Tottenham Hotspur didn’t draw with Middlesbrough because Harry Kane is injured.
Jose Mourinho spoke after the game about his lack of options up front, about Lucas Moura and Son Heung-Min not being conventional strikers, about the weight of the ball, per The Sun. The last one isn’t a typo. He really said that.
And one has to feel that these were all lazy excuses from a manager who saw his team play a completely clueless game of football.
Middlesbrough are a Championship club. They’ve been in fine form recently, admittedly, winning four league games on the bounce, but they lie 16th in the second-tier. This was not a game that was meant to be all that challenging for Spurs.
A low block was inevitable, with former Spurs defender Jonathan Woodgate setting up his team to sit deep and then take their chances on the counter.
It worked, to an extent, with a long ball over the top catching Mourinho’s defence flat-footed and sending Ashley Fletcher through on goal. He slotted coolly under Paulo Gazzaniga.
That is when the siege should have started. Spurs did dominate possession – hoarding over 70% of the ball – but they didn’t really create any particularly noteworthy chances until Lucas headed home Serge Aurier’s peach of a cross.
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In total, Spurs had four shots on target; the same amount as Boro.
Quite simply, they couldn’t pick the lock. They did have another chance late on, as Erik Lamela slipped a lovely ball into the path of Aurier but the right-back’s wild finish sent the ball high above the crossbar and threatened the marine life in the River Tees.
Nevertheless, Spurs were toothless because of an inability to find the killer pass and due to a lack of organisation tactically.
Christian Eriksen started over Giovani Lo Celso, Lamela was only introduced as a substitute, the wingers had next to no service and were consistently forced inside.
Essentially, Mourinho played into Woodgate’s hands, allowing Boro to mop up any attacks and pump the ball forward.
Maybe this is the fault of the likes of Eriksen and Dele Alli; both were relatively poor and did not create any chances for themselves.
But there was no real sea change from the boss, no great tactical tweak to win Spurs the game.
Bringing on the two Argentines worked for a time but, largely, it was Tottenham playing in front of their Championship opposition. They never truly looked likely to penetrate and rack up the goals.
That would have been true whether or not Kane was on the pitch. Blaming his absence is a non-starter of an argument.
Meanwhile, Spurs boss Mourinho is holding his side back.
