Written by Sana Jeewa - @Sana859 Click here to follow e-Spurs on Twitter!
Let's not kid ourselves, let's not beat around the bush, rather let's be honest and point out the diamond that keeps shining through the rough of our beloved soccer team. Obviously, the diamond in question is Harry Kane, without whose goals and superb performances, we would be languishing near mid-table.
Whilst this may seem like a harsh assessment from a generally positive supporter, let's look at the evidence, shall we? Case in point- yesterday's game against Leicester. The game actually commenced in the worst way imaginable. The only man whose value and worth equals that of the irreplaceable Kane, namely Hugo Lloris, went down injured after a painful collision with his own defender, Kyle Walker. The sight of the normally unshakable goalkeeper being carried off on a stretcher was a distressing one for Spurs fans. On came Vorm, after just 2 mins for his 1st Premier League appearance, the same goalkeeper who had made a catastrophic error on the 24th of January against the same team, an error that sent us spiralling out of the FA Cup.
Spirits were understandably low until Harry Kane popped up in the right place, at the right time, scoring from a corner. 6 minutes in, and already a goal, suddenly things were looking up! And 13 minutes into the game, it got even better... yet another sharp hit from our gem, Kane deflected into the net. It certainly looked now like it was going to be a long afternoon for Leicester, with our attacking prowess clearly on display. We could have been 3-0 up ten minutes later, had Eriksen's shot not hit the post and had Chadli not skied the resulting follow-up.
Chadli's afternoon however, was about to get significantly worse. While to match was poised so positively in our favour, he dived in the box, earning a justified yellow card. Not long after that though, in the 37th minute, Nugent took advantage of our perpetually poor defence, delievered a cross and Vardy finished expertly. Once again, we were proving to be the architects of our own downfall. Thankfully, half time loomed and we went into the break with a familiar scoreline....2-1.
The 2nd half began just as disappointingly as the first had ended. Not taking heed of multiple warning signs, we conceded in the 49th minute. This time, Morgan taking aim with a header, completely unmarked by any Spurs player. 2-2, and from then on Leicester looked a rejuvenated team, coming close on numerous occasions. While it looked more likely that Leicester would score the next goal, they shot themselves in the foot by unnecessarily conceding a penalty when Nugent collided with Rose. Who else but the man of the moment, Harry Kane would step up for this pivotal goal to take us into the lead? He aimed the ball accurately and was soon celebrating a well-deserved 1st ever Premier League hat-trick!
From then on, with our dominance, it looked like there would be only one winner. In the 85th minute, Eriksen was exceptional in forcing our 4th goal- which initially bounced off their goal keeper Schmichael before coming off Schlupp and into the net. That would ordinarily be game over for Leicester. However, as fans we should have realised that this is Spurs and we never, EVER do it the easy way. When Vertonghen was bullied by Nugent and failed to clear the ball, he punished us with an exceptional finish in the last minute of normal time. The score was now 4-3 and with 3 minutes of added time to go, made for a tense finish (albeit the kind we are so used to!)
Ultimately though, the match ended with that scoreline and Harry Kane's sheer brilliance slightly overshadowed some diabolical defending. While his goals were not of his most stunning calibre, they did lead him to the top of the Premier League goal-scoring charts, a magnificent achievement for a striker who didn't start a Premier League game till the 9th of November. Like us, our manager is well-aware that "we need to improve our defensive game" and hopefully, will motivate and inspire our players to do just that!
Unexpectedly, this game was quite a struggle for us and it is vital that we shore up defensively. Conceding 3 goals in consecutive games is extremely poor and it is essential that defending becomes our main focus on the training field. Our attack can undoubtedly rival the best in the league but unless we improve defensively, we will never achieve our full, immense potential!
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There's an illness in our midfield which you chose to ignore. Negative sideways and backward passing, especially Bentaleb, puts pressure on an already shaky pair of centrebacks . Paulinho took the ball forward from the time he came on and changed the game. You forgot to mention that either.
ReplyDeleteYour last paragraph states the bleeding obvious and is a waste of space.
Thanks for your feedback! You are definitely correct about Paulinho, however I think you are being rather harsh on our midfielders...as recently as Arsenal, Bentaleb was moving the ball forward with great purpose! My final paragraph was a conclusion to my discussion and I believe it drove home the point of the poor defence.
ReplyDelete