MISTAKES AND MYTH TAKES
“It’s the players” and other fallacies
Bournemouth 1-0 Spurs
Premier League
Vitality Stadium
December 5, 2024
Formations: Bournemouth 4-2-3-1 (captain: Adam Smith); Spurs 4-3-3 (James Maddison)
Goals: Huijsen 17’
This was your classic non-classic, one of those away matches for which travelling supporters truck it hours away to watch our boys slog through an inspired performance to a lesser club. Yes, Bournemouth are a solid team and 4 points above us in the table, but the benefits of freedom from UEFA fixtures cannot be overstated. In this latest battle in our war of attrition, we were missing three of our back four with Ben Davies and Radu Dragusin still manning the center back positions and Archie Gray in for Pedro Porro. Brennan Johnson also spelled Son Heung-min at left wing.
We didn’t exactly start off fresh, as Gray put the ball out 11 seconds in under no pressure, not the best of omens, though we did have chances to take the lead. Madders played in Dejan Kulusevski in the 6’, but Deki’s right-footed attempt went straight at the keeper Kepa. We should’ve scored two minutes later when Madders found Dom Solanke behind the Bournemouth line. Our striker did well to shield right defender Dean Huijsen from the ball, but the Bournemouth man did just enough to deflect Solanke’s shot.
Of course, we lost on a goal surrendered on a corner. While this one obviously cannot be blamed on Guglielmo Vicario, who will remain sidelined for a good chunk of the season, it did come from the familiar scenario of a blown marker as the 19-year-old Huijsen became the youngest player to score a PL goal for the hosts.
He began the corner just behind Illia Zabarnyi and Evanilson. We had three men in front of them (see above), but as Pepe Matar Sarr followed Evanilson and Davies marked Zabarnyi, Dragusin dropped deep, and Huijsen went far corner, where Destiny Udogie failed to pick him up. The youngster had acres of space to head it in.
It seems we’ve seen this kind of match many times of late. We had 65.5% of the possession but were outshot 21 to 12, 8 shots on target to our 4. Bournemouth’s defensive midfielder duo of the American Tyler Adams and Scotsman Ryan Christie did well to plug things up for us. (Fun fact: At the youth soccer club over which I preside as a volunteer, our travel director once coached Adams.)
Afterward, some of our fans directed invectives toward Ange as our skipper attempted to salute the away support. I respect the way he handled it—he pointed to himself with an inquisitive look on his face as if to confirm they were directing their ire at him personally. It was clear they were, and he nodded with a shrug of acceptance. He seemed to be saying, All right, mates. Have a go at me, not at the boys.
Notably, Djed Spence was following behind Ange motioning for the same supporters to take it easy. To many supporters, including me, Ange’s choice not to use Spence at least late in matches we are chasing like this one is a head scratcher. Spence’s show of support for the skipper, though, suggests he’s not taking it personally.
Spurs 3-4 Chelsea
Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
December 8, 2024
Solanke 5’, Kulusevski 11’, Sancho 17’, Palmer 63’ (pen), Fernandez 73’, Palmer 84’ (pen), Son 90+6’
Formations: Tottenham 4-3-3 (captain: Son Heung-min), Chelsea 4-2-3-1 (Enzo Fernandez)
The derby started off so well. Sonny, Porro, Mickey van de Ven, Cristian Romero were all back in the XI. We scored two early goals, both after Chelsea left back Marc Cucurella, who’d apparently worn the wrong kind of boots for the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium turf on Sunday, surrendered the ball both times deep in Chelsea territory after slipping and sliding like a tot at water park.
One the first goal, Brennan Johnson said thank you very much and made a composed delivery to Solanke. This past week has been a homecoming of sorts for the striker, as he came up through the Chelsea academy—making only one senior appearance for the club, that in the Europa League—and later became an established star for Bournemouth after a season and a half in limbo with Liverpool. More and more, we’re beginning to see what he can do—I suspect we have yet to see his best in a Spurs kit. On the goal, he showed excellent movement in getting past Chelsea’s Levi Colwell to receive the ball and deliver a clever strike from a tough angle past keeper Robert Sanchez.
Our second goal came courtesy of another moment of Deki dynamism. He cut in from the right and, with the margin of error of a mouse hole, sent a left-footed shot that nutmegged midfielder Romero Lavia and slipped behind defender Benoit Badiashile, just inside the right post and just out of Sanchez’s reach. It was one of his most impressive strikes with Spurs so far.
And then it all fell apart.
Romero came off after just 15 minutes with a quad injury. Moments thereafter, Porro got little help from Romero’s replacement, Dragusin, as Sancho cut in from the left and banked one in off the inside of the right post from a shot he had too much space to make.
Chaos reigned supreme as it often does in the derbies with Chelsea. They would have equalized right at the 32’ mark if not for a great save from Forster of a Palmer strike and an even more impressive one a second later on Neto’s follow-up.
But we should’ve gone back up by a pair a few minutes later after another howler by Chelsea. Sanchez kicked one straight to Sarr, and Solanke’s dummy freed up Sonny to receive Sarr’s pass in the box. Our captain, in turn, found Solanke in front of Sanchez. This time, the England international got his footing wrong. Ange was demonstrably frustrated on the sideline as the chance was wasted. Dragusin made a goal-saving challenge of Nate Jackson in the 41st minute, and we went to the break up one.
In truth, though, Chelsea had grabbed the balance of play, and Sancho would’ve had an equalizer three minutes into the second half if not for another bear paw of a close-range save from Forster. It must be said: what a job he’s done between the posts. He’s arguably been our best player since Venom broke his ankle. (But get well soon, Vic!)
Chelsea kept coming, and their aggressiveness paid off when Yves Bissouma brought down Moses Caicedo in the box. Palmer converted the penalty to draw us even at 2-2, yet it already felt as if we’d already lost the match.
Still, we had a chance to go back up in the 72nd minute. Solanke dropped a pass down the left for which Udogie would’ve been offside. When Destiny pulled up, Chelsea inexplicably did as well, leaving Sonny to collect it and break free on goal. He had Timo unmarked on the right, but with apologies to Timo, Sonny had reason to favor his own chances there. It wasn’t quite a sitter, but it was the kind of shot our captain has buried many times over, while Werner is no one’s idea of a polished finisher. So we can’t blame his choice, but the execution was poor as our captain sent it wide of goal.
Fernandez’s go-ahead goal was a frustrating one. We seemed hypnotized as Palmer, clearly feeling his oats, bobbed and weaved into the box—see my admission from a previous post about mixing metaphors—yet his shot was deflected to the Chelsea captain, who put home the kind of strike he’d be fortunate to replicate this season.
The visitor’s fourth goal was an early Christmas present gift wrapped by Sarr, who needlessly took down Palmer with the attacker’s back to our goal on the edge of our box. True to form, the England rising star tallied his second penalty for an insurance goal. We did pull one back when Madders, introduced not until 79th minute, created a chance from the goal line and found Sonny in the middle, the kind of goal we saw many a time involving one or both of the two in those heady first couple of months in Ange’s first season.
WHAT DID WE LEARN?
First, let’s give some credit to the opposition. Bournemouth is a solid team, and they’re taking advantage of a table that’s become clogged due to the inconsistent form and fitness issues of the top teams. And Chelsea is good. Very good. Sorry, but I think they may well win the league. They remind me a little of our side from the 2015-16 season…except they’re Chelsea and, unlike our team that season, have 2 or even 3 players at every position.
As for Tottenham Hotspur, we are an oft-chaotic team that is dependably undependable. We sit 11th in the table and 7 points off top 4, which has become an unrealistic goal. I’m calling it now. Even with our occasional 4-goal outbursts, can anyone honestly see us catching any one of Liverpool, Chelsea, Woolwich, or (even with their faults) City? At this point, any kind of European qualification looks unlikely, and—despite the TV money we’d lose—it may well be the best thing for us if we expect to compete next season.
LITTLE MYTHS MISUNDERSTOOD
“It’s the players.”
This has become a sore spot for me over the past several seasons, even going back to Pochettino. Sure, the players are the ones playing the game on the pitch. (To all the Captains Obvious rushing to their keyboards to say so: I see you.) If a player scores or doesn’t score, he’s the one who scores or doesn’t. I get it. I’m familiar with the dynamics of competitive sport.
But one reason I’ve come to hate that argument is it effectively lifts responsibility off the shoulders of the manager…and of club management. Yes, the players play. And it’s the manager’s job to put them in the best position to succeed. And it’s management’s job to give the manager players that can enact his vision.
Listen, I really like Ange. I’ve made clear I’m firmly #AngeIn, and I would be deeply disappointed in, if not resentful of, Daniel Levy if he were to sack Ange right now. Or anytime soon. But we’ve now seen a disconcerting number of times when he was too slow to respond to the tilt of field. Even after we’d taken an early 2-0 lead v. Chelsea, it felt like a lead too early taken. The south London side took over the match before halftime and maintained their momentum into the second.
(…and yes, I see the xG. Much like WAR in baseball, xG is a useful but not infallible stat. See also below regarding things that happen when you don’t reverse a field tilt.)
Enzo Maresco made a halftime substitution, bringing on Malo Gusto. Chelsea had us under the kosh. Ange’s answer? He brought on Timo Werner. For Brennan Johnson. On the right.
It was a terrible move, one made all the worse by the subsequent revelation that Johnson had reported feeling unwell during the half. Ange would have been on notice to make a change. And yet the best he came up with was to use Timo on the right, where he has looked lost and again looked lost. I’ve argued that Werner has a use in this squad, yet his productivity is limited almost entirely to a left-sided role in which he can either cut in to shot on his right or get around the defender and cross with his left. With his cameo on the right v. Chelsea, he was all but useless and, at one point when he had a chance to make a run at his marker, pretty much just surrendered the ball weakly to the defender.
Can the players do better? Surely. Almost every player on any pitch can do better at some point during the match. But it seems at the heart of “It’s the players” is an expectation that they never fail to execute. Was it Solanke’s fault we because he failed to convert a chance in front of goal—after he’d taken a beautiful chance early in the match? How many times did we hear “It’s the players” when Kane was winning us matches from nothing or when Son was regularly slaying his xG? Which players? First, be more specific. Next, ask yourself if the gaffer put them in the best chance to succeed. Were we limited by Werner’s…limitations? Okay. Could a better player have been brought on instead in that situation? Could Madders have come off the bench to create in the middle while pushing Deki to the right? Madders did come on later and create? Why wait? And why is Spence even named in the team when Ange seemingly refuses to bring him on even late in matches crying out for his skill set?
Then ask yourself why we have squad limitations year in, year out, despite revenue from a state-of-the-art stadium that we were told would be a game changer for us, along with our increasingly international brand. When we badly need 1v1 artistry in our side, why do we always get the Odoberts while the Chelseas get the Netos? (Hint: It rhymes with rage rail.) And when we do spend, why does it so often go to promising young players whose profile is based more on potential than productivity that will improve the XI? Although he looks like a nice player with an upside, that English tax on Gray looks like a hefty one indeed.
“We didn’t take our chances” a.k.a “the other team was fortunate.”
I’m losing patience with this one. We used to hear this a lot during Jose’s troubled reign as we routinely yielded the balance of play. We often heard it from Jose himself, usually variations on a theme: Don’t blame me; it’s the players who didn’t produce. We heard it even as Harry Kane was winning the Golden Boot and Playmaker Awards and he and Son were breaking the record for a scoring tandem.
And here’s the funny thing: When you allow the other team to control a match and you’re not proactive in changing it when it’s happening before your eyes, you tempt fate. Strange things begin to happen. Lady luck slides onto the opposing bench. Balls get deflected in unfortunate ways. Referees get caught up in the momentum and make calls against you. Your players tire and make mistakes both mental and physical. They take a man or two down in the box.
It’s not fair. It’s the players. Why didn’t they just win??
Why? Because in competitive sport, the other side is also trying to win. Their manager is making decisions he thinks will make them more likely to win. And in elite clubs, management/ownership is spending in a way to help that happen.
“He’s gotta go.”
Having stated the above, I think recent club history tells us #AngeOut is a ridiculous stance to take, for several reasons…
Firstly, we’re not even at the halfway point of his second season, mate. Look how long it took Klopp, or the whiny nerd with that lot across town, to get results. Remember when Arteta’s boys folded to us at the end of the 2021-22 season? They fell to fifth and missed out on Champions League. Yet ownership saw that season as a sign of progress. (Now when they fold, they fall to second…)
Secondly, he hasn’t yet been given the ingredients he needs to cook. It’s been three transfer windows. We’ve admittedly had some nice finds in Vicario, VDV, Udogie, and Johnson. We’ve brought in a great system fit in Solanke. But we need more. The pieces are falling into place, and you want to knock all the blocks down again?
Thirdly, if we sack Ange, who are we going to bring to do better? Who?? At some point, we need to get off this post-Poch revolving door of managers and stick with one wtih whom we can grow.
Fourth, if we keep hiring and firing managers, what adept managerial genius will even want to work for us?
Fifth, Ange is popular with the players. Stars like Son and Deki love him. Johnson is thriving under him. And contrary to recent aggregator crap, Romero spoke this week about how the players love him. If we blow up the project and start again, how long do you think we’ll hold onto our most promising players?
“#LevyOut”
Listen, I agree Levy needs to do better for us. I’ve long been convinced he would rather save a million pounds than gain a point in the table, even if that point would make the difference between Top 4 qualification and Thursday nights in some disputed zone in eastern Europe. And from his comments in that Amazon series, one wonders how well he even knows the game.
All that said, Levy won’t fire himself, so why bother shouting this?
So, yes, put the pressure on him. Speak out. Demand more from him. Never let him forget we’re watching. He’s not immune to supporter outcry. His yearly missives to supporters makes this clear. He’s aware of fan feedback. So we should keep giving it to him. Make our feelings known.
It is time to #BackAnge.
UP THE SPURS!
Next up: We travel to Glasgow on Thursday to face Rangers in the Europa League. COYS!
Also, FYI: Brentford away will move to Sunday, February 2, at 2:00 UK time. Our home match with Man United has moved to Sunday, Feb 16, 4:30 UK time.