to lose both looks like carelessness.
In the space of 4 days, four becomes two, as the number of competitions Spurs are in is halved after yet another limp cup exit.
If you didn’t know Pochettino wasn’t really interested in cups beforehand, you might have gathered during but you’d definitely know after they lost to Palace in such an awful manner.
We are going to create a debate that to win a trophy is going to help the club… I don’t agree. That only builds your ego. The important thing is being consistently in the top four and playing in the Champions League Mauricio Pochettino
He might not want to lose the game but he’s not that interested in winning them either, which means Spurs are now on a two game losing streak. With a disgruntled fan base. It got a bit ugly there. Poch might not want trophies on his CV but fans do and that’s what they team is there for in the first place.
Yes we know injuries and international competitions have decimated the squad, there’s slim pickings to start with, but against a weakened Palace side who are looking out for league survival rather than a cup run, surely there was enough to win. But if the manager gives of a couldn’t care less tone, why would the players care. They certainly didn’t show any desire to win.
The first half was the worst half of football by Spurs since… well the first half against Chelsea in the league Cup defeat… and before that the first half against Fulham in the last league game. A downward spiral, a win, a draw and now a loss.
A typical Spurs performance when they’re not on it. All the ball, do bugger all with it. Faced with a flat back nine or ten they persistently try and run through the crowd in the middle or try and pass through the crowd in the middle. It repeatedly fails to work so instead of coming up with a new plan they just keep banging away.
No crosses. No triangles. No runs behind the defence.
Things not helped by personnel used, namely two right footed wingbacks. KWP was always going to come back on his right, which just stifled all attacks down the left flank. He compounded this with his blind panic defending to gift the second goal. An absolutely idiotic hand ball to concede the penalty that Townsend scored.
This of course came after the first gift of the opener. I like Sanchez, he’s only a kid and has only had a couple of full seasons playing but he’s a habit of trying shield a player off the ball rather than play the ball and he’s quite good at tackling but his muscling needs more muscle.
Everything could have turned about with two set pieces for Spurs. Trippier involved in both, he did well with the first, a bright idea to pass the free-kick off to N’Koudou who was all on his lonesome in the box with the goal at his mercy but decided to kick the ball straight at the keeper… not once but twice…
Then after Foyth was kicked up in the air in the area – which the commentator doidn’t originally seem to think was a foul – Tripp had the chance to cut the deficit but blasted his spot-kick wide. Following in the footsteps of his countryman and team-mate Dier, in buggering up something they did with aplomb for England at the World Cup. That tournament is probably the worst thing that has happened in Trippier’s career. He hasn’t been the same since… gone to his head?
Spurs picked up after the break against Chelsea, it involved a formation shift, well there was a formation shift here again after the break, from three to four, with Vertonghen coming off for Lamela. It didn’t improve the side that much, yes they had all the ball but did sod all with it. The removal of Verts probably again showed Poch’s priorities. Now if he’d taken off Tripp, moved KWP to right-back and Jan to left back a better balanced side certainly wouldn’t have been any worse than they were as the game and Spurs participation in the Cup petered out to a whimper.
The Doncaster Rovers boss won’t get his wish of Spurs in the fifth round.
Players and fans want trophies, the players want medals, we all want memories. There’s a reason we look back on those black and white days and those days in colour – that are getting ever distant – because we don’t have too many recent days of celebration. We can be happy about a top four spot but we don’t celebrate it like a trophy – or like Arsenal do – or we shouldn’t.
Yes there’s circumstances, lack of players available and bought but players want trophies on their CV, medals on the mantle piece, even little competitions. They might decide to go elsewhere for them. They might not come if there’s no chance of getting them. And winning breeds winning. Start with the League Cup like like Chelsea and City have done recently, you end up with others.