Tottenham vs Bournemouth: 4 things we learned

After the mid-week misery of crashing out of the Uefa Champions League in the dramatic fashion Spurs did, a bounce-back win against Bournemouth was vital to keep the season on course.

And after a lacklustre first-half from Pochettino’s men and talisman Harry Kane limping off with an injury, Spurs finally started to go through the gears in the second 45, scoring three against an overwhelmed Bournemouth outlet.

Nevertheless, the game was one which we learnt a lot about the current Tottenham team and positives as well as negatives were highlighted, for what on paper would seem an excellent win for the Lilly Whites.

Here are four things we learned after the Bournemouth game.

1. One man club?
Harry Kane limped off with an ankle injury early on in the first-half of action after a collision with Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

The full extent of the damage is still not known. However, we did see Spurs react superbly after Kane’s departure with Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen and Heung-min Son stepping it up a gear amongst the agony of losing their talisman striker.

Do not despair, however, Kane missed eight games in last year’s Premier League campaign due to injury and Spurs lost none of these games. Furthermore with the current red-hot form of Heung-min Son, the South Korean is proving he can more than fill the boots of Kane during his imminent spell on the sidelines, one man club? I think not.

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2. Full-back woes
Danny Rose and Serge Aurier were given the nod to start as the full-backs on Sunday afternoon by Pochettino replacing Kieran Trippier and Ben Davies.

Rose was clearly off the pace, trying to find his feet from the start and was at fault for Bournemouth’s early goal which put them 1-0 up.

Rose managed to last until the 80-minute mark before pulling up with what seemed to be a minor injury, nevertheless, he looked a far cry from the performances he was putting in week in, week out last campaign – a worrying sight.

Aurier again was like a bag of pick n mix sweets; you’re never quite sure what you are going to get. The right-back managed to get himself on the scoresheet late on but failed to impress over the full 90 minutes.

It’s becoming apparent now that the chopping and changing of the full-backs isn’t helping the defence in any way, shape or form. A solid back-four is needed for the vital end of the season run-in, and Pochettino needs to decide on who he wants to be the focal points in it.

3. Christian Eriksen is pivotal to everything we do good
It was an absolute joy to watch some of the stuff Eriksen was coming up with yesterday afternoon, and although he didn’t grab the headlines as Son and Alli did, Eriksen controlled the game subtlely throughout.

Eriksen went into a different gear after Kane went off injured and again proved why he is arguably our best player.

With a few injury concerns going into the weekends FA Cup quarter-final against Swansea, we’ll need Eriksen to be at his very best again if we are to progress to the semi-finals.

Next: Tottenham player ratings in 4-1 win: Son’s brace leads the way

4. We can bounce-back after heartbreaking defeats
We all know how hard going out of the Champions League was mid-week, and the hangover showed in the lad’s first-half performance. However, the firm second-half showing proved we are made of stern stuff.

It was awe-inspiring the way we came back, especially after going 1-0 down in the opening 10 minutes.

This puts us in good stead for the remainder of the season, a top-four finish and an FA Cup trophy to add would be the icing on the cake now.

So there you have four things we learnt from the 4-1 win away to Bournemouth, hopefully, we can take all the positives into our FA Cup quarter-final tie and eliminate all the negatives in what is now the most important stage of our season.

Tottenham vs Bournemouth: 4 things we learned – one man club?

By Liam Thomas | Mar 12, 2018

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