Familiar story: Tottenham once again fell short on the road in a big game
(Picture: Getty Images)Nearly a year into Antonio Conte’s rebuild, Tottenham remain alarmingly brittle in big away games after a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United.
If Conte could insist his side deserved better in the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal earlier this month, then he could have no complaints about the result at Old Trafford, as Spurs were thoroughly outplayed and had Hugo Lloris to thank for keeping the scoreline respectable.
The goalkeeper was powerless to prevent Fred’s deflected goal seconds after the restart or Bruno Fernandes’ excellent clincher, but he made a string of fine saves in the first 25 minutes to ensure United did not run away with it, in what was surely their best performance under Erik ten Hag.
While the hosts pressed aggressively and played lively, inventive attacking football, moments of quality from Conte’s side were few and far between, and restricted to the moments when Harry Kane found himself with space to switch play.In the face of United’s relentless press, Spurs were jittery from back to front, and Eric Dier, Cristian Romero and the midfield three were all hopelessly out-of-sorts.
Characteristically, Spurs also struggled to play on the front foot, squandering possession, the initiative and eventually the game to their rampant hosts.
In the absence of both Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski, Conte reverted to 3-5-2 with Yves Bissouma coming into the midfield, but even with an extra man, Spurs were desperately short of control and possession, as they have been in so many games this season.
More often than not, Spurs are able to restrict their opponents to half-chances while playing this way, making it effective if unattractive, but here United peppered Lloris’ goal with efforts in the first 25 minutes, forcing four sharp saves from the Frenchman.
The performance will not convince Conte that deviating from his preferred 3-4-3 system permanently is the way forward, and he will be desperate for the return of Richarlison and Kulusevski -- particularly the latter, who typically knits everything together for Spurs.
Formations, tactics and personnel aside, though, it is Spurs’ lack of conviction in this type of game which will remain a worry for their head coach.
Conte, the serial winner, has set about trying to imbue the Spurs players with his ferocious win-at-all-costs mentality.
There has been evidence this season that Spurs are growing in this regard, and their best-ever start to a campaign has been characterised by a number of gritty performances, which have not been especially easy on the eye but still effective.
There remains a fragility to Spurs away from home, however, and particularly in this type of game against a big-six rival, when the pressure is really on and the crowd against them.
They have clearly found a way to an effective way to play against Manchester City and have also impressed at Anfield in recent seasons but in common with the defeat at the Emirates, this performance was lacking in self-belief.
There is still a sense that Spurs come into too many games like this without a clear belief that they can win, a problem which long pre-dates Conte.
From the opening ten minutes here, you felt Spurs were in for a long night and, although United were very impressive, the nature of this defeat was in part self-inflicted.
Fred’s goal, for example, was the result of a succession of hesitant touches and mistakes from Spurs, notably from Dier, who lost possession with a loose attempt to chest the ball down.
It summed up Spurs night and underlined the fact that, for all their progress under Conte, they still feel as jittery in this type of game as ever.
