Tottenham’s FA Cup hopes were ended by Aston Villa, but what can we take away from the performance? On the positive side, Ange Postecoglou’s team maintained their attacking intent, and the return of key players could provide a much-needed boost. However, their lack of cutting edge in the final third proved costly, and their domestic trophy drought—now stretching beyond 16 years—raises concerns about their ability to perform in crucial moments. In a new segment, we discussed to ups and two downs from their defeat at Villa Park.
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00:00If we look at the Aston Villa defeat, obviously moving forward we may do a bit of a new segment,
00:07a bit of a two-up, two-down in terms of trying to find positives and then maybe some negatives
00:11to improve on. If we start with the positives, is there two positives you can find from Spurs
00:17at the moment? I know you might have to dig a little bit deeper, but in terms of that
00:21Villa game, there were some positives. Could you sort of pick out two?
00:26Yes, I mean, it is hard, isn't it, at the moment to find the positives, but I do think
00:31Antonin Kinski is a small positive. A lot of Spurs fans might disagree with me on that
00:35one. It is a bit of a controversial selection. He was obviously hugely at fault for the first
00:40goal. Whether he took his eye off it, I'm not sure. He seemed to be playing on emotion
00:44rather than actually playing the occasion and obviously threw one into the net and cost
00:48us a goal there. But actually, for a 21-year-old, I think that was his seventh starting goal.
00:54He has just come into the league. He has played in some huge games already. A lot of
00:58mitigating factors around for Kinski. He is playing with a different back four every single
01:02game. Half of the team that are playing in the defence are not defenders. He made three
01:08or four really, really big saves after that to keep the score down, particularly in the
01:11first half. In the second half, he made a big save from Ramsey. That will do his confidence
01:17the world of good, actually. The last thing you want to see is a young goalkeeper void
01:21of confidence and making errors. It is not a very good start to his first career. So
01:25I actually think in terms of a positive, he stood up. He showed real character and a lot
01:31of desire and, as I say, made a couple of really, really big saves there to keep us
01:35in the game. So he is a marginal positive. And then for my second positive, I think you
01:41have got to give that to Matheus Tell. He didn't see a lot of the ball, to be fair,
01:45but he was always available. He was working hard. He led the press and he scored a terrific
01:50goal at the end. So if we are looking for a crumb of comfort there, he is up and running,
01:54you know, just one and a half games into his Tottenham career. He has already got a goal.
01:58It was a really, really good clinical finish as well. So hopefully that gives him some
02:03momentum to come into the coming games, which are obviously growing bigger and bigger by the week.
02:10Yes, and then just two negatives. I know there is obviously a lot of surrounding negatives
02:15at the moment, but are there any two that stand out that might be, you know, underneath
02:19the surface of the current problems at Spurs at the moment?
02:23Yes, I think the first down from the game at Villa has got to be the two in midfield.
02:28I mean, I know Bissouma didn't start the game, but he came on at half-time and Benson Kerr as well.
02:33You know, players who haven't played a lot of football recently either, it must be said.
02:37You know, they are not really part of the core group who have been playing week after week after week.
02:40You know, Benson Kerr has had suspension and injury problems.
02:43Bissouma has been in and out with injury as well.
02:45But, you know, two real senior talismans that we need to step up in that midfield.
02:50And, you know, Benson Kerr again was anonymous at Villa.
02:53He was extremely poor at Liverpool.
02:55And then Bissouma comes on and he's caught ball watching for the second goal.
02:59You know, he let Rodgers get the wrong side. Really, really disappointing.
03:03And I think in terms of a negative, you know, despite everything in terms of the injuries
03:07and the fatigue and the lack of ability to press at the moment, what the real, real problem,
03:11you know, probably rests away from that.
03:13You know, we're quite well stopped in midfield and we're seeing one ball just can't open constantly.
03:18Players out of position, whether that's players who are fatigued, you know, who knows?
03:21But we have to do better there.
03:24So Bissouma and Benson Kerr, two massive negatives for me yesterday.
03:28As was Hung-Min Son again.
03:31You know, we really, really need a captain to stand up and be counted.
03:35And he just looks a shadow of his former self at the moment.
03:40Again, you know, he's having to play too much football.
03:42We know that. But, you know, he missed that huge opportunity at 1-0.
03:47I think, you know, if you wanted anybody on the end of a one-on-one chance,
03:50you know, you'd put Hung-Min Son in your top five or six players.
03:54You know, he's normally clinical. He's absolutely deadly one-on-one.
03:56He's been, you know, a terrific talisman and a world-class servant for Spurs over the years.
04:02But he's lost his edge this season.
04:04And again, as I say, whether that's fatigue, you're really needing that leader to stand up and be counted.
04:10And he just looks short in terms of his confidence, in terms of his ability.
04:14He's not taking players on.
04:16He had a huge chance second half against Villa and he chose to pass,
04:19square the ball off eight yards to Bissouma instead of having to go himself.
04:22And he's quite worrying that, you know, the best player now seems to be on the decline.
04:27So again, you know, I think he'd be a negative certainly from yesterday.