Tottenham 4-1 West Ham
To use a well-worn football cliché, this was very much a game of two halves.
Whilst the Hammers were never in full control against a swashbuckling, attacking Tottenham team, it certainly seemed that Julen Lopetegui had some semblance of control over the match at New White Hart Lane or whatever it’s called these days. Unfortunately, 15 minutes of madness seemed to have undone much of the good work achieved since West Ham’s embarrassment at the hands of Chelsea earlier in the season.
There were certainly moments in the first half where Spurs piled on the pressure, but for the most part, West Ham’s defence held steady despite the onslaught. Max Kilman, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Emerson, and Guido Rodriguez, in particular, produced some excellent tackles and blocks while the Hammers retained a counterattacking threat in the form of Jarrod Bowen and Mohammed Kudus.
Familiar flaws in madness defending
Therefore, it’s a massive disappointment to see a team go from being hard to break down to easy to play against in such a short period of time. Tottenham’s fourth goal, in particular, seemed all too familiar and demonstrated the very worst of West Ham’s defending, which was on display at the beginning of the season.
While West Ham were unlucky with how quickly the game went from 1-1 to 4-1, it did appear as if all the good tactical defensive work got unpicked between halftime and the 60th minute.
The way Jean-Clair Todibo was left to defend Spurs’ fourth goal on his own was almost a carbon copy of what we’ve seen this season from Edson Alvarez and Dinos Mavropanos.
Of course, it didn’t help that the Irons were trying to get back into the game at the time, but the familiar holes in the system seemed to resurface as soon as pressure was applied. The most concerning aspect of West Ham’s defensive collapse was that Lopetegui and his coaching team had the entire back four at the training ground for two weeks while the international players were representing their countries.
Attention, and indeed pressure, now turns to Manchester United next week.
