Those of us of a certain age are fond of rolling back the years to the glory glory nights, where memories are rich and warm, where the lights were bright but none shone as brilliantly as the stars in all white. Against Bayer Leverkusen, Spurs went back in time to a reality most of us prefer to shift out of the way to gather dust in a dark corner, the cupboard under the stairs of the mind. Instead of rising to the challenge, Spurs sank without trace.

Spurs stunk the place out. The stench lingered longer than the queue for Wembley Park. Back to the bad old days. No purpose or ambition, no passing or basic team play. No idea.

I really thought we had got past this, that even under par we could make a good fist of things. The combination of the inexact science of the NHS appointments system and southeast London’s totally inadequate transport system meant that I missed this one. For once I was almost glad I was spared the gloom of the Wembley queue.  The second half was utterly atrocious.

A first half hour high in effort and low on opportunities was punctuated by absurd methods of giving the ball away when under pressure, Lloris’s fluffed passes and Eriksen’s crossfield pass being the two most notable examples. We could not keep the ball for any length of time but neither side were dominant. The Germans looked more dangerous with runners sliding into the channels, something we conspicuously failed to achieve at the other end. When we did so on a rare break, Eriksen ignored four other options in favour of a shot from distance.

I can’t recall a proper chance in this period. Later, Spurs roused themselves briefly around the hour mark with Walker leaving four men in his wake then shooting wide from an angle, while a cross drifted past Janssen. Otherwise we were too narrow, missing Rose on the left and Sissoko keen to drift inside without linking effectively with Walker to the outside. Son was peripheral and when he had the ball he returned to his old habit of running well then kicking it straight at the defender in front of him.

Everyone’s decision-taking was poor. This meant we had no possession and promising moves quickly ended with a misplaced pass, a tackle because we were hesitant or simply trying to pass or run the ball into a space where none existed. Sissoko and Dele were especially guilty of this. I’m talking basic stuff here, 10 yard passes became worthy of applause by the end such was their rarity.

This rather implies we had some sort of plan. I’m sure we did but it was not evident to anyone in the English record crowd for a club game of over 85,000. Pochettino fumed on the touchline. The defence, our rock this season, was stupefyingly awful. Leverkusen could easily have scored four or five. In the first half Vertonghen blocked and Lloris saved when a score seemed certain. There were several other great opportunities in the second.

How can players fall apart in this way? Kyle Walker: a case study. He’s been outstanding this season, without reservation, going forward and, given his previous positional frailties, remarkable at the back. At least some good came from England’s Euro 16 debacle – Walker had matured. Last night it was as if he’d been exposed to that memory eraser from Men in Black. Failed clearances, caught on the ball near the box, hope rather than judgement conditioning his response to a ball on the byline. He lost it and the Germans somehow contrived not to score. His expression turned from the determined professional we’ve seen all season to the bewildered nervous schoolboy of times past. What was he thinking?

I could go on but it makes me sad. Sad and disappointed, not angry. What a waste of the opportunity. Spurs fans thrilled by the availability of cheap seats and CL football, sent home desperately disenchanted.

The team have let themselves down and left fans frustrated once more. We earned a place in the CL: I wanted Spurs to show Europe how good we could be. That’s all – get out of the group and see what happens, we weren’t going to win it. Probably. Not a lot to ask. Hardly unrealistic expectations, yet unfulfilled.

The Wembley effect: compare and contrast. Playing at Wembley may inspire opponents – it can inspire Tottenham too, but doesn’t. The pitch is bigger than White Hart Lane and again that’s something we could turn to our advantage. Instead, we seem overawed and frankly out of our depth. The CL is one thing, an entire season like this quite another. If we can’t play at Wembley, pointless entering the cups then.

Any focus on changing circumstances conceals the sobering reality of continuing issues that have been bubbling under since the season began. This is still a developing squad without concerted experience playing as a team at Champions League level. Teams who do well in this competition depend on experience. Summer purchases by and large were made with an eye to the future rather than instant gratification. Wanyama has taken a big step up while Janssen may be an international but is only part way through his second season playing in top-flight football. It shows.

Without Kane and Alderweireld, the spine of the team was weakened and we chose not to buy one or two seasoned professionals who could have conveyed their experience to the others. Last night there were no leaders on the pitch. I don’t mean fist pumping gobshites but men able to assert themselves when things are going wrong. This applies as much in respect of their influence on their team-mates as over the opposition.

The squad is just not deep enough. Harry Winks is a fine prospect but with all respect to him, we should not have to bring on a player yet to start in the Premier League to add creativity to a side chasing the game.

Also, this may be dull and obvious but we have several players not at the top of their game. On Saturday we ground to a halt in the last fifteen minutes, devoid of ideas, players shrugging their shoulders at each other, bickering, something I’ve not seen for many, many matches. Eriksen is busy but remains an actor who knows the words but is searching for the plot. Janssen is up for the battle but loses the ball too often, Dembele is hesitantly groping for fitness and form, while Dele’s habit of leaving a touch to the last second is getting him into trouble more often than it creates opportunities. Sissoko has not had a proper pre-season and clearly has yet to grasp what is expected of him. All players need time to settle so I will leave it there, although long-term issues are surfacing about where and how he fits the way we play. We embraced Son and his goals but perhaps our enthusiasm understandably obscured these underlying problems. The City performance, as good as anything I’ve seen in decades, was heralded as a sign of a step-change in progress. Now it looks like the outlier, a hint of what might be but last night showed how much there is still to do.

 

This is starting to bother me. Since beating City at the beginning of the month, Spurs have scored a single goal from open play and only three points from a possible nine in the league. It’s not as if we’ve been making and missing a hatful of chances either, although some shot stats I saw yesterday suggest shooting practice is in order.

Against Leicester we hit the bar twice while at the other end Lloris barely had a save to make, their equaliser coming from a rare Wanyama error. Yet this is no demonstration of superiority. Rather, the game always felt it was in the balance because of their threat on the counter and because we had so much of the ball without getting anywhere. I’m delighted that once more our defence impressed, with Vertonghen covering everything and Dier’s best performance of the season, a strong, composed centre half again. It’s just disconcerting for a Tottenham fan of my vintage to be relying on a solid back line. While we’ve had some great defenders in my time, it’s always been a case of we’ll score one more than you.

What worries me most is that on Saturday, for the first time this season the team did not convince themselves. The familiar patterns were in place but the players couldn’t join the dots. Janssen pushed up on the centre backs, the midfield interchanged, Dele swayed up and back, the full-backs were herculean in their efforts in attack and defence, Wanyama the midfield lynchpin. All of which led to little end product. By the final quarter, movement had slowed and the players started shrugging at each other. They had run out of ideas and no one had the spark or leadership to change it.

If these patterns are familiar to us, then they are well-known in the Premier League. Teams know how to play against us. Fall back, cut out the space, crowd the centre. Sure enough, time and again our on-twos were ineffective, bayonets against concrete bunkers. The Leicester back four did exactly what they had planned for, stayed stock still and beat away almost every effort.

It’s all relative. We remain unbeaten with the best defence in the league and within touching distance of the leaders. So no panic. But I don’t think we do enough to pull these defences out of shape. Son was ineffective – their defence just watched him run about a bit – while Janssen is intent on winning a personal old-school battle with his centre-half rather than trying to slip away from him and into some space. Three times in the first five minutes Janssen bored into Morgan as the ball was played up to him, three times Morgan won it. With the ball we push up early to have three men up on their back four but it is too easy for them to be marked especially if as on Saturday the build-up is slow. Drop back, interchange, push midfielders into the gaps, give opponents something to think about.

City came to attack, therefore they left more space for us when they lost the ball and we could exploit them on the counter. It’s no coincidence that our best move on Saturday came on the break when Leicester had pushed up, Walker’s run and cross came to Dele who thundered a first time shot against the bar. It was a brilliant piece of football, a shining light as the performance descended into gloom.

Later, Janssen finally got some change out of Huth and Morgan. First he touched the ball back and therefore away from the tackle to slide a shot just wide, then another header just behind him hit the bar too. He has a lot to give but his team-mates do not combine with him.

Alderweireld is not merely absent from our defence, we also miss his play from the back, be it keeping the ball on the go, his forays into space left behind as opponents drop or those long balls for Dele. Fine margins, all make a difference.

In a tight game goals were bound to come from penalties and mistakes. We had the pen, Janssen manhandled by Huth. I’ve not seen a replay. On the day it looked a foul but could have been dismissed as an over-reaction as the Dutchman fell. It seemed a case of a referee whose poor officiating put him under pressure. Amidst the tugging and shirt-pulling he asserted himself by giving this one after failing to see others, on both sides I may add. Spurs were playing on it, going down on every challenge.

The mistake was ours too. Early in the second half Wanyama’s uncommitted pass back was intercepted and ended up being bundled in at the far post. He’s been excellent this season – before the restart he hung not just his head but his body in shame and despair.

Rose and Walker were outstanding once more. Walker’s maturity since the Euros is remarkable, beyond anything anyone could have hoped for. If only he was a more reliable crosser of the ball. Vertonghen did well again. For the past few games he’s defended on his own almost, covering everything, blocking everything. On Saturday Dier was imposing in his own right, a welcome return to form. One first-half tackle on Vardy as he was clear was terrific, a potential match-saver.

On the down side. Eriksen’s afternoon was summed up by his three free-kicks – weak and unconvincing. Son and Dele were ineffective, Dembele easing his way back to fitness and from but too deep to threaten. Winks came on late and produced the only throughball of our afternoon, which was encapsulated in two free-kicks in the las quarter. Both were in their half. One was played backwards across our back four, the other was knocked forward with both centre halves firmly rooted on the halfway line.

As a postscript, Spurs deserve a major bollixing over their decision to move the Burnley home fixture from Saturday 17^th to the Sunday. It’s the start of the Christmas period which for many people signals the commencement of finely tuned advanced planning to get things done. It gives us an extra day’s preparation, fine, but there’s no excuse for making the move well after the TV fixture changes have been announced. It’s not been done for TV but that makes it worse – the delay will cost a lot of people a lot of money, and there’s no excuse.

And don’t forget – how could you – A People’s History of Tottenham Hotspur by him and me, a groundbreaking history of Spurs support and supporters. Amazon here, including Kindle and Amazon.com currently less than a tenner. I mean honestly.

For the second league game in succession, Spurs toiled against well-organised and determined opponents, failing to score or, worse, seldom seriously looking as if they would. The defence did their bit though, so another clean sheet, another point and still unbeaten but there’s an infuriating itch in a spot that you can’t quite reach.

Spurs didn’t get going until the second half. Before then, Bournemouth had at least as much of the game as we did and could have scored after only a couple of minutes when a neat corner move led to Lloris sticking out a leg to flip a close range shot onto the bar and behind. We have much to be thankful for when it comes to Hugo’s knees. He gets something in the way and lately he’s had a knack of watching the ball end up in a safe place. It’s percentage keeping – do everything you can to block it, and we’re grateful the odds are working in our favour recently.

Lamela hit the bar just past the quarter of an hour after Dele’s delicious double nutmeg, but otherwise we looked disjointed, unable to escape the Bournemouth press. Like WBA last week, they deserve great credit for their organisation and commitment, tearing into tackles from first to last and never allowing themselves to be bent out of shape. In the second half they barely got forward and when they did, the final ball let them down badly.

That said, Tottenham did nowhere near enough to make their afternoon uncomfortable. We were busy without much purpose, energetic but lacking in guile and strategy. Spurs never fully committed to getting that goal. We certainly didn’t get round the back or find our players in the box.

Son began up front but we seldom gave him a ball where he could use his pace and skill to drive at the back four and he often lacked support in the box, with Dele doing his best work in less dangerous areas. Our passing from the back was merely average.

We looked much better on the break. Bournemouth offered few opportunities but when they did get forward and lost the ball, we relished he rare space to counter. Twice in the first half we escaped the press to produce two delightful moves, end to end but finishing in might-have-beens.

Spurs were irritable, as if they had not slept well or badly needed a double espresso. Straight after he hit the bar, Lamela was booked after a needless foul, then was lucky not to be given a second yellow before half time when he jumped into a tackle. Seem them given, I believe that’s the phrase I’m groping for. To be sent off would have been harsh but that’s not the point. Why is he putting himself in this position? I know Spurs give away a fair number of free kicks, it’s part of the Pochettino pressing game but he could have been gone by half time. I’m starting to get closer to that itch, but he had our best chances, which is why his manager kept him on.

Vertonghen, Dele and Rose were booked too. Danny lost the ball on the halfway line, a reminder on the long banished bad old days when he regularly got the ball tangled up in his feet, infamously against Arsenal one time. We all get irritable when we’re tired and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that the strain of two games a week, flat out and at the top level, is taking its toll.

Spurs were more assertive in the second half and had most of the play. The pressing went into overdrive, the full backs pushed up and Dembele had a few runs from deep to create some space. However, playing deep meant he did not impact on their back four, who stayed rock solid, and anyway he’s easing back from injury. We could have done more to try and move them around, but this is starting to read as if I’m cutting and pasting from last week’s report, so time to move on.

Janssen came on but an error I think to take off Dele and Son, both of whom could have offered him the support he craved. It was Rose who had the best chance from Janssen’s hold-up play, but the shot fell to his right foot so weak.

Wanyama had another good game, time and again he gets his foot in to break up attacks. Just a toe sometimes but his timing is spot on. He’s having a fine season so far.

I enjoyed the intensity of the battle but we could not make the breakthrough. Rest now for most if not all of this lot as Poch picks his team for Saturday first, then Tuesday’s. Sissoko might get ninety minutes, on Saturday he tried his utmost to get about three. Dead lucky the ref missed his elbow in the face, needless when under no pressure. He too was irritable. Double espressos all round.

Spurs had every reason to be optimistic as they went to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. With confidence high after good league form and that fine away win in Moscow, Pochettino was calling this a must-win game. Not really but it was a welcome statement of assertive intent.

We could have won it in the first half but by full-time we were hanging on grimly, grateful for a point but rocked back on our heels by our failure to take precious chances or defend as a team. Food for thought as MP plans for the stresses and strains of this seven game sequence culminating in Arsenal away. Two down, five to go, 3^rd in the table and very much in a tight CL group but a few worries begin to niggle and chafe.

That we won a point was down to superlative individual defensive performances from Hugo Lloris, Jan Vertonghen and Danny Rose. Each of them made a fistful of outstanding tackles, interceptions and in Hugo’s case, saves, any one of which wold have be worthy of note in a match report. 3 tackles on the stretch from Rose plus a double block on the line, then later on Vertonghen heading away under huge pressure followed by two or three tackles deep in his area.

And Hugo. Low to his right three times, one outstanding save coming back across his goal, diving low to save a header with a strong right hand when you knew Hernandez was already half into his goal celebration. The ball rolled along the line but Hugo was still alert. Having blocked the ball, in the same movement as he continued to fall he enveloped his body around it. Safe in his embrace it didn’t cross the line.

Spurs progress this season has been founded on team play. We defend as a team, yet yesterday it seemed as if the midfield treated 4-1-4-1 literally. Wanyama as the only DM was excellent but he’s not supposed to do it all on his own. The full backs were exposed too frequently because of a lack of cover in front of them. This stretched the defence, especially after Leverkusen took hold of midfield after a canny half-time substitution. Too often Eriksen, Son and Lamela took the easy option of hanging around the edge of our box rather than getting their hands dirty with the risky business of defending danger areas.

It made for a grim last half an hour. It looked as if our hard work in taking control of the game in the first half would go to waste. Both teams play a pressing game, so a scratchy opening featured bunches of players descending on any opponent as soon as they had the ball. The Germans were more prepared to knock it long in those circumstances. Sometimes Spurs dazzled in the way they played the ball from back to front but these moments were matched by a couple of rank cock-ups, two clearances from Lloris in particular cranked up the pressure.

After a nondescript opening, Tottenham gradually got on top. We kept the ball better, won more tackles and had the best of the play. Wanyama was instrumental in bossing the middle, breaking up our opponents’ attacks and generally sorting them out. Trippier featured with his attacking play and searing crosses on the right. With Lamela over there and Eriksen drifting that way, we had an extra man often enough to look dangerous. Dele headed a great chance wide, Son had a rare shot blocked then Janssen hit the bar, Lamela’s follow up being tipped over the bar by the keeper.

At half-time, shaggy haired DM Baumgartlinger came on and did Wanyama’s job for Leverkusen. Spurs barely threatened over the next 45 minutes. Players took it in turns to give the ball away when all season we have looked so assured on the ball. Leverkusen made and missed a series of chances.

Never a good idea to read too much into a single game. However, it is concerning that Spurs did not adapt to the changing tide. They seemed fixed on an attacking mindset, a laudable approach but Europe is about having more than one string to your bow. Away from home, you will always have to absorb a period of pressure. The best sides learnt to roll with the punches. Sometimes this means retreating and covering up.

Also, missing chances is becoming a bit of a thing, not just in Europe. Janssen continues to look promising with his eye for goal, ability to hold the ball back to goal and good lateral movement, all of which means his link play with team-mates is accomplished for a newbie. He really needs one to go in.

Son seemed distant from proceedings last night. Maybe the occasion got to him, going back to his old club and not welcomed with open arms by everyone. Lamela did not have a good one while as the game went on Vertonghen was covering all over the box as Dier seemed uneasy. Sissoko made little effort to exert his experience on the game when he came on to do precisely that.

But a point, frankly not deserved. Wembley in a fortnight looms as a big night with much at stake for both sides.