We lost. Big whup, wanna fight about it?

You learn more about yourself in defeat than you do in victory. Like most cliché’s, it’s true. Tottenham Hotspur fans didn’t enjoy losing to Chelsea, but in the long run it could prove to be a blessing in disguise. Individual errors that have gone largely ignored during our unbeaten run were magnified and intensified, clear for all to see. Here’s a little list of aspects of our game I’ve made that I feel we can improve and build upon. However; the main thing to say after a defeat of this manner is thus – we haven’t become a bad team overnight and it wasn’t an individual player’s fault that we lost that game.

We were beaten by a better side, playing more clinical football in the final third and we showed our ability and heart in responding and raising ourselves to them the way in which we did. I’m not wanting to labour the point regarding the online abuse of Kyle Walker post game, it was almost definitely sent from the same type of moronic whopper that was calling for Andre Villas-Boas to be sacked two games in to the season, booing like a special child at a pantomime at every given opportunity; they don’t deserve my time, and they don’t deserve to support my club.

I would normally tell them to go and look at themselves in the mirror, but they don’t need to; just go and have a quick gander at the league table and tell me how many points and places we are above Arsenal? We’re the crisis club, clearly.

Jan Vertonghen isn’t a left-back, but he should be our captain

He’s undoubtedly the best defender we’ve had since Ledley King and he’s helped cushion the blow of his retirement, but he isn’t a makeshift left-back. We’re missing his presence in the middle of defence, and although he can play wider on the slower paced international stage, he’s struggled there at times against the quicker players in the Premier League. To fully utilise him, he needs to be moved back in to the middle and Kyle Naughton can deputise in his place until Benoit Assou-Ekotto regains full fitness.

He has, however, shown his ability to lead by example. He has been exceptional in almost every appearance, and was showing the passion and intensity alone in the first half against Chelsea of a man who had already started to live and breathe Tottenham Hotspur Football Club. ‘Super Jan’ is our superman, and he deserves the armband.

It’s time for William Gallas and Brad Friedel to take their places on the bench

Mixing in a wealth of experience with younger players to help them and teach them to apply their trades was obviously the ideal, but thus far the elder statesmen of the team aren’t keeping up their end of the deal. William Gallas has become a constant liability this season, and has been out performed by his defensive partners on almost every occasion.

Against Chelsea, there were instances of Caulker tracking across to cover Gallas when his job is to do the opposite. A partnership in the heart of the Spurs defence of Steven Caulker and Vertonghen could be one of the most dynamic in the league given the chance, and would see even Younes Kaboul have to fight for his place back in team.

Brad Friedel is a solid goalkeeper, and you’re not at all worried about his ability to perform when he’s between the sticks; but that’s just the problem, his reluctance to move from his line is a massive flaw in his game. He performs the ordinary tasks of a goalkeeper consistently, but I’ve never seen him perform the exceptional. Hugo Lloris deserves to become our first choice, his form already this season in a Tottenham shirt and especially in a French one has proven that he has the ability and potential to become the best goalkeeper in the league, and our number one for years to come.

Funds have to be made available in the January Transfer Window

We’re lacking good quality cover in some positions, and it needs to be rectified as soon as possible. We desperately need a new striker of a similar level to Emmanuel Adebayor to challenge both him and Jermain Defoe. We need to be signing the right man, even if he costs a record a fee, and showing some real intent; some of the chances we’ve created that have gone begging just aren’t acceptable at this level.

We need cover for Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale; just shoving either Gylfi Sigurdsson or Clint Dempsey out there didn’t really work. Lennon has a terrible injury record, and is almost guaranteed to miss the odd run of games at some stage in a season, and our width suffers so much for it. A younger, promising talent such as Wilfried Zaha, or Nathan Dyer could prove to be a good investment. However, if we want SkySports to wet themselves, another punt for Willian could be on the cards.

We’re also in desperate need for cover for Mousa Dembele. The game showed that having two holding players didn’t offer enough going forward; players such as Sandro, Scott Parker, Tom Huddlestone and Jake Livermore are interchangeable, but the team suffers when they’re forced to play together. We need someone in his absence that can pick up the same sort of attacking initiative while being able to defend when needed. A link between defence and attack is vital to the style of football we’re playing, which could see the Joao Moutinho saga could drag on for another window.

Try as he might; Jake Livermore just isn’t good enough

Compared to our other central midfielders his defensive game is second rate and he offers absolutely nothing going forward. The only reason he plays is due to injury, and Villas-Boas rates his mobility over Huddlestone. The only difference being then, of course, is that Huddlestone has more creativity in one of his poor afro’s split ends that Livermore’s game possesses as a whole. He has shown nothing in my opinion to encourage us that his game is going to drastically improve, and his presence on the pitch is detrimental to the overall success of the football we play.

I honestly feel that he is being allowed a stay of execution and bizarre cult status due to him being a lifelong Tottenham fan and loving the club, but that doesn’t mean that he should be given playing time. I’d argue that when Jamie O’Hara broke in to the squad, he showed more ability and potential than Livermore ever has, even when he was forced to play out of position at left-back against Cristiano Ronaldo.

Andros Townsend deserves the chance to prove himself in the Premier League

There was a time when Tottenham didn’t have a left side of a midfield. Season after season we signed makeshift winger after makeshift winger and they were usually sold before they could do any further damage. Then came Gareth Bale, who has not only made the position his own, but it would seem preposterous to even entertain the idea of starting anyone else there while he’s still at the club and fully fit. However; he’s not the best injury record either, and when we were left without him against Chelsea, back came the makeshift left winger of old even though we had home-grown talent on the bench ready to play his natural position.

It’s time to give Andros Townsend a chance in the league; he’s impressed in Europe, in the cups and on his various cameos’, but he’s not been given chances from the start in the league. Rather than sending him out on loan to add to his list of clubs as long as his forehead, throw him in against a weaker league side at home and let’s all see what he can do. After all; lord only knows Gareth Bale won’t be at the Lane forever.

Jermain Defoe remains reliably inconsistent – even in the same game

Jermain Defoe managed to almost sum up his season, if not his whole career, in one performance against Chelsea. In the first half he was nothing short of terrible; he looked lost, shot on sight at every opportunity, failed to play obvious passes to players in better positions and wouldn’t know what “hold up” meant even if he was robbing a bank.

In short, I would have substituted him at half-time, quicker than you could’ve said “John Terry is a racist”. However his performance early in the second half was extraordinary; shades of his performance against Manchester United this season were beginning to show and his finish was indicative of his ability to snatch goals at the near post.

That said; you can’t set a team around a player who is not only inconsistent in both his style and quality of play, but ability too. Adebayor didn’t do himself any favours when he came on, but lest we forget he had just been in Africa playing and scoring for Togo not long beforehand. I expect him to play against Maribor away midweek, and we’ll hopefully see a better performance from him then, but as previously mentioned; a new striker should be a priority in January.

Any team experiencing “dressing room unrest” doesn’t start the second half like we did yesterday

None of us know what Villas-Boas said to the team at half time to provoke the immediate response in performance and comeback, but whatever it was obviously worked to an extent. Unmotivated teams that don’t like their manager don’t show that sort of spirit in the face of adversity; they perform like we did the second half of last season when Redknapp was waiting for the FA to never call, or Chelsea at the start of last season when Villas-Boas didn’t want to start Fat Frank Lampard and the convicted racist John Terry anymore. 

That level of response was a squad-wide middle finger to the tabloid anti-Andre campaign, desperate to lazily fill unimaginative column inch after unimaginative column inch. It’s never easy beating Chelsea; especially when we’re missing several key members of our squad and they’ve just spent a summer spunking £89.2m on some of the world’s best attacking talent.

The result was just a blip, we’re still moving in the right direction and we’re still looking like a team wanting to improve game on game, one match isn’t going to make me panic about our prospects. Well done to Chelsea, you bought your ‘derby’ win and you’ve had your cup final – it’s just another game for us, we’ve got bigger, scummier fish to fry. Onwards and upwards. As motivational speaker Zig Ziglar once said, “If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost”.

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Comments

[peteborota]

Oh Raj, Raj, Raj,

You were doing so well till just at the end. As a Chelsea (and football) fan I was interested on your article. Given that you have 4 key men out (Bale, Dembele, Parker and Esso blue) I thought you put up a good showing with players playing in positions that they weren't really suited to (Dempsey and Vertonghen).

But you lost the article and respect as a journo with your little tantrum about Chelsea. You see the difference in the teams ethos is that Abramovich and not Joe Lewis has a vision and is willing to back it. Why berate Chelsea for investing in their future?? Spurs have, it's just Levy tries to play the transfer market and has to duck and dive depending on his brinkmanship.

Spurs wll certainly challenge for honours this year, it's just whether the Spurs fan base can understand that far from being our cup final, it was just a point on a journey to putting together a run for the league.

I'll go now Cl tomorrow, you're Ok till Thursday night.

[Gate13Dave]

"you've had your cup final - it's just another game for us" - I hope that comment was tongue in cheek because if not is it any wonder you lot get called delusional. That statement may have had some truth 20 years ago but if you honestly believe we that's how we view it you really need a reality check. Of course it's a big game to us & happy to admit it, but it seems to suggest that our season is now over, we're all happy to end it now coz we won the cup!! I hate to point to the blindingly obvious but we do play in real cup finals, and quite important ones at that. I suspect we'll have 15-20 more important matches before the season's over.

And "convicted racist" - well if you don't know what's wrong with that statement then you are even more stupid than your comments make you look.

[Seb]

Good points. Only one I disagree with is the livermore comment.He looked better than he had in previous outings. He is not in the team to be the creative player. He is there to break up play and then play the simple passes. He does that well and did so when he came on. He looked better than huddlestone and added much more to the team than huddlestone ever will until he loses weight

[John]

Great summary of Saturday's game, accurately reflects much of what I thought. Gallas found out against such a fluid attack, Friedel's reluctance to move from his line througout Saturday's game surely makes AVB's choice a straightforward one from here, Sigurdsson and Dempsey for all their efforts seem to struggle to fit into the system and JD for all his chasing back and despite his poacher''s goal continues to frustrate. Like Seb I thought Livermore did well (and certainly better than Hudds) though see him only as a bench player. No width on left was a huge problem for us (I would have given Townsend a run late on as they seemed to struggle when we went at them with pace). But to press for top 4 we need a long-term Modric replacement and a top goalscorer as surely we can't rely on teams like Norwich doing us a favour every week?

[TonyRich]

My points about your points:
-Vertonghen: Until Naughton & Ekotto are back, what else can we do? He is excellent cover for LB, but yes the sooner he gets back centre the better - when possible.
-Friedel: Agree that it is time to make a firm decision on the GK. Don't want to alternate them. No solid defence can build on that. Disagree about Friedel - he HAS been quality this season, and no one has seen enough of Lloris to suggest that he is better right now - he probably is, but you cannot possibly say that after a couple of games (which had mistakes in them).
-Gallas: I initially had him at fault for only the first goal. After playing back the footage, I can see that he is 100% at fault for 2 of the goals via terrible, amateurish attempts at clearing the ball....plus he was partly at fault for Mata's other goal - after Livermore and Walker failed to track Mata...he got wrong-footed by the through ball. One of AVB's faults is that he likes Gallas and stubbornly continues to play him.
-Funds: Buy a young promising striker. 2 is too few -- even if you count Dempsey as an option. We bought Ade when we could have signed a major striker. Too late for major striker signing. Do that in summer and possibly sell Defoe then too (he'll be 31). Dembele cover is difficult. A unique player. If Parker comes back to fitness, we will have to make do with Parker, Hudd, Sandro, Livermore. Hudd is the passer of the lot.
-Livermore: We conceded the goals when Livermore came on. When Livermore was starting games, we did not win games.... When he was replaced by Dembele, we started to win. Nuff said. I don't think that he understands AVB's system. He will learn and hopefully get better.
-Townsend: disagree. The guy is still random in a Taraabt sort of way. Starting him will be too big a risk - UNLESS we have no injuries. But given that Ekotto, Parker, Kaboul have been out - and this has caused the rearrangement of Vertonghen - I would not entertain that idea. BUT I'd say that if we are winning and cruising in a game, then bring him on, and perhaps take Bale off for a rest. Townsend NEEDS to play on the left, because the left side is always harder to cover. He needs experience there.
Defoe: I am not a fan, but he had a good game, and impressed me. Great goal - a rare one against top opposition. Too many head down moments when he had options.
Unrest: There is no unrest but result was NOT a blip. I was there against Villa. We weren't good until we had the numerical advantage. There is lots to work on. AVB's substitutions are causing more problems than they fix, his alternation of keeper and favouritism toward Gallas is causing problems.....and Ade needs some starts to get sharp. I think that it was a better performance vs Chelsea than the WBA, Villa, QPR and Norwich homes games - but we are faaaaar too open in the centre of the field. We get cut to shreds by any decent passer.

[Paul]

I agree with a lot of the comments, especially about making Vertonghan captain. You didn't need to make the comments about Chelsea; they made you sound a little immature.
There are a few players that l am concerned about at the moment:

Walker - had a nightmare against Chelsea. I used to really like him but l lost some respect for him with the way he blasted the ball against Mata. He just looked childish/thuggish (which l am sure he isn't). Respect to Mata for controlling himself. Anyone can have a bad game but l am afraid that sloppy performances have become a bit too regular for Walker this season. We need competition for him to let him know he is not one of the first names on the team sheet.

Siggurdson - when is he going to come out and be counted? I was looking forward to seeing what he could do in a Spurs shirt but he has been a huge disappointment. He goes hiding in too many games and should be on the sub's bench, at best.

Huddlestone - his lack of mobility is going to cost us in any matches he plays in. If l was a midfielder playing a game against Spurs and saw his name on the team sheet, l would be thinking l'm in for an easy afternoon. When we have Sandro and Dembele in midfield we look great, however,when one of those two is unavailable we suddenly look lightweight.

On the positive,this is one game lost and as long as we learn from the errors then we can go on another run.

My lineup against Southampton would be:

Loris
Naughton. Caulker. Vertonghan.
Sandro. Dembele
Lennon. Dempsey. Bale
Defoe. Adi.

Why not go all out against a team that are currently shipping goals?

[Cheshuntboy]

We haven't become a bad team overnight because we weren't a good one to start with, the season to date having been a succession of patchy performances, with one flukey win at Old Trafford giving it a totally unjustified gloss - remember we could (and maybe should) have lost the home games against those giants of the modern game WBA, Norwich and QPR! As for this 'nothing to worry about, they're individual errors' mantra - well I've followed Spurs for over 50 years, and individual errors have been our hallmark for the whole of that time - if we have a team of primadonnas like Bale and flakey characters like Walker and BAE (and just plain championship level players like Livermore) we'll carry on giving away goals at one end and scoring from one chance in a dozen at the other, and no amount of tactical genius from AVB (my tongue's in my cheek now!) will turn us into contenders.

[Ben]

Naughton doesn't have a left foot and is a terrible LB, I thought that's why Vertonghan started playing there?

We should drop Gallas for Dawson.

We should drop Walker for Naughton, just to give him a kick up the ass.....Walker is a good player, but he's started badly and needs a couple of matches out.

I agree that the time has come for Loris.

[Victor Meldrew]

Personally I see it as a game we lost rather than Chelsea won. We scored 2 and gave away 3 goals with bad defensive errors. Two of those errors were carbon copies of the ones we committed against WBA and Norwich. We didn't clear the ball properly. Their last goal was a mistake by Walker who appears to be out of touch this season. On the positive side I think we played better in the second half than the first. Cech certainly appeared to be the busier keeper.

At least we scored twice, though this is never going to be enough if we defend like we did. But I would suggest that we are not likely to meet another team that will punish us so severely for our poor defending in the near future. At least I hope not. The result was a let down after the heroics at Old Trafford.

[Alee]

I like your formation Paul, but its unlikely to be picked and I think our players are better suited to a 442 formation. Team of:

Lloris;
Naughton, Dawson, Caulker, Vertongen;
Lennon, Sandro, Dembele, Bale;
Defoe, Adeybayor;

[Top Tottys]

I dont mind losing to a good or better team, or even a team that supposedly "against the odds" became European Champions last year.....but I do mind losing to a team owned by that smiling twerp Abramobitch!! He always looks like a sad puppy thats looking around for its Mum!!