Thomas Tuchel continued his impressive start as Chelsea manager and has now taken seven points from a possible nine with this London Derby victory over Jose Mourinho’s Spurs.
A first half penalty from Chelsea midfielder Jorginho was enough to succumb Spurs to a third successive defeat at home in the Premier League for the first time since 2012.
The un-inspiring defeat for Mourinho also means for the first time in his managerial career he has lost back to back home league games.
Here are five things we learned from last night’s game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium:
- The score line didn’t match the game
Despite the fact that Chelsea were able to pick up the three points thanks to that first half penalty, it could’ve been far worse for Spurs and Mourinho.
The Blues had 18 shots on goal and even though only two were on target, 14 of them came inside the Spurs box, showing just how in control of the game they were.
Arguably the two most important areas of the pitch were down Chelsea’s right and the battle between the two midfields.
In the first half, Reece James was too much to handle for Ben Davies and Callum Hudson-Odoi ran in behind the Welsh defender several times to help, and not once did a man in white track his run.
Moussa Sissoko and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, two players who are normally very good at breaking up attacks, looked like school children compared to the commanding performances from Mateo Kovacic and Chelsea’s match-winner Jorginho.
At the top end of the pitch, Son Heung-Min, arguably Spurs most dangerous attacking player on the pitch, didn’t have a touch in the visitors box until the 87th minute and their first attempt on goal came via a pot shot from Erik Lamela 11 minutes from the end which was easily saved by Edouard Mendy.
2. The defensive mishaps continue for Spurs
Another game, another mistake at the back and this time it was Eric Dier. After being dropped for the Brighton game, Dier was brought back into the starting XI and repaid his managers faith by giving away an unnecessary penalty after just 24 minutes.
Whilst on the floor, Dier swiped at the ankle of Timo Werner and thus allowed Jorginho to convert from 12 yards, yet another defensive mistake, and they are starting to become far too common now.
Against Brighton it was Ben Davies who didn’t track the run of Pascal Gross which led to Leandro Trossard’s goal.
In the defeat to Liverpool there was a catalogue of errors, starting miscommunication between Dier and Hugo Lloris which led to the Reds opener and ending with Joe Rodon’s poor attempted clearance which gave Sadio Mane an easy finish.
Even though Mourinho is making two or three changes at the back for every game, the mistakes are still occurring and something needs to be done about it soon as it’s costing Spurs valuable points.
3. Mason Mount’s mesmerizing midfield display
Undoubtedly in the last few knockings of Frank Lampard’s reign as Chelsea boss, Mason Mount was the star player.
With Thomas Tuchel now at the helm, many were speculative of his chances of playing, but with performances like the one against Spurs, he should be a guaranteed name on the team sheet.
Playing in a somewhat free role, Mount gave the midfield three of Spurs an incredibly difficult night.
He was constantly finding space in the Spurs half and he wasn’t afraid to pick up the ball and run past players.
Spurs’ Danish destroyer Hojbjerg, who would normally guarantee an 8/10 game at least, looked lost against Mount and countless times the Englishman was there to exploit the huge gaps left between the Spurs midfield and defence.
What epitomised his performance most though was a specific moment with Tanguy Ndombele. Despite the skilful Frenchman skinning Mount four times, he simply didn’t give up, constantly snapping at his heels until Ndombele eventually gave the ball away.
4. Two very different emotions in the dugouts
Throughout many crucial moments in the game, the feed would cut to a camera fixed on the reactions of both Mourinho and Tuchel.
While both were animated on the touchline their mannerisms and body language were vast opposites.
Tuchel was constantly urging his players on and applauding when something was done well, whereas Mourinho looked un-interested and bemused at what he was watching.
This was best shown at the full time whistle, as Tuchel congratulated his staff and players on a job well done, Mourinho marched straight over to referee Andre Marriner to voice his displeasure about the penalty decision, which was quite clearly a penalty.
Mourinho even took this negative energy with him to his post-match press conference where he refused to answer a question posed to him by Alison Bender regarding Bale’s absence from the pitch.
5. Son looks lost without Kane
In recent seasons when Harry Kane receives his yearly injury, Son is normally on hand to step up in his absence, but this time round the South Korean has gone missing without him.
Embed from Getty ImagesTottenham’s reliance on Kane dropping deep and playing a perfect pass over the defensive line to Son has become far too significant that now Son is unsure what to do when he can’t run in behind.
Playing on the counter-attack is absolutely fine but it can’t be plan A, B, C and D, especially when you don’t have your most important player for that system.
Carlos Vinicius, Kane’s replacement, tried to link up with Son on multiple occasions but the Brazilian forward and Kane are vastly different strikers and it just didn’t work.
There was a moment when Son made a superb run but Vinicius delayed playing him in, possibly not believing he could successfully make what would’ve been a difficult pass, whereas Kane wouldn’t have even thought about not playing Son in.
Either way this game desperately showed how much Spurs need Kane back and it needs to be soon before they lose serious ground on a possible top four finish.
