Tottenham Continues Slide as Spurs lose to Saints 2-1 in BPL
By Aaron Coe
After a dominating first-half, Tottenham Hotspur paid for not putting Southampton to bed and fell 2-1 to the Saints at St. Mary’s Stadium, making it 11 dropped points from the last 12 for Spurs.
Since a Day 26, clinical 3-1 pounding of Leicester City at Wembley on February 10, Tottenham Hotspur has gone from red-hot to major points drop taking only ONE of the last twelve points in the Premier League. The return of Dele Alli for Spurs saw them easily knocking the ball around the pitch in the first half leading to nine shots and a goal. After a half-time change, Southampton applied more pressure on Tottenham in the last 45-minutes, challenging those easy passes and putting Spurs on the back-foot, making the Lilywhites pay for not finishing the Saints.
Spurs First-half
Tottenham started off the game bright and on the front foot. The reintroduction of Lucas Moura to the starting line-up, dropping Heung-Min Son to the bench, as well as Dele Alli’s return from injury were making an immediate impact.
Moura’s touch looked good and he was clearly quick on his feet ready to push the defense by making runs from the midfield. Dele was clearly looking to hold-up play and find a pass where he could. Early Dele create two good chances for Harry Kane.
At about three minutes, Dele flicked a ball up over the defense from the left and Kane was in. He took a left footed volley off the bounce, but the ball flew a few feet wide of the post. Little did Kane or Spurs know this off-target shot was going to be a microcosm of the day.
Only about a minute later, Dele again played Kane in, this time on the ground, but Kane missed wide yet again. At eleven minutes a questionable offside flag and another Kane missed meant opportunity 3 wasted. By twenty minutes in, Spurs had taken 5 shots and not one was on target.
The good news was it was clear Spurs were able to create some chances, the bad news was they were not capitalizing on them.
At 23 minutes Spurs had a free-kick from just outside the penalty area. Christian Eriksen got the ball up and over the wall, but the ball hung just enough to bounce off the top of the crossbar and out of play. The Saints would not miss a similar opportunity late in the match.
Just three minutes later, however, Spurs were on the board as Dele chipped the defense to Kane at the back post who netted his 200th goal for Club and Country and 24th in all competitions in the 2018-19 campaign. Up 1-0, things were looking good for Spurs.
The rest of the half, less the occasional Nathaniel Redmond run for Southampton, was dominated by Spurs as they continued to attack. Both Dele and Eriksen had shots on target, but at Gunn who saved them both. With nine shots, a post, a crossbar, and five corners Spurs had to feel good about the opportunities, but a bit concerned at the lack of clinical finishing and closing of some opportunities.
Southampton is in a battle for their Premier League lives, giving a team at the bottom any hope is shooting yourself in the foot. Add in fans chanting in unison, “You’re going down, you’re going down” with a 0-1 lead on the road, and things could get hairy, and I’m not talking Kane or Winks. Oh, did I mention our coach was in the stands serving a suspension?
Spurs Second-half Implosion
Southampton made a change up top at the half taking off Charlie Austin for Shane Long. While Long didn’t finish the game due to injury, the change in intent was clear. Only a goal down and with nothing to lose, the Saints were going to press and play direct football and put the Spurs defense under pressure.
Within 30 seconds of the second-half kick-off – which Spurs had – Southampton had their first shot on target of the game and the new tempo had been set, with Southampton taking the lead. Don’t get me wrong, Southampton didn’t dominate the ball in fact they still only held 37% possession in the second-half, compared to 33% in the first.
The difference was in the directness of the Saints play and the lack of time, space, and outlets Spurs players now had when they received the ball. Suddenly, where Tottenham and time and space to pick up their heads and pick-out their passes, Southampton was playing defense and cutting off the angles.
Whereas Southampton changed their approach and picked their game up a level – which wasn’t asking that much really considering the poor first-half display – Tottenham never really responded to the Saints change in style.
Where the five-man defense was so effective against Borussia Dortmund midweek in Germany, the four main unit for Spurs on this day wasn’t nearly as cohesive. Add in the second half change from two holding midfielders, Dier and Sissoko to one and the diamond shape, the middle of the pitch opened, giving Southampton more chances.
Looking through my second-half notes, outside of a couple Dele nutmegs and the odd shot and miss – like Kane’s left-footed stinker at 68 minutes from a nice Eriksen cut-back pass – all my notes are about Spurs defending or a lack of Saints finishing.
Instead of either bringing in more defense or more offense, Spurs made a like-for-like change of Son for Moura with just under 20 minutes to go, clinging to a one-goal lead, but clearly playing on the back-foot. Some may say it is because Pooch was in the stands, but it was clear Mauricio was on the phone with Miguel Jiménez creating their plan for Jesus Perez to execute.
Just minutes later, a cross bounces across the box, after letting it go through his legs so he can turn and go Danny Rose realizes Valery is at the back post and slides too soon as the ball is shinned into the ground and bounces past a sprawling Hugo Lloris. 1-1 just like that and all the momentum is on the side of the home team.
Less than two minutes later Kyle Walker-Peters was extremely lucky not to see a red card when he cut behind a Saints attacker clipping his heals before the pass came in, stopping a fast break, but giving Southampton a great free kick opportunity.
While Christian Eriksen is of tremendous quality, he hasn’t hit a free kick goal in league since 2015. James Ward-Prowse on the other hand has made several this season. Where Spurs spurned their late first-half free kick, Ward-Prowse left the crossbar out of the equation as his bent a spectacular kick up and over the wall and under the bar, leaving Lloris swinging at the air as he valiantly dove for a ball, he had zero chance of saving.
2-1 Saints and the crowd was going wild, as Spurs continued to look like a prize fighter getting a standing eight-count from the referee hoping for a bell to ring. A double-sub of Davies and Llorente for Rose and Dele was uneventful and had no impact as Southampton saw out the win.
Takeaways from the Loss
The telephone game from Pochettino to Jiménez clearly did not work for Spurs, as the tactical changes and substitutions were all off the mark in this one. Dele clearly was the most tired player on the pitch and Moura was the one who was stretching the Saints defense. Son for Dele pushing Eriksen back to a deeper lying position would have made a lot more sense than pushing Dele back.
Even worse, going to a diamond when you are already losing the midfield battle is almost inexplicable. In a game were Spurs needed to get back on the ball and in command of the game via possession, emptying the middle of the pitch is not the way to get there. I know Winks is out injured, but a little Oliver Skipp would have made a difference today. I know none of us want to see Dier, Sissoko, AND Wanyama together, which would have been the other option.
Kyle Walker-Peters is a decent enough defender and from time-to-time has shown flashes of an ability to attack. Today those flashes were non-existent, and it was his poor foul that led directly to the game winning free-kick. Then to see Davies come on for Rose, who was the one player creating some push from the outside was another head-scratcher. No Aurier or Trippier on the bench, what was the plan if KWP got injured? Davison Sanchez, out right? Strange selection and decision to leave KWP and take Rose off when Spurs needed more offensive play.
Dele was back and boy you can sure see what a difference maker he is. The confidence he brings to the pitch is clearly contagious, however, so is he lethargy when he runs out of steam. After a shot on target and an assist, maybe it should have been a job done at the half for Dele. Even 15 more minutes would have been okay, but by the time he came off it was hard to remember all the good he had done in the first 45 minutes as control of the game had clearly been lost.
Where do Spurs go from here?
Bottom line, Spurs bottled it today. They had their chances and didn’t take them. Then when the little kid they were picking on in the first-half grew a back-bone and pushed back, Spurs did not respond. Between two wins over the best team in Germany and frankly one of the top five in Europe the last six months, Spurs have given it away in league and now may need to win the Champions League to play in it again next year. A month ago, that was an insane thought, but a lot can change in a month and it has.
The tough part is now the team has a WHILE – 3-weeks to be exact – to stew on this month-long league skid. With next week’s Crystal Palace game postponed as Palace advances in the FA Cup and the following week an international break, the next time Tottenham will play is likely Sunday March 31 at Anfield. If you include tomorrow’s match, Liverpool will play three games before then and still have the international break.
Let’s hope the warm weather of Barcelona brings back a different team in league than the one that left and who knows where the squad will then stand, but regardless Tottenham is now in a dogfight to stay in the top four.
