Those who thought Roberto de Zerbi had cured Tottenham of all their ills, think again. How could you have been so naïve?
Tottenham may have improved marginally since the arrival of the season’s third manager but the same hideous streak of crippling self-harm continues to run right through this dysfunctional football team.
Here in front of almost disbelieving home crowd, De Zerbi’s team turned a shot at triumph in to yet another exercise in sporting sabotage and as such remain as likely to plunge into the Championship as they are to stay up. The torture of the unknowing goes on.
This was their big opportunity, given to them the day before by Arsenal of all people. Their neighbours’ defeat of West Ham had opened the door and Tottenham, after a nervy start, seemed about to walk through it and create a four-point survival cushion after their French forward Mathys Tel scored a wonderful goal early in the second half.
Almost immediately, they could and should have scored again. That would have sealed the game. All would have been well. But that’s not the way Tottenham do things. To Do is to Err. As such, the Brazilian Richarlison shanked his volley into the crowd.
Then – almost inevitably – disaster. Tel should have headed a dropping ball away from danger in his own penalty area twenty minutes later but instead managed to somehow scissor kick opponent Ethan Ampadu in the head. Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin lashed in the penalty.
Roberto De Zerbi had brought renewed vigour to Tottenham but Spurs continue to self-sabotage in alarming fashion
Mathys Tel had scored a beautiful goal which looked like a match-winner – only to concede a brainless penalty minutes later
Leeds were the better team after that and could have won it at the death as substitute Sean Longstaff saw Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky produce the save of his life to touch an injury time shot on to the underside of the bar.
From a goalkeeper who has endured such a difficult season, that could one day be viewed as the save that kept Tottenham in the Premier League. We will see. One to revisit perhaps.
It came early in thirteen minutes of added time that seem to be allocated from almost nowhere and grew into fifteen once VAR had a late look at a Spurs penalty shout. With the crowd howling for their slice of the VAR pie, that one wasn’t given – Lukas Nmecha had got a slight toe on the ball – and three subsequent corners weren’t enough for Tottenham to find a way through.
So for Tottenham, now, jeopardy remains. This was, on paper at least, their big shot at it, a game against a team with nothing left to play for. Not that you would have noticed given the way Leeds defended those late surges as though their own survival depended on it.
Next Tuesday will be very different. Tottenham will head to Chelsea for the Battle of the Bridge mark two – ten years after the first one. By then, if West Ham were to win at Newcastle this weekend, they could be back in the bottom three. They have only themselves to blame for remaining in such a frightful mess.
Here De Zerbi – for his fifth game in charge – picked the same team that had beaten Aston Villa to give rise to optimism that a corner had been turned. Early on, he didn’t get the same level of performance. Spurs did improve but not for long.
There was some early progress forward as Pedro Porro slipped a ball through for Richarlison but it took a couple of scary moments in their own penalty area to really provoke a response.
Under pressure by his own goal line in the 20th minute, Tel – later to write his name all over the second half – panicked and chipped the ball straight across the face of his own goal.
Tel scuffed Ethan Ampadu to concede a penalty that dragged Leeds back into the match
Antonin Kinsky helped to further fade memories of Atletico Madrid with a wonder-save to keep Spurs in the hunt
James Maddison stepped out for the first time this season and nearly drew a crucial penalty
With James Justin arriving with eyes wide open, the Leeds wing-back would surely have headed into a gaping net had Kevin Danso not managed to get a touch first. It was only slight but to enough to avert danger.
Kinsky then saved really well after Joe Rodon headed a Brenden Aaronson cross towards goal at the far post. Both men had far too much time and it was this that prompted De Zerbi to urge his players to calm down a little.
Over time, some semblance of order did arrive and the best Tottenham player was the striding midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur. His ball through to Tel allowed the Frenchman to ease between two defenders and poke a shot that was deflected over the bar.
Bentancur then delivered a cross from the right that Richarlison shovelled in to the arms of Leeds goalkeeper Karl Darlow. He was then penalised for holding on to the ball for more than the allotted eight seconds and from that corner, Porro drove in a low shot that was hacked from the line by Pascal Struijk.
A nudge over the bar from holding player Joao Paulinha brought De Zerbi to his knees ten minutes before half-time and a Bentancur header from a corner flew wide. Then, five minutes into the second half, a shaft of light appeared via Tel’s right foot.
The trap control he applied to a dropping ball following a corner was an old-school move but the curled finish with his instep that followed from 18 yards was from a schoolboy’s dreams.
Tottenham’s challenge was now mental as much as anything. Maybe it always has been. Soon enough and sure enough, a real test arrived.
Only Tel will know why he did what he did. But it cost Spurs the game. The latter stages were chaotic and Kinsky’s save was truly wonderful. What should worry Spurs now is that their final game is at home, against Everton.
The last time Tottenham won a league game at home? December 6 2025.
