Tottenham Hotspur suffered a stinging defeat, but they’ll also have to deal with the loss of James Maddison and Mickey van der Penn.
Tottenham lost 1-2 to Wolverhampton in the 11th round of the 2023-24 Premier League (PL) season at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, on Nov. 11 at 9:30 p.m. ET. The result leaves Tottenham (26 points) in second place.
Spurs lost a lot against Chelsea last time out. For starters, they suffered their first defeat in the PL, losing 1-4. A Cristian Romero sending off snowballed into a Cole Palmer goal and injuries to Maddison and van der Penn. Destiny Udoji was also sent off in the second half, leaving them outnumbered. Eric Dier and Guglielmo Vicario held on, but a hat-trick from Nicola Jackson led to a 1-4 defeat.
We started the game at Wolverhampton with a shattered squad. Brennan Johnson scored a goal to take the lead, but the rest of the game was a different story. The main problem was that the ball wasn’t going forward. With van der Penne and Romero at the back and Maddison in the center, Spurs’ distribution of the ball was seamless. In this game, they were all missing and frustrated.
Son was isolated and Wolverhampton kept creating chances. In the end, they conceded back-to-back goals to Pablo Sarabia and Mario Lemina in the second half to lose 1-2. With their second straight loss, Spurs have fallen further behind Manchester City at the top of the table. With Arsenal and Liverpool on the rise, the second-place shootout looks unclear.
Romero and Udozie should be back from suspension, but Maddison and van der Penn are question marks. Without the two players who are actually the most important part of the game, Tottenham could repeat their performance against Wolverhampton. In the pre-match press conference before the Wolverhampton game, manager Enze Postecoglou said, “Van der Vaart will be out for a few months. We have confirmed it is serious. He will be out in the new year. The situation in Madison is much worse than we initially thought. By the time he comes back, it will be the new year.” 보스토토 도메인
We need to find a way to survive without Madison and Van der Pen. The most realistic replacements are Giovanni Rosselso and Ben Davies, respectively. While they are similar in type, their individual abilities and current form are far apart. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Eric Dier could be substituted, but their forward passing ability is much lower.
In other words, it’s not easy to find a replacement within the squad. However, we’re not in a financial position to buy replacements, and the winter transfer window is still quite some time away. They’ll have to make do with what they have, and as we’ve seen, it’s not easy. Tottenham’s current situation shows their reliance on their stars and their thin squad.