Brighton got what they wanted. Did we? I guess the answer comes on Saturday, but one had the sinking feeling that maybe City had ripped all the heart and some of the soul out of Spurs—they seemed so lethargic tonight.
Let’s do this quickly.
Kane’s not right. It certainly seems as if he was either rushed back or did it to himself. Slow, awkward, pushed off the ball, lacking any real energy or pizazz that he usually has in spades. The goal was fortunate and really the product of a Brighton miscue and great effort from Son. I can’t imagine we’ll see much better on Saturday and Mourinho will have watched this performance very closely.
Eriksen had his worst game f the year. Bad judgements, bad passes, bad with or without the ball. A sequence near the end summed it up when he had the ball in the box in a threatening position and passed back to… no one— then decided to go all cowboy a minute later and simply was bullied off the ball with at least three teammates in scoring position.
Son was the only legitimate threat for most of the game—and he came closest in the strangely extended first half (Thank you, Kevin “we’ve got a” Friend) and his Salah-like action along the byline got us the goal.
Wanyama and Sissoko as our creative midfielders? Enough said. They played hard, but to little effect. Lucas was active but, off the evidence we’ve seen the past three months, Lucas can’t finish. Lamela had one nice attempt off his weaker foot after coming on. Dembele was more active as well.
Serge Aurier. Oh God. Well, it wasn’t just him t blame for the goal—the whole team fell asleep for those twenty seconds after scoring. But he gave the ref the power by wrongsidinghimself, and then for the umpteenth time did something rash and we paid for it. The rest of the back four were fine—Toby looked good but hardly spectacular. Nobody was. Hugo had one nearly-spilled it moment but recovered.
Is the point enough? Not really. Chelsea may lose to Burnley tomorrow and then we are very close to secure for fourth. But it may still come down to the home fixtures against the likes of Newcastle and Watford with an away game at the Baggies, and ask Man United about what can happen there.
Saturday is all that really matters— I can’t say I’m optimistic but there is no real basis to expect defeat either other Jose usually gets the best of others in these situations. But that was ugly tonight—no other way to say it. They played like they had something better to do—hopefully it is to prepare for the biggest game of the year.