Five things we learned from Tottenham loss to Forest on Boxing Day
Tottenham Hotspur suffered their ninth defeat at the hands of Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day to end their 16-game unbeaten streak during the festive period. Let’s take a look at five things we learned from the game.
Tottenham need a break
Nine defeats in 18 games in the Premier League this season is really low for a club of this magnitude. We are eleventh in the standings, and we are not even comfortable there.
If Brentford or Manchester United win their respective games, then we slip into fourteenth. Hearing myself write those words is really shocking, and all I can say is give all of us a break—the players and the fans—we have had enough of it this year.
The game against Forest was our fourth in the space of two weeks, which is a lot considering the injury problems we are having. We really need a break. Look at Spence, he was added just recently to bring a bit of freshness to the side, and it took him four games to drop a stinker.
Tottenham cannot escape injuries
While the result was bad, the injury gods once again decided to add salt to an already sore wound by taking out the one fit centre-back we have in this squad. I am really not looking forward to the next makeshift experiment we will be conducting.
If Radu Dragusin is out for the long term, what does Ange even do at this point? Who does he throw in there to partner young Gray? We will need to keep an eye on his presser to see how bad the injury is.
Djed Spence red card
As I pointed out earlier, Spence has been one of the bright spots in the past weeks. His performances have been solid—an assist in the game against Southampton and Manchester United and then a pretty solid outing against the Egyptian King, Mo Salah.
However, today, I am sorry to report, this has been his worst performance in a Tottenham shirt. He was poor on both ends of the pitch.
He struggled against Hudson-Odoi, was sloppy in possession, and struggled with Forest’s fast breaks. It was those fast breaks that led to his red card, which was a second yellow card—a little bit of a positive as he will miss one game.
Boxing day unbeaten run ended
Coming into this game, I was a little optimistic, even though a part of me knew it was going to be a long afternoon. The reason for my optimism was our near-perfect Boxing Day record.
We had not lost a single Boxing Day match since 2005, so a part of me expected that perhaps the footballing gods would hand us yet another Boxing Day win so we could at least have something to celebrate.
Well, it was not to be for us today. The boys tried their best, but their best was far from good enough. Let us not take anything away from Nottingham Forest—they have beaten top-of-the-table Liverpool this season, so they are really good at what they do.
Enjoy the festive season regardless
I know this football club gives us little to be happy about. The one thing I was holding onto—the Boxing Day record—has been taken away from me now.
But that is Tottenham; we are just chaotic, and you never know what to expect from them. They could put five past their next opponent, and neither of us would be surprised.
So why stress too much? Let us try and spend the rest of the holiday with our families and loved ones. Even though Tottenham has failed to give us a present, it will come eventually, albeit late.
But hey, it should only go up from here, hopefully.
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