Stuck on repeat
Tottenham Hotspur feels like a club stuck on repeat at the moment. Whether it's the decisions of those at the very top or the performances of the team, everything comes with that sense of deja vu.
On the pitch, this was yet another home defeat - the fourth in the past five Premier League matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Just when Spurs looked to be making the place a fortress under Antonio Conte, so now they look like visitors in their own home.
The pattern of matches remains the same. Start brightly for 10 minutes but rarely score, then sit back passively like an away side for the next 35 and concede once or twice before trying to make amends in the second half.
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You can apply that blueprint to most matches this season and it would fit what happened during the game like a glove.
For all the eye-catching fitness work done with the players during the summer, including in the heat and humidity of South Korea, as well as further sessions during the World Cup break, Spurs don't look capable of playing a high tempo pressing game for 45 minutes let alone 90 despite the running stats suggesting otherwise.
That's especially galling because Tottenham are at their best when they push, press and harass. Whether it's a fitness or more likely a confidence matter, it's something Conte hasn't been able to fix.
Even the Italian's actions on the touchline appear to mirror those of the team. In the first half, he's more emotionless, often watching on pensively while in the second half he comes alive, shouting and screaming at individual players to push up and press.
The frustration of the fans is building and home defeats only increase that. For many of the supporters, that's their only exposure to the team in the flesh, their only avenue to really say what they think about what they see.
With two games against Manchester City to come, a difficult trip to a resurgent Fulham and a far from simple journey to Preston in the FA Cup as well as the remainder of the transfer window, this next fortnight is going to stir up a lot of emotions within the Tottenham fanbase one way or the other.
Whatever those emotions, there was no excuse for one supporter taking it upon himself to leap on to an advertising hoarding at the bottom of the south stand before kicking Arsenal's man of the match goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale in the back.
At the final whistle, the Gunners goalkeeper had punched the air towards the stand, stuck his tongue out and kissed his badge at the Spurs fans. It was the final word in a back and forth dialogue for much of the match, but that's something that happens between visiting goalkeepers and fans behind the goal at football grounds up and down the country every single matchday at every level of the game.
It's not any reason or excuse for getting yourself a lifetime ban from the stadium and even worse, potentially a criminal record.
Richarlison had already admonished the goalkeeper for the badge kissing, wagging his finger at him before trying to push him away and then shoving that same finger in the England international's face.
The Brazilian had been on wind-up duty himself on his return to the Tottenham squad, getting in the way of Arsenal's corner kicks and throws while warming up on the touchline for a very long period of time in the second half. His compatriot Gabriel Martinelli offered to shake his hand as he went to take a corner with Richarlison standing awkwardly alongside him. The Spurs man refused.
It was all just a sideshow though as all that mattered was the performance on the pitch and the simple fact that after finishing last season ahead of their north London rivals, Spurs now find themselves 14 points behind Arsenal and a way forward must be found.
Hugo Lloris and an inevitable conclusion
Hugo Lloris has been a wonderful servant to Tottenham Hotspur. The World Cup winner has given them more than a decade of his career, saved them countless times in matches with breath-taking saves and not to mention the untold millions saved by the club in not being required to sign a new first choice goalkeeper across all of those years.
The Frenchman has played 440 times for the north London outfit, keeping a clean sheet on 149 occasions and has become such a part of the fabric at Tottenham that Mauricio Pochettino used to refer to him as a member of his coaching staff.
He has been a level-headed captain, yet more vocal behind the scenes than one would imagine from his stoic demeanour on the pitch.
He overcame a period at the club when Nuno Espirito Santo felt he needed to be replaced and Fabio Paratici thought Pierluigi Gollini was the answer (he wasn't). Lloris fought back with his most consistent season in years and earned himself a new deal at a club that had rarely been particularly bothered about improving the previous one he signed back in 2016.
However, now 36, Lloris is starting to show some of the signs of a player reaching the twilight of his top level career. The mistakes, mostly confined to his feet in the past, are now spreading more often to his hands.
The Premier League stats show the Frenchman on top of an unwanted table this season with three direct errors so far leading to goals. No other goalkeeper has made more than one in the competition during this campaign and no outfield player has made as many as three.
football.london revealed this month that Tottenham plan to bring in a long-term successor for Lloris this coming summer and his displays in 2023 have done nothing to convince anyone that it's unnecessary.
Lloris retired from international football this month after amassing a record 145 caps, having done it all with France, and it feels like his time at Spurs could also be heading towards its conclusion, whether it's this summer or finally being succeeded during the course of next season.
He remains a wonderful shot stopper and proved that against Arsenal with a couple of fine saves but there's an air of worry that now creeps in around his play among the supporters and at times his team-mates.
When a ball is played back to him to kick under pressure, you can hear the anxiety in the crowd and when he makes mistakes like he did in pushing Bukayo Saka's cross into his own net or spilling Douglas Luiz's shot against Aston Villa on New Year's Day, you can see the confidence drain Tottenham's defence in front of him.
Conte, like the managers before, stick up for a man who has earned plenty of respect in the dressing room.
"In this situation it's always difficult. I think that it's not positive to be focused on only one situation or two situations," said the Italian after Sunday's game. "Football I know is this and sometimes you can do positive and save many situations positively but honestly I consider Hugo one of the best keepers in the world and it can happen.
"It can happen that sometimes you can make a mistake. For sure when there is the mistake of the keeper it is more visible. Hugo for us is a one of the players who is really important for the dressing room, for his personality because we are talking about a player who is one of the best keepers in the world."
There's no denying what Lloris has achieved in the game and he will go down as one of the world's and Tottenham's best goalkeepers, but unless there's an Indian summer to come for the Frenchman, then that au revoir might just be coming sooner than anyone wanted.
Some positives
It's difficult to find positives in a North London Derby defeat but there were a couple that can at least be gleaned from it.
One certainly was Pape Matar Sarr. With Yves Bissouma still suffering with an ankle problem during the week, the 20-year-old was thrust into his full Premier League debut in one of the most frantic, keenly-fought derbies football can provide but he managed to keep his head above the water. That was despite Conte sticking with a midfield duo against Arsenal's midfield three.
The Spurs boss has developed a real affection for Sarr after their recent training ground work and he gave the young Senegal international a kiss on the head in the tunnel before sending him out to face the Gunners.
Sarr made three tackles and three interceptions as well as one clearance in a defensive display that produced better numbers than anyone else on the pitch and a higher pass success rate (89.1%) than any other starting Spurs player apart from Clement Lenglet (90.8%).
"Absolutely [I was pleased with him] and he showed a great personality," Conte told SpursPlay. "He showed great personality and played a good game.
"In my opinion, he showed to be an older player. This is very important because we're talking about a player that is only 20-years-old, but he deserved to have this chance. Bissouma in the last game in the FA Cup stopped himself with a problem in his ankle and this week he struggled with this ankle.
"Today the choice was between Pape Sarr and Skippy. Against Crystal Palace I decided to have Skippy and today Pape Sarr but both players, Skippy and Pape Sarr, we can count on them. Then you know we are talking about young players. We have to work, to develop and then they will be ready."
There was a mixed performance from Ryan Sessegnon. Conte will often select him for the big games but the 22-year-old is clearly also a work in progress .
For every good thing he did on Sunday, with some strong runs down the left, a terrific reverse pass to set up Son for a big chance and a great one-two with Harry Kane that was only ended by a brilliant reaction save from Ramsdale, Sessegnon also had some difficult moments with Saka and wasted some good opportunities to cross after making those forward runs.
One positive for Conte on the other side of the pitch was the return of Kulusevski, who got stronger as the game wore on despite his recent absence and was Spurs' main threat for much of the second half.
"We have to work, to continue to work and recover players," Conte told football.london. "Today was good to see again Kulusevski. I was taking a bit of risk to put him in the starting XI, as he had only had three days in training sessions with us. It was good to see Richarlison back in the last 20 minutes. It was good to see that Rodrigo Bentancur is very close to coming back in the team.
"About Lucas Moura, this is the only critical situation because it's very difficult to understand if he is going to come quickly or we have to wait a long time.
"On this side, in this situation with these type of injuries, I think we discovered and exploited the situation to give a chance to young players like Pape Sarr, Gil and Skipp again after a really bad injury. Also for Tanganga it was important to play.
"Now we know that in the squad you can count also on these young players. You know these young players need to develop and work but at the same time they are improving and they deserve to have minutes."
Sometimes out of a mess comes a beacon of light and the emergence of young Sarr for the future might just be something for everyone to cling on to.
The only thing worth repeating
If there's only one thing that is worth repeating at Tottenham Hotspur this season it's their end to the campaign last time around.
That's the hope that Spurs and their fans might cling to. They were in a similar position last season before going on a surge of form and good results under Conte once they shed the win-loss-win-loss pattern.
Having Kulusevski and Bentancur back transforms Tottenham, as it did from February onwards last season, and Richarlison adds an important alternative in attack, particularly with Son Heung-min off the boil so markedly this season. The South Korean needs to feel the competition for his place to push him on as he did when he exploded to life temporarily against Leicester earlier this season.
"Now we are waiting on Rodrigo, because he is another important player," said Conte. "You know that for us it's important to have all the players available because the squad is not so deep, but at the same time to discover these young players makes me happy."
The problem is keeping the players fit and Conte needs a January transfer window as pivotal as last season's was to bolster his options with a couple of players who will improve his squad.
He also need to improve players himself. There's no doubting he improved Tottenham last season but it's difficult to suggest that after around £130million of transfer business in the summer his team has improved since May. If anything they've got worse after a transfer outlay that was more than Arsenal spent having finished below Spurs once again.
Conte needs to improve the football on display. Tottenham have scored more than everyone in the Premier League bar City and Arsenal, yet they all come in fits and bursts around long periods without any penetration on the pitch.
The Italian is losing the support of some of the fans and his somewhat meek press conferences often do not reflect his reaction in the dressing room to his team after a game.
"About the performance, I'm not disappointed. I'm not disappointed because we knew that the game could be really difficult because Arsenal is a really, really strong team and also tonight showed that they deserve to stay top of the league, they deserve to be title contenders," he told football.london on Sunday.
"In my opinion Arsenal and City are the only two teams that can fight for the Premier League this season. At the same time I'm a bit disappointed for the way we lost. I think we started well, with the right intensity and the right focus, but then we conceded a goal and after this goal we created an important chance with Sonny and I think the Arsenal keeper made a fantastic save. Instead of going 1-1, we went 2-1 as we then we conceded another goal.
"After the 2-0 I think that this bad result could kill everybody, instead I've seen a great reaction from my team. In the second half we played well, we played with the right intensity, we created chances to score. I think if we scored after a few minutes in the second half I think the situation could be difficult for them.
"But we created chances to try to score. At the same time we didn't lose our mind, our head. At this point of the game the risk is to lose your head and concede other goals and to finish with a really, really bad defeat. Instead I think we have to be disappointed for the bad result but at the same time I saw a big effort from my players.
"Now we have to move on. We know that on Thursday we have to go to play another difficult game against City, against the other team I consider will fight for the title."
The last thing Spurs fans want to hear is their manager praising Arsenal or not being disappointed with a North London Derby defeat performance. It's all very mid-table.
To be fair to him, Conte did offer an apology to the supporters in his club interview that evening.
"For sure I'm disappointed, I'm disappointed and sorry for our fans because I know the importance of this game, but I think that we are trying to overcome a difficult period [with injuries]," he said.
The next few weeks bring no relief from the unrelenting fixture schedule with tough opponents, but Conte must show once again why he is so trophy-laden and lauded as he did last season.
Above him, Daniel Levy and Fabio Paratici have to show there's some plan involved and back Conte regardless of any fears that he might simply be waiting for a better offer from elsewhere. They cannot afford to allow the situation at Spurs to turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It's not fair on the fans who pack out the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium regardless of what they are being served up and it's not too late to turn things around.
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