Tottenham Hotspurs took on West Ham United at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for a Matchday 15 game in this 2023/2024 English Premier League Season yesterday, with hopes that they can finally put an end to their four-game winless streak in recent times, but the visiting Hammers did not make life easy for Ange Postecoglou’s home team, and left the game with all three points in their bag, following a 2-1 come-from-behind victory before Spurs’ home fans. The comeback defeat meant Spurs have now lost four of their last five league encounters after an invincible start in 2023/2024.
West Ham United Came Back From Romero’s Opener to Win the Game 2-1
It was the home team who got onto the scoresheet first, when 2022 FIFA World Cup-winning centre-back Cristian Romero scored his second goal in 11 games in all competitions. The 25-year-old rose to the highest to meet a corner set piece delivery by fellow defender Pedro Porro, and beat past former Arsenal goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański to put the ball into the back of the net via the top left corner. Spurs would go on to enjoy their 1-0 lead over West Ham United for a good 40 minutes, until the visitors made things all square again moments after the restart.
Just seven minutes into the second 45 minutes, a West Ham United attacking play saw Mohammed Kudus’s shot ricochets off two Tottenham players before the ball fell cleanly for 26-year-old forward Jarrod Bowen to equalise. The strike not only marks his tenth goal in 18 appearances for West Ham United this season, but also a half century milestone of goals for the former Hereford United and Hull City attacker in the Hammers’ jersey, doing it so in a total of 176 games in all competitions.
Bowen’s equaliser shifted the momentum to the visiting West Ham United, and with 16 minutes left on the clock in the normal playing time of 90 minutes, the away side found their winner, courtesy of James Ward-Prowse’s effort. 21-year-old Destiny Udogie played a poor back pass, allowing Bowen to have an one-on-one opportunity against Guglielmo Vicario. The home team’s goalkeeper then parried the ball away, only to have it fallen before Ward-Prowse to lash a shot at the Spurs goal. His first attempt found the right post, but it rebounded at his direction to tap it into the empty net for the winning goal of this Tottenham Hotspur-West Ham United clash in the Premier League.
West Ham United Put More Misery to the-Now Winless Spurs
Many have predicted Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs‘ 10-game unbeaten run since the start of the new Premier League Season to only be a honeymoon period, and that Tottenham will soon stumble across all the hurdles in the English top-flight football.
These forecasts were not inaccurate at all, since after becoming the only team who remained undefeated in the Premier League game, Spurs went on to drop points in all of their previous five matches, including four losses (Against Chelsea, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aston Villa and West Ham United) and one draw (Versus Manchester City). These results made the North London Club slip to fifth in the league table, with only goal differences separating themselves from the sixth-placed Manchester United.
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Postecoglou: “We Were Really Poor in Both Boxes.”
Spurs boss Postecoglou was not shy from criticising his team’s display in the West Ham United game. The 58-year-old said: “It’s another game where we’ve dominated a game of football and we’ve not turned that into something more tangible and we keep the opposition in the game. We were really poor in both boxes, and their two goals were terrible goals to concede. Even in the second half, we had some unbelievable chances. We’ve got a long way to go as a team and days like today were further evidence of that. Us being good means us being 3-0 up. It’s not about playing good football, it’s about winning games of football.”
He also added: “I’ve said that from the start, I’ve set up teams to win games. 1-0 up at half-time was not a good performance from us. A good performance would be to be 3-0 or 4-0 up. When you don’t, then you give up goals when you shouldn’t, you don’t get what you deserve. It’s about having the conviction in front of goal to finish things off. It’s as simple as that. If we weren’t creating chances, out on our feet, then those kind of things [fatigue] can factor into it. But all our chances in the first half had nothing to do with fatigue. It’s a lack of real conviction.”
After the game against West Ham United, where they lost 2-1, Spurs will remain at home for the next Premier League matchup against Newcastle United on Sunday, and they will be hoping to win for the first time since October 2023.
“We’ve still got a long way to go.”
Ange Postecoglou reflects on Tottenham’s home defeat to West Ham. pic.twitter.com/KaDKmQQoVz
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) December 7, 2023
