Tottenham’s defensive frailties exposed in 3-2 loss to Wolves
By Gary Pearson
Raul Jimenez and Diogo Jota exposed Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga throughout to seal Tottenham’s fate, with Wolves’ 3-2 win further damaging the home side’s top four chances.
Things started well for Tottenham but Jose Mourinho’s decision to start Eric Dier and Japhet Tangana at the heart of defence backfired, with the central defensive pairing showing their obvious vulnerabilities.
Jimenez pulled back neatly and Tanganga’s inexperience came to the fore, with the young defender lunging in prematurely. Jimenez banged it home to give Wolves an important victory. The win put Wolves two points ahead of Spurs.
Dier and Tanganga had all sorts of trouble dealing with Wolves’ pace, particularly from Adama Traore. Wolves exposed the centre back pairing on all three goals, showcasing just how vulnerable Dier is at the heart of defence. It seems Dier is sucseptible wherever he plays, which leads one to wonder why he is still seeing first team match time.
On Wolves second, Traore burst through Tottenham’s spine to set up Matt Doherty, whose resulting ball across goal needed just a touch from Diogo Jota. After a solid start to the second half, Spurs found themselves pegged back in the 57th minute.
The home side wasn’t able to recover, falling for the second time on the bounce. The performances over the last month, though, are way more worrying than the results.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why Mourinho would pair Tanganga beside Dier. The rookie youngster needs a highly performing stalwart beside him, not a player like Dier, whose struggles have been well documented this season.
You can’t fault Tanganga too much for the rough afternoon. Mourinho needs to show more intelligence in his team selection. Throwing Tanganga to the wolves is not my idea of astute team management.