ANGE POSTECOGLOU deserves all he gets for being a Billy Joel fan.
By quoting Mr Supermarket Music to defend his dislike of boring, set-piece practice, Tottenham’s manager betrayed himself twice.
He firstly ruined any street cred he may wish for and secondly revealed to every opposition manager that he does not care for such trivial things as free kicks and corners.
And so Chelsea duly carved his team open twice from free kicks to leave his hopes of qualifying for the Champions League in his first season hanging by a thread.
Defeat here leaves Tottenham fifth, seven points behind Aston Villa and now with just one game in hand.
And with only four games to go it is highly unlikely they will somehow recover from their alarming dip in form to make it to the Promised Land.
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Conceding from similar free kicks in each half made it three defeats on the spin with Liverpool and title-chasing Manchester City still to play.
But more than failing to reach the top four in his debut year, Postecoglou is learning at great cost how Tottenham contrive to cock it up around this time each season.
This was their second London derby defeat inside four days too, suggesting his players need to toughen up when it comes to facing the neighbours.
Two down to Arsenal inside half an hour on Sunday, they were caught on the hop again, proving they haven’t learned any lessons from the weekend or from recent history as another season of such promise threatens to crumble in the home stretch.
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Just 25 minutes had gone when they went down to the first dead ball situation.
Chelsea captain Conor Gallagher hooked a free kick into the box to find defender Trevoh Chalobah surging forward and free to loop a classy header over keeper Guglielmo Vicario.
VAR tried to come to Tottenham’s rescue with delays to check nonsensical possible offside then a foul.
But after the usual lengthy delay, Chalobah’s goal stood and Postecoglou found his team up against it again.
Big Ange is having problems getting a tune out of his team at the crucial part of the campaign. Sound familiar Spurs fans?
It was the son who got things going with Trevoh Chalobah lifting his top to reveal a T-shirt carrying the slogan ‘Jehovah’s Son’ across the chest as he wheeled away in delight after scoring first.
Tottenham captain Son Heung-Min was anonymous. His supply line cut off as Tottenham were overwhelmed. Spurs are running out of steam.
James Maddison, signed with such expectation last summer, is fading from view.
Having been subbed in his last nine games he finally bit the bullet and was dropped altogether last night.
The £40million midfielder has not completed a full 90 minutes since Brighton at home on February 10. His England place for the Euros is not safe.
It wasn’t even as if Chelsea suddenly found a string of superstars to roll out on a big night at Stamford Bridge. It was the same old bunch that has pitched and rolled like a North Sea trawler all season long.
Boss Pochettino even hinted there could be some surprises in his selection.
With a crippling injury list, added to by the absences of Thiago Silva and fellow centre half Axel Disasi, he was not wrong there.
The bench was not so much a ‘Who’s who?’ As a ‘Who’s he?’ with greenhorns Zak Sturge, Josh Acheampong, Tyrique George and Kiano Dyer among the 20-man matchday squad.
Last night was eight years to the day since the notorious Battle of the Bridge resulting in nine bookings, a six match ban for Spurs’ Mousa Dembele and a punch up on the pitch.
Early hopes of a repeat performance came and went with Cristian Romero and Nicolas Jackson shoving each other in a petty dispute at a dead ball in no man’s land just two minutes in.
After that Spurs became Chelsea’s punch bag. Jackson went agonisingly close to putting them ahead after only five minutes.
Put through on the chase by Mykhailo Mudryk, Chelsea’s erratic centre forward did everything right for once, slipping the ball through Vicario’s legs.
Luckily, Spurs have flying Dutchman Mick van de Ven – clocked at more than 23 mph this season – in the ranks and he scampered back to hook the shot off the line, earning a massive hug from his mightily relieved keeper.
Spurs’ set piece woes
BY TOM BARCLAY
ANGE POSTECOGLOU took the blame after another set-piece disaster left Tottenham’s Champions League hopes hanging by a thread.
Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson headed home from free-kicks to take the number of goals Spurs have shipped from dead-ball situations to SIXTEEN this season, excluding penalties.
Only Luton, Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest have conceded more in a week where Postecoglou downplayed the importance of set-pieces.
“We didn’t have the mindset that I expect us to have. That’s on me, I’ve got to take responsibility for that.
“I’m the one putting them out there and preparing them for it. When we’re so far off it, I’ve got to look at myself and see how I’m preparing this team for it.
“We lacked a real conviction and positive mindset in our football. We didn’t really have any fluency, any sort of aggression with and without the ball.
“It’s a bit unlike us because if nothing else we’ve always been competitive.”
He later added: “We had bigger issues tonight than set pieces.”
At least last weekend they put up a fight against the Gunners. Here they settled in to be overrun from start to finish, making a fairly average Chelsea team look like world beaters.
A few half chances with Pape Sarr having a shot deflected and Brennan Johnson scuffing one wide in the second half .
Postecoglou went from irate madman in the first half to deflated and defeated in the second, especially after Jackson grabbed the winner 18 minutes from the end.
Palmer chipped in a free kick which cannoned off the crossbar. And given that free kicks don’t matter at Spurs, nobody bothered to pick up Chelsea’s centre forward who pounced to head in.
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It’s the 16th time they have conceded from a set-piece. Postecoglou quoted Joel song ‘You May Be Right’ to justify his decision to ignore free kicks and corners but it’s hitting a duff note.
Victory takes Chelsea up to eighth, above West Ham. They are now just three points behind sixth-placed Manchester United with their own dreams of Europe improving.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
