Pundit shares Tottenham dressing room view after loss, player slammed for ‘lack of discipline
We’re delighted to welcome former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson as our exclusive columnist as each week he’ll
be sharing his opinions on the main topics of discussion at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Paul Robinson claims that the “one big positive to take away” from Tottenham’s consecutive losses is the team’s demonstration of a “united dressing room” under Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs lost 2-1 at Wolves on November 11 after losing 4-1 at home to Chelsea on November 6. They then lost 2-1 at Wolves on November 11 after blowing a 1-0 lead into stoppage time.
The former England goalkeeper acknowledges that the first loss was “damaging in so many ways” due to the outcome and the players it forced out of action due to injury and suspension, as well as the late comeback in the second “hurt,” but he was comforted to see that the players in the squad who entered the game were all obviously committed to the manager’s strategy.
“I’ve talked at length many a times about the great start they’ve had to the season, and the good feeling around the place, but the test was always going to come,” Robinson exclusively told Tottenham News. It remained to be seen if that test resulted in a loss or in players losing.
“There have been several tests since the Chelsea game, which is why it was detrimental in so many ways. Every week, I talk about [Cristian] Romero and his own lack of discipline, which has cost them again. I don’t talk about whether or not he will be suspended, but rather when. That may have been his dismissal.
“But in a nutshell a defeat hurts, a heavy defeat hurts, you lose your four best players of the season in that defeat in Romero, [Destiny] Idogie, [Micky] Van de Ven and [James] Maddison. So not only do you have the test of maybe losing a player and a defeat but you’ve been heavily beaten and lost four of your best players.
“I was at the Wolves game and I thought they started really well, they were in full control of the game and imploded in the last 10 or 15 minutes. I think the thing they were guilty of in the Wolves game was not pushing on and getting a second and not making the game a lot more easy than it should have been because they had opportunities to.
“It was a poor game in all honesty. Spurs went 1-0 up early on and they were comfortable, and I think the fact that they were too comfortable is what let Wolves get back in the game.
“Wolves possibly had the better of the chances, Spurs had the better of the possession, and until 80-85 minutes or so it was definitely the last game on Match of the Day. It was a really poor watch. But Spurs, they got done.
“It was one of those situations where, ‘Ok, we’ve got beat by Chelsea, we’ve lost these players, how are we going to
reply? Although it wasn’t attractive or entertaining to watch, it appeared that they had completed the task.
“The way the game concluded has affected the scoreline at the end. I was happy with Ange’s man-management abilities since, although the team’s performance has received a lot of attention, his selection of 11–13 players has shown consistency.
However, he has been forced to call upon his reserves, including players he may not have chosen, such as Emerson Royal, Eric Dier, and Ben Davies. There aren’t many first-team minutes for Eric Dier.
“But there was nobody there who wasn’t playing for him. They looked like a united dressing room playing for the
That’s a huge plus you can take away, manager.
After Postecoglou had such a brilliant season debut, it is impossible to spin back-to-back losses as a positive development, especially given how they both transpired.
However, difficulties were inevitably going to arise at some point, and the fact that the next man up remained focused shows how much of an influence the former Celtic manager had on the team.
That was a bright spot on a bad day at Molineux, but it won’t go the Australian far if the team he puts out against Aston Villa doesn’t produce a better result after the international break.
