Do two left footers create a problem?

Everton 0 Tottenham Hotspur 0

It was the same old story, plenty of ball, look good, take plenty of hit and hope shots, create virtually nothing and give away virtually nothing.

You can't knock the defensive record, 1 goal conceded away from home in all competitions, the defence play their part in that, our heroic goalkeeper plays his part but the midfield play a tremendous part as the shield as well. The lowest number of shots conceded in the league by any team this season, a stat not to be sniffed at but it comes at a cost. We simply don't create anything.

Now some of you will point to all the shots we have but they as I say before are hit and hope things, clear cut chances and tucking them away are the bread and butter of Premier League titles. If you consider a clear cut chance to be an opportunity you expect and not hope to score from then we have created 3 in 4 games.

Defoe had one against West Ham, he missed we lost, Soldado tucked away the clear cut chance against Aston Villa, against Hull he had a tough chance with the defender on him and you could argue today the Vertonghen penalty was a clear cut chance, so 4 at best.

We sit fourth so all is not lost, if we took a poll we'd probably all be quite happy with where we are. I mentioned in an earlier article that we have to have more points than our opponents because of goal difference and that it may become a factor at the end of the season. We could be second but we have half the goal difference of Chelsea and a quarter of the team below us, Manchester City.

There will always be fans who put show before substance, who look at a player and say he had a good game, he was lively, but at the end of the day the bottom line is what did they create. A damning statistic is the zero assists from wide men in 10 games. This quite simply has to be addressed, it will cost us in the long run if we don't.

With the tactics as they are we have paid £26 million for a penalty taker. The logic escapes me. We could have played the ball into the channels behind the defender today, Soldado was calling for it but we didn't, at least not straight away as we should have done. We delayed the pass to long.

Do we think we are Barcelona and have signed Leonel Messi to weave through a forest of legs centrally? Lukaku highlighted the difference today, he to had no service but he could well have scored inside the 6 yard box with a ball put into the near post from the wide area.

The Sky 'expert' Peter Beagrie was saying we couldn't cross the ball because there was only Soldado in the box, well Lukaku was the only man in the box and he nearly scored. A striker wants those balls, Giroud scored against us with one. Had Lukaku turned it in do you think Beagrie would have been saying the wide man shouldn't have been playing the ball? Of course not. You play the ball there for your striker to attack that spot so why are we not playing it?

Are we trying to score the perfect goal every time, do we have Arsenal syndrome? From 10 Premier League games you would expect something for Soldado from wide.

Holtby was busy today, he certainly gives the team energy but I see a small problem with him and Townsend together. When Townsend gets the ball he usually cuts inside onto his left foot and starts running parallel with the penalty box looking for a shot.

Holtby is also left footed so when the ball comes to him, to get a shot he has to continue the on the same path when we need, at that specific point, someone to be able to go the other way. That gives the defenders more to think about, creates a bit of indecision. At the moment it's simple just keep pushing the left or let them play it square again. It's a small point but it's not helping us in those central areas where we are trying to pick a lock.

Yes he can go the opposite way to Sigurdsson but lets be honest Sigurdsson usually only goes as far as the inside left channel, Townsend goes central. Sigurdsson looks to make a run into the box like Norwich and Chelsea, Townsend doesn't so a right footer doesn't have the same problem from that side.

Do we need to see Townsend play the ball inside and attack the channel whilst Soldado pulls out to create a hole and lay him in like he has done twice for Sigurdsson? Do we have enough diagonal running in and around the box, it just all seems very flat, all very predictable, all very easy to defend against. Should Holtby be making runs into the box to take defenders away for others? Lots to consider when watching a re-run of our attacking game, as yet the solution evades us.

Surprisingly some Spurs fans have been muttering about Sandro questioning the need for him, today I thought he had a fabulous game while he was out there. The wall he was giving the centre-backs was great, he kept Lukaku out of the game by cutting off the supply lines to him which meant Chiriches didn't have to deal with him to much.

Free kicks are an issue without Eriksen on the field. Yaya Toure or Kyle Walker taking a free-kick vote now. Yes I thought so, no votes for Walker. Why is he taking them when all he can do is biff it. A free kick needs dip and curl to go over the wall not round it straight at the centre of the goal where the keeper just stands still and says thank you vet much. Is that seriously what we have figured out on the training field as the best option?

A point, a good point? It feels more like 2 points dropped though, an opportunity missed. Another game to say ah yes but we are still trying to gel.

Next weeks fixtures on Saturday see;
Aston Villa play Cardiff City
Chelsea play WBA
Crystal Palace play Everton
Liverpool play Fulham
Southampton play Hull City
Norwich City play West Ham United

and on Sunday;
Spurs play Newcastle United
Sunderland play Manchester City
Manchester United play Arsenal
Swansea City play Stoke City

You would expect Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Southampton and Man City to win with a coin toss between United and Arsenal.

We'll be starting next weeks game in 6th after the Saturday set of fixtures with the pressure on.



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