Premier League action from Saturday’s matches features Ollie Watkins making a statement, Bruno Guimaraes seeming at home in his new forward role, as Liverpool and Arsenal march on.
When questioned during Saturday’s post-match press conference, Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou replied, “It was similar to the last couple of games at home.”
He acknowledged that during the past few games, Spurs have not performed at their desired standards. They defeated Brentford and Brighton in their last two games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, although neither victory was clear-cut or convincing.
And against Wolves, those anxious moments that Tottenham had managed to avoid in the previous few weeks, or at least cover with goals, suddenly reared their head.
They had Heung-Min Son returning in the starting lineup along with James Maddison, Richarlison, and Dejan Kulusevki, but they failed to score at the end of the first half. Sadly, out of their 15 shots in the game, just four of them were.
However, their incapacity to prevent Wolves from counterattacking, along with some dubious defending for Joao Gomes’ opener, proved to be their undoing. Postecoglou claimed that Spurs’ defense had been “outstanding” this season, but in recent weeks, it hasn’t been their greatest accomplishment.
They now have two weeks to prepare before facing Crystal Palace. The catchphrases “move on,” “hard work,” and “be ready for the game” are great, but Tottenham needs to break out of their current performance rut.
After this loss, they are now down two points for fifth place, and by the time March 2 arrives, that deficit may have widened considerably further. Even though there is still a lot of football left to play, Tottenham will want to control their own destiny coming into the final stretch of the season.
