Another game where Tottenham Hotspur shoot themselves in the foot in the race to secure a top-four finish.
Before the international break, Ange Postecoglou’s side watched his team get outclassed away at Fulham as they failed to capitalise on their win at Aston Villa the week before.
And now it was Newcastle United piling more misery on Spurs with a convincing and deserved 4-0 win at St James’ Park.
Many fans out there won’t be surprised by this because these types of performances have been in the pipeline and players like Guglielmo Vicario have papered over the cracks.
Even during games when Tottenham have picked up three points, there are times when Vicario is stopping numerous clear-cut chances from hitting the back of the net.
But against Newcastle, he could only watch on as Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon ripped apart his team.
One problem area for Postecoglou’s side was dealing with Newcastle’s press and Les Ferdinand thinks that’s where Vicario struggled, as he told Premier League Productions (13/04/24 at 1:30 pm).
The former striker pointed out the troubles the £17 million star had with the ball at his feet and being forced to go long when he didn’t want to.
That was proven during Newcastle’s second goal when his poor kick towards the flanks was intercepted and then scored by Gordon, with Micky van de Ven suffering two nightmare moments in the space of a few minutes.
Guglielmo Vicario’s kicking
“This is how Tottenham have played most of the season, but they haven’t been closed down at this pace,” said Ferdinand.
“You have to take your hat off to Eddie (Howe). He has done his homework and he has said ‘look, you press this Tottenham team’. You can even see when they are playing out balls from goal kicks what they are doing. They are shutting down Tottenham so quickly that, in the end, the goalkeeper is kicking it long.
“I understand in him not wanting to kick it long because you have Schar and Dan Burn. You only have Maddison and Son up there, so they aren’t going to win balls in the air, so they have to play out and it’s not working for them.”
Next up the north London derby
This isn’t ideal preparation for the north London derby at the end of the month because, at this rate, there is only going to be one winner.
Paul Merson certainly feels Arsenal will win, with the game set to be played on April 28 – that’s a 15-day gap for Spurs.
In the meantime, their rivals will play four matches, so there can’t be any excuses when they next face up.
It probably doesn’t help Spurs that there is such a gap between the next game because the first thing you would want to do after such a defeat is get back out on the pitch.
But Postecoglou and his players will have to stew over that Newcastle performance before being able to go again.
The post ’Not wanting to’: Les Ferdinand says £17m Tottenham star struggled on the ball v Newcastle appeared first on HITC.
from HITC https://ift.tt/tPIuRSq
No comments: