Tottenham Hotspur overcame a lackluster firs half to beat Nottingham Forest 3-1 today. There were definitely some good things and some bad things to take away from this match. The win did help Tottenham’s hopes for Champions League play next season. Here are my thoughts on the match.
VDV Was Impressive
Micky van de Ven was easily the best player on the pitch for Tottenham. He seemed like he was everywhere, especially in the second half. He found himself in great position to receive the ball from Sonny to score the 2nd goal on the day. The rest of his numbers speak to how impressive he was.
- 100% tackles made (5/5)
- 100% ground duels won (3/3)
- 94% pass accuracy
- 84 touches
- Won possession 6 times
- 3/5 aerial duels won
- Dribbled past 0 times
- 0 fouls committed
As a defender, it doesn’t get much better than that. Attackers may think that they are getting by him, but he uses his speed to recovery and gets back into great defensive positions so quickly. He may be the best signing that Tottenham has made in the last 2 transfer windows.
Tottenham Shot The Ball
If you watched the midweek match against West Ham, it seemed like the club was hesitant to take their shots. Today was quite the opposite for the most part. In the first half, Yves Bissouma let the ball fly on a number of occasions. He just needed to do a better job at picking out his spots. It was good to see the 2nd and 3rd goals come from defenders, but I was a little worried that we still didn’t see enough shot taken from our forwards. Hopefully we see that trend move in the opposite direction as Tottenham is about to embark on a very difficult run of games against top opponents.
Midfield Problems
Tottenham has a lot of players that I really like in the midfield, but the midfield was absolutely terrible in the first half. Forest seem to be able to run through the midfield with ease with Sarr and Bissouma not getting back to defend fast enough. I thought that Maddison played his best game that he had in a while, but as a whole, the midfield was just not good enough in the first half.
At the half, Ange brought on Bentancur and Hojbjerg. Those two made a huge difference in the game. Bentancur showed creativity with a beautiful touch to help set up Porro on the 3rd goal. Hojbjerg made a huge difference in the game with his physical play. He helped the defense find their bite and take back control of the match.
Mixed Bag Performances
There were mixed bag performances throughout the team on the day, but there are 2 that really pop to mind for me. The first was Timo Werner. He did nice with his pace to help set up the own goal by Forest to open the scoring. After that I felt like he looked like the Werner we all saw when he played at Chelsea. He seemed to lack confidence in his finishes as the game progressed on. He really seemed to disappear late in the match as well, but thankfully Johnson came on strong late to offset that.
The Tottenham player that pops to mind for me is Pedro Porro. In the first half he was getting beat down the side time and time again. He clearly needed some help in defense and got some when Hojbjerg came on in the second half. Once he got that help, he helped turn the game around. He scored a great goal just minutes after VDV scored to help put Forest in the rear view mirror. Hopefully Porro can defend a bit better in the coming weeks.
The Race for 4th Is On
Tottenham really boosted their hopes for Champions League play with this win. It also helped that Brentford earned a draw against Villa over the weekend. The brings Tottenham level on points with Villa with a game in hand. Tottenham has a very difficult upcoming schedule, so any points they can take are very important. Tottenham is also 11 points clear of United at the moment with 7 matches to go. I know it’s not a for sure thing yet, but I feel really good about the chances Spurs have to be in some sort of European competition next season.
Player of the Match: For me, the player of the match today was Micky van de Ven. He was sensational once again today. He may be the best player that Tottenham has.
Next Up: Tottenham have a tricky matchup as they hit the road to play Newcastle next weekend. Newcastle has been getting mixed results as of late. They are knocked out of European competition and I’m sure they’d love to throw a wrench in Spurs hopes for Champions League play.
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