Tottenham Get a Disappointing and Lucky Win

Tottenham won 4-1 over Colchester United, but played their sloppiest game this season and almost threw the game away.

A classic David versus Goliath FA Cup tie between Colchester United and Tottenham was anything but. This wasn’t supposed to be easy because cup competitions in England produces some difficult match-ups with giant killers happening somewhat frequently.

And yet, this is a game that Tottenham were heavily favored to win and should win. Throwing this game away to have an easier schedule to challenge for the Premier League title would have been fine if Spurs were facing a much tougher opponent and eventually lost. But not against a League One side who hasn’t been good all year long.

Spurs may have won 4-1 and dominated the game based on the score alone and statistics to back up them up. Yet, if you watched this fixture, it was a match where Tottenham almost beat themselves up intentionally and were lucky to come away with a win. A dominate, lucky and disappointing win for Tottenham.

Disappointing in a sense that this game shouldn’t have been close from the first whistle to the last. On paper, we already knew who was the better team, because it’s obvious. It’s Tottenham.

Leading up to this cup tie, Colchester United’s league form has been atrocious all season long: 15 losses in their last 18 games, 65 goals conceded in 28 league fixtures and sitting at the bottom of League One. There was no way that the U’s had a chance to beat Tottenham once the game would get underway.

And although the match started off terribly for Colchester United’s two center-backs, Alex Wynter and Tom Eastman, when both of them collided head first into each other, leaving the U’s with two injured players and one substitute remaining in the game’s opening 22 minutes. This small break which gave Tottenham a golden opportunity to take advantage of took a while to actually go in their favor.

Because it took Spurs nearly half-an-hour to score the game’s first goal.

You would think that Tottenham who had been dominating this game as usual — something they have done all month long — would head into half-time by more than one goal. But instead they only led 1-0. That is inexcusable against a lowly League One team such as Colchester United based on what they have done thus far this season.

After 45 minutes, with the chances that Tottenham had, the lead should have been bigger. Especially when you factor in Spurs’ past three wins by outscoring their opponents 9-2. It was easy to see that Tottenham were being overly cautious because it was a cup tie on the road.

Unfortunately, Spurs’ timidness caused them to be sloppy more than they should have, considering the amount of talent in their squad and starting eleven today.

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Make no mistake, Tottenham won this game convincingly on score alone but they didn’t do so in their typical dominate fashion that they have shown this season and in the month of January.

The statistics and final score may say Spurs dominated the entire game, but clearly from the eye test. This was no easy win for Tottenham, it was a struggle that’s for sure. Not to mention that Spurs were aided by two big injuries and two deflections for their goals.

Honestly, it should have been a bigger win for Tottenham is all.

That said, despite everything that happened. A win is a win no matter what, because it’s better to be lucky more times than not. Rather than being unlucky. Seeing as how Spurs have had an uncanny ability to have multiple breaks go in their favor during their current campaign this season.

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Today’s FA Cup match showed that Tottenham can and will dominate their opponents but they’re still vulnerable to teams who park the bus and play counterattack football. They’re also susceptible to losing their edge and letting their opponents back into games they have no business in. Overall, this win was luck based. Pure and simple.