LONDON (Reuters) – It was perhaps hardly surprising that a tight north London derby would be settled by a set piece, even less so that it was Arsenal who profited from what is becoming an Achilles heel for Tottenham Hotspur under Ange Postecoglou.
When Bukayo Saka delivered a corner in the 64th minute, Arsenal defender Gabriel was left unopposed to thump a header into the Tottenham net and it proved enough to earn Mikel Arteta’s side a 1-0 victory.
Three of Arsenal’s last four Premier League goals against Tottenham have come following corners. Since the beginning of last season Tottenham have conceded 18 goals from set piece excluding penalties, a tally only exceeded by Nottingham Forest.
So it was no wonder Postecoglou was asked again about the weakness that is undermining his work since taking over.
“I know, for some reason people think I don’t care about set pieces, and it’s a narrative that you can keep going on for ages and ages,” the Australian told reporters on Sunday following a defeat that left his side on four points from four games.
“I understand that, like I said, we work on them all the time, like we do with every other team, you know that (Arsenal) are a threat. For the most part we handled them really well today, but we switched off for one.
“It’s my burden to carry mate, and I’m happy to do that. Like I’ve always said, for me there’s a bigger picture, there’s a play here that’s much more important than the finer details of us getting to where we want to.”
Before the derby, Postecoglou claimed, with some justification, that his side’s haul of four points from three games could just as easily have been nine after good performances against Leicester City, Everton and Newcastle United. Initially against Arsenal, Tottenham were fluent again, but they ran out of ideas and looked vulnerable to the kind of sucker-punch Gabriel eventually delivered.
Worryingly, after some early endeavour, Tottenham’s attack was easily handled by Arsenal’s street-wise team despite the Gunners missing Declan Rice and captain Martin Odegaard.
Son Heung-min faded and new 65 million pounds signing Dominic Solanke cut a frustrated figure in attack while the midfield lacked the guile to open up Arsenal.
“It was very disappointing,” Postecoglou, whose side had 15 goal attempts, said. “It’s been the story of out season and we lack a bit of belief and conviction in the final third.
“It’s not a lack of trying, we are just going through this early trot where we are playing well and dominating games but not getting out reward for it. That’s the nature of football.”
Tottenham won eight of their first 10 Premier League matches last season — former Celtic manager Postecoglou’s first campaign in charge — their best start since 1960-61.
This time, however, they are misfiring and already falling off the pace at the top end of the table.
“When I look at the four games in isolation this year, the football is probably more consistent and compelling than our first four games last year but obviously our results don’t reflect that,” Postecoglou insisted.
Tottenham host Brentford next weekend.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; additional reporting by Sam Tobin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
