Final Day: What Just Happened to Spurs?

Waking up this morning had extra motivation: watching Tottenham Hotspur wrap up second place in the English Premier League while finishing top of Arsenal, their north London rivals.

All it would take was a victory over a Newcastle side that had already been assured of relegation. Surely it would be a day of celebration as on came the Spurs’ scarf.

Writing many hours after the final whistle, Newcastle is surely still dominating Tottenham. For Pete’s sake, they scored three unanswered goals after going a man down. A Spurs’ side full of youth and promise suddenly allowed doubt to creep into supporters heads’ leading into the Premier League offseason.

It must be acknowledged that both Dele Alli and Moussa Dembélé were missing from the side for different reasons, but the players on the field were entirely too poor. The first half was 2-0 to Newcastle, and felt even worse. After Eric Lamela got one back to keep the hopes of second alive early in the second half, the dreams all came crashing down on three beautiful counterattacking goals by the relegated side. It must be asked: how could this happen?

Many of the first half troubles stemmed from Ryan Mason. Playing right in the center of the park in a role Dembélé often operates in, he offered but a scant touch of the ball. He did not move into space to facilitate ball movement, and when Newcastle won the ball he never provided much opposition to charges the other way. While he may not be a huge part of Spurs’ future plans, his youth and game experience offered some promise that was nowhere to be seen today.

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Thankfully Mauricio Pochettino took him off at half, but much of the damage had already been done; it was part of Mason’s job to set the tone in the middle of the park, but he certainly did not set the correct tone.

All throughout the game, the play of Toby Alderweireld was astonishing. One of the best few center backs in England this season no matter who you ask, it was like he was a different person today. Multiple times he headed dangerous crosses back across the box instead of clearing them out of play, and once this led to a goal. Former Spurs player Andros Townsend was constantly running at Alderweireld, and instead of engaging he constantly retreated. It’s hard to be sure what caused him trouble out there today, but Spurs fans have to hope this drives him into the summer ready to work on his mishaps from today.

The third, and probably most disappointing aspect of the match today for Spurs came after they went up a man. It was the 67th minute, and the side had one substitution remaining. Mauricio soon used it to bring on Nacer Chadli in place of Kyle Walker, a move that brought a supposedly stronger attacking player on but removed all pace from the back. Soon enough, pace in the back was surely needed, as the Newcastle counterattacks created the ugly scoreline.

If Spurs were going to push everyone forward except for maybe one man, why would you take your fastest player off the field instead of leaving him in the back to run with anyone over the top? Even more frustrating was the total lack of penetration with the ball in possession. Obviously Newcastle was going to pack it in up a goal and down a man, yet Pochettino and his men continued to knock the ball around, not make any runs, and not show much of an urge to take people on. The whole game’s lack of urgency raises questions of both the players and the coaching staff: with a second place finish and the first finish over Arsenal in 21 years on the line, why did it seem like no one cared?

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The summer is looming and there are plenty of reasons for optimism heading into next season. However, today showed that there is still a long way to go for some of these players. Hopefully it was more to the lack of Alli and Dembélé that created a different tempo that Spurs weren’t used to. It just is frightening that it seemed there was no desire out there. As long as this just creates some enthusiasm to get better, it could all be for the good. Hopefully the final day next year will end in celebrations instead of shock.