There was, for a brief glorious moment, hope ahead of today’s home North London Derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. In what was Igor Tudor’s debut match in charge as interim head coach, and with Dele Alli as a special halftime guest, there was just the slightest glimmer of optimism that maybe, just maybe, Spurs could save their season and ruin Arsenal’s at the same time.
Alas, it was not to be. Arsenal ended up winners thanks to braces from two of Arsenal’s most maligned players this season, Eberechi Eze, a player who spurned major Tottenham interest in order to sign for their arch rivals and misfiring Swedish striker Victor Gyokeres. Randal Kolo Muani leveled the score in the first half two minutes after Eze’s opener and had another equalizing goal controversially waved off by the match official after a slight push (and obvious subsequent dive) by Gabriel Magalhaes. Second half substitute Richarlison nearly cut the lead to one goal with a flicked effort that was somehow prevented from crossing the line by Arsenal keeper David Raya, but Gyokeres fired in a late goal past Vicario in extra time and the visitors took all three points by a final score of 4-1.
In truth Arsenal dominated the ball and the stats and were clearly the better side on the day, but it’s still a difficult pill to swallow for Spurs supporters who are mired in a true relegation fight and will need every point they can from now until the end of the season. It always hurts to lose to your rivals, and this one hurt a little more than most.
Tudor, in his first match in charge, set Spurs up in his preferred back three formation, but with Joao Palhinha and Radu Dragusin alongside Micky van de Ven, with Cristian Romero suspended and Kevin Danso injured. In truth, Spurs didn’t play much different football than they have for much of this season under Thomas Frank, but they did come out with a little extra spring in their step and and an intent that has been decidedly missing from the squad over the past couple of months.
A hard match to watch. Here are my takeaways.
Match reactions
It’s not exactly surprising to see Tudor set Spurs up in a back three — it’s his preferred formation. I was a little surprised, however, to see him actually do it considering the players we have available. Palhinha-Dragusin-Van de Ven, with Gray and Spence wide is certainly a choice, but one that represents the reality of this island of misfit COYS.
Interesting to see Spurs commit to the high press early on. That’s another Tudor tendency, but it didn’t last long. Spurs seemed to back off on the high press after the lengthy technical delay.
I know it’s not Spurs’ primary (or even secondary) defense back there but it was notable how easily they allowed players like Timber to make runs to the back post in the early goings, despite defending in a 5-3-2 without the ball.
You can’t say that Arsenal didn’t deserve the win, but it’s very hard to take that two of the goals came from Eze, who has been dogshit for Arsenal except when he plays against us.
But that’s okay because RANDY KILO MIAMI WITH THE EQUALIZER WOOOOOOOOOOOO
Spurs spent much of the first half playing like a bad team with a new head coach who has only had five days to train, but it was notable that they were, at minimum, playing like a bad team with INTENT. Seems pretty clear to me that these guys had completely given up on Frank by the end.
Xavi Simons had a rough match. A few dumb giveaways in possession, a few busted presses, and a few dumb fouls. Not his best performance, despite a good whack of a shot early in the 2nd half.
After that Gyokeres blast, it’s helpful to remind ourselves just how screwed we are by injuries. Palhinha should’ve done better there to close him down, but, like, he’s not a central defender. And of course, Romero is suspended, he probably doesn’t let that shot happen.
Disallowing that second RKM goal was an absolute horseshit call. Just garbage by the official, it was a clear dive by Gabriel in Arsenal’s own box, I’m so mad by that decision.
God, I wanted that goal for Richarlison and Raya somehow managing to keep that from crossing the line was super annoying. Honestly it feels like Spurs opting to sign Vicario over Raya a few years ago is a real sliding doors moment.
Look, at the end of the day the story of this match is that Arsenal are a very good (if extremely annoying) team, and Tottenham are a not very good team that is appallingly constructed and also down to the dregs of the squad due to injury. Yes, complain about match official Peter Bankes (who was very bad). Yes, complain about how Arsenal time-waste and dive and cheat. But we need to confront that reality. This was always going to be a tough match under the circumstances, and there’s no magic manager who will rescue Tottenham. It’s going to have to come from the players. Survival is still the goal and this loss doesn’t change the task ahead.
Ultimately, though, what I’m saying is that this loss is Johan Lange’s fault and I’ll die on that hill. Sack him tomorrow.
I’m still mad, though.