So yesterday, Saturday 25th November 2017 we faced WBA at Wembley. A team who recently sacked their manager and are a bigger threat to the relegation zone than the Champions League places however like we have seen so many times before we did not win.
A draw once again, true better than defeat, but two points dropped and we can now say, even before Christmas we are NOT in the title race this year. Now I am not one of those spoiled fans who demands we are in it every year as I realise in the Premier League every season is different AND we are up against clubs who can spend quarter of a billion on a couple of players every window. The fact we compete at all is impressive.
I also know that we are at Wembley this year which despite all of the coaching team and players downplaying the impact anyone with eyes can see we are simply not the same team. The Wembley pitch is bigger than the Lane was, this is true and as such we are not pressing and in teams faces like we were last season.
The biggest issue however is teams and their approach to playing us now; they have I fear worked us out. They park men behind the ball and hope to nick a goal; if they do they defend and waste time (see yesterday) but if they don’t they just frustrate.
In the Premier League this season only one team have come to open up and play us and that was Liverpool, who, are the only team we have scored more than one against in the league at ‘home’ this season.
The big plus is that we did not lose. Under Pochettino the truly Spursy moments of losing these games 1-0 do appear to be behind us but for me this is now our new Spursy. The inability to break teams down when defending deep and in numbers.
Do we need to sign players who offer different things to do it? Does Pochettino need to adjust tactics? Could be a combination of the two. Regardless of what is needed I believe it needs to be our priority right now otherwise forget a title challenge we will struggle for the top four!
-SJ
