When they faced Chelsea, there was a lot at stake as, they were to face a known ally in Pochettino, who has something to prove and worst still, Spurs made a lot of mistakes in that game, caught 2 red cards. I mean, even though Chelsea isn’t at its best, that’s a game they’ve got to win.
Besides, we had Spurs playing high line all through that game and has been catching Sterling and Jackson offside all the time, it was only a matter of time before they figure things out and they did before the goals came pouring.
It wasn’t the same situation for Spurs when they faced Aston Villa today. Can’t say it was a mentality thing for them but, the absence of their play maker in Maddison has got to put the team in deep stress. No one is being that creative no more and Som can only do so much.
Yes, to be honest, this is quite a big problem for Tottenham because without Maddison there is no breakthrough that can be made to help the team win. Maddison played a big role in the attack effort which he produced which was converted into a goal by Son and without his presence maybe it would have been a problem for Tottenham and in fact it was quite right in the match against Aston Villa. Veliz, Kulusevski have not been able to carry out stronger tasks without being supported by Maddison and that is an obstacle for Postecoglou in rotating players in this match.
But a change in tactics had to be made by Postecoglou to end this bad streak and a storm of injuries did make them lose balance in their playing form. Son needs a ball provider who can understand his movements and that can only be done by Maddison so far. I predict that the coming week will be quite a tough week for Tottenham.