Tottenham Hotspur are back to losing ways in the Premier League, recording a 4-2 defeat away to Wolverhampton Wanderers just four days before their big Europa League quarter-final fixture in Frankfurt.
Let’s take a look at the five things we learned from Wolves 4-2 Tottenham:
Spurs are all over the place, with Ange-ball in tatters
I’m not even sure what system we are looking at anymore. Tottenham look lifeless in their attacking transitions and shellshocked in their defensive ones. Time and time again, Wolves turned the ball over in midfield only to see the two Spurs full-backs inverted and Cristian Romero stranded way up the pitch. Poor Ben Davies couldn’t hold a line all by himself and, as a result, the Lilywhites shipped goal after goal.
Fans put up with this kind of thing at the start of Postecoglou’s reign, when you could guarantee a bucketload of goals at the other end too, but Spurs are far from a frightening attacking unit at the moment. Perhaps the injury crisis really did paper over the cracks for Tottenham this season, because things don’t seem to be getting any better. In fact, they look a little worse.
Ange Postecoglou rests key Tottenham players
The Tottenham starting XI was more than strong enough to beat a side just above the relegation zone – not that Spurs are any higher – but Ange Postecoglou clearly rested a few of his first-teamers with one eye on Thursday night. The likes of Micky Van de Ven, Pedro Porro, Destiny Udogie, Rodrigo Bentancur and Lucas Bergvall were dropped to the bench while Heung-min Son and Wilson Odobert were missing from the squad altogether.
The results are worrying, the performances are dire, and Postecoglou seems to be limping towards the exit door, but Tottenham fans will be fully back behind the project come Thursday – especially if the Lilywhites pull off a famous European win. In fact, a victory in Frankfurt would make resting players on Sunday look like a genius move. I just wish a second-string Spurs team could still at least compete with Wolves.
Mathys Tel gets his chance from the start
Tel has been reduced to cameos off the bench over the last month and his loan move from Bayern Munich hasn’t exactly gone to play. However, with Son and Odobert missing, the Frenchman was handed a chance to impress on the left side of the attack. Let’s be honest, he didn’t exactly set the place on fire with his attacking prowess and flair.
That being said, Tel ran his socks off for the team and arguably looked more dangerous than Son has in recent months. We can’t credit him too much for the goal that deflected off his shin more than anything, but there were certainly positive signs from the Bayern Munich man. I suppose the question is – are they £50m worth of positive signs?
Guglielmo Vicario should have Tottenham very worried
After a week in which Andre Onana has been heavily criticised at Manchester United, Guglielmo Vicario put in one of his worst-ever performances for Tottenham.
The Italian keeper started the match by weakly punching a cross into no man’s land, then allowing a scuffed finish to bobble past him to make it 1-0 Wolves. A few minutes later, it should have been two when Vicario passed the ball straight out into a Wolves press. Having escaped that, the Spurs vice-captain did eventually hand the home side a two-goal lead when he flapped a cross straight into poor Djed Spence who could only rebound the ball into his own net.
Like it or not, football is played out from the back these days and keepers have to be calm, composed, and show quality on the ball. Vicario is an excellent shot-stopper, but the rest of his game will really worry Tottenham.
Pedro Porro can learn from Archie Gray
There were no real positives to take from Tottenham’s performance this afternoon, but one interesting thing we spotted involved young Archie Gray. Over the past few months, we have seen so much success on the left side from overlapping Djed Spence/Destiny Udogie runs.
However, it is not something we see too often from Pedro Porro on the right, with the Spaniard preferring to invert or hang back for a cross. Gray made a specific effort to overlap Johnson on the right wing today and it really opened Wolves up a couple of times, while maintaining the width for Spurs. Perhaps it’s something Porro could look to add to his game to mix things up a little.