square one.
Just days after you figured that could be it for the Wembley hoodoo here comes Swansea and a flat back nine.
The midweek champions league victory over Dortmund showed how Spurs can win at their temporary home, unfortunately not many other teams will come to Wembley and attack, most like Swansea will sit back with a 9-0-1, maybe a 8-0-2 formation.
Hopeful that Spurs will do what Spurs do in such situations, struggle.
Of course Spurs don’t exactly help themselves with some of the ponderous manner in which they go forward, that is when they actually go forward and aren’t passing backwards again and again. I don’t know what they’ve told Trippier to do but he seems hellish reluctant to go anywhere near the byline, just knocking it back and in all the time.
On the left Davies was missed. Yes Son didn’t bugger up the left wing back role like last time but when he comes inside there’s no one overlapping and a number of times the Korean was isolated out there. I get why he was left out, a knock and a string of games but why was he on the bench if he wasn’t coming on when the switch was made and Trippier was shifted to the left. That certainly didn’t work.
Things weren’t helped by inept officiating. Mike Dean after giving a number of correct decisions for penalties was harangued by managers and pundits now bottles it when presented with clear hand balls and trips. A player sticks his arm out and controls the ball with it, well that’s a penalty. As for the hand ball he gave against Aurier before the fullback was tripped, how could Dean have seen that, pure guesswork.
The first of those decisions applied correctly and Swansea might have actually done something other than spread themselves across their eighteen yard box.
But even then with Son’s near post bang not coming off again and Kane back to hitting the woodwork or hitting his shots just wide the lead might not have been extended.
Pochettino is going to have to find a way of getting it done after going last season undefeated at home, going winless isn’t ideal. They really did pick the wrong time to move. A plan But would help and you thought one might be coming with the introduction of Llorente, except he hardly touched the ball. Bang in some crosses and play off the guy but no, to me to you tap it around and just ignore him, he might go away.
It all just looks like the return of the Spursy when they go goalless while elsewhere Janssen scores and Paulinho gets the winner for Barcelona.