The Premier League’s nice entertainers, Tottenham Hotspur, haven’t hit the excessive notes of their final couple of matches and a return of 4 factors from the final twelve obtainable has ramped up the scrutiny on their supervisor.
Tottenham Hotspur supervisor Ange Postecoglou favours a method of play that both delivers emphatically or falls brief with a whimper. In Thursday’s loss at Bournemouth , a disappointing end result was compounded by a toothlessness that provides the boss a puzzle to unravel.
The Cherries have crushed higher groups than Spurs at house this season however an anticipated targets (xG) worth of 0.87 for Spurs versus Bournemouth’s 3.71 doesn’t precisely smack of the swashbuckling soccer Postecoglou’s facet can muster at their finest.
December breaks the Postecoglou sample at Tottenham
Spurs have picked up one level within the Premier League since dismantling Manchester Metropolis (Picture credit score: Alamy) (Picture credit score: Alamy)
Between their thrilling win at Outdated Trafford on the finish of September and a 4-0 demolition of Manchester Metropolis of their final league recreation of November, Spurs had been predictable in their very own approach – win one, lose one, win the following, lose after that.
The result was a Spurs staff that had been enjoyable for the impartial and irritating for followers, but in addition attracted a level of religion from those that had been entertained by Postecoglou’s aggressive and uncompromising soccer. There’s one thing to be stated for profitable each different recreation when it will get the heartbeat racing.
Spurs want key gamers to ship constantly (Picture credit score: James Gill/Danehouse/Getty) (Picture credit score: James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Pictures)
The drift in Tottenham’s underlying efficiency information can have been observed by Postecoglou. They went into final weekend with the best non-penalty anticipated targets (npxG) within the Premier League and had scored a mean of two.25 targets per recreation.
Two matches later, their npxG has dropped under Chelsea , Manchester Metropolis and Liverpool . Their common targets per recreation has dropped to precisely 2 due to a 1-1 draw at house to Fulham and defeat at Bournemouth on Thursday night.
The upshot is that Spurs have dropped from an entertaining sixth within the Premier League to a extra precarious eighth, and so they’ve completed so on the again of two of their least efficient attacking performances of the season.
The one objective of the sport on the Vitality Stadium on Thursday uncovered Tottenham’s nice Achilles heel on the different finish. An unmarked and untracked Dean Huijsen sauntered around the again to go in from Marcus Tavernier’s nook, indicative of an issue Postecoglou has been reluctant to deal with all through his time in North London.
The Spurs supervisor has been requested about his staff’s weaknesses at defensive set items earlier than and isn’t shy about stating his place.
On the finish of 2023/24, Postecoglou advised soccer.london that he didn’t assume fixing Tottenham’s defending at set items was the main focus that might enhance their fortunes general. With their very own attacking efficiency dropping, he would possibly now revisit that view.
Tottenham’s faltering type of the final fortnight isn’t terminal. Eighth can turn into sixth simply as shortly as sixth turned eighth, and Spurs have each the firepower and the philosophy to win matches different groups would possibly draw.
If meaning shedding some too, so be it.
