with it.
A return to the Spurs we all know and have suffered through that faltered just when it was all there on the plate right in front of them, yet that Spurs would have been punished far more.
It could have been a lot worse but while Spurs were losing in the Pikies cup final, the Woolwich Wanderers and Citeh were also going down while the only gainers in the midweek fixtures were Leicester and they just picked up a single point.
So if they were going to have one day when they put in the worst performance of the season then they got away with it.
And bad it was, right from well just after the start – the start I liked with seven Spurs players lined up on the halfway line at kick-off – right to the end with a very slight interlude during the second half.
Out harried and hustled by a host team that crowded the defence with a back three, going to five with the midfield lacking much space as well, putting their foot in and not bothering about the niceties of where a ball is going just getting it out of there.
This was compounded by a Spurs side that were sloppier than a sloppy thing that’s all sloppy.
Sloppiness led to the, ultimately, winning goal. Individual errors by and individual. Chadli, sloppy pass and then from the resulting corner letting his man get free and head in the goal.
The rest of the half saw Spurs threaten their goal, well, not very often. No shots on target. It was woeful stuff and everything was snuffed out with ease, hell a lot of the time they didn’t even have to bother trying, Spurs snuffed it out themselves.
Everyone was expecting a second half reaction, a Pochettino bollocking during the break and Spurs to come out rejuvenated. It didn’t happen as the second 45 followed the pattern of the first.
It as all too cramped. Davies and Trippier getting a lot of the blame. But Davies has provided some decent balls into the box of late and Trippier is the best crosser available. They just didn’t put that many in and when they did, in Trippier’s case no one was either there or doing enough to get there to finish it off.
The one real chance to get even fell to the otherwise anonymous Kane, after Toby’s pile-driver, who fluffed the chance.
It was a night for some calmness from the players when it was all harum and scarum. Crying out for a Dembele to just put his foot on the ball, glide forward past a few defenders and open up some space, but he wasn’t available. Poch went more attacking brining on Carroll for Wimmer, moving Dier back into defence but really he’s not the answer.
Nothing was, it was just going to be one of those days, might as well had that pre-game lasagne, still they might have just got away with it… and now get back out and go on the type of run that followed the last set backs against Newcastle and Leicester.
So they can celebrate like they’ve won a trophy, well I suppose most of ’em can’t remember actually doing so, bless…