| Match report
Tottenham left Stamford Bridge
with nothing and while that was nothing new, their dominance of the
first half showed that they are not that far away from becoming one
of the regulars at the top of the table. Chelsea, for all
their unbeaten run, looked poor in the first time and a well taken
equaliser just before the break let them back into a game that they
should have not been in with a chance of.
Spurs went into the game
without two first choice left backs and had to slot in Kevin Wimmer
in that position, while Chelsea played the same side for the sixth
consecutive time. The absentees in defence might not have cost
Tottenham the game, but not being at full strength is a problem for
us at the moment.
Looking to make a quick start, Chelsea kicked off and played the
ball long, but Vertonghen dealt with it. Five minutes in, Kane had a
goal disallowed, when an Eriksen free-kick floated over two blue
shirts and Harry chested the ball own and poked it home form a
couple of yards out, but was offside. As Chelsea panicked at the
back, Dier was also presented with a free-kick, which he curled just
over the bar.
Spurs worked the ball from halfway when Dembele gave Dele Alli the
chance to run forward. Luiz was more intent in running into Alli,
but he nudged the ball to Christian Eriksen, who thundered a shot
past Courtois from 19 yards. It was a fine shot and was the result
of Tottenham dominating play, while Chelsea had looked to hit Costa
early with long balls, which he was eased off quite easily, much to
the striker's disgust. He wanted a free kick every time.
In contrast, it was Spurs who were picking up the free-kicks as
Chelsea fouled on a regular basis. Spurs were still working the ball
well and his combination with Dembele on the edge of the box saw the
Kenyan fire a shot over the bar from 20 yards out. Chelsea tested
Hugo Lloris just before the half hour, David Luiz hitting a
free-kick over the wall, but it was taken low down quite
comfortably. Straight up the other end, Walker took the ball over
Alonso's head and forced Courtois to a save at his near post, with
Dier winning the corner in the air, but he couldn't get any power
behind it. After another minute, Kane ran across the face of the
area and despite being bumped by defenders powered a shot in that
the keeper had to fist over the bar.
The Chelsea crowd were getting annoyed with their players, who
seemed disinclined to close players down, to play with any intensity
and to play backwards instead of forwards. After Kante has cynically
pulled back Dembele's shirt without a booking (even though it was
right in front of the referee), Mousa was knocked off the ball,
Matic played it to Pedro, who turned inside and curled the ball
around Eric Dier and beat Lloris just inside his left hand post. It
was entirely out of character with Chelsea's play in the first half,
but they ended up going in at half-time all square.
So, Tottenham had to start all over again, kicking off the second
half. Kante had an early shot straight at Hugo, before Azpilicueta
had a couple of kicks at Son, who was lying on the ground. Chelsea
took the lead six minutes into the half when Costa went down the
left, unchallenged and pulled a low ball across the box to a totally
unmarked Moses, whose low shot hit Lloris' foot and went in off
Vertonghen on the line. It was cruel on Tottenham, but they should
have challenged Costa before he got into a dangerous position.
Two minutes later, Costa did the same from the right and luckily it
went to Alonso on the penalty spot, who leaned back and saw his shot
rise way over the goal. Chelsea were suddenly playing with
confidence and Moses' floated cross from the right almost picked out
a stretching Costa. Dembele was getting caught in possession in
midfield and Chelsea were pushing Spurs back as they moved the ball
wide.
Working the ball forward, Tottenham did win a couple of corners, but
nothing came of them. Spurs were unable to work the ball as well as
they did in the first half, with players being too heavy with their
first touch and also being guilty of playing in too tight spaces.
When Kane did get away on the left having been presented with the
ball by Luiz, he dinked the ball back for Eriksen to volley at goal,
but the ball came too close to him to get a decent shot off.
Harry Winks came on to replace Son, with a change in formation for
Alli to come wide and Dembele to move forward. The switch didn't
help, as Chelsea had space to pass the ball across the pitch and the
only time Spurs got away in this period Alli was offside. Pochettino
tried something different with Kevin-Georges N'Koudou coming on for
Alli, hoping to add a bit of pace and width to the side.
It didn't work, as Chelsea had it too comfortable in midfield, with
Spurs not closing down as they did in the first half. N'Koudou did
link well with Dembele on the left to win a corner, but Costa won
the ball in and was lucky as it went back towards Courtois in the
air. Eriksen picked out Kane in the box in the 83rd minute, but it
was nicked off him for a corner. Janssen came on as the corner was
about to be taken, but it was cleared away, while a free-kick soon
after saw Matic pulling Vertonghen's shirt in the box.
Kevin-Georges took on Ivanovic and Azpilicueta with great skill
before hitting a shot at Courtois at the near post. Spurs moved
forward when Wanyama went through three challenges, although the
move came to an end when KG's cross picked Victor out, but he
couldn't control it. Willian fired over from 12 yards out, then
Winks raced back to cut out a square ball from Costa heading for
Oscar.
So, Tottenham lost their first game of the season and on the second
half performance, that was probably the right result, but they
should not have conceded in the first half and a lead at the
interval would have given them a psychological advantage. I don't
think that this loss was about mentality, but about carrying through
their belief in the way they were playing. Courtois was barely
tested in the second half, which is when Tottenham usually come on
strong. The worry, once again, was out inability to finish teams
off. We had almost double the shots Chelsea had in the first half,
but we need to work keepers more to force a mistake out of them and
there was a lack of movement, as players faded from the game,
allowing Chelsea the space to stretch the play.
The home side are on a roll at the moment and it was a test without
our injured players anyway, but there ended up not a lot between the
teams, but once more, Spurs fall at the Bridge.
Tony
Michaelson |
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