To put it bluntly, Spurs got ‘Nunoed’ at the City Ground.
Tottenham’s former manager Nuno Espirito Santo has set up his Nottingham Forest side to be regimented, sit deep, set traps and pounce on the slightest of weak, misplaced or under-hit passes. Then they break with pace and purpose.
And that’s just what happened when Anthony Elanga struck in the first half.
Despite enjoying 70.4 per cent of possession, Spurs were consigned to their ninth Premier League defeat of the season in the mist by the River Trent, and saw Djed Spence sent off for a second yellow-card offence in stoppage time.
Tim Spiers discusses the key talking points…
Beware going behind against Forest…
Ange Postecoglou reiterated in his pre-match interview that Spurs had to be wary of how strong, organised and physical Forest are.
Nuno’s team – as was the case when he was in charge at Wolves – are one of the hardest and most horrible to play against in the Premier League.
That makes them difficult opponents when the scores are level, but the last thing you want to do is concede the first goal of the game to them. And yet, there it was after 28 minutes.
Elanga scores Forest’s opener (Andrew Kearns/CameraSport/Getty Images)
Spurs, who had enjoyed 70 per cent possession and registered almost four times as many expected goals (xG) as their hosts, lost possession when a dawdling Spence was crowded out. Morgan Gibbs-White was afforded the kind of time and space Spurs’ attackers could only fantasise about when he ventured forward and picked his pass for Elanga to get half a yard on Destiny Udogie and slot home for 1-0.
Why did Spurs fail to score?
Spurs’ defence has been more vacuous than the Grand Canyon lately but scoring goals hasn’t been an issue…until today.
They had scored 15 in their previous four domestic outings but found themselves up against, yes, a stubborn and incredibly committed Forest defence, but also lacked the nous to break them down.
The tone was set when Son Heung-min wasted what turned out to be one of their best chances of the match, shooting too close to Mats Sels during a rare Spurs counter attack.
Otherwise they spent most of the match trying to thread a needle, enjoying endless possession with little end result. Forest doubled up on Dejan Kulusevski, leaving Spurs’ main route to goal being from the flanks, via combinations and lock-picking against a wall of red shirts. But other than an outstanding Sels save from Brennan Johnson’s top-corner bound effort from the right, the Forest keeper wasn’t unduly stretched.
It wasn’t a poor Spurs performance but they lacked the ingenuity or that one special moment to break the deadlock against one of the league’s best defences.
Postecoglou’s side have won only one of their last five games in the Premier League (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Postecoglou tried to change things from the bench, but Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison didn’t lift Spurs’ one-paced midfield, while Timo Werner was reluctantly sent on for the closing stages and didn’t have much time to contribute.
It highlighted yet again the need for January reinforcements.
No joy for the Forest old boys…
Djed Spence and Johnson were hoping to regale their Forest vintage of 2021-22 when they lined up together against their old club on Spurs’ right flank.
The pair received a warm welcome from the home fans before kick off and were watched on by Spence’s parents and Johnson’s father David, himself a former Forest player.
Spence, finally enjoying regular game time at Spurs after two-and-a-half years on the fringes, looked nervous early on when he played a short pass to Rodrigo Bentancur, but soon got into his stride gallivanting down the right and overlapping Johnson, who was targeted for some rough and ready treatment via some robust challenges (he gave some back, too).
Johnson (below) also came closest to scoring for Spurs via his excellent first-half effort, but otherwise this wasn’t quite the performance Spurs fans have been hoping for from the 23-year-old winger, whose end product has improved this season but who still lacks in his general build-up play in terms of decision making and intricacy.
(Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Spence had been fine, shutting down Forest’s attack on their left, but his afternoon ended miserably when he was shown a very late second yellow card for fouling Jota Silva to prevent a Forest counter.
He was applauded off by the home fans, although they also sang “you used to play for a big club” in his direction. With Spurs now 11 points behind third-placed Forest, Spence had no comeback.
What next for Tottenham?
Sunday, December 29: Wolverhampton Wanderers (away), Premier League, 3pm UK, 10am ET.
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(Top photo: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images))
