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It was another frustrating afternoon for Spurs fans today as Mauricio Pochettino’s side crashed to their first defeat at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, losing 0-1 to West Ham after Michail Antonio’s well-taken second-half goal.
The result has put a dent in Tottenham’s top four hopes, although the recent profligacy of their rivals – Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United – means they should finish the weekend still in 3rd position in the Premier League. But it was hardly a great performance to take into the Champions League Semi-Final first leg against Ajax on Tuesday.
Here are 3 reasons why Tottenham lost to West Ham.
#1 Spurs looked toothless in attack
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There have been a couple of times this season – most notably the home game against Manchester United in January – where Spurs dominated games but simply couldn’t score. This wasn’t one of those games. Despite ending the game with 63% possession, Spurs actually had less shots on goal – and far less on target – than their opponents.
Despite starting the game with a trio of attackers in Heung-Min Son, Lucas Moura and Dele Alli, and with Christian Eriksen behind them, Tottenham simply couldn’t carve out any clean opportunities on West Ham’s goal. Part of this was down to West Ham’s excellent defending – particularly from the outstanding Issa Diop – but too many times we saw Lucas, Dele and Son running down blind alleys, and the Spurs forwards were also far too narrow for the majority of the game, relying too much on Danny Rose to provide width.
Hopefully, this kind of performance will put an end to the ludicrous idea that Spurs could be better off without injured striker Harry Kane. The likes of Son and Fernando Llorente have done well deputising for the England captain at times this season, but the truth is that when Spurs have won games without Kane, they’ve usually relied on late goals to get them out of trouble. And today the late goals didn’t come.
Not only does Kane provide the side with a world-class finisher, but he also drags defenders out of position and can catch the opposition out with some underrated passing skills. Without Kane, Tottenham look painfully toothless at times and today was one of those days – they never really looked like scoring.
#2 Pochettino’s substitutions didn’t help matters
Liverpool and Manchester City have been head and shoulders above the other ‘big six’ sides in the Premier League this season, and part of that – particularly when compared to Tottenham – is their strength in depth. Both City and Liverpool can often call upon substitutes who can affect a game – and can score key goals – whereas today, in particular, Tottenham couldn’t do that.
The direct Fernando Llorente was Pochettino’s first choice from the bench but today he made barely any impact at all, running into the brick wall that was West Ham’s central defensive partnership of Issa Diop and Fabian Balbuena. Pochettino even deployed Vincent Janssen – who Spurs have been trying to offload for what feels like years now – but despite the Dutchman almost scoring late on, he had little to no impact either.
Simply put, Tottenham look exhausted right now – hardly a surprise given their congested fixture list this season – and within his current squad, Pochettino just doesn’t have the options that he needs to rescue a game like today’s, particularly with the extensive injury list he’s having to deal with too. It’s something that head honcho Daniel Levy will have to address very quickly in the summer, or games like today’s may become even more common.
#3 Michail Antonio took his goal exceptionally well
For all of Tottenham’s issues today, it must be said that West Ham’s Michail Antonio took his goal remarkably well. The 29-year old – one of the Premier League’s most flexible players when it comes to the positions that boss Manuel Pellegrini can deploy him in – was used as a wide-man today but essentially became a forward alongside Marko Arnautovic in the second half, and repaid his manager with his 6th goal this season and his second in his last two games.
The goal was an excellent one, too. A nice ball from Mark Noble was controlled well by Arnautovic on the wide right side of the pitch, and the Austrian then hit a pass over the head of Toby Alderweireld into the path of Antonio. Antonio still had a lot to do – it was a tight angle and he also had to deal with the incoming Davinson Sanchez – but he controlled the ball with his chest brilliantly and then fired a shot past Hugo Lloris and into the far side of the net.
The fans may well end up discussing his interesting celebration more than the goal itself – it resembled a cross between the Gangnam Style dance and a 90’s WWE inspired crotch chop – but this was definitely a goal worthy of winning a tight London derby like this one, and even Tottenham fans would be unable to find a fault with it.
