After James Maddison made it 2-0 for Tottenham, he celebrated with an emotional fist pump. However, when the match ended 4-3 for Spurs, the home players did not celebrate wildly. They quickly regrouped and headed down the tunnel.
This was not a perfect victory, if not too many mistakes from Tottenham. At the 60th minute, they were still leading 3-0 but the same scenario as the loss to Chelsea on December 8th happened again. The North London team was too easy to concede goals due to silly mistakes after creating a big enough gap against their opponents.
Goalkeeper Fraser Forster’s mistakes and countless other small errors made captain Ange Postecoglou describe his team as having hurt themselves. It was only when Son Heung-min scored the only goal of his career (a corner kick) to make it 4-2 in the 88th minute that Postecoglou could breathe a sigh of relief.
I wonder how confident Postecoglou is with this sometimes reckless attacking philosophy? Like the match against Chelsea, when Tottenham were already 2 goals ahead, they did not slow down to control the pace. On the contrary, Spurs continued to rush forward to find more goals. The result was always the same, the team received many counterattacks and lost many matches with this style of play.
After Man United's Amad Diallo took advantage of Forster's mistake to reduce the gap to 2-3, a Tottenham fan was so upset that he stood up and shouted loudly, demanding that Postecoglou change his tactics immediately. Not only experts, commentators,... many fans also felt that something was wrong with the Australian strategist.
The Premier League is not a league where managers can be conservative and stick to one philosophy. Even the great Pep Guardiola has to constantly change his playing style to suit the personnel situation and playing style of each opponent. This victory comes at a crucial time for Spurs because if they are eliminated from the League Cup, their chances of winning an official title for the first time in 16 years will be increasingly slim.
"We controlled the game well. However, this scenario has often been repeated in some matches since the beginning of the season. In other words, we hurt ourselves and struggled to regain the advantage.
"Although the players still tried very hard, I cannot deny that things should not have been as bad as they were. After all, Tottenham scored 4 goals in a top match and won. Although many players showed signs of exhaustion in the second half, I am still very proud of them," Postecoglou shared.
Tottenham's next opponent will be Liverpool. This is the second match in 12 days that Spurs have experienced a 7-goal match. They conceded 7 goals in just the matches against Chelsea and Man United. If they meet Liverpool, this situation must improve if the "Roosters" do not want to be exposed. Not only that, having too low xG but scoring many goals is not always the case.
Liverpool have kept seven clean sheets in the Premier League this season, more than any other team. They have also conceded the fewest goals in the league so far, with just 13. Tottenham may score plenty against Chelsea and Manchester United, but against the mighty Liverpool, things are much harder.
Twelve months ago, Spurs’ best chance of silverware was the FA Cup. Now they have a chance in both the League Cup and Europa League. Another trophy-laden season is on the horizon. If they don’t take it, Postecoglou may be saying goodbye at the end of the season.
