Tottenham: From the Champions League final to this? – The Warm-Up
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Updated 07/07/2020 at 08:34 GMT
Tottenham beat Everton in the Premier League but it was another poor showing that should worry Jose Mourinho, and it also saw Hugo Lloris and Heung-min Son nearly have a fight.
Giovani Lo Celso of Tottenham Hotspur during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Everton FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on July 06, 2020 in London, England.
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
Tottenham Hotspur are poor
The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.
The above Danny Blanchflower quote adorned a wall in the West Stand of White Hart Lane. The same quote bellows out before a game. It is *meant* to define the ethos of the club.
Tottenham’s latest showing against Everton - a 1-0 win - had no flourish, no style and certainly no glory.
The tactics seemed as followed:
- Defensive: under no circumstances allow Richarlison to turn on goal and if that means giving away a needless free-kick then so be it.
- Attacking: When not fouling Richarlison or defending a free-kick for fouling Richarlison, lump the ball forward to Harry Kane.
The output from the above was Kane winning some fine defensive headers inside his own box, Giovani lo Celso scoring a deflected goal and Richarlison getting fairly angry about getting kicked about the pitch for no apparent reason.
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Jose Mourinho: 'I'm very happy with my players fighting each other'
The irony of all this is Everton were pretty abject. Yet, Tottenham never looked fully comfortable, purely due to the weight of free-kicks they gave away in dangerous areas. Everton offered little but were afforded chance after chance to pepper the Tottenham box with crosses. Spurs got over the line by more luck than judgement and looking shaky against a side that offered as little as Everton kind of undermines the USP of being a serial winner.
Mourinho was brought in to make a team who are seen as serial underachievers winners. Yet, it was only a year ago that Spurs were in the Champions League final; they are now a side who look incapable of qualifying for the tournament at all.
It is not going well.
On the subject of not going well or not getting on well, Hugo Lloris and Heung-min Son nearly had a fight.
Matteo Guendouzi exit nearing
Matteo Guendouzi looks set for an Arsenal exit after it was revealed that he has been training alone since his spat with Neal Maupay during the Gunners' 2-1 defeat to Brighton on June 20.
In the wake of that fracas, Guendouzi was, report the Athletic, summoned to a meeting with manager Mikel Arteta and technical director Edu, in which he did not impress.
Thus after previous disciplinary issues, the decision has been taken to move the player on, even if, the report adds, there is admiration within the club for the player's talent.
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Major suitors emerge for Tottenham's Tanguy Ndombele - Euro Papers
Marcus Rashford continues to be the best of us
Marcus Rashford really has been a life-affirming presence these last few months.
He is a remarkable person that we can all aspire towards.
Rashford is a beacon of positivity. Long may it continue.
Thought you had it in you to be a professional footballer?
Think again.
The talent required to operate at that level are laid bare in this pretty illustrative video from Liverpool.
These are split-second decisions allowing elite level players to thread passes though minute windows of opportunity.
HAT-TIP
Sid Lowe of the Guardian delves into the idea that Liga’s resumption after the coronavirus-enforced break has played into Real Madrid’s hands as knockout specialists.
There is also an ode of sorts to Sergio Ramos.
When he sent a penalty miles over the bar against Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-final in 2012, denying Madrid a place in the final back when the obsession over their 10th European Cup asphyxiated them, Ramos told his brother Rene that next time he would show them; next time he would dink it in, that would shut them up. So he did – in the semi-finals of the Euros, two months later. I must say, captain, I’ve got to admire your balls.
Read the full article here.
COMING UP
Ben Snowball will do his best to bring some glory, style and a bit of a flourish to tomorrow’s Warm-Up.
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