00:00 So firstly James, Tottenham had their first loss of the season against Chelsea at home.
00:09 A 4-1 loss which sounds on paper quite bad but realistically Spurs were in that game
00:13 until about 92 minutes. Some silly decisions in terms of challenges made by Spurs players
00:19 probably let the side down last night. But Spurs showed a lot of character and a lot
00:23 of great determination to even stay in that game with nine men. Firstly, you must be just
00:27 proud of the effort that they showed.
00:30 Yeah, I mean where do you start dissecting this sort of train wreck of a game, wasn't
00:36 it, to be honest with you? Sifting through that, so many positives last night. The way
00:41 we started the game, we were absolutely terrific for the first 15 minutes, got 1-0 up. Whisker
00:47 away from being 2-0 up. The way we played when we went down to nine men, the character
00:53 that we showed, the heart, the desire, the fight. You had Hulmin Son pressing the ball
00:59 down veraciously at 3-1 down in injury time. So many positives to take last night. I don't
01:06 think I've ever seen a situation where a team's lost 4-1 at home and they end up having a
01:10 standing ovation at the end. The fans were just magnificent last night. Every player,
01:16 we made five changes, four of those in the first half. The players that came in were
01:21 just absolutely magnificent and they fought like lions really. Amid the backdrop of all
01:26 the chaos with the red cards, the VAR intervention, time and time again, stop starting the game.
01:34 So loads to take out of that for Postacoglu last night. I think the way he conducted himself
01:39 after the game as well. You just touched on it before, Dan, nice to see a North London
01:43 manager showing a bit of class when decisions don't go our way. He was tremendous last night.
01:49 You throw the high line into that, you might say that's crazy, could have well been genius
01:54 had we been right bang in the game. 92 minutes, obviously Eric Dias scored a goal that was
02:00 ruled out, Son was a whisker away, Benton Kerr, ever so close to grabbing that equaliser.
02:07 So high risk, high reward from Postacoglu. Obviously we didn't get the reward on the
02:12 night but I think what you would say is 4-1 flat at Chelsea. They were worried, they were
02:18 concerned even with nine men, they were struggling to break us down and looked pretty average
02:22 at times to be honest with you. So who knows what might have been had we got that second
02:26 goal. Flip that over to the negatives, we've got to talk Christian Romero. World class
02:34 player, he's a World Cup winner, brilliant defender, he plays on the edge, we know that,
02:39 we've talked about him time and time again on these videos. But he's a liability last
02:43 night, he cost us big time and for a vice captain, Postacoglu defended him after the
02:48 game, he sort of just said we had to accept the referee's decisions but I'm sure privately
02:51 he's going berserk in the dressing room last night because he lost his head completely
02:56 last night. We've seen this season a different side to Romero, he's been very calm, very
03:00 collected. I think Van de Ven alongside him has brought that real measured approach and
03:05 the pair of them have been fantastic. But last night from the moment that second goal
03:10 got disallowed and the Adogie flying challenge, Romero just lost his head completely. He could
03:17 have easily been sent off for the first challenge where he was sort of reckless and just kicked
03:22 out petulantly. And the second one, he wins the ball but he just goes over the top on
03:27 his own international team mate and I think that's four red cards in 75 Premier League
03:31 games now for Romero, 75 games since he joined Spurs and it's just not acceptable. He cost
03:36 us last night for a deputy, you know, captain, vice-captain, whatever you want to call it.
03:41 Part of the leadership group, he's really let us down big time last night and we're
03:45 now losing for three games which means he won't play until December with the sort of
03:50 lack of fixtures that Spurs have. So he's going to be a huge miss and he pretty much
03:55 cost us last night. So I think he needs to have a long hard look at himself and we needed
03:59 somebody last night to get hold of him during the game and just calm him down and unfortunately
04:03 lacked that presence on the pitch at the moment. So that was really disappointing. And then
04:08 Udoge, you know, again he could have gone for a bit of a wild lunge, wasn't it, on Sterling
04:15 which almost seemed to light the touch paper on the game to be honest with you. I'm not
04:19 convinced he didn't slip into that challenge, it didn't look like it on the sort of replays
04:23 and what have you, but it was a bit of an odd challenge from him. So I'm prepared to
04:27 give him the benefit of the doubt on the first one but then, you know, having already been
04:30 booked flying into that challenge again on Sterling, it was just a naivety, perhaps lack
04:37 of match sharpness as well. I think he had a fitness test at one o'clock before the game
04:41 and he'd only had a couple of light sessions during the week so he literally just passed
04:44 the test by the skin of his teeth I think and maybe he was just reaching too far for
04:49 that one. But again, he's let us down and perhaps should he have stayed on the pitch
04:54 to be honest with you, should we have hooked him earlier with the sort of tempers that
04:59 were flaring during the game. Hindsight's a wonderful thing isn't it but, you know,
05:03 two huge negatives last night and then we obviously lost, you know, Maddison. I think
05:09 that looks more precautionary, let's hope he's okay. He seemed to go down a bit innocuously,
05:14 perhaps a heel injury there and Van de Ven, I mean that's just a huge miss for us. You
05:19 know, he pulled his hamstring and that looks a bad one. He's arguably been our best player
05:24 this season so far so he's going to be a huge miss. And, you know, the high-risk, high-reward
05:29 strategy in the transfer window, letting Davidson Sanchez go, leaves us now with a massive void
05:34 to fill for the next few games and, you know, we're really, really short of a centre-back
05:37 now obviously. So, we're looking at the likes of Eric Dier to come in and then it's a big
05:42 question mark if we can play alongside him.
05:46 As you mentioned there, injuries affecting Spurs quite badly. Postacoglu taking defeat
05:50 for the first time in the league as Spurs manager. Obviously this is the first little
05:56 bump in the road. How do you think the whole team will cope with the injuries, the lack
06:01 of players available and having a defeat?
06:03 Well, I don't think the character's in question. I mean, you know, we showed last night that
06:09 we were still willing to give it a real good go with nine men. So, I'm confident we won't
06:14 let our heads drop. Tough game at Wolves, mind you, Saturday lunchtime. That won't be
06:18 easy. Although I think they might be missing Neto and he's a huge player for them. But
06:23 I did say, and we have said several times, you know, we're going to face a bump in the
06:26 road and this might well be it with the selection headaches that we're going to face now. I
06:30 mean, like I say, Dier will come in. He did very well last night. I mean, he's sort of
06:34 much maligned among a certain section of the fan base at Spurs, but he was terrific last
06:39 night when he came on. To say he's hardly played any football this season, you know,
06:43 fair play to him. He showed a lot of character, a lot of heart and, you know, his ball-playing
06:47 ability has never been questioned. I think, you know, the pacing behind is a problem and
06:51 that's where we're going to hugely miss Van der Veen with that high line. The question
06:55 is now for the next three games, who plays alongside Dier? You know, we're going to probably
06:59 need Emerson, a left-back with Ben Davies, not fit and Udogi suspended. Do we look at
07:04 Ash Phillips, who's coming from Blackburn? I know he's got a big reputation, but I think
07:08 he's only got a handful of Championship appearances to his name, so that would be a big ask. Do
07:13 we look at a young lad in the academy, Dorrington, who apparently is pulling up trees there,
07:18 but again, that's a huge step up for him. Or do we sort of go with the safe route and
07:22 try Heuberg at centre-back, which, you know, would leave us very, very short in terms of
07:26 pacing the back line. So, you know, huge, huge selection problems going into the Wolves
07:32 game. Possibly another midfielder, perhaps do we bring Benton Kerr in to sort of try
07:37 and play that holding role in front of the back four with Basuma as well, and Sar just
07:42 pushing on a little bit to try and give a little bit of cover. Who knows, that's going
07:45 to be a big conundrum for Postakoglu this week. But I think, you know, we said, didn't
07:50 we, that we were still in the game and we were still giving Chelsea, you know, more
07:54 than a run for the money with nine men. So, we'll still be a threat, we'll still play
07:58 our football, but it'll be a huge, huge test of character now. And, you know, the fact
08:03 Wolves has a quick turnaround Saturday lunchtime, be a hostile atmosphere there as well. The
08:08 one saving grace, we've got quite a good record at Wolves, actually. So, we're going to need
08:12 to really bounce back and we're taking a lot out of the nine men last night. We did an
08:15 awful lot of running and, you know, chasing the ball, to be honest. So, yeah, it's going
08:20 to be a tough few days for Spurs, but let's hope we get some positive news, certainly
08:23 on Madison anyway. And, you know, fingers crossed Van der Ven's not as serious as it
08:27 looked. I think there was rumours he left the ground on crutches last night, which doesn't
08:31 suggest that's looking good at all. But we do have an international break at Lulee, which
08:36 might well just come at a good time just to try and get a couple of the injured bodies
08:39 back.
08:40 That bridge is on nicely, I was just about to ask. Does the international break come
08:44 at a good time for Spurs? It's been an intense period, lots of games in the league and obviously,
08:49 given what happened against Chelsea, perhaps starting to suffer some of the effects of
08:52 that with suspensions and injuries. So, if you can get past Wolves and then it's sort
08:58 of like a reset for Spurs, isn't it?
09:01 Yeah, I think we're probably desperate for it, to be honest with you. I mean, we've just
09:04 come off the back of a 10-day break and you do wonder the lack of football, has that played
09:08 a factor in the injuries last night, perhaps with Van der Ven on his hamstring? But yeah,
09:14 it's definitely come at the right time. I mean, you're going to be looking at a lot
09:17 of international players potentially not travelling with their clubs after last night. So, yeah,
09:23 fingers crossed it could come at a good time and we can sort of get these bodies back because
09:28 we've got a tough run of fixtures coming up. We've got Aston Villa after the international
09:31 break and then we go to the Etihad. So, we really could do with a couple of defenders,
09:37 the form that Man City are in. But I have to say last night, the goalkeeper deserves
09:43 a huge amount of praise and Vicario, he was absolutely outstanding last night. I mean,
09:48 17 million for Manpuli. I think he's top of the shop in terms of save percentage ratios
09:52 this season and I think he's got to go down as probably the bargain of the century, to
09:56 be honest with you, because he looks a brilliant goalkeeper and he's going to be a huge player
10:00 for Spurs in the years to come. And Eti actually took a knock on his knee last night as well.
10:04 So, fingers crossed he's going to be fit and available for Wolves because, you know, a
10:08 situation where he'd be out, we'd be left with literally Pedro Porro from the back five
10:13 that started against Chelsea. So, yeah, it's going to be a big week for the medical team,
10:19 but let's hope we can get some players out there on the pitch on Saturday and recover
10:23 a few because it's going to be a bit of a test for us now.
10:26 Bye.
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