Analysis of the goal conceded against Wigan (24/9)

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Diame’s goalAssou-Ekotto gifts possession to Wigan, and the ball reaches Diame, who holds off Kaboul and finds the bottom corner from the edge of the box.


Assou-Ekotto has possession in his own box, after a Wigan attack breaks down. Parker (to his right) is the easy pass, or he can pass the the ball down the line for Bale.


Instead, his attempted pass is too close to Stam, and the ball loops back into the Spurs box.


King competes, and the ball ends up back with Stam.


He plays an intelligent first-time pass into Diame, who has Kaboul closing in on him.


Diame is very strong, and holds off Kaboul, but Parker comes along to mop up…


For some reason (presumably he doesn’t want to give away a free kick), Parker pulls out of a challenge, and instead runs straight past Diame.


Which allows Diame to turn and find the bottom right corner of Friedel’s goal – it’s a great finish, and the keeper has little chance.

All in all it was a very nervy second half performance from Spurs which was in total contrast to the dominant, exciting first half, where we scored two good goals, but also missed a number of chances; a free header for Kaboul, a free header for Walker, Adebayor’s first time effort when he could have taken a touch, Bale’s shot when he should have squared to Modric, etc etc. As a result of not extending our lead, Wigan’s goal created a real sense of tension, and the team seem suddenly sapped of confidence.

The result, however, is a good one and, whilst I criticise Parker for his lack of challenge in the move that lead to the goal, he generally had a decent enough game -he made five tackles, eight interceptions (which was more than double that of anyone else on pitch), 85 passes (again, the most on pitch) at 91% completion. Assou-Ekotto, on the other hand, did not have such a good match. Having been at fault for the goal, he dawdled on the ball later in the half and almost cost us again. He also had the lowest pass completion of our outfield players, primarily because he often elected to play a hopeful, lofted pass forward rather than to turn inside. However, he has had a throat infection over the last few days and almost missed the match, which may go some way to explaining his poor decision-making.

Join the conversation

  1. Please look closely at diame's feet when he received the ball and when Parker came to challenge.
  2. I want to say that I look forward to these posts but I obviously shouldn't... these posts mean we conceded goals lol

    It was definitely a frustrating second half. There was no excuse for BAE and Parker to have done a better job defending in that particular moment. Still, 3 points are in the bag and I am very happy. Also, just want to add that Parker has been outstanding in all his performances so far... hope he keeps it up.

    COYS!
  3. Parker didn't run past him. He went to tackle, but Diame backheeled the ball away from Parker, then turned away from Kaboom before putting it right in the corner. The only way that Parker could have gotten the ball was by fouling him.

    It was a great turn and finish by Diame - if VdV or Adebayor had done it we would be raving about it.
  4. We always seem to have a problem against 10 men, conversley last season we seemed to do better AS 10 men. Even against Liverpool we eased off when they had a man off the pitch, it was only when the team realised we would look silly beating a 9 man team 1-0 that they went back for the kill.

    Secondly our attacks seemed to falter everytime once Ade picked up an eye injury, with Defoe injured for the match and Ade incapacitated we had nothing, if ever there was a sign to buy another striker that was it. Perhaps these Europa matches will be proving grounds for one to step up in the meantime

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