Tottenham: Problems evident early versus Sheffield

The Tottenham Spurs had early problems against Sheffield United

Let me start by saying that I am a fan of Tottenham Hotspur and I want to see them succeed, but the problem with Spurs is frankly the team is not very good at football. All one has to do is look at the first two minutes of the loss against Sheffield United and you can see Tottenham are lacking in a lot of the basics that make a quality football side at the moment, namely, they cannot maintain possession of the ball. Spurs have to do better to compete in the Premier League.

Spurs First Possession

Tottenham had the kickoff to start the game, which often does result in a long ball toward the opponent’s goal or some passes around the back to get the defense stretched and the team’s nerves settled. Spurs did neither to start the match versus Sheffield. After Harry Kane played back to Giovani Lo Celso, who took a touch and played it back to standing Ben Davies. Davies took a touch and played it back to Lo Celso and this is where things started to break down.

As Sheffield came up the pitch to apply pressure Lo Celso played a quick short pass back to Davies – who did not have the confidence to take a touch, so he tried to boot the ball up the line. That was blocked and Davies proceeded to tussle with the Blade until the ball bounced to Lo Celso who tried a weak pass up the field.

Up the field, Harry Kane saw the trouble and came sprinting back toward the hospital ball. So too did a Sheffield defender and both players proceeded to swing and completely miss the ball. This left a loose ball near midfield, which was easily cleaned up by Sheffield who were then moving up the pitch, for the first time in the game, resulting in a goal kick.

Spurs first possession, off the kickoff results in a turnover essentially in their own half. They had nine touches, four passes and a turnover, not exactly taking the opening kickoff for a touchdown.

Tottenham’s Second Possession

I know the rules on goal kicks have changed this season, but that should not mean Spurs have lost their mind. Like a pee-wee team where the keeper cannot kick the ball far enough, Eric Kier took the first goal kick and played it just wide of the box to Ben Davies. Davies took a touch, looked up, and instead of taking the easy pass to Bergwijn up the line or diagonal to Lo Celso, he went longer up the field to Son who was checking back from midfield.

Heung-Min Son chested down the lobbed pass but had a defender on his back and another in front of him so played first time wide to Steven Bergwijn. Bergwijn was square and Son’s pass was soft, allowing a Sheffield player to step in and steal the ball. Three combination passes later, and Hugo Lloris was diving to his left saving the first shot on goal 53 seconds into the game.

Second possession, six touches, three passes, second turnover. Spurs had now twice touched the ball and both possessions ended up in the hands of Hugo Lloris, not exactly the way Jose Mourinho drew it up, I am sure.

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Spurs Third Possession

In something new for Spurs Hugo Lloris was punting the ball up the pitch much faster than I can remember him doing so in a long time.

I get it, with the kind of speed and attack Tottenham had on the pitch, maybe you can get lucky. In this instance that was not the case, Kane made near zero effort to win the punt, but fortunately, the Sheffield header fell to Moussa Sissoko. Sissoko quickly found Lo Celso, who went wide to Aurier.

After connecting three straight passes it seemed maybe Spurs were going to get into a game plan. Aurier played in back to Sissoko who one-touched it back wide to Aurier. Sissoko followed the pass and flashed forward, taking the defender with him, leaving space behind in the middle of the pitch. Lo Celso stepped into the space and took the ball, which is where things started to fall apart.

Instead of taking advantage of the space Sissoko had created by attacking with the ball Lo Celso took a touch and played a pass backward to Eric Dier. Like a high school punter warming up for Friday night, Dier took THREE touches and then simply booted the ball up the field. No one was near Dean Henderson when it fair caught the ball well wide of the six inside the box. As Harry Kane jogged up to ‘pressure’ Henderson, that was that for Spurs third possession, 13 touches, 7 passes, and a punt.

Tottenham Football Not Pretty

Looking at it like American football one might say a punt is better than a turnover. However, I would say that it was like punting on third down when you only have 3 yards to go for the first. There was NO reason for it and just like that, the third possession of the game was gone. And sure, this is not American football and you get a lot more than the 8-10 possessions an NFL team might, but priority one in winning any sport is avoiding turnovers. When your first three possessions of ANY sport result in a turnover, you know it is going to be a long day.

Ultimately, it was not the inability to maintain possession that cost Spurs on the day – although it hurt – it was the lack of resolve in the face of one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in any sport on any day. That said, these guys get paid millions to get past those moments and Spurs did not. Worse for Tottenham Hotspur, even when they get their mental act together, they still have this playing football thing to worry about.