LONDON — Chelsea moved the ball forward, passing inside to Moises Caicedo near Tottenham`s half. There wasn`t much pressure, and Tottenham`s defenders slowly retreated. Chelsea then tried to switch play to Pedro Neto on the wing. Although a defender was nearby, he wasn`t really challenging. Neto looked up and saw his teammates in space. Without pressure, he should have easily found Cole Palmer or Nicolas Jackson, but he overhit the pass, briefly delaying Tottenham conceding.
But conceding seemed inevitable. Any team that doesn`t prioritize defending their own goal area is unlikely to keep a clean sheet. Especially a team that seems to have lost the identity their manager was trying to build.
Ange Postecoglou`s team was never going to be mistaken for a legendary defense, but they used to have a clear plan. Tottenham would press opponents intensely and with many players. If you managed to get past their press, you might get a good shot on goal, but it was a risk Spurs were willing to take. If Tottenham won the ball back, they had a good chance to score themselves.
When was the last time Tottenham played like that? In this game, there was no sign of that urgency off the ball, despite having had 18 days since their last match. By the end, Chelsea had won the ball back in Tottenham`s defensive third seven times, compared to Tottenham`s four. While there`s no rule saying they must play that way, it`s worth remembering that earlier in the season, during a severe injury crisis, Postecoglou responded to criticism about his high defensive line and aggressive pressing. Without his key defenders, Tottenham adapted and became a weaker team, which was perhaps understandable.
Now, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario, and Destiny Udogie are all playing, yet their defense is still a mess. It`s as if Tottenham are confused about the very idea of defensive organization.
Chelsea often got the ball easily because Tottenham gave it away, and they found themselves facing a Tottenham defense that was slow to react and didn`t really trouble them. Chelsea moved the ball through midfield, where only Rodrigo Bentancur seemed to be putting in effort, and then faced what is supposedly Tottenham`s best back four.
Tottenham`s defensive issues were subtle but constant. Opposing players ran between the fullbacks and center backs unmarked. Palmer could easily get to the touchline whenever he wanted. Against a more clinical team than Chelsea, Spurs would have been punished much earlier than when Enzo Fernandez scored from Palmer`s cross in the second half. Jadon Sancho, in particular, showed why Chelsea might have been better off paying Manchester United not to sign him rather than paying £25 million to bring him in. One powerful shot from Sancho tested Vicario, but too often, Chelsea attacks fizzled out on the left side of the box.
Perhaps Tottenham`s defensive weaknesses could be excused if their attack was still as strong as it was earlier in Postecoglou`s time. But that has also declined recently. Their expected goals from open play (excluding penalties) have dropped to 16th in the league since January. Before Robert Sanchez made a good save to deny Son Heung-min late in the game, Tottenham hadn`t created any significant chances to improve that statistic.
Instead, their poor attack has increased the tension between Postecoglou and Tottenham`s away fans. While much of the fans` anger was directed at chairman Daniel Levy, the substitutions of Wilson Odobert and Lucas Bergvall for Brennan Johnson and Pape Matar Sarr led to chants of `You don`t know what you`re doing` from some fans. When Sarr then scored a brilliant long-range goal moments later, Postecoglou responded by cupping his ear towards the away section.
This moment is the kind of thing that might be shown repeatedly on sports news, possibly soon, when discussing Postecoglou`s time at Tottenham and how a promising start based on clear principles, energy, and authority has become something unrecognizable. Twenty defeats in all competitions, closer to 18th place than 7th, and it`s almost St. Totteringham`s Day (when Arsenal are confirmed to finish above Tottenham). On top of all that, if their defense doesn`t improve quickly, a Europa League exit seems likely soon.
Adrian Whitmore