Tottenham vs West Ham a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
January 5, 2018
2,392 Views
- Tottenham’s hopes of a perfect festive period were foiled last night at the hands of West Ham
- After three successive wins it can only be deemed as two points dropped at Wembley as David Moyes’ men continue their resurgence
- The former Manchester United and Everton manager had obviously gone there with a game plan and it is one that almost worked perfectly
- With no Marko Arnautovic and Andy Carroll only on the bench it was down to Javier Hernandez to cut a lone furrow up front
- It was almost a helpless task as the Mexican international was swallowed up by Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez every time he got the ball
- That nullified West Ham’s apparent goal threat but at the same time it just didn’t click for Tottenham
- Whether the fact that they played on Tuesday was a factor can be argued but then again you would have to put the Hammers in the same boat
- They lacked the ability to transition quickly when West Ham did try and move forward and at times the build up look laboured
- Not only that but the final ball was lacking or misplaced when it really mattered
- Harry Kane had another quiet night, although he did have the ball in the net as early as the 16th minute only to see it ruled out for offside.
- Eric Dier had a first half shot which ended up in the airspace of Heathrow airport
- While Moussa Sissoko controlling of a football was just bizarre, any credit he may have built up over the weeks and months was almost eroded after his performance last night
- After 45 minutes, West Ham would have been far the happier of the two teams as they had managed to keep the score at 0-0
- This was not necessarily that David Moyes had identified as one that they could win but at the same time a point would still be welcome
- After the restart it was going to be a big 45 minutes for Tottenham as they looked for the breakthrough
- Only it was more of the same after the break, with the lack of Plan B once again proving to be the club’s Achilles heel on the night
- Not only could they struggle to find the breakthrough but they would then find themselves one nil down
- Pedro Obiang had the ball 35 yards out and had plenty of time and an open invitation to shoot
- It may have been speculative but it was absolutely sensational
- A hammer blow in every sense
- West Ham’s first shot on goal, a real smash and grab and they found themselves in front
- Not only that but a win would take them all the way up to 11th in the table, so now they had 20 minutes in which to hold out
- Tottenham going behind meant that Mauricio Pochettino had to roll the dice but even the first two subs would do all that much to really change their mentality
- The arrival of Erik Lamela and Victor Wanyama aimed to give them some extra impetus as they now needed two goals to win
- And with eight minutes to go they found one of them
- If Obiang’s goal was a perfect then the Heung min-Son’s was nine and a half
- The South Korean was 30 yards out and hit his effort perfectly past the ailing Adrian, right in the postage stamp and right back in the game
- With Fernando Llorente also on the pitch it was like the Alamo as Tottenham surged forward in the search for a winner
- But try as they might they failed to break down a resolute West Ham
- They weren’t helped by referee Mike Dean either who on another night could have given one of two penalties
- Then again maybe Tottenham used up their luck with the officials on Tuesday night after beating Swansea
- West Ham would hold out for a spirited point that sees them move up to 15th
- While Tottenham are now three points behind Liverpool in the race for fourth
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