Premier League 2018/19: 3 reasons why Tottenham lost to West Ham
It was another frustrating afternoon for Spurs fans today as Mauricio Pochettino’s side crashed to their first defeat at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, losing 0-1 to West Ham after Michail Antonio’s well-taken second-half goal.
The result has put a dent in Tottenham’s top four hopes, although the recent profligacy of their rivals – Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United – means they should finish the weekend still in 3rd position in the Premier League. But it was hardly a great performance to take into the Champions League Semi-Final first leg against Ajax on Tuesday.
Here are 3 reasons why Tottenham lost to West Ham.
#1 Spurs looked toothless in attack
There have been a couple of times this season – most notably the home game against Manchester United in January – where Spurs dominated games but simply couldn’t score. This wasn’t one of those games. Despite ending the game with 63% possession, Spurs actually had less shots on goal – and far less on target – than their opponents.
Despite starting the game with a trio of attackers in Heung-Min Son, Lucas Moura and Dele Alli, and with Christian Eriksen behind them, Tottenham simply couldn’t carve out any clean opportunities on West Ham’s goal. Part of this was down to West Ham’s excellent defending – particularly from the outstanding Issa Diop – but too many times we saw Lucas, Dele and Son running down blind alleys, and the Spurs forwards were also far too narrow for the majority of the game, relying too much on Danny Rose to provide width.
Hopefully, this kind of performance will put an end to the ludicrous idea that Spurs could be better off without injured striker Harry Kane. The likes of Son and Fernando Llorente have done well deputising for the England captain at times this season, but the truth is that when Spurs have won games without Kane, they’ve usually relied on late goals to get them out of trouble. And today the late goals didn’t come.
Not only does Kane provide the side with a world-class finisher, but he also drags defenders out of position and can catch the opposition out with some underrated passing skills. Without Kane, Tottenham look painfully toothless at times and today was one of those days – they never really looked like scoring.