Despite an encouraging display, Spurs fell to their fifteenth league defeat of the season away to London rivals Fulham.
Proceedings were closely contested at Craven Cottage until second-half substitute Rodrigo Muniz slotted into the bottom corner 12 minutes from full-time.
Shortly after the Brazilian broke the deadlock, teenager Lucas Bergvall was adamant he should have been awarded a penalty. Replays indicated that the midfielder had touched the ball before being impeded by Calvin Bassey, although VAR deemed the contact insufficient.
The hosts secured the full complement of points in the closing stages through Ryan Sessegnon. The former Spurs man outmuscled Ben Davies before sumptuously curling an effort beyond Guglielmo Vicario with his weaker right foot. Sessegnon chose not to celebrate out of respect, but his teammates couldn’t hide their jubilation. It was a big win for the Cottagers in their pursuit of qualification for European football.
Ange Postecoglou will be pleased with aspects of his team’s performance, particularly in the second half. But ultimately, it’s another game that has passed them by this term, something that has happened far too often for a club of Tottenham Hotspur’s stature. The Lilywhites haven’t recorded this many defeats in a top-flight season since the 2008/09 season. There are still nine games to play.
There was almost a resignation from the players after the full-time whistle, a sorrowful sign of becoming accustomed to the bitter taste of failure.
Another disappointing result leaves them in 13th position with virtually nothing left to compete for in the remaining nine league games.
Here are four things we learnt from the London derby defeat.
The Cristian Romero predicament
Cristian Romero reminded everybody of his talents this afternoon with robust challenges and incisive passes. His well-documented injury troubles are still firmly in the mind of his manager, and Postecoglou decided to cautiously take him off just past the hour mark. However, as soon as the World Cup winner departed the field, Tottenham looked vulnerable and subsequently conceded two avoidable goals.
But, at least the defender now has two weeks off where he can focus on getting back to full fitness ahead of a crucial Europa League quarter-final tie with Frankfurt.
Well that would be the case, but the patriotic Romero will instead jet off to South America with the Argentina national squad. La Seleccion have two World Cup qualifying matches against Uruguay and Brazil to prepare for.
That has often been the case with the imposing defender. He always seems to be available for his country despite missing several games a season for his club.
This isn’t an attack on Romero. He’s perfectly entitled to treasure the privilege of representing your nation.
But, he’s Spurs’ vice-captain. You can never fault his commitment on the pitch, but the perception of the 27-year-old is that Tottenham Hotspur isn’t his priority.
The decision to allow the former Atalanta player to represent his nation, while still needing to manage his minutes in important games for the team he is contracted to, is rather baffling.
Postecoglou’s problematic persistence with a defensive midfield
The first half was devoid of any quality or creativity and that was largely down to the personnel in midfield. Postecoglou decided to leave Bergvall and James Maddison on the bench after their midweek exploits and start Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma and Archie Gray. For the latter, it was a first chance to impress in his natural position since his £40 million move from Leeds United last summer.
Doubts arose when the line-up was announced about the imbalance of the midfield, with all three not considered offensively-minded players. Bentancur was the individual tasked with picking up pockets of space in forward areas, but he was largely ineffective.
Gray went about his business astutely but often chose the safe option, while Bissouma was nothing short of abysmal.
The Malian was unconvincing in possession, reluctant to receive the ball and chased shadows for 45 minutes. His shortcomings was only further highlighted by his replacement Bergvall, who was the complete antonym of Spurs’ number eight. Industrious, tough-tackling and courageous.
A worrying trend is developing for the former Brighton midfielder. In three of his last five appearances he has been taken off at the interval, a change typically reserved for drastic measures. In fact, the last time he completed a full game was against Non-League outfit Tamworth back in January.
At 28-years-old, Bissouma should be in the prime of his career. Instead, he looks a man stripped of any confidence. With his form seemingly not improving, an exit in the summer could be on the cards.
Frustratingly, Postecoglou committed a similar misstep last weekend in the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth. An almost identical midfield was chosen, apart from Pape Matar Sarr playing instead of Gray.
Bournemouth terrorised the North Londoners, but as soon as Bissouma and Bentancur were replaced by Maddison and Bergvall, the Lilywhites scored twice to level the scores.
To quote Albert Einstein: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Perhaps, the Spurs manager will be looking to reassess his decisions over the upcoming break.
Lacklustre Johnson fails to deliver again
Brennan Johnson divides opinion amongst the Spurs fanbase. On the one hand, he is the club’s top scorer this season with 14 goals in all competitions. He has a habit of arriving at the right place at the right time and the reliance on his instincts have come to Tottenham’s benefit on several occasions.
On the other hand, when the 23-year-old doesn’t find the back of the net, his contributions are largely non-existent. It’s very rare to find a player who has been so prolific look so short of self-belief.
Alongside the equally woeful Bissouma, Johnson was axed at the break in West London and was replaced by Heung-min Son. Surely when you’re chasing a goal you don’t take your top goal scorer off?
But, this complex situation is a puzzling one to act on. With Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel looking lively and Johnson looking anything but, what else can Postecoglou do?
If Johnson continues to disappoint, he could find himself warming the substitutes bench for Spurs’ biggest games of the campaign.
Mathys Tel thrived in his favoured position
Today was the first time the Bayern Munich loanee had the opportunity to impress while not carrying the burden of being the lone striker.
The teenager may not have been flawless, but Tel certainly posed much more of a threat off the flank.
A mazy run in the first half saw him leave several Fulham players in the dust before his cross agonisingly evaded his teammates. In the second period, the French teenager’s curling shot should’ve resulted in Dominic Solanke dispatching the rebound.
Tel’s time at German heavyweights Bayern has noticeably altered his perspective and approach to football. Despite bring only 19, he is frequently spotted rallying his colleagues and firing up the crowd.
His mature attitude came to the forefront after the full-time whistle as he went to the crowd to apologise and ask for togetherness. It takes a certain type of character to do that when technically his stay at the club he has been at for only two months is temporary.