By Harsh Mishra
With Spurs Women going through a challenging period your decision to spend time reading analysis of the team’s performances is appreciated and I welcome you warmly to the 9th installment of this series. Today I am reviewing Spurs’ two latest games, a home defeat to Manchester United and an away Cup draw with Arsenal. I will also provide a short preview of the North London Derby Part II (coming on Saturday).
Review: Tottenham vs Manchester United
Last Sunday, Spurs played hosts to the red side of Manchester, and were again beaten comprehensively, this time by four goals to nil. The highlight of the game, from a Spurs perspective, was the return of captain, Bethany England. After being out injured for almost four months, England got her first competitive minutes (starting and playing about 55 minutes). With Eveliina Summanen out injured Ria Percival started in midfield, Luana Bühler was replaced by Amy Turner and Jessica Naz came in for Grace Clinton, who is a loanee and not allowed to play against her parent club.
Pass Networks for Tottenham vs Manchester United
With England and Martha Thomas up top, Spurs opted to play a 442 in and out of possession. Coming on the back of a heavy seven goal defeat, Spurs were cautious about their defensive line and mostly happy to let United dictate possession. This worked fairly well in the first half. Spurs not only managed to limit United’s chances, but also created a very good chance of their own. Just six minutes into the game, Naz, from the left, put in a deep cross to the back post, which was headed into Thomas’s way by Celin Bizet. Thomas’s shot was saved by Mary Earps but parried straight to England, who was only five yards from goal. England had a glorious chance to score with her first real chance after injury but found her shot blocked on the goal line by Maya Le Tissier. This proved out to be Spurs’ only decent chance of the game.
After that United grew into the game, keeping the ball, yet were unable to convert possession into many chances. Their first goal came from a mis-communication in the Spurs backline, as Molly Bartrip failed to clear an in-swinging cross, thinking that keeper, Becky Spencer would collect it. Melvine Malard took advantage of the mistake and tapped the ball in. In fairness, however, Spurs did not deserve to end that half trailing 1-0.
Shot locations and Penalty Box Entries from Tottenham vs Manchester United
The second half was a totally different story. United were clinical with their chances and took control of the game quickly. They scored two goals from their next two shots, and raced to a 3-0 lead before the 60th minute. With the game effectively over, Vilahamn made substitutions to freshen things up, but the game state and the confidence of the squad was probably too negative for them to conjure up meaningful chances. In the end Spurs did not complete a single successful pass that finished inside United’s penalty area in the whole of the second half.
Review: Arsenal vs Tottenham (Conti Cup)
In advance of the WSL North London Derby, this Saturday, Spurs played a mid-week Conti Cup clash against their North London rivals. Both teams fielded much changed sides and opted to rest some of their starters for the next round, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For a quick look at the game, I recommend Rachel’s piece, 5 things we learnt from the NLD Part I.
Spurs managed to score three goals in the game and all three were pretty good. The first came from a sequence of nice passes, movements and good ball retention all around the pitch. The second was from a build up situation that started in our penalty box, and the third from high pressing up the pitch, which caused an Arsenal turnover.
Tottenham also conceded three goals, against an Arsenal attack which lacked some big names, who are likely to start on Saturday. Defensively, Spurs first half performance was not working. They allowed Arsenal to reach the byline too often, through combinations in the wide areas. This produced dangerous crossing situations, which led to two of Arsenal’s three goals. The first of these was scored within a minute of Spurs going ahead. The second half was better though and Arsenal were not allowed to get in behind as easily, something which also reduced their dangerous chances.
A big caveat in all of this, is that the base of Spurs’ midfield comprised Kit Graham and Ramona Petzelberger, two players who are naturally more creative and have very limited defensive traits. They formed a two player pivot, with Graham more involved in buildup. If you focus on the positives, Graham’s involvement in the early phases of buildup was effective. She was often calm on the ball and helped spread the play to the wide areas. But defensively, while not their fault as they were playing in un-natural positions, they were obviously hampered. Arsenal were able to get a lot of joy in the wide channels, and through this were able to get in behind the Spurs line, with ease.
Preview: Tottenham vs Arsenal (WSL)
In hindsight, Spurs desperately needed the Conti Cup performance to bring back positive feelings back to the squad. And they did a lot of things right against Arsenal, which they couldn’t against United. They were better able to hold on to the ball during buildups and subsequently managed to create more chances.
One chronic issue that has consistently led to Spurs giving away chances, is their ability to defend the half spaces/wide areas of the pitch. Players have been dragged out of position or have been unable to track the opposition movement, leading to dangerous cutbacks and crosses. The ever-changing midfield line (the product of injuries to early season starters Olga Ahtinen, Eveliina Summanen and Drew Spence) has been part of that, since the midfielders are regularly required to move to wide areas to help defend overloads. If, as is likely, we see Ria Percival and Angharad James return to the base of the midfield, the width of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will do them few favours, as it will make this task harder.
On a positive note, the winter break starts after this game, giving the players time to recover, and the club a chance to bring in reinforcements.
Spurs Women Blog 
Excellent report and u should send this to Robert (if not already) … until we severe some contracts in January and the rest in the summer these failures will not change much until we get much better skilled players in and stop using square pegs in round holes. Less we forget we played a 2nd string Arsenal team mostly filled with good players unlikey to feature in their first team anytime soon – makes one wonder why they signed for them in the first place if they will rarely ever get featured…. maybe just to collect medals from the sidelines. We still did not or could not beat them and that is the worry for me.
LikeLike
Seem to be forgetting that Spurs were also far from at full strength.
Ahtinen and Summanen a massive miss over last few games.
LikeLike
So proud of the grit and determination of the team against the run of play to win 1-0 today … well deserved. lets hope Robert gets the players he wants for January .. then the return of the injured players plus a new Beth … what more could we want. Spurs are on their way to be top 4 challengers at last.
LikeLiked by 1 person