Christian Soldier takes Spurs to Hull and Back

About thirty minutes into this rather attritional match, a fellow Spurs supporter sent me a picture of Fry, the permanently frustrated character from US animation sitcom, Futurama. It had the caption, ‘that face you make when Spurs are losing again’. With Spurs having lost four home games already, I’ve actually recognised that expression on a few faces at White Hart Lane this season. Some of Spurs’ better results this season have come on the road though and as were playing a team full of our cast offs, we would surely come back and win. With that in mind, I replied to my mate with that biblical classic, ‘Oh ye of little faith’. In the event, it is ironic that it was a Christian (Eriksson) who rewarded my faith with a last minute winner that was worth waiting for (Phew). However that was a hard fought win that does little more than paper the cracks of a team searching desperately for form and consistency.

Although injuries and suspension forced his hand a little here, it’s fairly obvious that Pochettino is still trying to work out his best and most reliable starting eleven as his track record does not suggest a tinkering tendency. Still, six changes were made from the last match, understandable perhaps given our performance against Stoke. Hull, featuring old boys Tom Huddleston, Jake Livermore and Michael Dawson started brightly and tested a defence still getting accustomed to each other during a first half when Spurs were outfought. You would have got very long odds on Jake Livermore scoring in any match. However, as former players often tend to do, one of the few goals he will score in his career was also one of his best as he fizzed a long range shot past Hugo Lloris. Hatem Ben Arfa also caused a few problems down the flanks.

Spurs had to get better in the second half and they did, although they were given a massive helping hand by Gaston Ramirez’s moment of madness which resulted in a deserved red card. Afterwards, Hull fought a determined rear guard action with both Livermore and Huddlestone picking up bookings. Dawson played with the determination of a man who did not want to lose against the team he gave so much effort for nine years. It looked like his heroics would deny Spurs the win they desperately needed until Eriksson’s late intervention.

Christian Eriksson had his best game of the season. It was his shot that came back of the crossbar for Harry Kane to score the equalising goal and his winning goal was class. He is the best number 10 we have but he has struggled to raise his game in some games recently and Spurs have struggled to score as a result. Spurs must hope that he is back to his best. Who would have thought at the start of the season that Harry Kane would have more goals than Adebayor and Soldado combined? Or that we will be dreading him getting injured? He has done very well indeed, but he must keep the desire for goals alive because strikers are only as good as their last goal. This is the reality that Adebayor and especially Soldado are finding out rather painfully to Spurs cost.

Adebayor has never really been consistent as a goal scorer but his all round game tends to compensate even if that is currently missing. Soldado is the biggest mystery. There is no doubting his pedigree and his effort, but he is starting to resemble the Fernando Torres that Chelsea bought and another Spanish great who flopped in English football, Fernando Morientes.

It is a source of great frustration to Spurs fans that, having had a season to get used to life without Gareth Bale, we have not got the squad to take advantage of the crisis at clubs like Arsenal, a Manchester United in transition and especially Liverpool, who are finding out fast that spending big money on loads of players may improve the squad, it is a poor substitute for a superstar who can strike fear into opposition players before the match starts and can win games on his own. Brendan Rodgers has gloated in the past that he dodged a bullet by rejecting Spurs and Liverpool would not make the same mistake as Spurs did after losing a star player. I’ll let him stew in Liverpool’s continuing misery before I have my say on him.

Coming back to Spurs, there has been media speculation that Southampton’s head of recruitment, Paul Mitchell is leaving to join Spurs. Should this be the case, it will strengthen Pochettino’s powerbase at Spurs while leaving question marks over the future of Franco Baldini. There have been a lot of players bought over the last two years but Spurs still have one of the most unbalanced squads in the premiership. Most of the players that Southampton have bought or developed over the last two years have shown themselves to be of a very high standard. They also have the best injury record in the premiership. That cannot be coincidence. They are doing something right. This may yet be the most important signing of the Pochettino era at Spurs.

White Hart Pain as Tottering Flatspurs flounder again

Spurs managers have been sacked for better runs than this. Since Liverpool, in no great form themselves, showed up Spurs’ early season optimism for what it was back in August, Mauricio Pochettino’s flops have only won one match at the Lane, over Southampton. Results against the top four teams used to Spurs achilles heel. Now the likes of West Brom, Newcastle and now Stoke City are routinely plundering points at White Hart Lane.

It is fair to say that Pochettino is still working out his best eleven. He has chopped and changed the team with increasing regularity. Even so, the line up against stoke took most by surprise. It was a brave call (or stupid depending on your point of view) to play Federico Fazio after two red cards in seven games rather than Jan Vertonghen who did not play in the midweek Europa league game. Playing Harry Kane in place of Adebayor (another who was not involved in midweek) as a lone striker after a full ninety minutes in midweek was also asking a lot of young Harry despite the loud clamouring from the crowd. Leaving two of the most experienced players on the bench would no doubt lead to questions about his relationship with those two in particular.

In any event, Federico Fazio would have been relieved to get through the match without being sent off. However, he had a poor game as did the rest of the back four. Anyone who captained a top La Liga team to the Europa league deserves a bit of credit and time to settle into new surroundings. The Premier league is an unforgiving league though and Faz hasn’t done the business yet for Spurs. One hopes he has the tough character needed to come through. In midfield, the disorganisation was unbelievable. Pochettino likes his midfield to press but to be taken out of the game with one pass as they were for both goals is simply unacceptable. Stoke bossed the midfield play for pretty much the entire game apart from a brief period of panic when Nacer Chadli scored in the seventy fifth minute.

Speaking of Chadli, I have been highly critical of his performances in the past. However, he appears to have stepped up his game recently this season and has been Spurs’ most consistent outfield performer as his six league goals show.  Harry Kane toiled fruitlessly upfront with hardly any service. He had one good chance in the first minute and not much else. Christian Eriksson is also struggling badly to recapture the form of last season. Ryan Mason seems out a gas a bit and probably needs a rest after his run of games. Andros Townsend is used to be called a cheap Gareth Bale, but he was more Gareth Anonymous yesterday before being replaced for the second half. Etienne Capoue is hard to judge as a defensive midfielder. He doesn’t seem mobile enough but is not helped by being isolated most of the time. 

Spurs have what those in the boxing trade call a glass chin. Their midfield can be got at too easily and this exposes a defence still searching for form and confidence to sustained pressure. Without a strong midfield, Spurs struggle to control matches. This is why teams fancy their chances at the Lane right now. This is evidenced by the fact that goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has been Spurs best player this season. He has simply had to make far too many saves for a club with top four aspirations.  

Pochettino’s biggest problem is that the club he and half the first team left behind are flying so high right now, with a manager who has never managed in the premiership before. Perhaps the structural deficiencies in terms of player balance at Spurs are only now just being brutally exposed. Watching Gylfi Sigurdsson blossoming in a Swansea shirt also makes me wonder if he was allowed to go too quickly. He seems the type of player that could have adapted quickly to Pochettino’s methods.

Pochettino says he does not feel any pressure (He has a five year contract after all) and it is too early for his position to be at risk, even by Spurs trigger happy standards. However, he took this job on the premise that he could improve this team and while there is not a quick fix, the reconstruction is very painful viewing for fans.  Despite modest success at Espanyol and Southampton, this is the job that will show exactly how good a coach Pochettino is. Spurs must hope that this Argentinian is more like Diego Simeone and less like Ossie Ardiles.