TOOTHLESS TOTTENHAM
No shot on target for a second game as Spurs’ hopes of top-four place fade
NOT the greatest strategy if you want to finish in the Premier League’s top four, going two games without a single shot on target. Yet that is toothless Tottenham’s problem right now.
Another 90 minutes, another zero attempts. Last week it was Brighton. This time it was Brentford who kept them at bay, despite Tottenham having players in Harry Kane and Son Heung-min and even Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Moura, who ought to be testing goalkeepers weekly.
With five games to go, it is advantage Arsenal and that north London derby at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 12 is looming larger than ever.
Whereas previously they were scoring for fun, Tottenham seemed out of ideas. Instead it was Brentford who looked the likeliest to win this, as if they were the ones chasing Champions League football.
Thomas Frank’s side hit the woodwork twice through Ivan Toney but this draw still took them up to that coveted 40-point mark. It is happy days for them, but not so happy for Tottenham.
‘We didn’t deserve three points,’ said manager Antonio Conte. ‘Now we have to try to prepare for the last five games in the best possible way and stay in this race. The draw was fair. We have to accept this. We’re trying to do our best.’
Whether their best is good enough for fourth is the question.
‘We know what’s at stake,’ said Eric Dier. ‘It’s still in our hands because we have to play [Arsenal].’ Half an hour before kick-off, the
Brentford Community Stadium announcer was asking young supporters their favourite player. More often than not, they named Christian Eriksen.
There is talk of Eriksen returning to Tottenham this summer and he would certainly inject some creativity into this team.
Though there were hugs and handshakes galore with Kane, Dier and Ben Davies in the tunnel beforehand, that did not mean he would go easy on them. Eriksen was the most influential player on the pitch throughout, a thorn in Tottenham’s side. Brentford had won five of their last six in the Premier League coming into this. It is not mathematically assured, but it is safe to say they are set for another season of top-flight football.
That is some achievement for a ‘bus stop in Hounslow’, as Frank enjoys referring to his club. With Premier League safety comes a freedom in their play. Knowing they need not fear the drop, Frank’s side can give it a go in games such as this.
And that they did. As Frank said: ‘We got a result but we should have got a bigger result. We deserved to win.’ The best chances of the opening exchanges went to Brentford, with Bryan Mbeumo coming close with an effort that trickled down the wrong side of the post.
Tottenham’s defensive naivete was on show from set pieces. Every time Brentford had a corner, Eriksen would play the ball to the back of the six-yard box where a team-mate was waiting, having peeled away from the pack. It happened time and again, with Toney seeing two volleys blocked this way, yet still the visitors did not change their approach.
Tottenham’s zonal marking was not working and they were fortunate to not fall 1-0 down in the 17th minute when Toney headed another corner on to the crossbar.
It took half an hour for Tottenham’s first shot and it was so wild and off target, commuters at nearby Kew Bridge station almost had to duck. Rodrigo Bentancur was the man who skied it, with Kane and Son having barely had a sniff of the opposition goal.
That had to change in the second half. Kane’s first opportunity to score came in the 52nd minute when he held off Pontus Jansson before turning and shooting. It deflected over and this kickstarted a period of Tottenham pressure. That was short-lived, however.
Brentford went on the attack and thought they had scored after an hour when Mads Roerslev’s cross was flicked on by Jansson. It was heading in until Kane, having retreated to his own goal line, cleared it. Eriksen tried to finish the rebound but Hugo Lloris got down to make a super save.
Either side might have stolen the win in stoppage time. Toney’s header from an Eriksen free-kick crashed against the post before Mbeumo placed the rebound into the side-netting. Tottenham then raced up the other end where
Kulusevski picked out Kane, who attempted the incredible. His acrobatic scissor-kick flew wide by inches and, with that, the match finished goalless.
Conte said afterwards that his players will need to give ‘150 per cent’ if they’re to finish fourth.
Arsenal now hold a two-point advantage over their rivals, who might want to remember that old adage: if you don’t shoot, you don’t score.