Better?
Most would agree that we looked the better side before Heung-min Son’s long-range curler hit the back of the net. Bellerin, Saka, and Tierney are to be credited for at least trying to get the ball into the box throughout the match. Willian–who played his first full 90 since Week Four–also looked more dangerous than he has in awhile. That said, many of their final balls were behind their intended targets. Forget quality, our boys are in desperate need of a bit of luck–a deflection, a fortunate bounce of the ball, anything–to rebuild their clearly broken confidence going forward.
After Partey
Other than his being dispossessed by Giovani Lo Celso at one point, I would have argued that Thomas was our best player before he was forced off due to injury. Not only did he do his usual work breaking up play in the middle of the park, but he also tried to get forward either with the ball at his feet or via a searching ball or two ahead to teammates. Perhaps it speaks more to José Mourinho’s tendency to park the bus once his sides have a lead, but who would have thought that we would have kept Spurs scoreless (and no shots on goal in the second half) without Thomas on the pitch? Let’s hope he is truly fit sometime soon, because I still contend that his presence in the midfield is critical for any sustained success that we may have this season.
Title Pretenders
Gooners’ wildest hopes of competing for a Premier League title faded fairly early this season, but I suspect we were not the only faux title-chasers in today’s match. While no one expected a different result today, can Spurs concede this much possession against higher quality, more confident opposition and expect to consistently win? How many times out of ten does Son make that shot? How often does Harry Kane score top-shelf near-left post with his left foot? Does anyone really believe this version of Spurs has more quality than they did during the 2018/19 season, which included nine players who featured in the semis of the 2018 World Cup (i.e., Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld, Mousa Dembélé, Eric Dier, Kane, Hugo Lloris, Danny Rose, Kieran Trippier, and Jan Vertonghen)? That Spurs side made the Champions League final, but alas, ended up trophy-less across all competitions. What will be telling is how this Spurs side responds when they hit the inevitable rough patch this season and Mourinho starts publicly blaming his players as he is wont to do.