Mark Lawrenson’s woeful prediction in our clash with West Brom highlights he is never going to be a Mystic Meg or a good pundit. How his ineptitude still puts him in a job beggars belief. Despite the contrary, we kicked on with a vital victory against West Brom in an overall enchanting display from the team in general. The win would have delighted Pochettino in his 99th game in charge.
Dembele again caught the eye. He continued to sparkle in an advanced role at the Hawthorns and his offensive guile had a hand in two of our early goals. In the opening 10 minutes, his drive and engineer frightened West Brom’s Yacob into hacking him down in territory that is a danger zone for an Eriksen freekick. Up stepped the Dane, swoosh went the ball and the rest was a formality. We were a goal up. Dembele’s graft made the freekick. Eriksen’s craft converted. Teamwork.
In the build up to the second goal it was a similar scenario. Dembele again thrust forward, gliding ahead after being released by Lamela. This time the opposing defenders were flummoxed between bringing Dembele down or letting him go past as they were conscious of giving away a detrimental freekick with Eriksen around. In the end the defenders pondered too long and neither brought him down or tackled him. So Dembele doing what he does when in form, drew defenders to himself and ultimately out of position before releasing it to Kane who controlled the ball smartly before applying the finish. By this point it’s two goals up within 20 minutes. Dembele with the artistry to create the assist and Kane with the finesse to convert. Teamwork exemplified.
What was the most satisfying assessment from this game was how everybody did their job. Critics will disparage that we are being carried by a single player but in truth this game could have ended 3-3 had it not been for Lloris who made breathtaking saves to deny Morrison and Yacob. Towards the end of the game, he again made a super stop after Fazio got turned by Berahino and with the ball fizzing across the six yard box it was the alert Rose who hacked the ball away to safety.
Cohesion and chemistry are not qualities we usually associate with Spurs but there is a lot more application in the team now. This makes it good when the opposition become perplexed with having to deal with multiple danger men simultaneously. In the past it was a case of stopping Bale to handicap the team. Now there is Kane, Erisken, Chadli and on their day Lamela or Dembele prying defences open.
The only caveat going forward would be to replace Fazio with Dier. Fazio still looks prone to errors whilst Dier is a young player that can only improve with time. The next game is the big one against our rivals from the red half of North London. I don’t think they will too happy playing us at White Hart Lane at this moment. We are ready. Bring them on!
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