Chelsea moved the ball forward, finding Moises Caicedo just inside Tottenham`s half. There was no immediate pressure, and Tottenham`s defenders retreated casually. Chelsea then switched the play to Pedro Neto on the flank. A defender was nearby, but not actively challenging. Neto looked up to see his teammates unmarked. With no pressure, he should have easily found Cole Palmer or Nicolas Jackson, but his passes were too strong, and Tottenham narrowly avoided conceding.
However, conceding a goal felt inevitable. Any team that neglects defending their back post and appears to have lost the identity their manager was trying to build can`t expect to keep a clean sheet.
While Ange Postecoglou`s team was never going to be mistaken for a defensive powerhouse, they previously had a clear plan. Tottenham would press opponents intensely and in numbers. If you managed to break through the press, you might get a good scoring chance, but it was a calculated risk. If Spurs won the ball back, they were likely to create an even better opportunity.
When did Tottenham last play with that intensity? Against Chelsea, there were no signs of urgency from a team that had been resting for 18 days. By the end of the match, Chelsea had regained possession in Tottenham`s final third seven times, compared to Tottenham`s four. While there`s no obligation to play with high pressing, it`s worth remembering that earlier in the season, during a severe injury crisis, Postecoglou faced constant criticism for his high line and aggressive press. Without his first-choice defense, Tottenham adapted and became a weaker team, which was perhaps understandable.
Now, with Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Guglielmo Vicario, and Destiny Udogie all playing, the defensive system is still a mess. It seems Tottenham is struggling to grasp the concept of defensive structure.
Chelsea often gained possession simply because Tottenham gave it away, and then found themselves facing a group of five players moving in the right direction but too slowly to effectively challenge. They easily progressed the ball through midfield, where only Rodrigo Bentancur seemed to be putting in effort, and then encountered Tottenham`s supposedly strongest back four.
Defensive errors happened subtly but consistently. Runners between full-back and center-back were unmarked. Palmer had the freedom to reach the byline whenever he wanted. A more clinical team than Chelsea would have sealed the game long before Enzo Fernandez scored from Palmer`s cross early in the second half. Jadon Sancho, in particular, reinforced the idea that Chelsea might have been better off paying Manchester United not to sign him rather than paying £25 million to acquire him. One powerful shot from Sancho tested Vicario, but too often, Chelsea`s attacks fizzled out on the edge of the box.
Perhaps Tottenham`s defensive weaknesses could be overlooked if their attack was firing on all cylinders, as it was for much of Postecoglou`s time in charge. However, their attack has also declined recently. Their average of 1.1 non-penalty expected goals per Premier League game since the start of January ranks them 16th in the league. Before Robert Sanchez`s late save to deny Son Heung-min, they had not created any significant chances to improve that statistic.
Instead, their ineffective attack has further strained the relationship between Postecoglou and Tottenham`s traveling fans. While much of the fans` anger was directed at chairman Daniel Levy, the substitutions of Wilson Odobert and Lucas Bergvall for Brennan Johnson and Pape Matar Sarr led to chants of “You don`t know what you`re doing” from some supporters. When Sarr scored a spectacular goal from 30 yards moments later, Postecoglou couldn`t resist sarcastically cupping his ear towards the away fans.
This moment is likely to be replayed on sports news, potentially when reflecting on Postecoglou`s time at Tottenham and how a promising start built on clear principles and energy has devolved into something indistinct. Twenty defeats in all competitions, closer to 18th place than seventh, and they have already been surpassed by Arsenal in the league standings (“St. Totteringham`s Day”). Furthermore, if the defense doesn`t improve quickly, a Europa League exit seems highly probable in the near future.
