Middlemarsh
The scoring streak comes to an end.
March 16: FULHAM 3-0 SPURS
Rodrigo Muniz (42', 61') Saša Lukić (49')
We found ourselves stuck in a bog on Saturday. Outshot, outran, outplayed. It was such a discouraging performance that I found it hard to muster enough enthusiasm to write this.
There were early signs of danger as Fulham created multiple chances early in the first half. Two minutes in, a sloppy pass from James Maddison yielded a counter. Cristian Romero blocked a shot from Andreas Pereira, and Rodrigo Muniz pounced on the rebound and just barely missed wide right.
At 11’, Iwobi set up Saša Lukić for a chance that Guglielmo Vicario repelled. Again, Romero saved the day by blocking the follow-up shot from Andreas Pereira.
On the 24’ mark, left back Antonee Robinson intercepted Sarr’s telegraphed pass, got around Sarr in our box, and very nearly connected with Muniz for what might have been a tap-in.
Seconds later, Son Heung-min led a counter, dished to Maddison on the left in what looked like a golden opportunity to take the lead. Madders fed Son, but his shooting lane had narrowed by then and our captain drilled his attempt over the bar.
In truth, we appeared to settle into the match halfway through the first half and had chances of our own.
Romero’s well-placed header set up Brennan Johnson for a great chance, but he hit it weakly, effectively passing it to keeper Bernd Leno. A couple minutes later, Madders set up Radu Drăgușin with an even better chance from the left, but Dragusin side-footed what seemed to be an attempted pass to Dejan Kulusevski on the far post but which went harmlessly out of play.
Later in the half, Udogie charged down the left and fed Madders, who struck it well. Bernd Leno knew little about it, but our vice-captain’s shot slipped just to the left of the post.
It had turned into an end-to-end affair, albeit an uncomfortable one, as Alex Iwobi and Willian found lots of space behind our inverted fullbacks.
In the 42nd minute, Robinson caused us more trouble and dropped a perfect cross onto the foot of Muniz, who brought it down with a clean first touch and put it past Vicario with his second. After some brilliant blocks, Romero was unlucky to have kept Muniz onside. We can’t say Fulham didn’t deserve the lead.
Referee Robert Jones’s oddly quick whistle at the half snuffed out a possible opportunity as Porro was looking to send it into the well-populated Fulham box. We went to the break down 1-0, but it could’ve been 3-2 or 4-3.
HANDS FULL WITH FULHAM’S FULLBACKS
Recent matches have seen Spurs come out strongly in the second half after some tactical adjustments—and, no doubt, some haftime hair dryers from Ange—but it was Fulham who struck again just four minutes after the break. Continuing manager Marco Silva’s game plan for counterattacks led by Cottagers fullbacks, Timothy Castagne finished off a nice run with a cross that Lukić luckily redirected with his thigh past Vicario for the host’s second.
While our boys have shown a good deal of character in erasing deficits this season, things just weren’t clicking for us in Craven Cottage and 2-0 felt like an insurmountable lead. At 61’, a corner fell to Muniz, who booted it in for his second and his team’s third on the day.
The only remaining drama seemed to be whether we would continue our 39-game scoring streak, second all-time in the Premier League. It seemed fitting that the streak would end after several golden opportunities went wasted. At the 69’ mark, Johnson squared to substitute Timo Werner for what should have been a sitter, but the winger on loan from Red Bull Leipzig may have been unsighted by Leno’s lunging attempt and badly flubbed his lines. In the 87th, Dejan Kulusevski received a smart headed pass from Pierre-Emily Højbjerg and delivered a chance to Richarlison, but the substitute striker drilled it just wide of the right post.
In the end, we had thrown away our match in hand over Aston Villa and failed to move into the fourth. With Villa’s draw at West Ham the following day, they moved three points above us with a +1 margin in GD.
WHERE IT WENT WRONG
Maddison, Sarr, and Bissouma were surprisingly flat. It speaks volumes that Ange used his first substitutions at the 66’ mark to take all three players off the pitch. Since his return from injury, Maddison is only showing glimpses of the form he displayed when he won PL Player of the Month for August. Sarr wasn’t his usual dynamic self; might he be hitting a wall in his first season in England? Of the three, Bissouma’s prerformance was the most problematic. Since his promising showing early in the season, he seems to have reverted to his Conte form and appears hesitant to do much beyond passing sideways or backward. What happened to the dominant player we bought from Brighton?
Meanwhile, Drăgușin made his first start for Spurs on and earned mixed reviews. He didn’t play poorly, mind you, and it’s much too harsh to rip into a player after his debut in the starting XI. We knew he didn’t come with high grades for ball distribution, but after his early miskick to Brennan Johnson went out of touch, it was disappointing to see him show little ambition to link up with Johnson or Destiny Udogie on the left.
Radu was acquired to bring much-needed depth at center half, and his performance showed just how much we lose when Mickey van de Ven is not starting. While not slow, he’s obviously not as fast as VDV—no one is—but I took note in the 14’ when Romero had to switch over to the left to defend a give-and-go between Muniz and Iwobi. In retrospect, I think Ange would’ve done better to start Ben Davies at LCB, where he filled in admirably for VDV earlier this season.
That said, if Drăgușin were to be Romero’s understudy going forward, we can imagine just how much we’d lose without Romero’s regista-like, line-breaking passes. Again, saying our XI is weakened without the league’s fastest LCB or the league’s best RCB is no hot take. And certainly Drăgușin must be allowed time to spread his wings. But I fear he may be another high-priced (for us) addition who fails to improve us significantly. In the meantime, at least it’s better than forcing a Royal peg into a central hole.
FALLEN ANGE?
Let’s be clear: I love having Ange as our manager. He’s the right one for this stage in our club’s development.
But it’s fair to ask questions, and we may have a couple after this last match. Why did he opt to give Drăgușin his first start in a position that doesn’t necessarily suit him when we have a steady and natural left-sider on the roster? Why did our manager wait until the match was out of reach before changing things up in a midfield that wasn’t working?
More fundamentally, as much as we love his brave, attack-minded strategy, is it naïve of him to believe it will work in a Premier League? It’s one thing to do it in the Scottish Premier League with a team that has finished either first or second since 1996. But can we make a living leaving our rear flanks open against obscenely rich clubs funded by nation states…when even midtable teams have the quality to exploit our shape?
Naturally, we’re still in Season One of our rebuild, and the fact we’re even in the Top 4 race shows significant improvement over the state in which Conte left us. And our need for quality squad depth has been well documented for many years under many managers. But if playing a hand-picked addition such as Radu undoes much of our system, what does that bode for the steps we take next season and beyond?
USMOTM
There’s only one choice for me. Cristian Romero was brilliant. Perhaps only in soccer can you say a central defender in a 3-0 blowout was your best player, but the score would’ve been much worse without his efforts, and he continues to be vital to everything we do. Look where one data analyst ranks Romero as a threat creator (also check out Davies and Deki on this list…and oh how we miss Perisic!):
Our vice-captain is certainly a leading candidate for Tottenham’s POTY.
MOVING ON
Need a pick-me-up after the Fulham match? Head over to Lilywhite Lab’s analysis of our incoming Swedish sensation, Lucas Bergvall.
And in Wales’s 4-1 victory over Finland in the Euro Qualifiers, Davies captained his side while Brennan Johnson scored in the second half. Wales are now headed to a playoff final with Poland. American subscribers may have to do a job with your VPN, but you view watch the highlights here:
Next up: After the international break, we host Luton and must grab all three points.
UP THE SPURS!
—Upstate Spurs