Spurs’ 6/10 “bystander” is now fading away like Maddison

Tottenham Hotspur’s winless run at Stamford Bridge stretched to nine matches and Ange Postecoglou watched bitterly on as his side’s Premier League campaign sank further into the dredges.

It has been a frustrating season, a calamitous season, but hope remains. While Spurs are stuck in 14th, ten points behind tenth-place Bournemouth, who have lost four of their past five fixtures and yet are unassailably ahead, hope remains.

Tottenham face German side Eintracht Frankfurt over two legs in the Europa League quarter-finals, the first of which arrives this Thursday, and while the manager will hold on to confidence that his team can get the job done, this was a sour display, lacking the attacking fizz and vigour that ‘Angeball’ once blessed N17 crowds and television screens.

One player’s decline has been emblematic of his squad’s overall torpor. Heung-min Son has been a stalwart for Tottenham over the years, but he appears to be reaching the end of the road.

Heung-min Son’s Spurs struggles

Could anything typify it more than that flash of promise in the closing stage? Brennan Johnson, fresh and off the bench, wooshed a lovely pass across the box, but the skipper could only reach it tamely to force a stretching save from Robert Sanchez.

Were this a younger iteration, he would have covered that extra yard, connected with more emphasis, saw the net bulge.

But Son, 33 this summer, lacks his one-time athleticism and was largely marshalled by Chelsea’s defence, failing to create a single key chance despite losing the ball ten times while also only winning one duel, as per Sofascore.

However, he needed his fellow players – the forwards in particular – to pull their weight too, and, frankly, Spurs failed to muster enough in west London, with the man in the middle anonymous through the majority of proceedings.

Son’s not the only one fading away

Dominic Solanke has endured a frustrating season in the capital, transferring to Tottenham from Bournemouth in a deal worth £65m last summer.

After a bright start, he’s flaked away, with a knee injury picked up in the new year stifling the 27-year-old’s progress and reducing him to several disappointing recent performances.

However, with 11 goals and eight assists from just 25 starts in all competitions, there’s still hope that he can make the requisite adjustments to play a big part over the coming weeks.

That said, he was a “bystander” at Stamford Bridge, as was noted by Alan Smith on co-commentary.

Completing just six passes, failing to even attempt a shot on Sanchez’s goal, Solanke will be most frustrated, especially since he’s beginning to look like Postecoglou’s next version of James Maddison, whose nightmarish Lilywhites career has involved various setbacks after an electric start last season.

Maddison won the Premier League Player of the Month in August 2023 but has since endured a number of injuries and consequent sappings of form, leaving him scrambling for that one-time reputation as one of European football’s standout playmakers.

Both Englishmen have enough about them to make convincing returns to their apex, but if they aren’t on their A-game against Frankfurt this week, fan tensions might just boil over.

Solanke, at least, worked tirelessly, leaving football.london to award him with a 6/10 match rating, but he was toothless in the final third and needs to emit more of a talismanic aura in the coming weeks.

Son huffed and puffed to little avail too, but at least the aging captain found space to strike on goal, sought to create with one wicked low cross.

This drop, the latest drop, in form has not come at a great time for a Spurs side whose season hinges on triumph in the Europa League.

But hope remains. Son, Solanke, Maddison. All fading. Now, the big one is coming up, and they need to return to colour.