A chaotic week for Tottenham Hotspur continued on Thursday afternoon, with Ange Postecoglou’s side slipping to yet another Premier League defeat after going down 1-0 to high-flyers Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day.
After a thrilling set of results against both Manchester United and Liverpool over the last seven days – the latter of which ended in a 6-3 defeat – the Lilywhites were rather muted at the City Ground, as things simply didn’t click into gear in an attacking sense.
At the other end, the north London side were undone just before the half-hour mark as Morgan Gibbs-White’s threaded pass caught the returning Destiny Udogie napping, with former Manchester United man Anthony Elanga duly prodding home to take the visitors into third in the table.
Having later seen one-time Forest loanee Djed Spence dismissed at the death to add further salt to the wounds, Spurs, meanwhile, now find themselves languishing in the bottom half following that latest defeat, to pile further pressure on that man Postecoglou.
Djed Spence's Forest return
Part of the side Forest side that secured promotion from the Championship under Steve Cooper back in the 2021/22 season, Spence would have been hoping to enjoy a positive return to Nottingham amid his recent renaissance in a Spurs shirt.
Handed his third successive league start by Postecoglou – who opted to drop Pedro Porro to the bench in place of the aforementioned Udogie instead – the 24-year-old was largely solid, in truth, for much of the affair, having provided an outlet in attack after chalking up two key passes in total, while completing 100% of his dribbles.
At the back, the one-time Middlesbrough man also won five of his nine ground duels and enjoyed a respectable 87% pass accuracy rate, even despite squandering the ball on 19 occasions amid his desire to make things happen for his side.
As football.london’s Alasdair Gold noted in his post-match player ratings, the defender’s late dismissal for a second yellow card came following ‘another otherwise solid display’, with it something of a blow that he will now miss the upcoming clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Spence then was no real villain despite that stoppage-time red, with the finger needing to be pointed elsewhere among his struggling teammates.
The Spurs star who was "awful" vs Forest
The north Londoners had scored 12 goals across their last three games in all competitions heading into Thursday’s encounter, with few likely to have expected that they would fire a blank this time around.
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That said, injuries have left Postecoglou largely short of options in an attacking sense, with the only senior attacker on the bench having been that of Timo Werner, outside of teenage marksman, Will Lankshear.
With Werner only recently copping flak from his manager following an “unacceptable” first-half performance against Rangers, it is no surprise that the former Celtic boss has kept faith in captain Heung-min Son on the left flank, albeit with questions needing to be asked regarding the South Korean’s limp showings.
Games
15
Goals
5
Mins per goal
230
Assists
6
Big chances missed
4
Big chances created
12
Key passes*
2.1
Pass accuracy*
85%
Possession lost*
10.2x
Total duels won*
41%
As GOAL journalist Mitch Fretton stated, the long-serving winger was “absolutely awful again”, prior to being replaced by Werner in the closing stages, having lost possession ten times from his 52 touches.
In truth, the 32-year-old failed to step up as Spurs sought to get themselves back into the game, with the attack in total manufacturing just a solitary big chance in Nottingham.
It was for that reason that the aforementioned Gold awarded Son a dismal 3/10 match rating for his troubles, while writing that the experienced figure put in ‘a mostly hesitant and ineffective display’.
With seven goals and six assists to his name this season in all competitions, the talismanic forward is certainly no busted flush, yet questions remain for Postecoglou as to just how to get the best out of his misfiring skipper.
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