Tottenham vs Leicester a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
October 30, 2016
2,488 Views
- So I spent my birthday afternoon watching Tottenham v Leicester
- By 4.50pm I wish I hadn’t
- A frustrating afternoon which sees Mauricio Pochettino’s men lose ground on their nearest title rivals
- We may sit 4th at present but there’s every chance we could be back to 5th if Chelsea win at Southampton later today
- One positive must be the fact that the unbeaten record is still intact but once again there are too many draws in this early stage of the season
- We’re obviously very solid at the back (although perhaps not solid enough as yesterday proved) but we’ve certainly lost that spark in the final third
- Vincent Janssen (Pen)
- It doesn’t matter though as they all count and I think him getting the Premier League monkey off his back will help his confidence, just need to get one from open play now
- Although he scored I think Janssen didn’t have the best game, Alan Shearer highlighted it on Match Of The Day but even watching live there was a terrible bit of play from the Dutch international on the left wing. Not one but too failed attempts to make an incisive pass into the box
- Still a work in progress is our Janssen but we would only moan if we didn’t have a backup striker so lets not be too critical
- I guess it was one of those afternoons really, Dele Alli had the best of the early chances with a well taken volley hit straight at Kasper Schmeichel and then he saw his side footed strike cannon off the top of the bar
- It looked as if the game would go into the break without a goal but then Tottenham got somewhat of a lucky break
- Janssen went down in a sandwich of Danny Drinkwater and Robert Huth and Huth was adjudged to have pulled Janssen down with a spot kick then awarded
- A bit soft perhaps but you’re never going to turn an offer like that down to open the scoring and that is exactly what Janssen did as he had the composure to step up and the slam the ball home
- If anything going behind seemed to wake Leicester up as in the first half they seemed content to frustrate Spurs and then try and utilise Jamie Vardy’s pace on the break and bar a few scares Leicester didn’t offer all that much in the first 45 minutes
- But they were certainly out of the blocks the quickest after the restart as it only took two minutes for them to restore parity
- Victor Wanyama’s missed place pass allowed Vardy to latch on to the ball on the edge of the box
- He himself had a good enough angle to shoot but he had the vision to lay the ball across to Ahmed Musa who bundled the ball over the line
- Musa injured himself in the process and was bought off soon after but it was arguably a price worth paying to get Leicester back level
- And from there it was The Foxes who then took control of the game
- It was almost as if Tottenham were one paced and nothing more to give
- That said Leicester failed to really take advantage when they had Spurs on the ropes
- They only had one shot on target and that was Musa’s goalscoring effort on 47 mins
- But although they themselves couldn’t kill off Spurs they still had to make sure they were resolute at the back
- Tottenham then found their legs again late on with Jan Vertonghen almost playing as an auxiliary forward for the final few minutes
- And it was his almost centre forward style header which nearly snatched all three points – unfortunately for the Belgian he saw his header cannon back off the bar
- Moments later Vertongthen then fizzed a 25 yard effort just inches past Schmeichel’s post and although Wes Morgan gave Spurs a late scare at the other end both sides had to make do with honours even.
- I thought Christian Eriksen was anonymous yesterday while Mousa Dembele failed to get a hold on the game
- We lacked width with both Danny Rose and Kyle Walker not being able to stretch the play
- For Leicester it’s a first point away from home and by far the best performance on the road this season
- For Tottenham they have to look it as two points dropped and it’s now a third successive league draw and no win in 5 in all competitions
- Both sides have Champions League action in midweek so perhaps not the worst of preparations as Leicester travel to Copenhagen and Spurs are once again on their way to Wembley
- And let’s not forget the North London Derby next Sunday – it now becomes a must win fixture
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