Tottenham succumbed to a very disappointing defeat at the hands of Belgium league leaders Antwerp this evening and they only have themselves to blame.
Antwerp got the lead through a Ben Davies error in the first half and truth be told, they were the better team despite their stroke of luck.
If any of us thought the second half would be a huge improvement we were in for a shock because it was not, it was toothless.
Not a single shot on goal in the second half and that includes when Harry Kane and Son Heung-min came on.
Almost everything was poor, the defending, at times, was error-strewn but it was going forward that was the real let down.
Shots, crosses, even passing was all over the place, there was no cohesion and to me, it looked like half the team could not be bothered.
It is hard to put a finger on what went wrong, you just know that Jose Mourinho will have drilled into them the importance of winning this trophy, well, with that performance they will not be winning anything.
It is not the end of the world and it may be a wake-up call that the lads needed, you have to hope so anyway, maybe they believed the hype a little too much and they will hopefully realise that they cannot take any games easy.
A few of these players have let themselves down badly and it will be interesting to see how Mourinho reacts when he names the next Premier League team.
I suspect some may go the way of Danny Rose and be sidelined, Mourinho is an unforgiving person and there is no way that he will be overly pleased with what he has seen tonight, even if he says differently publicly.
No point picking on any individuals because that would be unfair, the blame gets shared around this time, it was a poor team performance.
Antwerp defended well and deserved their win but the brutal truth is that if you cannot beat them then you will have issues against the big boys back at home.
Let’s hope for a far better performance against Brighton on Sunday.
Tanguy has the quality, up to him and the management to bring the player out.
I think he was integral to the team’s success, I don’t believe it was a coincidence his departure/ body breaking down coincided with the drop in points accumulated/ performance.
But hay we can both agree he was a fantastic player and is sorely missed and 100 100 should have been replaced 3 years ago ! Hopefully nodemble is the man
And finished 4th without signing anyone for a year either. I thought Dembele was great but to put any relative success down to mainly one player just isn’t accurate for me.
We we were much better with Dembele of course but I wouldn’t say that without him Poch wouldn’t have got us where he did. All managers need good players though but it’s a team game, better with Dembele but not f*cked without him. Although a replacement shouldn’t have taken over two years to bring in…
Our form in the league from Xmas on was relegation form , we were lucky we had accumulated a good number of points by then
Our form in the league from Xmas on was relegation form , we were lucky we had accumulated a good number of points by then
Easty we may have got to the final but we were playing terrible football, we basically rode our luck all the way to the final
How we could have done with Grealish, a true creator.
Interesting how a certain individual here claims many things pre game, but does a 180 post game to support their own narrative. Not an isolated incident, but apparently this lot were no better than league 1 opposition? Perhaps sweeping statements and dismissal of the opposition should be tempered with footballing knowledge.
True!
Admittedly playing better than before, as previously stated I reserve judgment until the end of the season!
Jose never looks any other way these days….
Tanguy is the only one, he’s been instrumental in most good things we’ve done behind Kane and Son this season. He can make things happen in midfield, he’s quality.
We were also on a lengthy unbeaten run remember!
From what I could see he never stopped shouting all night as compared to Jose looking grumpy!
Maybe we need their coach instead!? 😂
Whilst we have a world class attack Kane and Son ,in tight situations of opening up packed defences Man City have KDB. We are devoid of a creative player of similar calibre. Plenty of huffing and puffing in the second half we simply ran out of ideas long before the end!
No excuses. Backed by a vocal manager whose game plan worked to perfection should have as alluded to added to the scoreline and wrapped up the match long before the end, but by relying upon some resolute defending saw the game out!
Has anyone else noticed how Jose has this unique ability to make any defeat look like he had nothing to do with it and when he wins that he was very much involved? 😂
The was great, should have been replaced two and a half years ago…
Dembele left the club long before the season we got to the Champions League final. Was he still the key via telepathy from China? 😂
Agreed that once a player such a Messi has lost his magical powers seemingly on the wain it’s difficult to recapture past glories!!
They are doing well this season it’s true. Ok, underestimated in the first half, what’s the excuse for the second half?
I’m hoping It’s fear of getting injured and not the injuries taking there toll but he looks like he has lost the explosive pace completely.
Hopefully it’s a mental thing
REMEMBER IT’S A PIVOTAL SEASON!
Quoting that Bristol lady “you can’t be serious, not another trophyless season”
It was a turgid performance, like the one against Burnley which if it weren’t for Kane and Son we probably would have lost. Two very poor performances back to back. Based on this, unless we sort out our consistency we could well end the season empty handed.
I thought there was a major overreaction to the LASK performance, and, albeit more understandable the one to the win over Utd…
It’s Antwerp not Dundalk!!
Probably underestimated the opposition who on a longish unbeaten run currently top the Belgian league with 20pts after 10 games!
Antwerp were the better side. The main concern is the non existent reaction in the second half. Has Jose alienated some of the squad already? Why so flat?
Lets hope so but not convinced!
I think he’ll be ok, but he’s a slightly different type of player now.
With a concurrent run of injuries not sure he can do it any more!
It’s concerning.
Which ‘hard’ ones have we won this season? Utd away was a freak result in my opinion.
I reckon Jose was giving the team a very hard time after the 3-3 to the Spammers. Maybe he pushed them too far and burst their bubble? 🤔
If I was a defender playing under Jose, I’d want to know why we don’t play with the ball further up the pitch to take the pressure off. It’s fine when you’re getting results but disheartening the rest of the time.
‘Wining’ is the mantra is it? That was embarrassing…
agreed much more dynamic and direct than Winks had the sweetest of left pegs when by his own admission failed to chip in with an acceptable quota of goals!!
Such a class act ,loved it when he beasted a fit and playing well Pogba.
Keep playing him but give him a caddie to carry his shinpads and a bottle of water. It’s only fair.
Actually 3-0 when their player looking easier to score than miss scooped a shot over the bar from close range!
Winks looked good next to Moussa dembele in the champions league , league ect , unfortunately dembele made everyone he played with looked good and was the key to our success
It could and should have been 2-0 when their striker missed a sitter!!
Thing is under Jose you know it’s going to be ugly 75% of the time win, lose or draw… 😂
Coming from a player who scored on his debut but since goal shy Winks’ woeful shot at the end epitomised his and the teams general sub standard woeful performance!!!
The Bale criticism is harsh. Still a top player. Hits a wicked 3 wood and his putting has come on leaps n bounds in the last year.
Shaking in their boots Antwerp were, they needn’t have worried… 😡
Thankfully it’s only Brighton, no disrespect intended of course.
yeah just checked ,would have been nice to win the first 3 then chill when playing the bigger boys later .
I was a bit nervous about kane and sonny going on as they wernt pulling out of tackles ,i hope they dont have to get used for these games to much on thursday nights.
Should have bought Ribery
So we can safely say Brighton are at least 2 mugs. Good to know.
West Brom moved to the Sunday peppered with Ropey matches ?
Have we got midweek games between the tough patch??
Ditto West Brom before facing critical matches ahead against Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal respectively results against whom will either boost our title credentials or possibly extinguish them!!
Given that it’s all about winning if it comes to the crunch I’d take another ugly 1-0 win against Brighton!
Aiming to exploit any defensive lapses presumably Brighton will rely on the electric pace of TARIQ LAMPTEY and MAUPAY??
2 mugs then if someone actually buys it for that.
£10.99
I like it!
There’s one at least.
They are all 3 points ,pointless beating man u 6-1 then drawing against wetspam 3-3 . Brighton will at least have a go so should be more space to play.
Yeah was hoping for more … hopefully we will get more soon.
Brighton are no mugs!
No excuses when despite brining on the big hitters out of sorts Spurs were well beaten by an impressive Antwerp outfit on the night.
Time eventually catches up with everybody when worrying for Spurs is that despite his genuine affection for the club on the evidence of his past performances electric Bale when he left Spurs looks a shadow of the player he was 7 years ago.
Matches have become unpredictable these days, we win the hard ones and flop in the easy ones. There’s no discernible pattern to it, it’s the same with our performances, we’ve gone full Jekyll and Hyde.
Exactly. We must win and keep momentum in the PL, we can afford a bad result in Belgium but not against Brighton.
Brighton is even more obviously the most ‘must win’ game of the season so far now after this stinker.
Are we serious? Then let’s go top 3 in the league