Tottenham needs focus to finish after strong half vs West Ham

After a rampant Spurs start, West Ham pulled one back against Tottenham Hotspur, showing how important the focus to finish will be for Spurs.

As Tottenham Hotspur fans, we have been here before, a nice early lead that the team struggles to maintain. While overall, the club has been better than last season, when Spurs dropped more than 20 points from winning positions, ghosts from the past are added with West Ham, making the second 45 minutes critical for Tottenham.

Great start for Tottenham

The first goal may have gone down as an own goal, but Tottenham entirely created it. From Matt Doherty providing the pressure to win the ball, Harry Kane attacking the end line on the dribble to put in a short cross, and finally Heung-min Son charging the ball at the near post causing the Kurt Zouma mistake.

It was both the kind of start Spurs needed and the kind of start we have seen before against West Ham.

Fifteen minutes after that first goal, a lovely diagonal from Rodrigo Bentancur to Kane led to an even better diagonal ball from Kane to Son, who attacked Zouma and struck for Spurs second. Up by two goals and seemingly in command, Tottenham went into cruise control, which is the wrong approach against a stubborn Hammers team.

West Ham makes Spurs pay for mistakes

It only takes a few mistakes for West Ham to hammer the opposition. Doherty did the hard part of winning the ball and beating his man but then lost the ball out of bounds to concede a needless corner.

That corner from Aaron Creswell was flicked on to Said Benrahma at the back post, and suddenly the Hammers are only down by one goal, and things will be tight for the final 45 minutes.

That mistake by Doherty was not the only poor decision or play by Spurs after taking the early two-goal lead. Half-hearted passes, like the one from Bentancur out to Sergio Reguilon, which forced the Spaniard to head the ball to keep it in play and lost possession, are not acceptable either.

West Ham is excellent on set pieces and will look to find those opportunities while likely tightening their defence. Tottenham cannot lose focus for even one second, leading to the chances West Ham will be looking at which to pounce.

Overall, it was a great first half from Spurs, however, if Tottenham is to win and jump to fifth, they have to focus on finishing the job they have started, and they have 45 minutes to do it.