Feeling pretty good about where these 4 teams are right now compared to us. I just wish we had 2-4 of those points back, especially the Newcastle game, which was an absolute robbery. 10 Man Utd 13 11 Arsenal 13 12 Wolverhampton 13 13 Man City 12
We should be like 12-15 points ahead of United if all things were considered equal in regards to penalty decisions.
Yes, agreed. The Newcastle day was the same day they stole 2 points from Brighton. That day still sticks in my mind and hurts.
Spoiler: This is getting serious - The Athletic This is getting serious By Charlie Eccleshare Nov 22, 2020 110 The same scoreline, both against wasteful Manchester City sides, but really that’s where the similarities end. Spurs may have beaten City 2-0 nine months ago, just as they did again on Saturday, but Jose Mourinho’s team are transformed since then. The side and the two victories as different as the pre-lockdown world in which last season’s win took place. Where that February success felt fortunate, this felt like the result of a clear plan. Where that owed a lot to Oleksandr Zinchenko’s red card and Ilkay Gundogan’s missed penalty and open goal, this was a devastating counter-attacking display. The sort of performance Mourinho’s first Chelsea team used to produce, where they would invite pressure and then suddenly spring into life on the break. That Chelsea team won back-to-back Premier League titles, incidentally. A decade and a half on, Mourinho’s Spurs side look to be on a comparable journey — top of the table post-match and with a genuine chance of still being there in May. Mourinho won’t be drawn on title talk but as he put it on Friday when asked by The Athletic how his team had improved since February: “When we played them last season we were just trying to survive, get the points to take us in a direction to allow us to finish top four or six to give us something. This season we’re a different profile of team. We’re just different. We’re a better team with more solutions.” To start to understand what’s changed for Spurs since February, just look at Saturday’s team selection. Only five players who started nine months ago did so again. Hugo Lloris, generally very solid this season, remained in goal but at left-back for instance, the rookie right-footed central defender Japhet Tanganga had to step in back in February. On Sunday by contrast, that spot was taken by Sergio Reguilon, a specialist signed for £27.6 million from Real Madrid whom I professed my love for after his debut in September. I must admit that the feeling is intensifying by the week. Reguilon was outstanding against City, summed up by his interception in the final stages followed by a surge upfield almost half the length of the pitch. At centre-back, Eric Dier is now back in the team, and alongside Toby Alderweireld Spurs have conceded just once in their last four Premier League games. The rock-solid pair made 15 clearances and six blocks between them on Saturday — both three times more than the City team combined — but that does a disservice to the calm control they exuded for most of the game. Alderweireld’s late groin injury was the only blemish on the evening, but even here his attempt to stand up and hobble back into position summed up the desire of this team. Then there was Serge Aurier, so often maligned at Spurs and the man whose reckless challenge on Sergio Aguero in this fixture last season led to that missed Gundogan penalty. On Saturday he was pretty much faultless, putting in a crucial first-half tackle in the box on Ferran Torres and playing an inch-perfect crossfield pass in the move that ended with Harry Kane’s disallowed first-half goal. Is there a player more improved under Mourinho than Aurier? He’s been excellent this season and was far better in the last campaign than he was often given credit for. In midfield, none of the Spurs trio started this fixture last season. Moussa Sissoko, another who has been unfairly ridiculed, performed a vital role in blocking City’s attacking lanes down the Spurs right. He then earned cheers of admiration from the Tottenham staff when he barged Raheem Sterling off the ball in the second half. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg did something similar down the Spurs left, suggesting the team are smarter tactically as well since February. In general, Hojbjerg has been a transformative summer signing — the defensive midfielder Spurs have been crying out for, and whose relentlessness and industry have helped shift the Spurs mentality. The image of Mourinho (at the top of this piece), eyes bulging, going to embrace him after the game summed up the effect Hojbjerg is having on those around him. Early in the second half his shout of, “Come on guys, come on!” after Kevin De Bruyne miscued a cross reverberated around the stadium. As ever he was a combination of accurate, snappy distribution (his 93.8 per cent was the best of any Spurs player) and bite in the challenge (no one on the pitch made more than his five tackles). The third midfielder was Tanguy Ndombele, who managed an assist against City last season but did so in one of those fleeting cameos he used to make off the bench. Now he has started Spurs’ last six Premier League games, and in a more advanced role on Saturday again set up Son with a lofted through ball that caught out the City defence. Ndombele is now able to do more than just impress in cameos (Photo: Matt McNulty – Manchester City/Manchester City FC via Getty Images) In an attacking sense, last season’s goalscorers Son Heung-min and Steven Bergwijn were both in Saturday’s team. And they again made vital contributions — Son moving clear at the top of the Golden Boot race with his ninth Premier League goal of the season (as many as the entire Arsenal team ahead of their match against Leeds), while Bergwijn marked his return to the side with a selfless display of hard running and graft. But the crucial difference this time was that they were joined by Kane, who like Sissoko was out injured when the sides last met. This was another position-defying, groundbreaking performance from Kane, who registered an assist, made three tackles and generally tormented the City defenders with his shape-shifting movement. “He is messing with them like you wouldn’t believe,” said Gary Neville on Sky Sports after Kane had drifted to the left and drawn a booking from a frazzled Ruben Dias. Mourinho went as far after the game of saying that “maybe he will change the way people look to a striker.” His point was that Kane is about so much more than just goals and assists, though he’s not doing too badly there either. In fact he has claimed comfortably more goal involvements than anyone else in the Premier League this season, with 16. In short, he is pummelling everyone he faces — not just City. Spurs are doing something similar. This was their fourth Premier League win in a row, and it meant they finished a day top of the Premier League table for the first time since August 2014. It was also the first time they ended a day top of the top flight after at least nine games of a season since January 1985. Back in February, Spurs’ win resembled that of a mid-table side upsetting one of the big boys. A boxer who took a couple of big swings and connected with one of them. This time they faced up to City as equals and beat them. Yes, they had to ride their luck at times but once the second goal went in Spurs looked comfortable. By then it was the sort of game that if you were a neutral you’d be changing the channel. For the gleeful Spurs supporters though it was a game to savour, the kind of match where, like a great concert, more and more special moments keep popping into your head. A marquee victory after digging out a few wins against lesser-fancied opposition. This wasn’t like February; it was confirmation that Spurs have to be taken seriously as title contenders. As well as the personnel changes, there has been a shift in mentality. Spurs are more streetwise now, demonstrated by Hojbjerg’s tenacity, and the way Kane and the substitute Lucas Moura cleverly drew fouls and won throw-ins in the final minutes to take the sting out of the game. Nine months on, something is happening at Tottenham.
How many strikers in the world, other than Kane, make that tackle at the 2:25 mark? Reguilon putting Mahrez in his back pocket was probably the matchup of the day. City probably thought they could take advantage of Reguilon’s inexperience with that matchup, but Reguilon was brilliant all game.
I knew what tackle you were talking about at 2:25 before I even clicked on it but had to click to make sure I was right sigh
Ludogorets have a bit of a Covid issue at the moment. Either they may have to forfeit or show up with a fairly weakened squad. Would be a nice week for a forfeit.
Doherty back in training too. I imagine he’ll play tomorrow so Serge can rest up for Chelsea. We need his speed to contain Werner on that left side.
Interesting. I’ve imagined Tanganga as a CB first, fullback second. Don’t think he’s strong enough going forward to be a FB.
I am too. I really want dele to get a shot. I also think this side is very weakened who we are playing.
Chelsea game is Sunday, but the point remains the same. I really want this lineup to work. Tanguy getting a chance playing deeper (which is where I think he is most dangerous). Dele getting another chance. Kane and Son getting rested. Bale and Vini getting another start.
Tanguy picked the ball deep around midfield and split a few defenders to get the ball to Dele further forward. Dele played a through ball that bounced off their defender and straight into Vini’s path leaving him 1v1 with the keeper for an easy finish.