Hello and welcome to the Monday Breakdown where I try to avoid a mental breakdown by getting all my Tottenham related thoughts out of my head and into a blog. So… lets start with the positives!
We are on the board! That is right, unlike the UK at Eurovision we no longer have “nul points” (To be read in a French accent) and so just 39 more of these points and we should be safe … objective one!
By drawing with Nottingham Forest we also brought an end to a run of four straight league defeats against them, with the last being a crushing 3-0 home defeat last season which many at the time, me included, felt like we were screwed and heading down!
We also recorded our first clean sheet of the season brought to you by our new Dutch centre back pairing (slowly developing as a pair) and of course our new number one keeper Kinsky!
There were a few smart performances from individuals with a special mention to Bentancur who was sensational but sadly that is where the overt positives end and we go back to that scoreline of 0-0 and realise that is our third game of the season without a goal. First time we have done that since 1974! We also failed to record a shot on target but I will say that stat is a little miss leading as would suggest we made no good chances, but we did.
From open play Marmoush was put through and could argue should have done better, he fired just wide and of course that header from Van de Ven which went wide when really he should have scored. A 2-0 scoreline and we are all feeling so much better about the world but these are the fine margins in top flight football.
It is what you pay the big money for though, composure. You sign the players for big fees and put them on big wages so in those moments which come they take the chances and win you games.
Marmoush will be feeling his miss for sure but I also hope that Tonali is counting his lucky stars for the VAR ruling out a Forest goal after he should have cleared the ball. You pay the money for the big players who show composure and that was lacking in that moment. We are all human however, regardless of the fee paid errors can happen and also it can take time to adjust to a new place / new set up and new pairings etc. It takes time to get for sure however I hope he learns from that and takes responsibilty in future.
I would like to highlight what a good disciplined job Gallagher did. When Porro went forward, as he was clearly directed to do, Gallagher was slotting in at right back every time eliminating that space that so many teams exploited with us in the past and you can see by the number of recoveries in that area made that Forest did try and target it.
When spending big I fear patience is not there. I have said above you have an expectation on players when you spend the money to show more but at the same time they are human and regardless of money paid we have to understand this is going to take some time – Rome was not built in a day and all that.
On the flip side however football does not stand still. As one manager said: Building a team in the Premier league is like laying rail way track while a train is coming, you have to move fast or you are going to be de-railed and that is the fine line that De Zerbi must be aware he is walking. He has been backed like no manager in our clubs history with every player, yes EVERY player, he asked for being signed – including one at the end of the window being against scouting advice but a player he knew well.
The club needs a win and also a performance. Smashing five goals past Charlton reserves is all fine and well but if you cannot score at home against Everton this coming weekend the questions will get louder.
My hope is we will see the small positives from the last couple of games come together into a performance we can all feel encouraged by against Everton and of course goals, a win and three points! COYS!
