ANGE POSTECOGLOU deserves everything she gets for being a fan of Billy Joel.
By quoting Mr Supermarket Music to defend his aversion to boring and dead-ball training, the Tottenham coach betrayed himself twice.
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Firstly, he ruined whatever street credibility he wanted, and secondly, he revealed to every opposing manager that he doesn’t care about trivial things like free kicks and corners.
And so Chelsea opened up two opportunities for their team from free kicks, leaving their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League in their first season hanging by a thread.
Defeat here leaves Tottenham fifth, seven points behind Aston Villa and now with just a game in hand.
And with just four games to go, it is highly unlikely they will in any way recover from their alarming drop in form to reach the Promised Land.
Conceding similar free kicks in each half resulted in three successive defeats, with title-chasing Liverpool and Manchester City still to play for.
But more than just failing to reach the top four in his debut year, Postecoglou is learning at great cost how Tottenham can improve this season each season.
This was also their second London derby defeat in four days, suggesting their players need to be tougher when it comes to facing their neighbours.
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Two defeats to Arsenal in half an hour on Sunday, they were caught off guard again, proving they have learned no lessons from the weekend or recent history as another such promising season threatens to fall apart in the final stretch.
Only 25 minutes had passed when they reached the first dead ball situation.
Chelsea captain Conor Gallagher took a free kick into the box and found defender Trevoh Chalobah advancing and free to head a classy header past goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
VAR tried to rescue Tottenham with delays to check a possible absurd offside and then a foul.
But after the usual delay, Chalobah’s goal stood and Postecoglou found his team against him again.
Big Ange is having trouble listening to her team in the crucial part of the campaign. Does he look familiar to Spurs fans?
It was his son who got things going, with Trevoh Chalobah lifting his shirt to reveal a t-shirt with the slogan ‘Son of Jehovah’ across his chest as he walked away in joy after scoring the first.
Tottenham captain Son Heung-Min was anonymous. Their supply line was cut when Tottenham became overwhelmed. Spurs are losing momentum.
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James Maddison, who signed with such anticipation last summer, is fading from view.
Having been substituted in his last nine games, he finally held out and was released last night.
The £40million midfielder has not completed 90 minutes since Brighton played at home on February 10. His place in England for the Euros is not safe.
It wasn’t as if Chelsea suddenly found a host of stars for a big night at Stamford Bridge. It was the same bunch that pitched and rolled like a North Sea trawler all season.
Boss Pochettino even hinted that there could be some surprises in his selection.
With a list of crippling injuries, added to the absences of Thiago Silva and fellow midfielder Axel Disasi, he made no mistake.
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The bench wasn’t so much a ‘Who’s who?’ Like a ‘Who is he?’ with newcomers Zak Sturge, Josh Acheampong, Tyrique George and Kiano Dyer among the 20 players on matchday.
Last night marked eight years since the notorious Battle of the Bridge, resulting in nine yellow cards, a six-game ban for Spurs’ Mousa Dembele and a punch on the pitch.
Early hopes of a repeat performance came and went, with Cristian Romero and Nicolas Jackson pushing each other in a petty tussle over a set piece in no man’s land just two minutes later.
After that, Spurs became Chelsea’s punching bag. Jackson came agonizingly close to putting them ahead after just five minutes.
Thrust into pursuit by Mykhailo Mudryk, Chelsea’s erratic centre-forward did everything right for once, passing the ball through Vicario’s legs.
Fortunately, Spurs have the high-flying Dutchman Mick van de Ven – who has hit over 23mph this season – in the ranks and he raced back to hit the shot on the line, earning a big hug from his relieved keeper.
At least last weekend they struggled against the Gunners. Here they settled in to be outplayed from start to finish, making an average Chelsea team look like world champions.
A couple of half chances with Pape Sarr having a shot deflected and Brennan Johnson sending one wide in the second half.
Postecoglou went from madly angry in the first half to despondent and defeated in the second, especially after Jackson scored the winning goal 18 minutes from time.
Palmer took a free kick and hit the post. And as free kicks don’t matter at Spurs, no one bothered to catch the Chelsea striker, who took the opportunity to head the ball.
It is the 16th time that the team has conceded goals from a set piece. Postecoglou cited Joel’s song ‘You May Be Right’ to justify his decision to ignore free kicks and corners, but is hitting a duff note.
The victory takes Chelsea up to eighth place, above West Ham. They are now just three points behind sixth-placed Manchester United, with their own dreams of improving Europe.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
