Lloris did not return for the second half, having conceded five goals in the first. Credit: Shuttershock/ADAM VAUGHAN
Can you fire the interim manager? It's one of the great weightlessnesses of football, on par with «why can't the pros beat the first man on the corner?» and «How does Steve Bruce get a job?»
Tottenham Hotspur need to think after a miserable 6-1 defeat to Newcastle. April is traditionally the month when the true nature of the team is revealed, it was a moment of clarity in a blurry season for the Spurs. Their 2022/23 season has been a bewildering turmoil, interspersed with the steady spells of competence it takes to stay in the top four. they joined M11. The minimum expectation in the decisive game for Champions League qualification was to first keep the tension and calm the lively crowd.
It lasted 61 seconds.
The Spurs were losing 3-0 after 10 minutes, and by the stoppage time of the first half, the Newcastle players, not quite understanding what to do with themselves, were playing not like a friendly, but rather an exhibition game. It was the Geordie Globtrotters against the puppets, the Haringy Generals.
«There were so many mistakes,» said Danny Rose, who served as pundit for Sky Sports and is currently without a club. “For the first half, I only thought about why I am unemployed?”
In games like this, wild things can happen that are hard to bring back. Spurs captain Hugo Lloris was sent off at half-time, apparently due to injury, but it was closer to a mercy killing. He was the best goalkeeper for the Spurs for a generation, but clearly not in the best shape. The fact that his replacement, Fraser Forster, is only a year younger than the 36-year-old Lloris is a testament to the atrophy of this team.
You can't blame Christian Stellini for pioneering the back four for Spurs, despite the fact that their defenders seem to have only read about this formation in books. A month ago, there was lively talk about the Italian's perfect track record when he replaced Antonio Conte. Clubs with consistent management should silence this noise, just as Manchester United should have shrugged off Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's win streak as guardian and be more mindful of his nine months at Cardiff.
It has always seemed strange to think that an unsuccessful team can get into the Champions League under the leadership of the deputy of an unpopular departed coach.
Stellini deserves close attention because of that explosion and the general direction since Conte left, most astoundingly 11 goals conceded in four games. But look at the players, lots of defensive sins, lack of leadership, poor body language. It was their season in the microcosm when they hit you over the head with their clumsiness in the first half and then played intelligently for most of the second. Was their discovery of the game a bad dream?
Only Tottenham makes you think about such things. They are in the process of redefining «spurs», once synonymous with plucky inferiority. They now have a veneer of respectability that makes their frequent rumples even more annoying. They are secretly a terrible team in a great stadium. Harry Kane sets personal bests in scoring, and the captain concedes five goals in half. This is luxurious incompetence.
Harry Kane pulled one goal in the second half, but to no avail. Photo: Shuttershock/Richard Lee
It's Pedro Porro hitting Dan Burn with nutmeg in a 5-1 loss and then rebounding off him trying to get past, protesting to the referee as if Burn was a 14-year-old in an under-13 game.
Ten seconds before Alexander Isak scored the fourth goal thanks to an erotic pass from Joe Willock, Dejan Kulusevski was on the ball 10 yards from Newcastle's box.
Look at Christian Romero watching the long ball fly over his head and then seem surprised when Jolinton got the ball and made it 2-0. Ahead of Newcastle's fifth goal, look out for Pierre-Émile Højbjerg, who is nominally supposed to interfere with a player in midfield and apparently apologetic for turning a blind eye and pressing at the same time.
In addition to these individual errors, there is another error. the collective smell of lack. The problem with elite sports is that everyone you face is so good that even a one percent drop in performance can lead to disaster. The difficulty for Spurs is that they have a few levers left to use.
Spurs deny Levy scolded players after shocking loss to
Luke Edwards
When interim Tottenham Hotspur manager Christian Stellini described Tottenham Hotspur's loss to Newcastle United as «the worst 25 minutes of football I've ever seen», the worst thing is that most fans agreed with this.
Of course it was terrible. to watch as Newcastle scored five times in the first 22 minutes and in the process ripped apart the Spurs' Champions League challenge, causing a sudden departure of hundreds of players away.
It was embarrassing from start to finish as Spurs staff denied speculation that chief executive Daniel Levy burst into the away dressing room after the match to chastise the players. Levi was seen walking through the tunnel 20 minutes after the main whistle, but it was clear that he was heading towards the exit.
Given that he was to hear a chant calling his head out of the departure. The departure had ended earlier in the day, Levy's mood was understandably gloomy as he left St. James's. Park.
By appointing Stellini until the end of the season, promoting former assistant Antoni Conte to manager rather than seeking an outside appointment, it is possible that the interim boss will also be removed after that.
If the 3-2 home defeat to Bournemouth was bad, it was disastrous and Stellini looked depressed after the match. He said he wanted to continue as a manager, but his team didn't play like those who listen to him or play for him.
Lloris: Lack of pride
This performance drew sharp criticism from Spurs captain Hugo Lloris, who he said did not show up after the break due to a muscle injury.
» It’s very embarrassing,” said the goalkeeper. “We have to apologize to the fans. We didn't show a good face and couldn't match the performance of the Newcastle players.
“We were late in every aspect of the game and completely missed the first part of the game. The second half is a different story, but it is very painful.
“It's not even about tactics, we just couldn't fight. I think Newcastle just put on a great game, they were very aggressive and very aggressive every time they had the ball.
"Now it is difficult to appreciate the game, but there was not enough pride. . You can concede four goals in 20 minutes once or twice, but on the field it was something strange. It felt like we couldn't even react or get back to the show
“We can try to find excuses and analyze performances, but first of all we will miss the fight. In football, if you enter the field without the desire to be aggressive, it makes things very difficult. There was a bit of a mess on the field.
Stellini: Change of system — my mistake in tactics could be part of the problem. Photo: AP/LINDSEY PARNABY
It may have been unintentional, but it was enough in Lloris' comments that a finger was also assigned to Stellini, who was forced to defend himself against accusations that the team was so bad due to his switch to four. defense.
“There are no words to explain such a performance,” said Stellini with the air of a man who has seen a war zone for the first time. «The first 25 minutes were probably the worst I've ever seen.
“The system that we changed to give energy and the right attitude was the wrong decision. If so, then this is my responsibility. We changed the system to play with four players, and if it's a mistake, it's my fault. If there is worse than this, it's hard to see.
“There are reasons, and we must find them. If it's a system, then it's easy to see. We're changing the system.»
Stellini resisted the temptation to attack the mentality of his players, as his former boss Conte did in the last days of his managerial career, and instead tried to comfort him.
>
» We will never know [if the defense can play four] unless we try to do it,” he added. “But we have to analyze this situation.
“Now, maybe it's too early… We need to take a breath after such a performance. We have an important game on Thursday and we have to show something else. We trained [all week] with this system, so yes, I was surprised [how bad we were].
“What I can say is that we should apologize to everyone. I hope that today it is my responsibility, because changing the system was my decision. I hope that was the problem.
Свежие комментарии