The game was just 20 seconds old when Cristian Romero set the tone for Tottenham’s day both on and off the pitch.
The Argentine was finally back in action for Spurs after months out and his name received a huge cheer from the crowd just moments before kick-off. The 26-year-old was back and wearing the captain’s armband in the sunshine with Son Heung-min and James Maddison on the bench.
There was a tangible excitement about the return of Romero. However, the centre-back has also played only 15 minutes of football in four months and it showed as he took a matter of seconds for him to undo all of that excitement.
The centre-back turned inside with the ball on the right-hand side of his own box and miss-hit a left-footed pass straight at Evanilson, who ran on and thankfully for the World Cup winner, Guglielmo Vicario made a vital low save to deny the Bournemouth striker and bail out his defender.
It was a moment that sucked all of the energy out of the team and the crowd.
That’s because Romero was meant to be the saviour as the man with the medals and the required aggression, but instead he looked vulnerable and suddenly an anxious wave swept around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It’s a chicken and egg scenario when it comes to the atmosphere within a ground. The team must give the fans something to cheer about but also the supporters, by their very name, must play their part as a 12th man in home games.
Yet the Tottenham supporters have been beaten down this season, especially at home. Spurs might have won three and drawn one of their past five Premier League games, but at home they have won just once in their past 10 matches in the competition.
Fans who pay such high season ticket prices deserve better. They are shelling out so much money every match for a club that has brought them nothing silver and shiny to cheer about for decades.
All of the above contributed to an atmosphere that was as flat as a pancake on Sunday and when the senior players were needed in the first half to inspire, instead they shrank like wilting flowers.
Yves Bissouma’s foot was spring-like, the 28-year-old’s attempts at controlling the ball at times sending it flying away from him and just five minutes in Justin Kluivert took a loose ball off the midfielder. Again Vicario had to come to the rescue, this time with his leg stopping the Dutchman’s shot.
Bentancur, 27, fared little better. The Uruguayan did plenty of huffing and puffing and pressing but continually gave the ball away in key moments, particularly as he moved into the final third.
Bissouma was hauled off at half-time for the infinitely better Lucas Bergvall but by then dreadful passing had already seen to it that Spurs would go into the break behind.
It had come when the hosts had looked like they were getting a foothold in the game. Three minutes from the break Pedro Porro’s under hit pass never reached Brennan Johnson. Milos Kerkez sprinted into the space the Spaniard had left behind him by losing the ball and the Cherries full-back swung in a great cross that Marcus Tavernier slid home after getting beyond Djed Spence.
In the second half, Bournemouth had an effort ruled out for offside with Kluivert well beyond the defence and Spurs responded with a deflected Son shot that curled against the outside of the post. Maddison replaced Bentancur on the hour mark and with Son teed up Pape Matar Sarr for a glorious chance that the young midfielder dragged wide from a great position.
Spurs were made to pay for that profligacy when Kluivert sold Kevin Danso a dummy with a body swerve and played in Evanilson who dinked a delicate shot over the onrushing Vicario.
Tottenham did then finally start to fight back. First Bergvall hit a low effort from distance against the left-hand post.
Then the Swede sent Sarr up the pitch and the 22-year-old profited from a bit of luck as he curled a cross that would have reached nobody in an empty box yet it sailed over Kepa and bounced into the net off the left-hand post.
Kluivert then hit the post at the other end for Bournemouth before Son was brought down in the Bournemouth box by Kepa after running on to Maddison’s pass and the captain stepped up to tap a ridiculously calm penalty down the middle. Both sides pushed for a winner but ultimately the spoils were shared.
“Chaotic game for sure,” Ange Postecoglou told football.london. “We added to the chaos and it was a little bit self-inflicted, especially in the first half, just with the ball we were really careless with our passing and that allowed the game to be played on the terms Bournemouth would like with their transition football.
“So yeah chaotic but at 2-0 down it would have been very easy, particularly with the atmosphere as it was, for the boys to just let the game get away from us, but credit to them, they found a way to get back into the game and we got something out of it.”
Postecoglou was stating a fact, at 2-0 down the atmosphere was understandably down in the dumps within the stadium, but as an under-fire manager it’s better to just veer away from that entirely.
By all means at Wednesday’s press conference, call for the crowd to give everything they’ve got ahead of the return leg against AZ, but don’t mention it all got very quiet after another ropey showing at home from the team you’re responsible for.
Mentioning it in his press conference on Sunday only invited further questions from the media about the anxious atmosphere and whether it needs to be different in midweek.
“I can’t dictate to people how they interact, but, AZ’s crowd certainly helped them on Thursday night and we need our crowd to get behind the boys on Thursday to make it an atmosphere where maybe we lose some of that nervousness and anxiety within our game,” he said.
“But the reality is, we as a team have to respond irrespective of the atmosphere and one may follow the other. If we start the game strong, it’ll get the place nice and loud, which will help us.”
The second half is the key part that will get lost when fans assume Postecoglou is blaming them for his team’s mistakes. He’s not, he’s just pointing out that it’s harder to perform in a nervy atmosphere than a noisy one.
Just mentioning the crowd though will get people’s backs up. Some of those who have shelled out their hard-earned money for those expensive tickets will be furious as will some who have not.
Social media was full of angry responses to the mere mention of the crowd, although perhaps many of those same fans have also bemoaned poor atmospheres at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium themselves this season for what they see as “too many tourists” not creating a noise.
Again, it’s the chicken and the egg scenario. In Europe’s major leagues, some of the fans of bigger clubs look to be entertained rather than push their side on, while in British football there’s more of a sense of creating a cauldron of noise.
Regardless of which you believe is the right way, there’s no denying that winning, good football and a good feeling help foster something to believe in. That’s what Postecoglou’s side have to give the fans again.
“Everybody [here] has to look at ourselves,” said Son after the game. “Nobody will help us except on the pitch. I think those guys who are playing need to take more responsibility as I always say and it’s been many, many times we have been sloppy, we start sloppy, get behind and then chase the game.
“It’s not ideal. We have to be very strong and make a step forward. You can’t always stay on the same stairs, you have to try to make a step forward as we move on and it’s almost as much we have to improve our stats and our growth. We have to move forward.”
(Image: (Photo by Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images))
Romero and the returnees
Getting Romero, Van de Ven and Solanke back and sharp will be key to moving forward as the trio got 60, 35 and 96 minutes respectively under their belts.
“That’s the key thing, they got minutes. Romero just great to get him back out there. He’s such an important player for us but you could see he hasn’t played for a while,” Postecoglou told football.london. “I thought he grew into the game and got a lot better as it went on. Great for Dom to get 90 minutes today, he’s such a workhorse for us and I’m sure he’ll feel better for that. Brilliant to get Micky out there as well. I think before Thursday night that was key for us to get some minutes into these guys and thankfully they got through it unscathed.”
Postecoglou could need both his centre-backs to link up together on Thursday night as Kevin Danso did not seem to be moving freely towards the end of Sunday’s draw, even if he was still trying to throw himself at everything.
According to Postecoglou on Friday, Ben Davies is in training and on his way back and Archie Gray remains a central defensive option, even if the fans are desperate to see him in the midfield ahead of his stuttering senior team-mates.
Romero made his feelings very clear after the game about his issues in recent months with his latest social media post.
“After a tough period full of things that happened in between, I’m back with the group and happy to be able to help the team,” he said. “There’s surely a lot to fix and work on, but we’re together and eager to turn this situation around. See you on Thursday, we’ll come back stronger than ever, all together @SpursOfficial.”
Then he added a very pointed further sentence: “Grateful to the physios at @afaseleccion for pulling me out of a bad moment and getting me back on the field where I’m so happy. Thanks to everyone for the constant support.”
Romero was making it clear that it was the Argentina national team’s medical staff who got him back and fit, not Tottenham’s.
In a way, the vice-captain, who has been one of Postecoglou’s biggest supporters within the squad, was also continuing to back the Australian by indirectly putting the focus back on the club’s medical department.
The amount of reinjuries at Tottenham this season has concerned the head coach and coaching staff and will have naturally divided those inside the club between those who believe it is a result of Postecoglou football and others who think it is a failing of the medical side.
For Romero, he had only played 15 minutes against Chelsea after returning from a toe problem before turning awkwardly and putting himself out again for three months with a quad muscle injury. With his thanking of the Argentinean FA’s medical staff, it’s clear where his thoughts lie.
It comes at a time when Brazilian media claimed that Richarlison visited the club Palmeiras this week in order to be examined by an old doctor there from his youth days in Brazil. Although the reports claim it was simply a consultation over his current injury, which they say is in his ankle, rather than treatment, it’s again another example of a player going back home for help.
On Sunday, the two-time Copa America winner Romero did grow into the game as it wore on after that rusty start with a couple of misplaced passes and one miss-timed tackle, and Postecoglou admitted that the centre-back had wanted to exceed the original plan for his game time.
“I’m not surprised [he was rusty], he hasn’t played for a very long time. He’s hardly played this year to be fair. Cuti will be disappointed with that himself but at the same time what was much more important for me was how grew into his game, his defensive work, his aerial ability,” he said.
“I mean he was on the end of almost every cross they put into the box from corners and I think for him he will feel a lot better just having played. The idea was only to play 45 today, but he was keen to stay on for a bit longer and you could see he grew into the game and was really important for us.”
One thing Romero was doing, even in the sticky early moments, was trying to force the play with quick progressive passes between the lines. He played seven passes into the final third, the joint-second highest with Bentancur among both sides. That’s going to be key for Tottenham because they’ve missed that from the absent Argentinean.
Romero was off the pitch when the second Bournemouth goal went in. Danso was too easily sucked out of position and bypassed by the swerving Kluivert, leaving Evanilson to run in to score behind Van de Ven, who still has to shake off his cobwebs, with Spence playing him onside.
The young Dutchman began to find his feet later in the game with a couple of trademark runs up the pitch. Van de Ven’s pace, when he’s confident to use it again, will allow Spurs to squeeze up the pitch with less fear of what happened with the opening goal of the game.
“I think there was a perseverance there [among the team] and probably to the angst of our supporters, but they kept trying to play and that’s important,” said Postecoglou of his team.
“I think that’s the best way to work your way through the struggle we had out there and even when Micky came on, you saw the drive he has and having a left-footed centre-back, it changes the dimension of how we play. There are little things there that certainly from today we can take into Thursday and the rest of the season.”
For Solanke, this was a game about sharpening up because there was little in the way of a football for him to use. He touched the ball just 35 times across the entire 96 minutes. For context, Brennan Johnson came off at half-time with 29 touches and Bissouma with 52.
Tottenham need to get the ball to the striker if he is to hold it up or even do that thing all forwards live for, scoring goals.
The creativity issue
For a team that has scored so many goals this season, the second most in the Premier League, Spurs have dipped in their chance creation in recent games.
Yes they hit the woodwork twice against Bournemouth and Sarr missed a great chance in the second half, but they’re not testing the goalkeeper enough at the moment and that comes down to the playmaker and winger issues.
It’s all very well having 61% of the possession but you have to be dangerous with it. Movement is key and on too many occasions, Vicario looked up with the ball at his feet and had nobody available to pass to, as players got stuck behind the Bournemouth press rather than trying to evade it.
James Maddison and Vicario could be seen having an intense, albeit constructive-looking chat after the game as they walked around the pitch with the midfielder putting his arm around the goalkeeper. Perhaps it was about the struggles of Tottenham in asserting any control over the chaotic encounter.
“I just never felt like we had the control or the momentum or fluency in the game to be able to still make it as high tempo as possible, but without it having the chaos of what it did today because it ended up becoming a basketball game and that really suits them,” said Postecoglou.
“That’s kind of their template and you need to control the game more, which we want to do anyway if you want to turn it into a game where it is high tempo but less chaotic as it was today.”
Spurs under Postecoglou are such a frustrating team. Somehow it remains that only Liverpool have beaten them by more than a single goal this season. A little tightening up of their play in various games would have made for an entirely different campaign and Postecoglou knows it.
“We looked nervous, we looked anxious, especially in the first half, but within that context, to come back from 2-0 down, I think the positives of that is the lads showed a really strong mindset to to get something out of the game, which to be fair, that’s probably what’s been missing this year,” he said.
“I think there’s a lot of games we’ve lost where games have just petered out and if we had turned more of those single-goal defeats into draws like we did today, we’d be in a better position in the league.”
What Postecoglou would do for a fit and fresh Dejan Kulusevski right now. Alongside Maddison, the Australian only really has two playmakers in the duo and with the England hopeful struggling in midweek and a need for fresh legs in the engine room, he went for a system on Sunday that was about energy and industry over creativity, with a brief to get the ball out to the wings for either the full-backs or the wingers to feed Solanke.
It didn’t work as pass after pass ran aground or those wingers dribbled into dead ends and it ended up as a selection mistake from Postecoglou to leave Maddison or Bergvall out of the starting line-up, perhaps both, even though the latter was being protected.
Brennan Johnson remains Spurs’ top scorer but looks low on confidence in his game and his speed right now, while Wilson Odobert will need coaching in the months and years to come to turn his threat into something with more bite than simply bark. The 20-year-old can beat a defender with ease but has little idea what to do with the ball once he’s past him.
The arrival of first Son and then Maddison improved the attacking passing triangles. Both players look better sometimes when they arrive with a point to prove.
Before the game they could be seen joking during the warm-up when the South Korean fell to the floor after an accidental collision with a team-mate and Maddison went over and pretended to check his knee and leg like a physio.
As they both laughed, it was a moment that predictably enraged Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane, who remains on his current Maddison mission, as of course players didn’t smile on a football pitch in the Irishman’s day and definitely not in the deathly serious warm-up.
Somehow, despite the hurdle to overcome of his pundit-enraging grin, Maddison made an impact. He should have had an assist for Sarr after his interplay with Son and then set the captain away for the run that led to the penalty.
Son was more of a direct threat than Johnson and Odobert, who moved across to the right wing in the second half.
The 32-year-old Spurs captain is not a fan of being rotated out of the team even if he knows it’s a squad game and has to happen sometimes.
“I mean I still want to play every single game. Physically, I still feel better than ever, but look, it’s a team and everyone needs the game time,” he said. “With the squad we have right now, it’s very, very helpful and you can go to the game with fresh legs, with fresh energy and mentally and physically fresh. The most important thing now is performance wise and to get a result. It’s definitely helpful.”
Son was disappointed with the rescued point on Sunday even if it was progress after Thursday’s dire display in Alkmaar.
“Thursday was unacceptable. The performance and the way we took to the game with [our] attitude. It was very, very bad but today I am also not really happy with the result and we can look in a positive way that we came back from 2-0 but it shouldn’t already happen at home,” he said.
“It is already in the past the game, so we have to look forward, be positive and take some tough moments because Thursday is another big game at home. We need everyone. From the supporters, players, staff from the club, we need everybody with that game to turn it around.”
It will be interesting to see what part Mathys Tel plays now that Solanke is back as Postecoglou has hinted that his role would then move to be a winger. It could well be that the 19-year-old gets a job on the right flank alongside Son and Solanke on Thursday night if Postecoglou decides to try out a new attacking trio.
There is also Mikey Moore, who terrorised AZ the last time the two teams met in N17, even if the 17-year-old found no spot on the bench on Sunday as Postecoglou went for another striker in Scarlett alongside Tel.
Postecoglou needs to find a way on Thursday night to stoke the creativity train up again because Spurs need to make life difficult for AZ if they are to prolong their European adventure and by extension their season.
Thank goodness for Bergvall
Postecoglou might not be a fan of the stat that means Lucas Bergvall registered his first Premier League assist on Sunday but he is a big admirer of the teenager who is turning into a star in front of everyone’s eyes.
The 19-year-old made a mockery of his senior fellow midfielders’ displays on the day with the maturity of his performance. The Swede looks like someone who has rarely lived a day of his life without a ball at his feet.
It’s simply an extension of him. The teenager caresses it, he cares for it and he twists and turns to protect it. There is the odd youthful error with it, but on the whole he’s remarkably difficult to get the ball off. The way he uses his body will stir Tottenham fans’ memories of a young Luka Modric and if the even younger Bergvall can reach even half of the Croatian’s talent then he’ll have a career to remember.
“Lucas was great. He has been great but he has played a lot and we’ve just got to be mindful of that. He’s becoming an important part of our team,” Postecoglou told football.london. “I thought he made a real big impact when he came on.
“Like I said we were sloppy when we were on the ball in the first half and he’s one who takes a bit more care with it. He’s a technician and he carries the ball really well. I thought he and Sonny made a really good impact when they came on.”
The Technician probably isn’t going to become a nickname that sticks for Bergvall but it suits his skillset well.
Postecoglou is not a fan of the assist stat but that won’t remove the fact that the Swede grabbed his first on Sunday. Spurs’ first goal, while fortunate at its end, was a move from back to front as Vicario found Danso and he turned and played the ball to Bergvall.
The Swede took a glance over his shoulder before motoring into space and then played a pass between three Bournemouth players to Sarr, who ran on unopposed and launched his cross beyond Kepa.
The Senegal international did not celebrate, other than a rueful smile towards Bergvall, for not only were Spurs still behind but he likely did not mean the strike to head in that direction.
People forget Sarr is still only 22 and he has so much growth to come. The young Africa Cup of Nations winner has put in some big displays in some big moments against big teams. He has six goals and two assists this season for Spurs. He needs to find consistency to his technique but there’s so much there to work with.
Bergvall needs to be the first name on the team sheet right now and Sarr could join him on Thursday in a trio with Maddison. Bentancur is suspended and Bissouma still looks to have his head at the French ski resort he travelled to earlier last week. With every passing match, Postecoglou’s trust in the Mali international looks to erode further and further.
Thursday will need a big performance from Tottenham, from the key players returning down the spine of the team to the young talented players like Bergvall who have now become essential. Most of all it will need work rate and movement, because the team sheet will not win the game itself.
“Quality doesn’t bring the wins,” said Son. “The game always needs a mentality and the care and the performance. Hard work always matters. The individual quality you don’t have to talk about because everybody is playing in the Premier League and there is a reason why we are playing in the Premier League… football is not only the sport that can turn around.
“We need to be focused, take it seriously, respect our opponent and do everything we can to turn it around, especially at home.”
Win against AZ and Tottenham’s season gets a second wind and there’s something to play for into next month at the least, along with the momentum a big performance could bring. Lose and the campaign is all but over, and everyone knows what comes next at a club where the appraisals are dished out from the top rather than at the top.
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- Source: NEWHD MEDIA
