Bernstein (@FraserBernstein) December 22, 2019
I don’t believe that any midfield our squad could produce would have been good enough to better the quality of chelski’s set up.
We just made an average team look like world beaters. Absolutely no positives whatsoever
We’ve got to get rid of Dier, he certainly lives up to his name, with him and Sissoko in the middle there is no creativity whatsoever. I’d take them both off, we should have started with Ndombele and Winks in the middle, if they’re both fit enough.