Match Report: Spurs 1 Lucky Pochettino’s Chelsea 4 (and they were lucky).
You can understand our defeat better if a superior side had beaten us and on a level playing field, but with two players sent off, goals disallowed, and poor referee decisions, there could only be one winner, and it was never going to be us.
Yes, Mauricio Pochettino made a winning return to Tottenham with his Humpty-Dumpty-Chelsea-laugh-a-minute team as we were reduced to nine men on a night of chaos and controversy. There were five goals, a further five disallowed, two red cards, and a hatful of VAR decisions in one of the Premier League’s most frenetic ever games.
We started brilliantly against a poor Pochettino laugh-a-minute team. We deservedly went ahead when Dejan Kulusevski’s sixth-minute shot deflected in off Chelsea defender Levi Colwill before Son had an effort narrowly ruled out for offside as we looked to exploit our early dominance.
Chelsea had two goals of their own disallowed, one each from Raheem Sterling and Moises Caicedo; they were ruled out for handball and offside, respectively. Nevertheless, after that VAR joke was sorted, another VAR decision resulted in a penalty for a challenge by Romero on his fellow compatriot Enzo Fernandez, and then he was sent off in the aftermath.
Cole Palmer scored the resulting spot-kick to level the match before we were also further handicapped by what looked like a serious hamstring injury for Micky van de Ven. Then, an ankle problem for James Maddison added to our calamitous night. Both players were substituted before the interval.
Destiny Udogie was sent off ten minutes after the break for a tackle on Sterling, which brought a second yellow card from referee Michael Oliver.
If all that wasn’t bad enough, Ange Postecoglou also received a yellow card amid the mayhem that was going on on the field.
Chelsea broke through our high-line defence and finally broke our resistance with 15 minutes left; Raheem Sterling broke clear to set up Nicolas Jackson to finish.
Still… we continued to push forward, and we came close to securing a stunning draw as Eric Dier had a superb finish ruled out for a narrow offside decision. Rodrigo Bentancur headed just wide after beating Chelsea’s defensive line at a late free-kick.
Chelsea’s Jackson scored twice more in stoppage time to secure a late hat-trick and render the scoreline far more comfortable than the evening had been for Pochettino’s team.
With seconds and minutes ticking by, it was all over bar the shouting. We finally went down to our first Premier League defeat of the season.
What started as hope and expectations turned into a miserable evening. Even the ride home was shitty, with most of the exits on the M25 closed. Oh, and I mustn’t forget that a car spun out of control in front of us on the motorway; nearly hitting us, which could have ended up (for us) pushing up the daisies… nearly… but not quite! We live to tell the nights tale!
Full credit to Guglielmo Vicario, who ended up as our hero; he acted as an emergency sweeper on several occasions, but just as Chelsea started to look frustrated, we were finally broken, and Jackson cashed in.
Things to come…
We now face long-term consequences from the chaos, not just with suspensions for Romero and Udogie but those injuries to Van de Ven and Maddison.
Saying all that… I am actually looking forward to Saturday’s game against Wolves. Yes, our back four has been decimated. However, our midfield is intact (hopefully, Maddison’s problem was minor), and our striking force was unharmed. The question now is, what can Ange Postecoglou do to resurrect us or at least our back four? If Conte were still manager, my head would sink into my hands… but he has gone, and we’ve got something better organising our team.
And finally…
We are still second in the Premier League, a point behind City and 2 points in front of Liverpool and Arsenic and Old Lace; the scousers drew against Luton over the weekend, while the Gooners were humiliated by Newcastle United.
This weekend, we face Wolves away. While Arsenic face Burnley at home and Pochettino’s Cowboys face City on their ground. Still all to play for.
It seems if teams want to beat us, they must employ or get the referee to use unprincipled means. The record books will show a 4-1 defeat, but those who were there or watched it on TV will know what a fiasco the whole game turned into, thus allowing our nemesis to sneak an unfair advantage.
COYS!
Glenn
