Tottenham went to next stage of FA cup after winning Burnley at home with result of 1:0. Ange Postecoglou went out with what he believes is the best squad of Spurs. However that performance was far away from good and pointed to all problematic players currently playing in Spurs shirt.
First we allowed two dead chances to away side and it is real wonder and great luck they didn't score from them. 90% of Premier League clubs would score them and went out with 1:2 victory. I am talking about chances where we left opponent alone in front of goalkeeper on around 5 meters. One happened in first and one in second half.
It's not like Spurs didn't have chances We made at least 6-7 of them but we missed Son really badly in this game which shows we will have great suffering time until he returns from Asian games. He's only clinical player in our squad.
Here are my thoughts about some of our players:
Richarlison: He showed once more that he is half player. He can run, he can do press, but when it comes to finishing he need sitter or ball onto his head to score a goal. He had two big chances in first half and failed to score both. In first he made poor weak shot outside of goal and in second his attempt was easily saved. Worst his moment was in second half when goalie deflected ball on 6 meteres into his feet and he failed to even make a shot on goal, but got dispossessed.
Brenan Johnson: He is better on right than on left side, he struggled during most of the game. He had two big chances and one shot in second half. Two chances were volleys from 6-7 meters from narrow angle and from far post. One went wide of goal, another was easily saved. In one point of the second half he tried to cut inside from left side and made a shot which was partly blocked and ball went straight into goalkeeper arms. However his worst moments were in second half went he had ball and opponent in front of him. Real winger would dribble him and run inside the box, but our Welshman went in out with ball. Other situation was when he kicked ball in front of himself in goal kick. He is good when he gets ball in space when he can make advantage over opponent with his pace, but on one on one situations he didn't convince me he can do something. When it comes to scoring goals he looks very much unable to put ball inside the net.
Dejan Kulusevski: He had poor game. He didn't do absolutely nothing on right wing in first half. He showed himself in second when he cuts in and fired shot which went 1-2 meters wide of goal. When he came from Juventus he could cut inside and if he has one player in front of him make position to shot and fire up dangerous shot, but it seems he can't do it anymore. The worst moment was when he cut in had opportunity to shot but hesitated and then tried to pass ball to someone in worse position just to give ball away to opponents. There was situation when he got ball for counter attack on right wing, but he run slowly and turned around instead of running into the space. Very much worrying situation. He will hardly score a goal in next couple of games.
So our entire front line Johnson - Richarlison - Kulusevski has big problems in scoring goals.
Bryan Gil: He came in in second half and showed once more he is not player for this level of competition. What to say about winger who had one opponent from club from bottom of the table in front of him just to run directly into him rebound like ball from him and falls on the grass ? He is excuse of player. We need to get rid of him. He can't do absolutely anything on the pitch. Missed sitter from goal line in previous game, in this showed amazing inability with the ball. Not a player, should try himself in music, because he looks like Beatles. He's also paper thin and weak and every opponent can wind him off the pitch.
Lo Celso: He received couple of knocks. I didn't notice him doing extremely bad things, but didn't notice him doing much good things either... He is not the answer on position number 10.
Skipp: Once more he showed he is not a player for this level of competition. He was completely lost on the pitch. He looks slow and unable to do anything useful with the ball. He was pure man down until he went out. He also made one reckless tackle for which I would give him yellow card. He was lucky to avoid this.
Bentancur: he just came out of injury, but showed quality in some moments. He can trick two opponents around him, it is easy for him to trick one. He made some nice passes, but he was not on top of his game which I understand completely because he had so long injury. To be honest he didn't have players to play with.
Vicario didn't have much to do on goal. He did his job good, he went out of goal when he should, he was quick and didn't make mistakes. Defenders were on usual level. Wing backs showed good performance. Bad thing is that full back on center back position Davies has done his hamstring.
Porro: he scored amazing goal and decided this match. Must be the best player in this game, but made also few bad crosses from set pieces and live play. He was good in defense and fought a lot.
We wouldn't win this game if Burnley player didn't want to act like unchin (bad ass) and tried and failed to pass ball through Porro's legs. Ball fortunately hit Porro's legs and he had plenty of open space in front of opponent box from narrow angle. Pedro made world class attempt and his ball ended just where football fans like which is little lower than place where crossbar and post are connecting for very effective goal for 1:0 and going trough next stage. If Manchester City want him they can start preparing offer over 100 million in the summer.
Did they underestimate opponent or did they underestimate this competition is open question. There is possibility they didn't do either and that they are just on same level with Burnley at the moment. I don't believe in last one. Spurs had more possession, shots, corners and look convincing in statistics, it is not they hadn't create chances. However with those non clinical attackers it will be very hard to score goals until Son and Madders come back. We will suffer big time until that happens.
This game was big disappointment and like one elder fan told let's not talk about it in the future.
Comments