Spurs were 2-0 up after 12 minutes, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was shaking with noise and Chelsea’s stumbling defender Marc Cucurella was so harrowed by his nightmare start that he’d had to change his boots. So perhaps the greatest indictment of this Spurs side is that even in that moment of utter dominance, with the game gift-wrapped in the palm of their hands, you just knew they could fumble it at any moment.
Behind some brilliant Chelsea play to engineer a four-goal comeback was a comedy of Spurs errors, an unravelling of devastating proportions. Jadon Sancho was allowed to dribble from the touchline to the edge of the box unchallenged. Yves Bissouma gave away a needless penalty with a lunge that could be seen long before it happened, yards before he actually clattered through Moises Caicedo. Pape Matar Sarr’s bungled challenge on Cole Palmer was even more foolish, given the forward was facing the corner flag at the time.
Palmer’s Panenka penalty could be interpreted as a piece of genius from arguably the best player in the Premier League right now. But it also felt like a piece of insolence saved for an opponent he didn’t much respect, whose fans had earlier pelted him with paper missiles while taking a corner causing the game to stop. As he celebrated, he cupped his ears to Tottenham fans.
From 2-0 up, Spurs had slipped to 4-2 in less than an hour. A weary-looking Ange Postecoglou later said their mistakes were “born out of desperation”.
“Both penalties were poor on our behalf,” The Spurs manager said. “It’s kind of self-inflicted, unnecessary challenges, and you’re giving two goals away for no reason. You give yourself a mountain to climb, which proved too hard.”
It was not just defensively that Spurs erred. At 2-2, Son Heung-min wasted a huge chance to lead, when the captain raced through on goal and steadied himself before whipping a shot wildly off target. One of the most deadly finishers in the Premier League looked bereft of confidence, like his team, and his tap-in at the death was not enough to make amends as Spurs went down 4-3. Postecoglou rued a “big moment” that slipped by.
Yet that sense of self-sabotage might also be levelled at the manager. Spurs played with typical abandon which produced moments of joyous football in the first half, but when the momentum of the game swung, Postecoglou failed to react. His midfield was inexplicably open, with the overrun Bissouma understandably drawn to Palmer leaving the advancing Enzo Fernandez in wide open space time and time again.
“Tottenham Hotspur, it’s happened again,” sang the Chelsea fans, and there was a devastating simplicity to that refrain. It was losing to Chelsea, the team who have enjoyed more success than any other visiting this stadium; it was letting another lead slip away in a cliched collapse; it was how they seem to melt in the middle.
What now for a manager who had spent midweek remonstrating with his own fans? Spurs supporters had roared their team on to a perfect start here, but as soon as Sancho’s reply hit the net, the wall of noise disintegrated and a tension filled the air. There were smatterings of boos after Palmer’s second penalty, though that may have been for Chelsea’s pantomime villain of the night. Yet how long can Spurs fans put up with this wild inconsistency, not only from game to game but within them too?
Perhaps more pertinent is the patience of Daniel Levy, the man who appointed Postecoglou. He stood in the stands looking stoney faced after the full-time whistle blew. This, Postecoglou argued, was a good performance against a top side. But it was also part of a streak of one win in seven games, while Chelsea have now won five in a row. Spurs are 11th in the table, below Bournemouth, Brentford and Fulham, having now lost more games than they’ve won this season.
There are caveats in the injuries they have suffered, and here Cristian Romero and Micky Van de Van were both rushed back from the treatment table to start the game. Romero departed early with what appeared to be a fresh injury while Van de Ven was later subbed feeling “tightness”. Brennan Johnson, arguably Spurs’ best player this season, was also taken off after feeling unwell.
But that does begin to answer why Tottenham collapse so readily, why the team appears so easy to cut through, with a centre made from papier-mache. It’s happened again, and Postecoglou must fix it fast.