WHY CAN’T KANE SCORE IN AUGUST?
FOR large parts of an enthralling afternoon in the capital, Tottenham were recognisable. They played some very good football, they ran hard in that endlessly energetic and athletic way of theirs and they enjoyed the kind of superiority of possession that few teams ever will against the English champions.
But when it mattered, Mauricio Pochettino’s team were not themselves at all. They failed to take their chances and then contributed the kind of late errors that will lose many a match if repeated.
Tottenham were predictable last season in the very best way. They were imperious at White Hart Lane and stuck to the template drawn up by the meticulous Pochettino with the kind of fevered determination and intelligence that marks out the top teams.
Here at Wembley, though, they couldn’t do it. Harry Kane couldn’t take any of his three good chances, for example. What is it with Kane and August? In three seasons of prominence at Tottenham, Kane has never scored a league goal in the season’s first month.
Equally, Tottenham gave up a catastrophic and decisive late goal in a manner alien to them. Kane’s profligacy hurt Tottenham but it was the way they handed Chelsea their winning goal that killed them.
As Chelsea manager Antonio Conte leaped into the arms of his coaching staff, Pochettino fell back in his seat wondering what exactly he had just seen.
Hugo Lloris’s throw to Victor Wanyama was not the most judicious. Wanyama had his back to play and an opponent close at hand. But we can forgive the Tottenham goalkeeper for that. He was sticking to the Tottenham creed. Don’t settle for the draw, seek victory.
But Wanyama’s touch was poor and this triggered a damaging course of events. With Chelsea’s David Luiz now in possession, danger arose. Had Wanyama made the necessary effort to track the Chelsea runners, the flame may have been extinguished.
But he didn’t and as Marcos Alonso hared past him, he was able to take the ball and drive in the low shot that Lloris should have saved but somehow did not.
In a heartbeat, a game was lost when it never should have been.
Chelsea won this on the back of 32 per cent possession. They had two shots on target and both went in. Last January, in the corresponding fixture at White Hart Lane, Chelsea had 55 per cent possession and more corners and shots than Tottenham. And they lost 2-0.
Football will do this to you if you make the kind of mistakes which Tottenham made here.
Playing at Wembley may yet become an issue for them but it wasn’t on this occasion. The atmosphere was terrific and, for the most part, Tottenham looked and behaved like the home team.
What they must do now is win at Wembley on Sunday against Burnley.
If they don’t manage that, the issues of home stadium and money — placed front and centre by Danny Rose this month — will continue to fester.
ARGUABLY,
Tottenham’s best player in this game was Dele Alli. The Spurs fans sang his name on Wembley Way before kick- off and he contributed some lovely football, despite conceding the free-kick from which Chelsea took the lead.
Money remains a vulgar topic in the game. Just about every player in the Premier League earns too much of it. But when you consider that Alli’s £50,000-a-week wage is three times less than many of the players he faced yesterday — and less than dozens of others around the country — the vexation felt in the Tottenham dressing room is clear and understandable.
If Spurs enjoy a good season, the wages issue is likely to bubble under the surface. Winning matches remains a priceless tonic.
But if Tottenham don’t manage to replicate what they did last season, the cracks exposed by Rose’s comments will become deep fissures and money could become the headline narrative of their campaign.
Much may depend on what Pochettino does in the transfer market before the window closes.
It was telling yesterday that one of the substitutes employed by him was Moussa Sissoko.
The Frenchman is probably the worst buy of Pochettino’s time at Tottenham and he wants rid. But the Spurs squad is not deep enough for Sissoko to be jettisoned and if a manager begins a season using players he palpably doesn’t rate, what hope has he got?
So Tottenham supporters should view yesterday’s defeat through this prism.
It is not a disaster or indicative of issues regarding Wembley. But it was uncharacteristic and if it is repeated, the landscape will change.
As often, the stories and subplots of the season will be dictated primarily by the football.
It has always been the way, no matter what your home stadium happens to be called.