Opinion: Why Tottenham vs Nottingham Forest is now the most important game of the season
Let me rattle off the remaining fixtures in Tottenham’s and I want you to say the first word that comes to mind: Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Burnley, Sheffield United.
With top four aspirations (unless you’re Ange Postecoglou with top one aspirations right now), those games in succession are enough to make your grandmother grasp her chest.
To make matters worse, our beloved Spurs have not looked the greatest since they thrashed Aston Villa last month, where we gracefully put four past our top four rivals without reply. That was arguably our best game of the year, where we were actually firing on all cylinders.
We followed up that master class by getting embarrassed by a lesser Fulham team missing legit starters who hadn’t beaten Tottenham at home since 2011. After the 3-0 loss, I went outside and just looked at my yard in disbelief.
Surely after a two-week international break we would come out like gangbusters and put on a show. That’s what I told myself when I turned the game on, at least.
But like a disobedient child, we didn’t learn our lesson. Somehow we looked as, if not more, unimpressive in the 2-1 win over Luton than we did at Fulham. Read that line again.
It took an 86th-minute strike from Sonny to turn our anger into relief. After the game, I didn’t celebrate. I didn’t jump for joy. I immediately went to the nearest mirror in my home and thanked the football Gods in Pitch Heaven for taking pity on me.
AGAINST LUTON!!!!
Where Has The Magic Gone???
This leads us to last Tuesday’s critical game against at West Ham, which resulted in a 1-1 tie. West Ham have always been a bogey team and they are fighting for European football themselves, so I was more angry with how we played than the actual result itself.
In our past 4 games, we averaged a measly 1.5 goals per game. The 8 games prior to that? 2.25 per game. The high-flying, high-octane, rock and roll football Big Ange was producing has retreated from our Spurs. It wasn’t rare for us to concede an early lead back then, but I always knew we would get it back. NOW? I’m placing my face in a pillow with no clue of what will happen next.
James Maddison has looked like a shell of himself since he returned from his ankle injury. He hasn’t produced a goal or an assist since that Aston Villa thrashing. What would once have seemed like insanity, it is now not inconceivable to bench Maddison in favour of Gio Lo Celso.
If I said that before the holidays, I would have had my internet privileges restricted. Now? It’s a legitimate question of who is more likely to help us.
Our guy Deki has been equally poor of late, if not worse than Maddison. His passes have been off, he can’t seem to find a useful shot, and it seems as though all of our chances on the right-hand side end up with him cutting back into traffic. I believe Ange got it right to have Kulu start the last game on the bench
AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD WHERE IS PRE-RED CARD BISSOUMA?!
The only members of the team who I believe are currently undroppable are Sonny, Romero, Van de Ven, Vicario, and Sarr (call me biased but he’s been great anytime I’ve seen him).
The Road To Champions League Football Runs Through Nottingham Forest?
Which leads me to my point.
Sunday’s Nottingham Forest game is the most important game of the year. It is not enough that we just win, but we MUST win in a convincing fashion.
I’m not sure whether the lads have lost confidence, if the long season has finally caught up to them, or whether this is a true regression, but whatever the case, everything leads up to this moment. While there are bigger games on the horizon, Spurs need to use Nottingham Forest as a catapult to showcase that sexy brand of football we have grown accustomed to.
Nottingham Forest MUST be a statement game. We cannot afford a half-hearted start like in previous games. We can’t start off conceding first. And we can’t play down to a 17th-placed team who is fighting for dear life to avoid relegation. Especially with Newcastle next and then Arsenal two weeks later.
The games against Luton and Fulham show that we have a tendency to play down to our opponents’ levels. As a team fighting with top-four aspirations, these are games we should be able to rotate players in and still get a positive result. That’s what Man City and Liverpool do all the time. The way we have been playing, we can’t even get the job done with our strongest XI.
I think if Tottenham can get a result of at least 3-1, but in a convincing fashion, it could be a good enough of a boost to get our mojo back in time for the tough run of fixtures. But if we struggle? Oh boy. I believe a loss could have us spiralling.
Some might label this a trap game, but if Big Ange wants to get a message across about the ‘new Tottenham’, then this is the game to make a statement.
Win, lose, or draw, this is the most important game of the year.
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