Spurs can’t shake losing habit
The reason for their 5-1 defeat was not, according to Harry Redknapp or his players, their inability to defend properly — instead, it was the decision of referee Martin Atkinson to award Chelsea’s second goal despite replays showing Juan Mata’s shot had not crossed the line.
No matter that they scored almost immediately after that goal, before wilting in such dramatic fashion; it was the referee, of course.
On Saturday, there could be no such complaints.
Tottenham not only lost to QPR, but all the questionable calls went their way. Mark Clattenburg’s decision to dismiss the hosts’ match-winner, Adel Taarabt, for kicking the ball away was certainly debatable, particularly as Scott Parker had just escaped sanction for a blatant dive.
Yet what was not in doubt was the fact that this was not the response Redknapp would have hoped for after the Wembley fiasco.
It ended in recrimination and the sound of boos echoing from the away end. Redknapp had been criticised throughout by his own fans, and it was not hard to sympathise with them. When you have arguably the best right and left wingers in the Premier League, why not play them in their natural positions? Instead, Gareth Bale cut inside and Aaron Lennon started on the bench. So narrow, it was so simple for QPR to defend against.
The problems were the same as at Wembley, but it is hard to ascertain whether that game was the symptom or the cause. Ultimately though, the suspicion must be that it was the former.
Can a semi-final defeat of such magnitude really ruin a season? Perhaps, but the wind had been taken out of Tottenham’s sails quite some time before. It is perhaps a facile argument but their woeful run of form can be traced back to the day Fabio Capello left his job as England manager and Redknapp was pre-ordained as his successor.
Since then, Tottenham have won just four of 15 games, relinquishing their commanding position in third place.
Some wags in the press box suggested that perhaps Redknapp purchased Devon Loch in the January transfer window, but the reason for Tottenham’s recent impotence — only Wolves have taken less points over the last nine games — is surely more simple than that.
Eight players have started 28 or more of Spurs’ 34 league games, and tiredness is clearly an issue. Ultimately, Tottenham may come to regret the fact that they did not strengthen the squad as they should have done in January. Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen were their only signings in that month, with Roman Pavlyuchenko, Steven Pienaar, Sebastien Bassong and Vedran Corluka all allowed to leave.
As Redknapp pointed out afterwards, Chelsea made eight changes for their trip to the Emirates on Saturday; such a luxury is unavailable to the man in charge at White Hart Lane.
With the nature of the Premier League, these failings will always shine through. With their first-choice team in situ from the third game of the season onwards, Spurs were superb. Now, with injuries and tiredness beginning to bite, Ledley King is asked to play through the pain barrier without a rest, while Parker and Luka Modric are shadows of the players that lit up the league in the late months of 2011.
At Wembley, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and the referee were too good for Tottenham. At Loftus Road it was the considerably lesser lights of Samba Diakite and Clint Hill who filled those roles, winning every 50-50 and taking the game by the scruff of the neck.
Could Spurs’ players be too relaxed, too convinced their manager is going to leave and they don’t have to impress him anymore? It’s possible, although it is hard to consider that any player would ease off when the prospect of playing in the Champions League is dangling in front of them.
Instead, defeat becomes a habit in the same way that winning does. It is almost a curse, or an illness; easily contracted yet horrendously difficult to shake off.
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