Spurs Takeaways from Tottenham Hotspur Draw at Chelsea

Reflecting on the draw over the weekend at Stamford Bridge there are a few things Tottenham Hotspur can take away some things to build on, others to improve.

Tottenham Hotspur were solid defensively but lacked bite offensively as Spurs drew 0-0 with Chelsea. It was a meeting of two teams, which both score often and concede few by comparison. Ultimately, in a game neither team wanted to lose, neither did and each dropped two points instead of three. So, what did we learn good, bad, or otherwise about Spurs from the game?

Takeaway 1: Tanguy Needs More Touches

Honestly, I thought it was a misprint on the web when I saw that Tanguy Ndombele only had 21 touches in the Chelsea match. It felt like he had that many touches just wriggling away from N’Golo Kante and Thiago Silva on the sideline. However, every site I searched said the same thing 21 touches. How someone how clearly puts defenders on skates and instills confidence in the team gets such few looks at the ball is beyond comprehension.

If this were a season ago, one might say it would be work-rate issue, but that is certainly not the case this season, as Ndombele is fit and active in his minutes on the pitch. Some of the issue is Kane dropping deep and taking up positions the #10 would otherwise occupy. However, teams that run a 4-4-2 with two midfielders centrally can manage adequate touches.

While Spurs game plan to sit back and pounce as Chelsea would give the ball away or make some mistake clearly impacted the amount of touches available for Ndombele. Sure, Ndombele missed on a few forward passes on the evening, but that desire to be direct is something Spurs need more often, and you can live with giveaways from time to time in that situation. Regardless, he is too talented to not be getting more opportunities on the ball across the middle and final third of the park and it would behoove the team to get Tanguy the ball more.