On Sunday afternoon, Tottenham Hotspur hosted Chelsea, for match day fifteen of the 24/25 Premier League season.
For this one, Ange went with an XI of; Forster; Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie; Kulusevski, Bissouma, Sarr; Johnson, Solanke, Son.
After five minutes, Spurs had the lead. After Cucurella slipped over, Johnson raced down the outside, whipping in a cross for Solanke – who showed absolutely world class movement to get to the cross ahead of Levi Colwill, and fired into the back of the net.
11 minutes in, history repeated itself. Cucurella once again slipped, and Spurs took advantage – with Kulusevski squeezing a left footed finish inside Sanchez’ near post, to make it 2-0 to Ange’s side.
Barely a minute later, the ball fell to Udogie well inside the box, but he just dragged his shot wide. Replays shown it may have been offside anyway. Moments later, Romero had to be withdrawn, and was replaced by Dragusin. Many feared he had been rushed back for this one.
After 17 minutes, Chelsea had one back. Spurs let Jadon Sancho dribble and cut inside, and he unleashed a strike in off the post. Good goal, but really poor and naïve defending. Three minutes later, Cole Palmer had a chance to equalise, but completely missed the ball.
Midway through the first half, a lovely one-two between Son and Solanke lead to the skipper cutting inside, but he fired his shot just over the bar. Shame, because it was a lovely move. On the half hour mark, Sarr found himself in the book for a foul on Cucurella.
Soon after, Palmer found himself in way too much space on the edge of the box, and forced a strong wrist from Forster, who made another save from Neto on the follow up, with the forward surprisingly not shooting first time. 2
With a little over 10 minutes of the first half remaining, Moises Caicedo was not sent off for a challenge incredibly similar to the one made by Romero in this fixture last season. A minute later, Sarr hit the bar from a corner.
Then, another minute after that, Son found Solanke inside the box, but the ball came too quickly at him, and he could not guide it past Sanchez in the Chelsea goal. Somehow, Spurs were not 3-1 up.
Five minutes before the break, Jackson raced through on goal from a Palmer through ball, but a superb sliding tackle from Dragusin put the ball out for a corner. That would be that, and Spurs would go into the break two goals up.
Just three minutes into the second period, Sancho had a massive opportunity to make it two for him and two for Chelsea, but a world class save from Forster denied him. Still, a big let off in any case.
Within the first six minutes of the second half, Chelsea had the chance to equalise, but nobody gambled on a ball across the six yard box, before Enzo curled a shot wide, as Spurs lived very much on the edge. Straight after, Johnson had to be withdrawn through injury, and was replaced by Werner.
We had played just an hour when Bissouma decided to absolutely swipe Caicedo in the box. Absolutely brain dead, genuinely no words. Furthermore, it has ruled him out of the game against Southampton. From the resulting spot kick, Palmer made it 2-2. All the hard work out of the window.
Midway through the second half, Son ran through on goal, firing wide. However, there would have been a lengthy VAR check anyway, with Udogie leaving the ball for him from a seemingly offside position.
With just under 20 minutes to go, van de Ven headed wide from an inviting Porro free-kick from the right hand side. This was Spurs’ first definitely onside chance of the second half.
Barely two minutes later, Chelsea made it 3-2, with an Enzo goal. It was coming. An absolutely abysmal second half performance. Everybody knew it was coming as soon as Sancho made it 2-1, everybody knew this was coming. Literally everybody. That is the worst part of it.
Then, to compile Spurs’ misery, van de Ven’s hamstring went. Everybody knew he was rushed back. So much of this is like the fixture last year. Take the lead, lose the game, and lose both centre halves.
Ange used it as an opportunity to make a triple change. As well as van de Ven, Kulsuevski and Bissouma were replaced by Gray, Maddison, and Bergvall.
With eight minutes to go, Spurs conceded another penalty, this time conceded by Sarr. Palmer once again stepped up to score, and put the game to bed.
Criticism of the manager is fair, but you cannot coach the uncoachable. You cannot coach genuinely, objectively thick players. Once again the manager will be the fall guy, when it is the fault of those above and below him.
Hope Daniel Levy enjoyed the away end singing “Tottenham Hotspur it’s happened again”, after all, it’s him who has enabled these chants to happen. The truth is he doesn’t actually care, really.
Ultimately, Chelsea have Palmer spearheading their attack, Spurs had Werner. The levels are absolutely crazy, and indictment of the ambition of both clubs.
We had seconds left of the game when Maddison squared the ball to Son to score, following a short corner. But of course, they had left it too late. Frustrating if anything as shows what could have happened if Spurs didn't consistently shoot themselves in the foot
That would be that, and Spurs would lose 4-3, despite having gone 2-0 up.