Death, Taxes and Chelsea beating Spurs whenever I’ve been fortunate enough to go to the game. At least, that was the case, until yesterday’s trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
I really am lost for words at this point as to just how we can be as bad as we currently are, it seems to defy all logic. After last weeks tragic loss to Southampton, the majority of circles I know which are close to Chelsea had all but run out of patience with the current regime. However, as the new week began, people’s mood seemed to mellow out once more. After all, there was eight days between our games against Southampton and Tottenham and the players had two days of rest thrown in there, so maybe we were at last about to see the turning point in our season.
Unsurprisingly… we weren’t.
Before matchday had even come around, the pain of last weekend’s loss to Southampton was amplified in the Saturday 3pm’s as even 19th place Leeds were able to overcome statistically the worst side in the league. Even worse still, these are Chelsea’s next opponents for this coming weekend. Having already lost 3-0 to Leeds at Elland Road back in August, this is anything but a guaranteed three points for us and Leeds will know they can get at us.
We met a little ways away from Finsbury Park in a rather quaint little bar called ‘The Halfway House Bar.’ Admittedly, this wasn’t our first choice. The job of selecting a suitable public house had fallen to yours truly and in choosing ‘The Twelve Pins’ which was perfectly located next to the station, I had failed to consider that it may in fact not be open at half 10 on a Sunday morning. The Halfway House Bar had all the feels of a local Arsenal pub and there was a generous stack of cheese and biscuits for guests to help themselves to as they got stuck in to Sunday morning’s Bargain Hunt episode.
The group itself had very mixed views of what to expect for the day ahead. After all, the current generation of Chelsea fan’s has near enough only got good memories of playing Tottenham. Of course there are a few losses spread about over the years, but these are generally few and far between and our dominance over them is perhaps best seen from our games against them in January 2022, where we played them three times in the league and cup and came out 5-0 winners overall on aggregate.
No matter the form we’re in, Tottenham is a game in which you just always expect our players to turn up and put on a show. They’re our biggest rivals.
I wasn’t too sure what to expect from the game. Any potential optimism for it was blind in reality given we’d managed to score just one goal in our preceding five games but as I’ve said above, this just is a game where you expect us to have a little bit more about us and it gives the players a chance to silence any critics.
One slight disadvantage of our new watering hole was that it was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. After multiple desperate attempts to call in an Uber for urgent transportation to the stadium, one did eventually arrive outside the ground with just an hour until kick off. It was a pretty stressful journey, with seemingly the entirety of North London opting to travel by road between the hours of 12 and 1 on Sunday but we did mercifully make it into our seats with 10 minutes to go until kick off.
The away end at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is without a doubt the best in the league. Whilst it is an absolute pain to get to the stadium itself, with a complete lack of transport options all round, once in you’re guaranteed a great view of the pitch and a good selection of beers to drown your sorrows at half time.
The first half itself was a relatively even affair. I can’t really remember a huge amount about it in all honesty but I do know we created next to nothing. We were pretty fortunate not to concede to Pierre-Emile Højbjerg whose deflected shot left Kepa Arrizabalaga completely stranded.
Typically, it was Thiago Silva who ended up being the latest player to hobble off the pitch with his own injury issue. My initial thought was that it was a knee injury, but it seems as time goes on that it may possibly be little more than a dead leg. He was walking unaided after the game too which is a great sign as we can’t afford to have him out for long, particularly with a home leg against Dortmund on the horizon.
Wesley Fofana impressed with his display against Southampton last week, and it was much the same yesterday. Whilst we did go on to concede twice, neither goal was his fault. It did look like he too had succumbed to another injury early into his appearance. Having plucked a ball out of the air he seemed to be feeling some discomfort in his upper-hamstring before carrying on as normal, but it was hearts in mouth stuff. I really hope Wes can finally get a good run of games now and start to put his injury troubles behind him. The talent is so clear for all to see when he plays, it’s just a case of whether his body will allow it. The more I watch of Wes, the more I’d like to see us try a back three with him, Badiashile and Thiago Silva.
I was having a half-time beer and hot dog when Hakim Ziyech’s red card was rescinded. Having watched it back I’m not really sure what to make of the decision and players have been sent off for less in similar situations. So poor has Hakim been in recent weeks that I’m not even sure Spurs fans would’ve been particularly disappointed to see him on the pitch in the second half.
I’d give the hot dog a 5/10 by the way. It was very average.
I was glad to be back in my seat with a couple of minutes to spare at half time, even more so when we conceded almost immediately into the second half. Whilst Enzo’s clearance to Oliver Skipp wasn’t great, I’m not entirely sure how Kepa was unable to hold onto the ball in the first place. The strike by Skipp, whilst being a half-decent one, should never have found the back of the net. In true Kepa style, every time you start to think he may not be one of the biggest issues in the squad, he made a cataclysmic error which effectively stopped us getting anything out of the game.
As expected, from the moment we conceded the game was finished. João Félix looks set to be the winner of our Goal of the Month competition for February with his solitary strike against West Ham. Completely embarrassing for an attack which I won’t even bother working out how much has it cost us.
Harry Kane’s goal provided the opportunity to make a quick exit from the stadium along with a few hundred other very angry fans. Once again, I found myself in slight disbelief that we’d managed to lose yet another away game. That’s now just one draw in the six away games we’ve been to this season which would be an awful record if all six games were against the top six… but they weren’t.
Misery was compounded in the pub later on as we witnessed Manchester United pick up the first trophy of the season against Newcastle United. It’s very frustrating to watch this United side under Ten Haag prospering as they are. Whilst he’s been backed, it’s nowhere near the amount of money we’ve thrown at our squad and I find it hard to believe that difference between us and them is simply Ten Haag getting an actual pre-season with his team and even they don’t have a top class striker.
The honest genuine feeling after that was one of nothingness. What can you even say about this team that hasn’t already been said? Nothing seems to change game on game, apart from us maybe getting even worse.
I understand the frustration’s with Potter and continue to be equally frustrated myself. However, I still maintain that he is but one problem in amongst a crowd of many. Todd Boehly and Clearlake have spent such vast quantities of money that there will be an almost insurmountable amount of pressure on whoever finds themselves unfortunate enough to be in our dugout and even worse, they’ve failed to address certain issues whilst exasperating other ones.
The current squad is suffering from it’s bloated size. There are are simply far too many characters in the dressing room that Potter is having to appease each week with his squad selection. Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, two players whom it’s blindingly obvious Potter want’s nothing to do with, both saw the pitch yesterday. Meanwhile, we have other plauyers like Trevoh Chalobah, someone who seemed to be one of Potter’s favourites until recently, whom aren’t even able to get in the squad anymore. This is starting to become a worry, as the last thing Potter needs is the squad turning on him. If they haven’t already.
In previous weeks, I’ve commented on the lack of focal point in our team and I do still believe this to be an issue. However, this does not excuse us not bothering to create any chances whatsoever anymore which is the position we found ourselves in yesterday. There was a total lack of urgency to our all round game and I struggle to pinpoint any decent passes which were made first time or with any real intent.
Every time a player was passed the ball they would first receive it, then scan around for potential options for where the ball could head next, then take another touch, then look round again before finally releasing it. It was painful to watch and made the job of any Spurs defender significantly easier. Once again, this was a game where we could’ve continued to play on for another 10 hours and we probably wouldn’t have put the ball in the back of the net.
Given it’s now Monday afternoon as I write this, I think it’s safe to say Potter will be in charge for at least the next two games given that Leeds and Dortmund both fall so close to each other. If we lose to Leeds and exit the Champions League, I’m almost certain that we will have a change of manager for Leicester City next weekend but only time will tell.
I’ll be back on Sunday reporting on what I desperately hope will be a first win in over a month at Chelsea Football Club.
The Shed Diaries 