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Hoffenheim 2-3 Spurs: Five Tottenham Talking Points

AANP’s new book ‘All Action No Plot: Postecoglou’s First Season’, is out now for just £7.99 from Amazon (ebook from £6.99)

1. A Disclaimer: The Shonky Middle Period

Before we invite a dignitary to say polite words and spray champagne about the place, probably best to tap the mic and make one or two public service announcements. All in the name of context, you understand.

As such, any sparkling compliments thrown about the place for a job eventually well done and three points safely pocketed should exclude that 10 or so minutes leading up to half-time, and in particular that period after half-time that seemed never to end but which the official timekeepers clocked at about half an hour.

During that period our lot barely touched the ball, but spent the entirety stuck in and around their own area as if physically bound to it. If any member of the cast, upon blocking a shot or clearing the ball, felt inclined to turn to the nearest chum to slap hands and exchange congratulations on a defensive job well done, or even simply to rattle off the exhale-inhale routine a good half-dozen times to stock up depleted lungs, they were to be pretty swiftly interrupted and forced to wade straight back onto the front-line, for more shot-blocking and ball-clearing. It wasn’t so much that this happened repeatedly, as it became just one, uninterrupted, 30-minute sequence.

Moreover, if any of our number were looking to Richarlison for a spot of respite we could probably have told them they were in for a bit of a setback. I recall a while back my Spurs-supporting chum Dave, in one of those moments of exasperation that following Spurs will generate, once labelled Richarlison the least technically-gifted Brazilian ever, which although possibly a little dramatic certainly hits upon a notable point.

Richarlison ran the good race honestly enough yesterday, and had the occasional moment, but I suppose one might generously say he was a tad rusty in his first start after injury. The upshot was that if any of our number cleared to R9, the damn thing came straight back in less time than it takes to murmur “Hold it up this time and relieve the pressure, dash it”.

I’m not sure any amongst the massed ranks observing in person or via the telly-box were particularly surprised that the Hoffenheim assault led eventually to a goal. Nor will many of lilywhite persuasion have been in the slightest taken aback to note that at least one of the goals conceded came in the Pedro Porro Patrol Area. We might as well just chalk up a goal to the other lot pre-kick-off each game, to save everyone the bother, stipulating that it will be awarded to whomever is most likely to wander into the vicinity that Porro ought to be monitoring.

(Porro also might have made at least a token effort to prevent the cross for the first Hoffenheim goal, although the general blame for that one could be spread around a little more democratically.)

So while the AANP map was plastered with a coating of satisfaction and relief by 8pm yesterday, one probably has to acknowledge that slap bang in the middle of it all our lot spent a goodish amount of time up against the ropes and taking a pummelling. However, all the more credit to them for emerging from that period still ahead, and doing enough defensively to hang on to the win.

2. Maddison

While that middle third was a pretty ghastly spectacle, it should not be forgotten that back in the mists of time, our heroes started proceedings looking like they were having an absolute blast.

The German mob might not have been toughest of nuts to crack, but that hasn’t stopped our lot struggling in the past. Yesterday, however, they slid through the gears right from the off.

Maddison in particular caught the eye in the early exchanges, as is inevitable, I suppose, when one scores one goal and puts in a decent amount of spadework in construction of another.

I actually still re-watch his goal and then remove myself to a quiet corner, to try to understand how he ended up depositing the ball high in the net as he did, as it seemed the sort of shot that should either have floated back down to earth or ballooned off into the atmosphere.

That, however, says more about AANP’s shaky grasp of physics than anything else. More broadly, I was most taken by the more attacking post that Maddison seemed to have adopted. Whether upon instruction or just his own whim, he seemed to dip a toe into Dele-esque waters, and finding that it rather suited him, spent much of the remainder as an additional attacking bean, the sort who would make a late charge from midfield into the area, to sniff around for treats.

One such burst brought him his goal, and but for a better-timed final pass from his colleagues he might have had a richer harvest.

It was impressive (while it lasted at least – as mentioned, any such attacking considerations were emphatically binned for a good old stretch either side of half-time), not least because the blighter has spent much of the season struggling to impose himself upon games.

Traditionally he seems to station himself a lot further south, and content himself with just ferrying the thing from A to B in short-range deliveries of 5 to 10 yards, which do little to impact the game. The one exception to this slightly impotent sort of showing was away to Man City, when after popping up with 2 goals (in the Dele role), he then dropped all the way back to his own area to assist with passing out from the back.

Yesterday, however,as mentioned, he was more advanced, and far more impactful for it. One for Our Glorious Leader to frown and gruffle about in the coming days.

3. Brandon Austin

Cast your mind back a week or two, and young Brandon Austin found himself thrust from the shadows into the limelight at home to Newcastle, acquitting himself most competently, before being rather cruelly shoved straight back whence he came, to those same shadows, from where he could only watch proceedings wrapped up in a snood.

Well the neat little cocktail of injuries and red tape meant that he was granted a sequel yesterday, and I thought he once again did all that the self-respecting modern goalkeeper should.

From memory, he seemed competent enough under crosses. He may have fumbled one, I cannot quite recall, but the general sentiment as things pootled along was that if a cross were to be launched of vaguely claimable pedigree, then Austin would march out and do his claiming with minimal fuss.

It might not sound much, but dust off the archives and you’ll note that in the latter part of last season, every corner conceded prompted a surge in blood pressure across N17, as Vicario made an almighty drama of such circumstances. No such concerns with Austin. The chap knows his airborne onions.

His shot-stopping too seemed at least adequate. There was precious little he could do about the first Hoffenheim goal, and while a less forgiving scribe might don the monocle and subject to closer inspection his role in the second goal, I’m inclined to wave aside any criticism there. Generally, if a shot were aimed within his wingspan, he extended the appropriate appendage at the appropriate time, and kept it out.

And while I do recall at least one pass of his from the back that missed its mark and prompted a sounding of the alarm, by and large he seemed happy enough to distribute from his feet. All in all, it was just about everything one would hope and dream from one’s fourth-choice ‘keeper in a winnable European away day.

4. Son

The performance of the on-field lieutenant had me scratching the loaf a bit though, and needing a little sit-down to collect the thoughts.

On the one hand, take what one might term the ‘Match of the Day’ approach. By this I mean that if you simply drink in the headlines, you might conclude that our captain has returned to the peak of his powers. Two goals – the second of which featured a spot of trademark activity involving a stepover and pinpoint shot – in a 3-2 win seems unequivocally to indicate that here was the game’s outstanding contributor.

However, shout that one from the rooftops, and you might swiftly find yourself being tapped insistently on the shoulder by an AANP armed with a most enquiring eye. From the off, and frankly at all points except in execution of his second goal, Sonny did not seem his traditional effervescent self. Ask a fancy AI tool for a visual illustration of what ‘Sonny off the boil’ looks like, and nothing would be simpler than to churn out footage of his every involvement (bar that second goal) from yesterday.

While in an attacking sense, in general our lot appeared to have eaten their spinach and rediscovered some swash and buckle, a certain stodginess manifested each time Son was invited to partake.

The thrilling yard or two of pace that previously allowed him to scoot away from his opposing full-back was absent, as it seems to have been all season. As a result whenever he glimpsed the whites of the goalkeeper’s eyes in an inside-left channel, he checked back infield onto his right foot, and momentum leaked from the attack.  

That he scored his first and our second owed a lot to the kind deflection that ensured physics was on his side. A couple of further opportunities that might have given us the four-goal cushion seemingly necessary every time we play, were also muddled rather than aided by his input.

5. Credit to the Players; BUT WHAT THE DICKENS IS HAPPENING WITH TRANSFERS?

Depending on the side of bed from which one rolled out this morning, one may either bob along with quiet satisfaction at an important win, or chunter away a bit at another unnecessarily complicated struggle.

The AANP take is that this was a game played by a cohort of players either drained of all energy or yet to start shaving, and as such that they found a way to win at all was a small miracle in itself.

There was plenty about which to nod in approval in the opening half hour, and actually a degree of common sense and resilience in the latter stages. Now, to suggest that a corner has been turned and all is rosy once again in N17, is somewhat premature. However, the drill yesterday was simply to find a way to win. That this was achieved through contributions of attacking elan, good fortune and some bloody-minded resilience is absolutely the ticket at AANP Towers.

So to the players a warm hand; and to the Big Cheese a cheery enough shrug, accompanied by a reminder that plenty more work needs doing in the next must-win game, on Sunday.

However, to whomever is responsible for signing off on incomings and new personnel, the sternest possible glare of incandescence awaits. The failure to sign any outfield players at all, over three weeks into the January window, is bordering on negligence.

Even should half a dozen new players arrive today, they would be too late for the last six fixtures, in each of which we were simply unable to rotate as was necessary for performance levels and injury prevention.

Nor, at this point, do we even need the sort of elite-level players who will fit the fabric of the club for years to come, those we’d eye up in the summer. Right now, an extra few bodies on short-term loans would suffice, players of a Reguilon or Dragusin level who could simply come on at minute 60 or 70 to afford a breather to the incumbents, and help prevent six-week muscle strains.

The whole narrative about squad depth began weeks ago, long before the January window came into being, so those responsible for such things can hardly claim to have been caught by surprise.

Not really being privy to the inner workings of either transfer deals in general, nor the club’s policy in this area specifically, I have no idea which specific individuals are to blame further down the chain of command – although the buck presumably stops with Grandmaster Levy. Either way, the absence of a single outfield signing absolutely boggles the mind, and ratchets up the incandescence with each passing day.

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9 replies on “Hoffenheim 2-3 Spurs: Five Tottenham Talking Points”

Too true about Sonny. The second goal was seemingly executed through sheer muscle memory, as if it had come from a Kane assist. The rest of the time – as for most of the season – the evidence of decline was there, with indecision and looseness on the ball, and shots either tame or ballooned. The young Sonny scored goals with a kind of glee; yesterday he seemed just relieved.
I did chortle over your “frown and gruffle”. Surreally, I see them as a Brighton centre-back pairing.

The Boy Porro seems to be a lovely and committed chap blessed with a great many footballing attributes but I suspect that he will never master some basic elements of defending most notably where to position oneself when the ball is being crossed to the area he is responsible for. Otherwise delighted just to win and not to have another nightmare to add to N S Mura, Dinamo Zagreb et all.

When Son scored he didn’t really seem to celebrate much either. I think the team are all feeling a bit knackered and fed-up. This game was like all the others we play, I almost hated it when we were 2-0 knowing that the opposition would start to come at us and we’d end up conceding 3.

Porro is not a defender, he’s a winger and has been responsible for many goals over the last 3 seasons. Absolutely bonkers that Spence was left out of our Europa team, he was born for Porro’s position. I just hope the rumours are correct about him heading to Spain in the Summer.

Somehow, we managed to scrape out a win, I’m not sure Liverpool will give us that luxury in the Milk Cup semi-final though.

Yes. Son is not having his best season, but the disrespect he received after the Everton game from so-called supporters was an absolute disgrace. No wonder he looked disillusioned after scoring. At 32 he can’t be expected to pull out vintage
performances twice a week. Just hope he wins some silverware before he leaves. Audere est Facere.

I agree with MichaelL, and AAPN, comments about Porro. Anybody stretching their mind back to his acquisition with remember – was it Conte – who wanted him as a wing back. He was always the problem since the coach left. Spence although a wing back has better defensive qualities as shown better qualities than Porro.

Son is definitely not the Son of old. He looks clunky, like his brain hasn’t told his legs that they aren’t as quick anymore. Even the trademark step over which resulted in his second goal didn’t look as smooth as it used to. But, he’s 32, so a physical decline is understandable. It’s only Mo Salah that currently seems to be defying the laws of biology. The only ways to help him are by managing his minutes to keep him fresh, and by utilising Maddison in attacking areas from the left so that Son can move infield and get shots away on goal, as he never was a touchline winger, and he certainly isn’t one at 32. Nor is he a 9, as he offers nothing when playing with his back to goal. Unfortunately, like for many others, rotation for Son has been almost impossible, and it has taken its toll.
Hopefully Mikey Moore will be able to ease the burden a little, as Odobert and Werner are still some way off, and it’s looking less and less likely that attacking reinforcements are coming, and I don’t expect our new South Korean import to figure much, if at all, this season, although I’d love to be wrong about that.

What yesterday’s performance showed was that despite most of the players running on empty, they are still 100% behind the manager. I was rightly concerned that 2-0 wasn’t a big enough return for our first-half dominance, knowing that we would run out of steam in the second half, and it was another palpitation-inducing 45 minutes for us fans. Despite our high scoring stats this season, I do think we are incredibly wasteful in the final third, which then puts unnecessary pressure on our makeshift defence. We could easily have been 4-0 up at half time, and the second half would have been a totally different experience. Some of the football we played in the first half was exquisite, with the Kulusevski/Bergvall double flick to beat the press particularly memorable.

Porro has possibly played more minutes than anyone this season, yet he got an assist with a fantastically weighted pass over the top to Maddison, and also should have scored when bursting into the box but skewing the shot on his weaker foot. It’s a shame that there’s no way of utilising the physicality of Spence and the TAA-like quality of Porro on the same flank. If Spence is fit for Sunday, I would give Porro and Gray a rest and bring Reguilon in at LB. The full back area, even without Udogie, is the only real area where we can rotate at the moment, so we should definitely do that at the very least.

Speaking of Gray, he is absolutely incredible. To fill in all across the backline, to keep his composure on the ball wherever he is on the pitch, and to go about his job with the minimum of fuss when he’s only 18 is a huge compliment to him and his upbringing. When you see the work rate that he and Bergvall show, along with the improvements that they are making, they really do look like they are both going to be stars. If Mikey Moore can realise his obvious potential and stay clear of serious injuries, there is plenty of potential within this group if given the right support. Big if, unfortunately!

There are 10 days left in the transfer window, and we haven’t signed one outfield player. It is an absolute disgrace, and only points to Ange not having the support of the board. This is understandable when you take our results over the last calendar year into account, but waiting to see how he gets on in the cup competitions and potentially sacking him afterwards is a pathetically sneaky way to avoid spending any money in January, and the fans won’t stand for it anymore. If nobody is signed by Sunday, I’m expecting Levy to get plenty of stick from the fans whether we win or not.

I know January is a tricky window as clubs don’t want to lose their best players, so you have to pay a premium to get them, and I know that Ange doesn’t want players just to make up the numbers, but there are things we could do that would benefit us in both the short and long term. Even though we are desperately short in attacking areas, and even though Romero and VDV are supposedly close to a return, if I could sign one player in January it would be Marc Guehi. He’s 24, homegrown, an England international, a leader, which we are short of, a LCB, which we desperately need, is comfortable in possession, only has 18 months left on his contract, and would see us as a step up. We’d have to pay a premium, but he’s a premium player. As well as considerably improving our options in the back line, his signing would also free up Archie Gray as an option in the number 6 position, and Van der Ven would then become the LCB/LB hybrid player that everybody has wanted us to sign, and all of a sudden our options in the full back areas look a lot healthier, so Guehi ticks an awful lot of boxes. Instead, we are being linked with Tomori, who would be the cheaper (and inferior) option, which is typical of our transfer policy. We haven’t even been linked with Guehi. In fact, nobody has, which is surprising, but we should be signing him now as there will be a stampede to get him in the summer with only a year left on his deal.

I used to get excited when the transfer window came around. But as the club got more and more successful off the field, the ambition on it, which was barely there before, now seems non-existent.

Yep, 100% agree. Guehi has a calmness & composure about his play, and in post-match interviews too – an impressive young man. Is he perceived as perhaps unsuitable for a high-line defence? That doesn’t seem to have been a consideration in signing Dragusin.

An Angel would be useful too :-). We could get him today if we chose to, bet he slips through our fingers like they always seem to and flies off somewhere else.

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