Tottenham vs West Ham, Matchday 11.

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After the postponement of last weeks match with Chelsea due to Covid, Tottenham started the new year with a home game to London rivals 8th placed West Ham. Tottenham last faced the Hammers in November where Tottenham suffered just their 2nd defeat of the season in a game that Tottenham dominated but wes unable to put the ball in the back of the net.

Transfer market.

Tottenham have been linked with a move for Kristie Mewis and Swedish forward Stina Blackstenius but unfortunately those deals never happened with Mewis going to Gotham FC and Blackstenius signing with London arrivals Arsenal. The good news for our Lilywhites is that Tottenham has managed to make a signing so with Finnish international midfielder Eveliina Summanen. Summnen is yet to be cleared by immigration as she awaits her Visa clearance but should be available for Tottenham by next weekends match with Manchester United.

Line ups.

Tottenham 4-3-3: Spencer in goal, Neville in at right-back, Bartrip and Zadorksy in the centre of defence with Harrop in at left-back. The Tottenham midfield was made of Green, Clemaron and Percival. The Tottenham front 3 was made of Ayane down the right, Naz down the left and Tang in the number 9 position.

West Ham 5-3-2: Leat in goal, Stringer in at right-back, Fisk, Flaherty and Cissoko in the centre of defence with Longhurst in at left-back. The West Ham midfield was made of Snerle, Evan and Svitkova. The Hammers front 2 was made of Walker and Brynjarsdottir.

First half.

Tottenham started on the front foot and had an early chance in the first minute when Neville crossed into the West Ham box but Naz was unable to get her head to the ball as the cross went out for a goal-kick. West Ham tried to get at Tottenham but the Lilywhites held strong and in the 4th minute Tottenham came close again with good 1-2 play between Ayane and Tang lead to Tang playing through Ayane who had her effort blocked on the line by Svitkova before Flaherty got the ball away to safety. Like in the first game back in November, West Ham was very physical and committed many fouls to prevent Tottenham attacks. West Ham began to push their lines higher up as they looked for their first attack on the Tottenham goal, a good interception by Naz lead to a Tottenham counter with Tang playing through Ayane who used her speed to run the ball from the Tottenham half to the West Ham area before rushing her shot making it a comfortable ball for Leat to gather.

From the 20th minute, the game because quite even with most of the play taking part in the middle of the park. Neither team was able to create any clear chances as both keepers remained untroubled. Tottenham should have done better on the 30th minute after a Cissoko foul on Percival was looped into the West Ham box by Green, Flaherty headed the ball only as far as Neville who took a shot on the volley but the ball sailed wide of Leat’s right-hand post. West Ham was almost punished in the 34th minute when a Snerle back pass was mis-controlled by Leat but Ayane was unable to pounce quick enough before the New Zealand keeper managed to recover and get the ball away from Ayane. West Ham came straight at Tottenham and Evans unleashed a shot in the Tottenham box, but she was tracked well by Zadoskry who got in the block to prevent any threat on Tottenham’s goal.

Tottenham should have had a penalty in the 36th minute when Tang and Cissoko fought for a ball in the West Ham box, Cissoko leaned all over Tang before pushing her down but the referee was uninterested as West Ham was awarded the goal-kick. It took West Ham 40 minutes to have their first effort on goal when Longhurst shot from the right but the ball was gathered easily by Spencer in the Tottenham goal. West Ham had their best chance of the game in the 43rd minute when Svitkova’s West Ham corner was headed by Brynjarsdottir to Fisk who volleyed the ball over the Tottenham bar from 6 yards. Tottenham had their chance to take the lead in added time when Naz found Tang with a pass, Tang played through Ayane who rushed her shot put her effort wide.

Second half.

Tottenham started the second half with Skinner making a bizarre substitution with Williams coming on for Clemaron. The second half saw West Ham come out more attack-minded but much of the play continued to take place in the midfield. Tottenham was awarded a penalty on the 53rd minute when Cissoko brought down Tang in the West Ham box. The French international was lucky to not have been shown a second yellow card after countless fouls and for giving the penalty away. Ayane took the penalty for Tottenham and slotted into Leat’s bottom right-hand corner to give Tottenham a deserved lead.

West Ham came back at Tottenham as they looked for an equaliser but the Tottenham defence held strong. Cissoko again was at the centre of controversy when in the 55th minute she was finally shown a second yellow card after bringing down Naz at the halfway line and then booting the ball away out of frustration.

With a player less, West Ham looked more motivated than when they had 11 on the field as they searched for an equaliser. West Ham had calls for a penalty turned down in the 63rd minute when a Longhurst cross was met by Evans who claims her header hit Neville’s arm but replays show that there was no handball by the Tottenham defender. Tottenham began to slack a bit in the 2nd half but had a good chance to double their lead in the 67th minute when a Naz cross found Williams who cleverly back-heeled the ball to Ayane but Brynjarsdottir got a good block on the effort to deny Ayane her second of the game. Tottenham began to grow back into the game from the 70th minute and West Ham was let off again when a Harrop cross found Williams who played a nice layoff to Percival, Percival returned the pass to Williams who would have found herself one on one with Leat but Tottenham’s top goalscorer was unable to control the ball as it was gathered by the West Ham keeper. West Ham almost gifted Tottenham a goal a minute later when Leat’s kick hit Parker bouncing back into the West Ham box but Tang unexpectedly was unable to get onto the loose ball.

Tottenham kept coming at West Ham and in the 73rd minute some good play by Addison found Percival with a pass before playing a clever 1-2 with Neville who shot from an Angle beating Leat but Parker was there on the line to deny Tottenham their second of the game. Tottenham came close again in the 76th minute when a great run and skill by Percival found Tang who shot from the edge of the box but her effort was deflected out for a corner by Parker. Addison caused West Ham lots of problems down the right and came close with a shot from the edge of the box which was deflected on the 77th minute. The loose ball was charged down by Percival who played Tang through who found herself one on one with Leat but the West Ham stopper stood strong to deny Tottenham. Addison once again came close in the 80th minute when good play by Green down the right found Addison who twisted and turned before unleashing a shot from the edge of the box but Leat was positioned well to deny Addison.

Tottenham kept pushing forward looking to double their lead and put the game to bed, but the Lilwhites was unable to create a clear chance inside the West Ham box. After an additional 3 minutes was given by the 4th official, Tottenham looked to play the last few minutes by holding possession to run the clock down. West Ham came back at Tottenham looking for a final opportunity to snatch something. A West Ham cross from the left was headed away by Harrop but Chi was unable to get to the ball before Fisk who found Brynjarsdottir who chipped the ball into the Tottenham box finding Longhurst who got to the ball before Bartrip to loop her header past Spencer to draw West Ham level deep into injury time to draw West Ham level before the referee called the game to an end.

Player of the match.

Even though it was a scrappy match and both sets of players gave their all, our standout player of the game was Ria Percival. The Kiwi was everywhere and caused the West Ham defence a lot of problems which lead to Cissoko accumulating numerous fouls before her sending off. The former West Ham player is someone that goes unnoticed in most games but once again proved how important she is in the Tottenham midfield.

Post match analysis.

Skinner put out a weaker side than we are used to especially against a tough, well organised West Ham side. The big surprise was that Williams was benched but it was good to see Tang get some playing time. Ideally, we would have liked to see Korpela in goal, with Williams in Place of Ayane and Addison in place of Naz. It will be interesting to see where Summanen will fit in once she has her visa clearance to play. Ayane again for us is a huge weakness, except for speed she doesn’t seem to bring anything else to the team and costs Tottenham too much possession and once again we have seen that Tottenham’s biggest problem is the inability to finish games off.

Tottenham started the game brightly but found it hard to break down a team with 5 defenders who didn’t want to play football and whose game plan was to catch Tottenham on the counter-attack. After Cissoko’s sending off, Tottenham was unable to take advantage of the extra player. Credit to Olli Harder and his West Ham team for keeping organised but once again we have seen Tottenham unable to finish games off convincingly. The Tottenham defence and midfield were solid and made no errors but it’s the front line that remains an issue for Tottenham. Why did Williams not start the game? why is Addison not getting starts? why does Skinner feel she needs to change the lineup regularly? if it’s not broken don’t touch it. Something that we have seen all season is that Williams needs support she needs someone to play alongside her, maybe Tang is that player but with the lack of minutes she has gotten, it’s hard to know. We definitely need a couple of signings, lets hope Tottenham can bring a couple more players in before the end of the winter transfer window.

It’s always disappointing to not take all three points when you dominate a game and it’s not the first time that Tottenham has dominated and dropped points to West Ham. Tottenham need to be more ruthless in front of goal and they MUST bring in reinforcements maybe enquire about Beth England who’s not getting regular minutes at Chelsea and with the Euros 6 months away, I am sure she will be looking for regular playing time to make the England squad. We must now focus on making history this Wednesday when Tottenham take on Liverpool in the Conti Cup Quarter-Finals with a place in the semi-finals up for grabs. We believe in the team and wish our Lilywhites the best of luck for this Wednesday COME ON YOU SPURS!!!

Next match.

Tottenham’s next home match will be at home against Liverpool in the Conti Cup quarter finals. The game will kick-off at 19:30 on Wednesday January 19th. Tickets for the game are included in season ticket passes or can be purchased online and on the day from the Hive box office. Online tickets can be purchased at https://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/tickets/buy-tickets/women/match-tickets/.