North London Derby review as Spurs show no fight

National World - LocalTV

A big loss for Spurs’ current league form.

Transcript

00:00So, James, let's look at Tottenham Hotspur and the North London derby obviously going

00:05into the game. Maybe a point would have been taken from Spurs, you know, albeit the sort

00:10of form they've been in as of late, and Arsenal's form has been fantastic. They are clearly

00:16really trying to make that title push and keep just behind Liverpool at the top of the

00:20table. Spurs, you know, it's not been an amazing season league-wise. What do you sort of take

00:26from the North London derby? Maybe it was a chance of a bit of redemption for these

00:31players. Obviously, you know, we saw the Tamworth game in the FA Cup. They needed those senior

00:35players to come on and get them over the line in extra time. What did you sort of think

00:39from their perspective in this North London derby? Is it something that is, you know,

00:45in terms of the whole Spurs fan base, how are they feeling following this loss?

00:50Well, I mean, I think Ange Possekoglu said after the game last night, you know, unacceptable,

00:54unacceptable performance. And I think I'd probably go further than that. I think, you

00:59know, diabolical, abysmal, you know. I can stand losing, albeit it hurts this one big

01:07time with it being against Arsenal. But you can stomach losing as a fan. What you can't

01:11stomach is a team that, you know, has no heart, no desire, no will to win, no character. And

01:18that was everything last night. The only players that come out with any credit are

01:21the two 18-year-olds, you know, Archie Gray, Lucas Bergwald, exceptional again, both of

01:27them last night. But the senior leaders in the team ought to hang their heads in shame,

01:31to be honest with you. You know, we've got so many young guys in that team, you know,

01:34a goalkeeper playing in his first London derby, third game only for the club, you know, Radu

01:38Dragacin, 22-year-old centre-back, Archie Gray, 18-year-old midfielder having to fill

01:42in at centre-back, Bergwald in midfield who's a teenager. And what they really needed last

01:47night was support, was leadership on the pitch from some of those senior players. And

01:52you know, we just didn't see any of that last night. You know, Bissouma gives the ball away

01:56for the second goal. Song was relatively anonymous. Madison came on, did very little in the second

02:03half. You know, these so-called senior players really should be having a good look in the

02:07mirror. We lost every duel. We were weak in every tackle. And as I say, second half we

02:14improved, but the first half it was like a tsunami, really. You know, we had to weather

02:17storm after storm in terms of pressure. We lost the ball. You know, players hid, in my opinion,

02:23last night. You know, the goalkeeper had no options and he was trying to play out from the

02:25back. Solanke had absolutely no support, ploughing that lower four up top. So, I think, you know,

02:31there'll be a lot of soul-searching going on, I suppose, and there ought to be in that dressing

02:34room in the next sort of coming hours. Yeah, maybe just touch on the leadership there and

02:41obviously losing Harry Kane. Is that sort of maybe one of those dominos that fell? Losing Kane,

02:47so much leadership, captain of England, captain at Spurs. It almost seems like they haven't

02:53really replaced that leadership in the team. Yeah, I mean, Kane was never the vocal off-the-field

02:59leader, but on the pitch, obviously, he led by example, you know, goal after goal. He was the

03:03best striker, the best playmaker probably in the Premier League in that era. And, you know,

03:07any team's going to miss taking out Harry Kane, especially the way we play with Posta Koglu. You

03:11know, he'd have been filling his boots full of goals, I'm certain, in that team. But, you know,

03:17we go back to the transfer strategy, bringing in so much youth and really pegging our hat on the

03:23future this summer. We didn't buy enough ready-made players that could make the squad deeper.

03:27You know, there's a lot of mitigating factors around, you know, the injuries. You know, we have

03:32had a real, real rotten run with the injuries. I mean, you know, 10 first team players out last

03:36night and key players as well at that. You know, there's not many teams that could lose the

03:40goalkeeper and both centre-backs, the left-back as well. But the squad wasn't deep enough to start

03:46with, and that is a failure in the summer in the transfer recruitment policy. But, you know,

03:51and you take your point completely about losing Kane. You know, there was going to be a period

03:56where we did struggle, but now we're really, really, really struggling. You know, one win in

04:01nine games, five points in the last 27. You know, it's worse than relegation form. So, things have

04:07really got to pick up. And as I say, you know, some of those senior players need to be, you know,

04:12doing more to help the team. And, you know, I appreciate, you know, the play in every couple

04:16of days at the moment. It's the same players going to the well. There will be an element of

04:19fatigue, and I think you could see that among some of the players last night. I mean, Kulosevsky

04:23been our standout player this season. But last night, you know, he was knocked off the ball

04:28very, very easily. He looked like he was running on fumes towards the end. Brennan Johnson came on

04:33as well, and, you know, just didn't really want to get involved in any tackles. You know,

04:38they were backing out almost last night. And, you know, you'll have to look at Declan Rice

04:41when he came on and did his interviews after the game. And, you know, he said the manager

04:45didn't need to give a team talk. You know, this is Tottenham we're playing, and if you can't get

04:48up for a derby, you're in the wrong job. And, you know, that was really, really evident,

04:53I thought, last night with Spurs. We just didn't play the game as if it was a derby,

04:58and that was what, you know, really, really disappointed.

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