00:00If we look at the Aston Villa defeat, obviously moving forward we may do a bit of a new segment,
00:07a bit of a two-up, two-down in terms of trying to find positives and then maybe some negatives
00:11to improve on. If we start with the positives, is there two positives you can find from Spurs
00:17at the moment? I know you might have to dig a little bit deeper, but in terms of that
00:21Villa game, there were some positives. Could you sort of pick out two?
00:26Yes, I mean, it is hard, isn't it, at the moment to find the positives, but I do think
00:31Antonin Kinski is a small positive. A lot of Spurs fans might disagree with me on that
00:35one. It is a bit of a controversial selection. He was obviously hugely at fault for the first
00:40goal. Whether he took his eye off it, I'm not sure. He seemed to be playing on emotion
00:44rather than actually playing the occasion and obviously threw one into the net and cost
00:48us a goal there. But actually, for a 21-year-old, I think that was his seventh starting goal.
00:54He has just come into the league. He has played in some huge games already. A lot of
00:58mitigating factors around for Kinski. He is playing with a different back four every single
01:02game. Half of the team that are playing in the defence are not defenders. He made three
01:08or four really, really big saves after that to keep the score down, particularly in the
01:11first half. In the second half, he made a big save from Ramsey. That will do his confidence
01:17the world of good, actually. The last thing you want to see is a young goalkeeper void
01:21of confidence and making errors. It is not a very good start to his first career. So
01:25I actually think in terms of a positive, he stood up. He showed real character and a lot
01:31of desire and, as I say, made a couple of really, really big saves there to keep us
01:35in the game. So he is a marginal positive. And then for my second positive, I think you
01:41have got to give that to Matheus Tell. He didn't see a lot of the ball, to be fair,
01:45but he was always available. He was working hard. He led the press and he scored a terrific
01:50goal at the end. So if we are looking for a crumb of comfort there, he is up and running,
01:54you know, just one and a half games into his Tottenham career. He has already got a goal.
01:58It was a really, really good clinical finish as well. So hopefully that gives him some
02:03momentum to come into the coming games, which are obviously growing bigger and bigger by the week.
02:10Yes, and then just two negatives. I know there is obviously a lot of surrounding negatives
02:15at the moment, but are there any two that stand out that might be, you know, underneath
02:19the surface of the current problems at Spurs at the moment?
02:23Yes, I think the first down from the game at Villa has got to be the two in midfield.
02:28I mean, I know Bissouma didn't start the game, but he came on at half-time and Benson Kerr as well.
02:33You know, players who haven't played a lot of football recently either, it must be said.
02:37You know, they are not really part of the core group who have been playing week after week after week.
02:40You know, Benson Kerr has had suspension and injury problems.
02:43Bissouma has been in and out with injury as well.
02:45But, you know, two real senior talismans that we need to step up in that midfield.
02:50And, you know, Benson Kerr again was anonymous at Villa.
02:53He was extremely poor at Liverpool.
02:55And then Bissouma comes on and he's caught ball watching for the second goal.
02:59You know, he let Rodgers get the wrong side. Really, really disappointing.
03:03And I think in terms of a negative, you know, despite everything in terms of the injuries
03:07and the fatigue and the lack of ability to press at the moment, what the real, real problem,
03:11you know, probably rests away from that.
03:13You know, we're quite well stopped in midfield and we're seeing one ball just can't open constantly.
03:18Players out of position, whether that's players who are fatigued, you know, who knows?
03:21But we have to do better there.
03:24So Bissouma and Benson Kerr, two massive negatives for me yesterday.
03:28As was Hung-Min Son again.
03:31You know, we really, really need a captain to stand up and be counted.
03:35And he just looks a shadow of his former self at the moment.
03:40Again, you know, he's having to play too much football.
03:42We know that. But, you know, he missed that huge opportunity at 1-0.
03:47I think, you know, if you wanted anybody on the end of a one-on-one chance,
03:50you know, you'd put Hung-Min Son in your top five or six players.
03:54You know, he's normally clinical. He's absolutely deadly one-on-one.
03:56He's been, you know, a terrific talisman and a world-class servant for Spurs over the years.
04:02But he's lost his edge this season.
04:04And again, as I say, whether that's fatigue, you're really needing that leader to stand up and be counted.
04:10And he just looks short in terms of his confidence, in terms of his ability.
04:14He's not taking players on.
04:16He had a huge chance second half against Villa and he chose to pass,
04:19square the ball off eight yards to Bissouma instead of having to go himself.
04:22And he's quite worrying that, you know, the best player now seems to be on the decline.
04:27So again, you know, I think he'd be a negative certainly from yesterday.
Comments