Five things we learned from Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth
Tottenham Hotspur fought back from two goals down to earn a 2-2 draw at home to Bournemouth this weekend in the Premier League, thanks to a lucky Pape Sarr goal and a cool Heung-min Son penalty.
Let’s take a look at five things we learned from the game:
Tottenham rest key players for Europa League
Ange Postecoglou made a clear decision to rest some of his key players for the Europa League this weekend. Cristian Romero came back into the XI for 60 minutes, while Micky Van de Ven was not thrown back into the team until the second half. James Maddison also started on the bench despite being Tottenham’s only fit playmaker. Heung-min Son was rotated out in favour of Wilson Odobert, while Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray were handed much-needed rests from the start too.
On the one hand, Spurs fans would surely rather see Postecoglou prioritise the Europa League. On the other hand, you have to win that match on Thursday to make it worth it. Bergvall, Van de Ven, and Son certainly made a huge difference off the bench today. Let’s see how it plays out.
A huge point for Tottenham Hotspur
Let’s be clear, that point at home to Bournemouth takes Spurs from 13th to 13th in the Premier League table. In the grand scheme of domestic things, it makes no difference. However, fighting back from two goals down to earn an unexpected point at least sends Tottenham into Thursday night’s fixture full of belief.
Inversely, going into the second leg against Alkmaar off the back of a 2-0 loss to Bournemouth, three defeats in a row, and three goalless games in a row would have been a disaster. Tottenham will probably look to make Thursday night a chaotic, open, and attacking affair, just like the second half in N17 today.
Cristian Romero horror show on his Spurs return
Players tend to look a little out of sorts on their first start after a long injury. If we don’t count that 14-minute cameo against Chelsea before he picked up yet another problem, today was Romero’s first game since the 4-0 away win over Man City all the way back in November. Rusty perhaps doesn’t do the Argentine’s first 20 minutes justice. Romero gave the ball away in and around his own box three times in quick succession, while also giving away a silly foul or two to hand Bournemouth the ascendancy.
Of course, this is not unexpected but Tottenham Hotspur fans would have perhaps hoped to see Romero hit the ground running a little more with such an important game coming up on Thursday. It seems destined that Romero and Van de Ven will start together against AZ Alkmaar.
Andoni Iraola breathing over Ange Postecoglou’s shoulder
For months and months, the argument has been that Postecoglou can’t be judged on Tottenham’s poor results because of the injury crisis. With the vast majority of the squad now back and building their match sharpness, that excuse will wear thinner and thinner by the week.
If Ange doesn’t start turning the tide over the coming months, Daniel Levy will have a real decision to make in the summer. To make matters worse, Andoni Iraola looks the obvious choice to replace him – a man who completely outmanoeuvred him in his own stadium today despite the shared points.
Tottenham will be shopping in the Bournemouth market
Plenty of teams will be looking at the Bournemouth squad as soon as the summer transfer window opens. Milos Kerkez has been phenomenal all season at left-back. Antoine Semenyo has been an electric dangerman on the wing. Dean Huijsen is quickly becoming one of the brightest young centre-backs in football. Illya Zabarnyi has also been extremely impressive and composed at the back.
I expect Spurs to look at a couple of those Bournemouth players no matter what happens this summer, but even more so if Iraola is in the dugout.
READ MORE – Tottenham player ratings vs Bournemouth – 7/10 midfielder a game-changer off the bench
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