SPURS IGNORE WARNINGS AS THEY SELF-DESTRUCT

TOTTENHAM have been more open and lost by bigger margins this season, but last night’s defeat has to go down as their most alarming display under Ange Postecoglou.

- Dan Kilpatrick

If last month’s grim losses against Fulham and Newcastle could be explained away as inevitable off-days for a developing team or a consequence of teething problems in Postecoglou’s high-risk approach, the 2-0 defeat here felt like something different. Postecoglou’s side were not undone by the pitfalls of his football; they did not play his football at all.

On the eve of the game, the Spurs head coach admitted that “a majority” of his squad and staff still did not have “true belief” in his philosophy, and his words came to feel prophetic as his side went through the motions against an injury-ravaged Chelsea.

Spurs twice conceded from set-piece situations again, increasing the pressure on Postecoglou to prioritise a fix, and the Australian has never appeared more frustrated than in a first half spent screaming at his players to “stop passing backwards”, push up the pitch and be more aggressive out of possession.

With the notable exception of Cristian Romero, there was no sign of the high-octane pressing, ambitious passing and fluid, one-touch play which characterised Spurs’ first 10 games under Postecoglou before their campaign hit the rocks with the catastrophic 4-1 home defeat by Chelsea in the reverse fixture. Instead, Spurs were flat, sloppy and predictable.