Opinion: Five things we learned from Tottenham’s 2-3 defeat to Arsenal

Tottenham Hotspur fell to a 3-2 defeat in the North London Derby this afternoon, despite doing their best to turn around a 3-0 half-time scoreline.

Let’s take a look at the five things we learned from the match:

Set pieces… again

I know Postecoglou wants to focus on the bigger picture (style of play) before tinkering with more specific parts of Tottenham’s play like set pieces, but it would still be foolish not to point out such a glaring hole.

Tottenham scored two today, played the best football, had the best chances, yet lost because they handed Arsenal two goals from set-pieces. It was the Premier League’s best offensive set-piece takers against the worst defenders, and that was the difference on the day. A set-piece coach is needed for next season.

North London Derby fight

While Tottenham rallied in the second half and almost completed a famous comeback, the North London Derby spirit has to be questioned today, especially in that 45. I think even the most ambitious Tottenham fans agree with one sentiment in Postecoglou’s debut season – ‘we can understand a loss as long as the player’s left it all out there’. At times, it doesn’t feel like that and today was definitely one of those days. If all eleven players had the heart of Cristian Romero and Dejan Kulusevski today, we would have walked away with a point or more.

Man City half-and-half scarves

If Man City and Arsenal keep winning every week (and it looks like they will), the game in hand against Spurs will be crucial for the Citizens – potentially title-deciding. This could lead to a very strange scenario, with 62,000 fans all cheering on the same team at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Given the choice between losing on the day or watching Arsenal win the league, Spurs fans will happily hand Man City the win. However, the players and Ange will unlikely share that sentiment.

A tactical tweak for Chelsea

As vice-captain and one of the biggest players at the club, you always have credit in the bank. However, after so many below-par performances, I think it could do everyone some good to have James Maddison on the bench for a game – Madders included. Sometimes you need a kick up the bum and an appearance off the bench on 60 minutes to spark yourself back into form, much like Brennan Johnson did earlier in the campaign. Spurs also looked dangerous with Kulusevski in the number ten role today and I would love to see that from the start against Chelsea.

Europa League, here we come

Not to sound defeatist, but Europa League now seems likely for Tottenham Hotspur next season, unless we can win pretty much every single game, including matches against Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea. The reason I bring it up is because I’m looking forward to it. Financially, the Champions League would be huge, and who doesn’t want to see us walk out to that famous anthem again? But I think there is also a case for the argument that we should walk before we can run. Look at Newcastle this season, arguably biting off more than they could chew with a smaller transitioning squad. Let’s have a real go at winning the Europa League!

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