Tottenham Hotspur’s woes deepened with a 1-0 defeat away at Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day.
Off the back of a crushing 6-3 defeat to Liverpool at the weekend — in which they trailed 5-1 at one point — Ange Postecoglou will have been looking for a reaction from his side.
However, it never came with Anthony Elanga’s goal in the 28th minute enough to separate the sides.
Spurs weren’t without their chances and Brennan Johnson looked the most likely to make the breakthrough against his former club.
However, some resolute defending and quality goalkeeping from Forest ensured Spurs failed to score for just the fourth time in 26 games across all competitions this season.
To make matters worse for Postecoglou, Djed Spence was sent off near the end after Radu Dragusin had already come off injured, meaning he could go into Sunday’s clash against Wolves with five defenders missing.
With Spurs in the bottom half and 10 points adrift of the Champions League places, read on for player ratings from the match.
Tottenham player ratings vs Nottingham Forest: Ange Postecoglou’s crisis deepens
Fraser Forster – 6/10 – Still looked nervous both with the ball at his feet and crosses into the box, but made a couple of decent saves.
Djed Spence – 6/10 – Created a couple of good opportunities and defended very well. Ruined a good performance by picking up a second yellow card for a late challenge on Jota Silva.
Radu Dragusin – 4/10 – Nearly caught out with numerous errors on the ball and often gifted possession back to Forest. Always committed defensively but his positioning leaves something to be desired. Came off injured near the end, which might well leave Postecoglou without any natural centre-backs in their next match.
Archie Gray – 5/10 – Much better than Dragusin on the ball but can be guilty of wandering out of position. Was a little too high on the Forest goal, so couldn’t cover Udogie. But he’s an 18-year-old still learning to be a centre-back, so what can we expect?
Destiny Udogie – 6/10 – Very tidy in possession, misplacing just two passes, while he played eight passes into the final third and made eight recoveries. Sliced open on the Forest goal because he was too wide.
Pape Sarr – 7/10 – Won all four of his ground duels and completed 92% of his passes. Sacrificed just after the hour mark as Postecoglou brought on some more progressive midfielders.
Rodrigo Bentancur – 6/10 – Did okay on his first Premier League game back from suspension but ran out of steam pretty quickly.
Brennan Johnson – 7/10 – Unlucky not to score against his former club, with Matz Sels pulling out a couple of excellent saves. Tottenham’s most likely threat.
Dejan Kulusevski – 5/10 – You’ll never stop Dejan Kulusevski from being busy and trying to unlock the defence, but it just didn’t come off for him today. Completed just two of six dribbles and won only three of 13 combined ground and aerial duels.
Son Heung-min – 5/10 – Uncharacteristically gave the ball away in dangerous situations a couple of times. Looked like a player short on confidence, trying to force things at times.
Dominic Solanke – 6/10 – Battled as hard as he could but was too isolated and didn’t get enough high-quality service.
Substitutes:
Lucas Bergvall (63′, for Bentancur) – 7/10 – Tidy on the ball, completing all but one of his passes. Made some important blocks and tackles as well.
James Maddison (63′, for Sarr) – 5/10 – Busy when he came on, but ineffective.
Pedro Porro (81′, for Udogie) – 6/10 – Tried to make things happen in the final third but couldn’t make the difference.
Timo Werner (81′, for Son) – 6/10 – A couple of dangerous balls into the box but not much else.