It makes you miss

Mark Hughes.

Stuffing Stoke under Mark Hughes was one of the joys of recent seasons, I may hate Mark Hughes but have enjoyed Saturday’s game more if he’d been in the opposing dug out.

If Hughes had been in charge then chances are Spurs visiting to the 17th century or Stoke as some call it, wouldn’t have been as much of a struggle to get the three points that came so easily with those four nil thrashings. Thankfully the squad Hughes assembled is still in place under Lambert, still can’t defend and can’t score.

It was an awful game, in what was a weak week for the Premier League, I mean it came second on Match of the Day. It was just a poor game, only brightened up by the trouble Stoke players had with gravity. Vertonghen putting Diouf, I think it was, on his arse twice and their pathetic attempt to win a penalty by Sobhi.

Spurs were on top but wasted chances, mainly a one on one between Son and Butland. Again, was it too easy a chance for Son, he probably would have scored a harder chance.

The first bit of real class on the pitch led to the opener for Spurs. Eriksen winning the ball on the touchline, given away but Dembele intercepted and put a lovely ball through to the charging Dele. He waited at the edge of the box, looked like he might have wasted the breakaway not crossing for Kane in the middle but Eriksen had ghosted into the box and was found by Dele, to finish perfectly.

Eriksen so good even me putting him in my Fantasy Team can’t stop him.

In days gone by that would have been the floodgates open. But here Spurs got sloppy, opened their own floodgates for a Shaqiri through ball to Diouf. It was Diouf, there was no real danger, until Hugo charging out kicked the ball into the Stoke player leaving Hugo in no man’s land while Diouf faced an open goal, which even he isn’t rubbish enough to miss.

When Pepe Reina played for Liverpool the British media loved him. He always had a blunder in him, which was always an “uncharacteristic mistake”, when in reality they were very characteristic. Hugo is having a few of those this season. Well, two in the last two games. But then how many times has he saved the club? Over this season he’s made a handful of errors that have led to a goal, well Spurs have conceded 32 other goals chances are someone has been at fault for them.

Spurs had the lead for five minutes, Stoke were level for six minutes. Then after another foul on a Spurs player – yeah, I know, Stoke, what are the chances? – Eriksen curled over from the left touchline for Kane to make a movement with his head and go down in the area with his hand up claiming the goal as it went in the net.

Did he or didn’t he?

Well, Harry says he got a touch, off his shoulder and that the goal is his in his pursuit of a third straight Golden Boot. The Premier League say it’s Eriksen’s. Eriksen says, if Harry says it’s his, then it’s his.

It’s important to Harry, the three points are more important, it was lucky that Spurs got them. After taking the lead for the second time they got even sloppier than the first time. It was almost like the Spurs of old, Paul Lambert can talk his team up but everything they had was gifted to them by those in Spurs shirts, the blind panic of hanging on with a one goal lead, them were the days.

Everything in the game was summed up as Dier passed the ball back to Diouf who was through into the area, had a number of striped shirts to aim for but in an attempt to do something and not just fall over, he meekly passed the ball straight to Vertonghen.

Awful game, good three points…

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