The last time we won a league game at White Hart Lane Mike\nArteta was Arsenal captain. Yesterday he was Head Coach as we stepped into their\nnew stadium, the Giant Toilet Bowl, for the first time, looking for a vital\nthree points that would give us every chance of welcoming St. Totteringham back\nafter four seasons in exile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We started slowly, our three CBs Kola, Luiz and Mustafi all\nwith shaky moments that thankfully led to nothing more than an early tester for\nEmi. After ten minutes Pepe miscontrolled a ball on the right that gave Moura a\nchance to chip a ball through to Kane, whose eyes lit up as he thought he had\nlofted it over Martinez to score yet another goal against us. Fortunately, the\ncommanding keeper made a good save. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bellerin marauded forwards brilliantly and played a ball\nacross goal to Auba who produced a rare miskick when he should have scored. Big\nchance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shortly after, on sixteen minutes, we went ahead. Xhaka,\npedestrian for most of the match, won a ball high up the pitch and it squirted\nfree to Lacazette who touched it forwards and unleashed an absolute screamer\nfrom 25 yards that flew into the top corner past the helpless Lloris. It was\nprobably the best strike any of our players have hit this season and it was\nvital that we built on it, or at least kept things tight for ten minutes after\ntaking the lead. However, Arteta has not yet had enough time with his charges,\nor opportunities to buy upgrades, that we are completely clear of the worst\ndays of the Emery era, when we were constantly on the verge of giving away\nstupid goals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One player I would dearly like to see moved on is Kolasinac.\nHe seems a no-nonsense sort of player and man, seeing things in black and white\nterms. On 18 minutes, perhaps it was his literal interpretation of the\narchitecture on display that caused him to take a massive dump in the middle of\nthe pitch? He received the ball from David Luiz in his position as our\nleft-sided central defender and, to the surprise of absolutely no-one, decided\nto ignore Tierney on the wing and play a diagonal return ball back to the\nBrazilian. Given this is about the only pass he ever plays we might have\nexpected him to have practiced it enough not to mess it up. We would have been\nwrong. Instead of playing it to Luiz\u2019s left foot, in the direction he was\nrunning, Kola played it across him, and he had neither the speed nor the\nmobility to stop Son from latching on to it and taking it wide before executing\na fine chipped finish over the unlucky Martinez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although Luiz did not cover himself in glory this goal was\nall down to Kola. To give them a goal from such an innocuous position so soon\nafter taking the lead was suicidal. How important would that moment prove in\nshaping the outcome of the game?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the half hour mark Ben Davis thundered a shot onto the\nbar from thirty yards. Replays showed Emi got his fingertips to it. We replied\nwith a close effort from the previously quiet Pepe who got into the game well\nfor the last fifteen minutes of the half, brilliantly winning a free kick on\nthe edge of the box that Auba sent just wide, and later shifting the ball\nquickly to create space for a shot on target that, in truth, he should have\ndone better with. He had a couple of chances to dribble at them from wide, once\nfailing to spot a crossfield ball that was on to Auba as we had a rare break\naway after defending a corner, instead trying to play in Laca but only finding\nsome tosser in white. He was also shoulder barged off the ball by the odious Lo\nCelso in a challenge that might well have been worthy of his second yellow.\nInstead Michael Oliver waved play on. Unfortunately, I cannot imagine Luiz\ngetting away with that at the other end. Moments later he gave Lacazette a\nyellow, not a bad decision in itself, but hugely frustrating for its\ninconsistency. The last act of the half was a yellow for Davis for a cynical\nfoul on the breaking Pepe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We started the second half with plenty of possession but\nlittle of it in the final third. Five minutes in and Winks, a player full of\nniggling fouls, mystifyingly avoided a yellow for a clear and cynical pull on\nCeballos. A few minutes later Pepe did not receive the same leniency, getting a\nyellow for stopping a Spuds attack down our right wing. These cards sandwiched\nan overhead kick from Mustafi. You don\u2019t see many of them!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just shy of the hour Auba was put through by Laca. His\nleft-footed drive smashed into the crossbar when it really should have bulged\nthe net. It was a glorious chance to retake the lead in game lacking in quality\nmoments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It continued with us controlling the ball without creating\nmuch. Spuds sat deep and fouled us in midfield, using their short bursts of\npossession to hit long balls at Kane and Son. They look every inch a dull but\nfunctional Mourinho side. At the drinks break Saka came on for Pepe but he did\nnot do much apart from pick up a yellow for hurling the ball into the turf in\ndisgust at decision from the ref that looked correct to me. We began to lose\nour control in the final quarter of the game. We still had most of the ball but\nSpuds began getting forwards more often and our defence was a cause for\nconcern. Mustafi had been our best defender (a terrifying sentence) but now he looked\nshattered, having played a huge amount of football since the restart. His old\nhabits crept in and he began hurling himself to ground and misreading\nsituations in a comedy of errors. Kane went past him and nearly found Son but\nEmi smothered it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The magician Winks took 76 minutes to perform a trick that\nhad appeared impossible but his efforts were rewarded when he was finally able\nto win the yellow card he had been fighting for all match. Bookings are to\nHarry Winks what watertight boxes were to Houdini, just something to wriggle\nout of while your manager claps encouragement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The excellent pair of Bellerin and Ceballos combined to\ncreate a chance for Auba whose curling shot at the far post produced a fine\nsave from Lloris. Mustafi let Kane go and a good ball from Moura gave him\nanother chance but Emi was all over him in a flash, blocking it out for a\ncorner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From this corner Spurs scored again. Another easily\navoidable goal. Son put in a good corner and Alderweireld rose above his\nmarker, the much shorter Tierney, to leave Martinez with no chance as a good\nheader flew past him. We had plenty of men in the box but the Spurs man\nattacked the ball ahead of all of them. We had no one at the back post, which\nmay be questionable, but I don\u2019t think it would have mattered as the finish was\ngood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mustafi then lost the ball badly out wide before producing a\nmoment so inept that supporters of any other team would have been howling with\nlaughter as he leapt, like a salmon doing a Bambi impression, somewhere to the\nright and behind Kane, who ignored this ludicrous piece of \u2018defending\u2019 to shoot\nfor the far post, only to find Martinez once again up to the task of foiling\nhim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With only a few minutes left MA8 took off Kola, Bellerin and\nTierney for Willock, Cedric and Nelson. Unfortunately, it was too little too\nlate and the final few minutes drifted away without us creating a final chance\nto level things up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problems were there for all to see. Defenders not good\nenough as individuals. Arteta cannot make steak tartare out of the mouldy old\nonion and cow\u2019s feet that are Kola, Luiz and Mustafi. Although what Holding has\nto do to get a start is beyond me? The midfield was not good enough. Which is\nstrange as Ceballos had a very good game and Xhaka was okay too, but as a unit\nthey did not drive us forwards enough or provide enough dangerous passes\nforwards. Laca kept dropping deep to help them out. Our third CD robs us of an\nextra body in midfield. If we had Rob\u2019s distribution this would be less of an issue,\nbut we all know Kola does not have his passing range and it costs us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Disappointingly, Arteta went back to his previous default\nsetting of not making the right subs at the right moments. Getting Kola off and\npulling Tierney into the back line would have made a lot of sense. But whatever\nhe chose to do it was clear in the last twenty minutes that something needed to\nbe done yet he did not manage to change the game from the bench. He will learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, where do we go from here? This result has seriously\ndented our hopes of finishing above Spuds, or in the Europa League. We have\ndropped five points from winning positions in our last two games. We play\nLiverpool and Man City (in the cup semi) next. And we have to pick ourselves up\nfrom a hugely dispiriting loss to the worst man in football, managing the most\nhorrific club in football, with a team that, frankly, were not very good and\ndid not have to be to beat us. Uurgh. That all sounds awful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I shall however, channel my inner Dave and point out that\nEmi was outstanding, Ceballos was very good, the wingbacks were good, Hector in\nparticular having a great game and finally beginning to forge a partnership\nwith Pepe who created space for him by drifting inside and covered back well at\ntimes. Laca is coming back to form too and on another day Auba gets a hat\ntrick. We look much better under Arteta and it is obvious to everyone we are a\nwork in progress. Without a silly mistake at a crucial moment it might well\nhave gone the other way. If we keep up our attitude, keep accepting\nresponsibility for the mistakes that cost us points and keep working hard to\nimprove them then we will get better results and we will move forwards as a\nteam and club. We have the right man in charge, let\u2019s finish the season as\nstrongly as we can and then hope the transfer market brings him all the things\nhe wants and gets rid of what we don\u2019t need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yesterday\u2019s was a tough result to take but the future looks\ngood. Have a good one Holics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
P.S. I have just seen the news that Serge Aurier\u2019s brother,\nChristopher, has been shot dead in France. That is a terrible thing to happen\nand I am sure I speak for everyone here in offering him our deepest\ncondolences. There are much worse things than losing to the enemy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The last time we won a league game at White Hart Lane Mike Arteta was Arsenal captain. Yesterday he was Head Coach as we stepped into their new stadium, the Giant Toilet Bowl, for the first time, looking for a vital three points that would give us every chance of welcoming St. Totteringham back after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1079,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions\/1079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}