A Couple Free Kicks to Forget in Tottenham Fiasco vs Brighton

Just a couple months ago we were writing how Tottenham Hotspur were getting closer on their free kick opportunities. However on a day when Spurs had precious few opportunities and were not getting many calls, Tottenham completely wasted the only two decent free kicks they had in the match.

Tottenham were Looking for the Foul too Much

Back when the offense was clicking and it appeared that set pieces would have a part to play in the Tottenham offensive, Spurs could expect several free kicks per match. Often Spurs would go through a cycle with Harry Kane taking a crack at a shot, then Eric Dier and go on from there. Of course neither Kane nor Dier were on the pitch Sunday and you can only leverage those opportunities when you get the calls.

On a day like Sunday where it seems like Tottenham players are going down far too easily and then looking up at the referee for something the opportunities are going to be limited. When this happens it does not matter how it starts or even which player starts the process, what has to happen is it needs to stop and players need to try harder to keep their feet.

The more Tottenham players seemed to look for the call on Sunday the less they received them, particularly in dangerous positions on the pitch.

Ultimately, Spurs had only two free kick opportunities in the Brighton half.

With limited opportunities, Tottenham needed to make them count but failed miserably to capitalize. It was at 71 minutes and Spurs had a free kick in the attacking half and there was Pierre Højbjerg trying to play the ball into the box on the free kick.

It seems almost inexplicable that when you are looking for that precise ball into the box here was the Dane over the ball. However, looking across the field you see the lack of quality passers and ball knockers on the pitch and I guess it makes sense.

Having Heung-Min Son backtrack to take it seems a waste of time. However, given the ball to no one result, maybe that would have been time well spent. The fact that Spurs did not actually have someone more apt to play that ball should have been a signal to the coach his line-up was a bit off. Having someone who probably should be over the ball was not the problem with the second kick.

We are no sure what Lamela was thinking there.

On Spurs only other free kick – not counting our two corners here – in the attacking half we at least had someone who could float the ball over it in Erik Lamela. Lamela was on for Ndombele – who may or may not have taken a knock – and was the obvious choice. But then instead of running some kind of play from over 30 yards out Lamela had something else in mind.

Had it been Gareth Bale back there winding up to blast from 30+ yards out, maybe, just maybe you could see it. However, Erik Lamela bases his game on craft and graft, not power. To beat a keeper from 30+ yards on a free kick you must have some real power.

The idea that Lamela just went for it when  surely there had to be some kind of training ground move in the bag at the 87th minute down by a goal strikes me as just plain odd and brings up some real questions.

Is it just whoever has the ball gets to make the decision on what to do on a free kick at Tottenham? Is that really the play José Mourinho wanted to see? With only three minutes left in the match is a Lamela blast from distance really the best call?

We likely will never know the answer to the first two questions but what is abundantly clear is Spurs have to do better. A wasteful pass and a wasteful shot are not going to cut it, especially if Tottenham are only going to get a couple free kicks per match. With Kane out, goals have to come from somewhere, free kicks should help, but not the way they were taken on Sunday. Tottenham needs to straighten this – among many things – out and do so quickly as the schedule has no mercy.