Following a third international break of the season, Tottenham Hotspur’s return to action could not have been tougher, with an away North London Derby to get things back underway. With Spurs struggling
for fluency and Arsenal flying high, Thomas Frank opted for “solidity”, switching his side to a back three formation with a defensive double pivot of Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha, as Richarlison took up the lone forward role.
The first half seemed like it would be a non-event. Spurs struggled to get out of their half, and Arsenal were creating little, outside of an early scare where Declan Rice found himself in behind the Spurs defense, forcing Guglielmo Vicario into a good save. All in all, it was a tough watch, with the half meandering along until Arsenal suddenly exploded into life with two quick-fire goals.
Leandro Trossard opened the scoring: Mikel Merino showed smart movement to drop into midfield, dragging the defense forward, before chipping a ball in behind for Trossard’s run. The Belgian took a poor first touch, giving Micky van de Ven a chance to recover, but Trossard’s shot deflected off the Dutchman’s sliding challenge to dribble into the goal. Eberechi Eze soon followed suit with Arsenal’s second. He received the ball near the top of the 18-yard box and wriggled his way past both Bentancur and Palhinha before unleashing a strike that rocketed past Vicario. Instead of going into the half with the ledger even, Spurs were shellshocked, finding themselves two goals down.
The urgency was such that Thomas Frank made a rare half-time substitution, abandoning his back three plan and bringing on Xavi Simons for Kevin Danso. Simons barely had time to touch the ball, though, before Arsenal added a third. It was that man Eze again, finding himself in acres of space just outside the penalty area with Spurs’ midfield nowhere in sight. He settled himself then nestled his shot into the bottom left.
It had been an absolute toothless performance from Spurs, but Richarlison unleashed a moment of quality to potentially give fans some momentary hope. Palhinha robbed Martin Zubimendi of possession, with the ball falling to the Brazilian forward. He struck a shot first time with David Raya off his line, looping it over the Arsenal keeper from 35 yards out in a phenomenal effort.
It wasn’t long until Spurs’ deficit was back at three, however, with Eze completing his hat trick. It was similar to his second, with Eze this time fed from the left instead of the right. He had plenty of time to pick his spot, and Arsenal had four. Spurs labored to try and find more attacking opportunities, but their ineffectual play continued while Arsenal continued to slice Spurs open. The fulltime whistle was eventually blown, with the 4-1 scoreline probably overly kind to Spurs.
Reactions
- That was awful. I think the technical term is “blerghhhhh”.
- Seriously though, that was one of the worst NLD performances in recent memory. Spurs were basically unable to get past the halfway line, and Richarlison’s 55th minute goal was the Lilywhites’ first attempt on goal (out of three total shots).
- Thomas Frank’s refrain has been that a defensive base is needed before building out his overall tactical plan. What defense was there today?
- With that in mind, you have to question the continued selection of both Palhinha and Bentancur. I think they received the ball from the center backs on TWO occasions in the entire first half. That is shocking. And it’s not like they offered that much more in that supposed defensive stability either, with both being easily beaten for Arsenal’s second, and nowhere to be seen for Arsenal’s third and fourth goals, with Eze taking up positions that should have been covered by a defensive double pivot.
- That all points to a coaching problem. Nobody seemed to know where they were supposed to be, what their jobs were, and where their teammates were. This is a third of the way into the season, and it’s not good enough. What is Frank doing? If this is what we were going to get, I would rather have just kept Ange Postecoglou. At least we sometimes got exciting football.
- Thomas Frank needs to get this sorted, and fast. Somebody in the masthead chat said it’s like watching Jose Mourinho at his worst but without Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, and it’s hard to argue against that. The squad isn’t great, but this is just woeful football, plain and simple.
- At least it wasn’t five or six, which it very well could have been.
- Oh, and to add to the list of positives, Cristian Romero is now suspended for Spurs’ next match against Fulham. Fantastic.
- COYS.
