Tottenham Hotspur dropped another two points in the Europa League this evening away to Rangers at the Ibrox, but it could have been a lot worse for Ange Postecoglou and co.
Let’s take a look at the five things we learned:
Call it an injury crisis, call it mass fatigue throughout the squad, but a lack of leadership on the pitch is still a problem. The fact is, Tottenham started the match with their captain and a vice-captain in the starting XI. Heung-min Son and James Maddison were the two most anonymous players on the pitch. It’s so frustrating because both have the ability to take a game by the scruff of its neck, but both seem to be struggling so much at the moment.
Son gave the ball away for fun in the number nine role, then seemed unable to win a 1v1 battle when he shifted wide left. Maddison barely kicked the ball in the first 45, then dropped deep to get it in the second half but still failed to create much. Form and performance aside, I just want to see them communicating with their team so much more to get Tottenham playing. We lack so much leadership out there at times.
The two most overused players in the squad – Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie – also happen to be two of the most inconsistent performers at the moment. Do you remember when Ange Postecoglou first joined Tottenham? The inverted full-backs were such a feature of the attack and caused teams all kinds of problems. Yes, it left Spurs open at times at the back, but it was risk vs reward and the Lilywhites were reaping all kinds of rewards.
Fast forward to now and they are not collecting the ball in any dangerous number ten pockets anymore. What we are left with is all the risk and zero reward, leaving Spurs open to every single wide attack the opponents can muster. The answer? For now, all I can see is rotation. Djed Spence needs a chance to actually prove himself and provide some fresh legs.
READ MORE – Tottenham player ratings from the 1-1 Europa League draw against Rangers.
There were a few mistakes in there, but overall I was pretty impressed by Archie Gray. The other three Tottenham defenders didn’t exactly set the bar high but he was the top performer at the back on the night – apart from Fraser Forster, of course.
Most of the mistakes Gray did make came when he tried to overplay, bringing the ball out of defence and galloping down the pitch. I guess that’s the natural midfielder instinct in him. But once he calmed down and simplified his game a little more, he looked more than comfortable at the back, which is a good thing because Spurs will likely need him to start there a lot over the next two weeks.
This man knows how to win football matches, we just need to surround him with the right players. When I spoke earlier about Son and Maddison playing with their heads down and not leading Tottenham in the way we need at the moment, Kulusevski drags the team kicking and screaming. He has the mentality of a winner and that is rare in such a struggling changing room.
In my opinion, he should be upgraded to a vice-captain this week because he looks like a future Tottenham captain through and through. He took his goal so well and was Tottenham’s main creative and attacking force in the second half. A special mention to Dominic Solanke who also did fantastically off the bench.
People doubted him and continue to doubt him. Fraser Forster has been Tottenham’s best player since Guglielmo Vicario’s injury. That is a sad state of affairs because Spurs’ best players should always be outfield, but Forster has delivered seven, eight, nine out of ten performances game-in, game-out over the past few weeks. Another huge stop to deny Rangers a certain winner in the dying moments tonight. Well done, Fraser!
Tottenham remain outside the top eight in the Europa League table so need to make up ground on the automatic knockout qualification spots in the coming games.
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