Just when you think this team has the potential to go on a run, this sort of result happens. Tottenham got absolutely obliterated by a very average Leicester City side as they fell 4-1, even though they scored first!
This is why this Tottenham team has never and will never win anything of note.
Spurs were coming into this game with a massive amount of momentum as they not only had won their last three games (1 FA Cup tie, 2 Premier League ties), but they also had just beaten the reigning champions Man City 1-0 to close the gap on 4th place to just 1 point.
And, seeing how they were facing off against a then 15th place Leicester City side that had one just one league game in 2023 so far, it would have been foolish to bet against Antonio Conte’s side to surpass 4th place Newcastle today.
Well, that might be slightly misleading as it’s true Spurs were the “superior” and inform team coming into the match, but to say that it would be foolish to bet for Spurs to win is a contradiction in of itself. You should NEVER bet that Spurs will win an important, meaningful game that will help make or break their season.
And, just in Spurs fashion, they utterly collapsed after taking an lead.
After a decent start that resulted lucky Rodrigo Bentancur goal that deflected off his knee and into the back of the Leicester City net, Spurs got humiliated by the Foxes as they conceded three goals in under twenty minutes to close out the first half.
I will give Spurs defense a pass on the Nampalys Mendy equalizing goal as that was simply a rocket the Leicester fullback smashed into the top corner, but where was Spurs defense on the other two goals?
Oh, I know, out daydreaming as Eric Dier, Ben Davies, Japhet Tanganga, and backup keeper Fraser Forster (Hugo Lloris was injured a week back) were caught out of position on countless times. On the James Madison goal (second Leicester City goal), Dier was literally standing next to Bentancur in midfield, even though Spurs had the ball in their own half and struggled to half clear it.
Then, on the very next Leicester City goal, Dier sheepishly stood off Kelechi Iheanacho as the forward drove into Tottenham’s box and slipped a curling shot past Foster, even though Iheanacho was the only forward attacking at the time.
Now, there’s easily a case to be made that Foster should have saved it (which he most definitely should have), but the way Dier let Iheanacho go uncontested for nearly 5 seconds IN HIS OWN TEAM’S PENATLY BOX would make even Harry Maguire stand up and applaud. That’s how bad he defended that goal.
Some first half for Spurs, right? You’d think they’d be able to get a grip on the game and nick a goal-wait, who am I kidding? This is Tottenham Hotspur we’re talking about!
Obviously, Spurs just completed capitulated once the second half kicked off as they kept giving up A+ chances to a goal-starved Leicester side (ex: the Iheanacho header on the 68th minute) and should have been punished for even more goals against as Harvey Barnes 70th minute goal (the one where Iheanacho broke Tanganga’s ankles) was disallowed for being offside.
Though, don’t worry too much about Harvey Barnes as Eric Dier and Tottenham’s defense felt so bad about his goal being disallowed, they gave him an uncontested shot on the edge of the box a ten minutes later, which he easily dispatched to seal Leicester’s 4-1 victory.
Truthfully, this was one of Tottenham’s Top-5 worst performances of the season to date as they not only had a horrid defensive performance, but they also got played off the park by the Foxes. Most times in these blowout games involving the traditional “Big-6” clubs, the Big-6 team has vastly more possession, shots, and passes but got caught out on the counterattack. That wasn’t the case today.
Leicester had 15 shots to Tottenham’s 11, 7 shots on target to Spurs’ 4, 452 passes versus 453 for Spurs, a slightly worse passing accuracy of 77% to Spurs 82%, and just edged out on possession with 49% to Spurs’ 51%. This game was as even as they come in midfield, which should be extremely worrying to Spurs fans as Leicester midfield is nothing to gloat about.
And I actually like some of Spurs midfielders, such as Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (though, he’s also at fault for the 4th goal with his turnover). The issue is that they are way too inconsistent to make the Top-4 against midfields such as Arsenal (Odegaard-Xhaka-Partey), Man United (Fernandes-Eriksen-Casemiro), Man City (De Bruyne-Silva-Gundogan-Rodri), etc.
Nevertheless, back-to-back wins for Leicester has now seen then move 6 points above the relegation zone, making it difficult for the bottom feeder clubs (Everton, Bournemouth, Southampton, West Ham, and Leeds) to catch up with them. Brendan Rodgers, who somehow still has a job, and his squad are not out of the relegation clearing yet, but they’ve definitely put a gap between them and the worst teams in the Premier League.
As for Spurs, this was yet another missed opportunity to break into the Top-4. Arsenal (1st), Man United (3rd), Chelsea (9th), Newcastle (4th), Brighton (6th), and Brentford (8th) ALL dropped points this week/weekend, while Man City (2nd) may drop points against Aston Villa (11th) tomorrow. This was essentially a “really-should-win” (not a must win yet) game for Spurs, but they bottled it in the most Spursy way possible.
With results like this, the pressure of keeping Antonio Conte and Harry Kane in the club continues to grow for Daniel Levy and Spurs’ management.
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