‘DEVASTATING!’ Are Tottenham’s Champions League hopes over after Bournemouth loss?

Let's talk about Spurs now. Up against Bournemouth, both fighting for very different things, I guess one would say, but Spurs still having a lot to prove this season as well, in this post-Antonio Conte era as well. At home, you'd think they'd take care of business, but a five-goal thriller in north London, and Bournemouth, the ones coming away with the three points, Janusz, where did it all go wrong for Spurs? Well, I mean, you know, statistically, if you look at it, I mean, obviously Spurs were the better team, but I'll tell you what, you know, and I was changing my mind on how to approach this, although I said in the back of my mind, even if Spurs get a draw or get a win, which they were close to, right, Richarlison, who incredibly hasn't scored a Premier League goal for Spurs somehow, you know, had that header, right, and, you know, he misses from close, and then they go the other way, and, of course, the Cherries get the winner, but I said to myself, I watched the first 10, 15 minutes, and again, it's that, you know, Spurs are timid, home or away, they still feel a lot more comfortable on the counter, and I'm thinking to myself, listen, this is Spurs, great team that has Harry Kane that scores goal left and right, with the exception of today, perhaps that's what they lost, a human son who showed signs of life, right, now two games, one against Brighton, one here where he scored a goal, he's had some chances as well, even even Perisic has woken up, I thought he had a pretty good game for himself as well, and I say to myself, if you want to be a big team, play like one, and that's what's missing to me with Spurs, all the time, home or away, and I think it was maybe that mentality of Antonio Conte, on one hand, a little bit of a minimalist, because the way he wants to play, and, you know, defensively, he's comfortable on the counter, 3-5-2, doesn't really want to change that, or 3-4-3, he's gone, Stellini's still there, so you have to imagine, as his assistant, they're playing in a similar way, but he showed a tweak today, right, because he did change the formation last 20 minutes to 4-4-2, at least it looked that way, and Don Juma, who by the way, was once a, I thought, a great player, former cherry by the way, but he was wanted by everybody, Liverpool wanted him, you know, to have the Premier League, only I think his second appearance in the Premier League right now, and the first one was just a few minutes, you know, scores a goal, so that was positive, but I come back to it, you know, being timid, not wanting to play football, even though they're a big, big club, and you know, the ironic part about Spurs-Alexis is that they're terrible defensively, they are, they don't have a one good defender, and I'm going to throw in a player that I like, another World Cup winner, right, Cristian Romero, who hasn't played well since then, Dier for me, nothing special, Lenglet, you know, too bad he got injured, because I don't want to see that for any player, but nothing special, Dier I've mentioned, Davinson Sanchez comes in, and it gets substituted, right, because I mean, right away, he almost made a mistake on one of the goals, and made, and got beaten up, I believe for the second one, very, very easily, but in CISO, so I mean, you know, they've conceded, before this game was 44, that's now 47 goals, this is Antonio Conte's team, that prides itself on defensive organization in general, and good defending, so I think that's the story of Spurs, but having said all that, I mean, look at that, I mean, Breitner pushing, look at Villarando, that's a story in itself, but they're still there, and they haven't been playing well in the last three or four weeks. Yeah, well, this is actually Bournemouth's first win ever away at Spurs, and I mean, just looking at the stats, everything you just said, I mean, Spurs want to play football, they're playing the football, 24 shots, eight of them on target, whereas Bournemouth had nine shots and six of them on target, but Bournemouth, again, just taking their chances, especially late in the game, when Spurs were throwing everything they can at them, but Bournemouth held their nerve, Janusz, what impressed you about them today? I just think that they play within themselves, so I mean, a big, strong, good defensive team that have a couple players that have been playing extremely well when it matters, because, you know, I mean, obviously, they've made changes as well in terms of manager and within the team, and if you look at somebody like Solanke, you look at Philip Billing, I mean, so, so strong in that, right, and you look at some of the substitutions and players coming in and making a difference, that's what it is, it's a little bit of a desperation, but I think when I watch Bournemouth, because I really don't know where it's coming from, other than just that discipline and belief, because I think, you know, Bournemouth was one of those teams that's been kind of up and down, but they've never been, you know, I don't remember a time where I'd say for long that they're dropping off, you always thought that, and I think the opponents think that they just don't have enough, and quietly, because there's so many teams involved, right, I mean, think about it, and that's a bonus for Bournemouth, although maybe not to others, but we're talking, you know, we've been talking for how many, you know, teams from 11, 12 down, not that long ago, that are fighting for their survival, so there's a lot of teams, normally you have four or five, maybe, at most involved, so you really know when to focus on teams, where with Bournemouth, it's just another game, because everybody's playing desperate, but I don't see that in Bournemouth, I don't see desperation or a feeling that they're not good enough, and I could say that about a couple of teams, where deep down, I think they may know that they're not good enough. All right, well, we'll wrap that up there for the Spurs chat against Bournemouth, but still want to talk about Spurs, but in terms of the top four, Janusz, because they are just outside the top four, three points behind Newcastle and Manchester United, Man United still have a game to play, they'll be in action tomorrow against Forest, who are also fighting, you know, for their lives, to Janusz, when it comes to the top four, how do you see this mapping out, because what we saw today from Aston Villa, Ollie Watkins on an absolute moment, bossing that game against a Newcastle that has been increasingly impressive as well, they looked pretty much comfortable, more comfortable than Manchester United in that top four, but Villa now making a late run against the, I suppose, people's expectations, where do you see Villa going, because they really are doing something special under Unai Emery, who we respect so much. Yeah, I don't have the table in front of me in terms of games in hand, but you know, today when I was watching Villa against Newcastle, remember those were two teams that were in incredible form, I mean Villa was coming in to this game, five straight wins, Aston Villa with four, they got five, which I think is the first time they've achieved that in 25 years, so two teams like that, and just as I was singing praises of Newcastle, remember, against United, I think you remember that game, how, you know, how impressive they were, it just goes to show that even if you're on an incredible streak, four or five or six games, it doesn't matter, you lose one game, and all of a sudden, you're worried, I mean Manchester United, just a month ago, we weren't worried about that, Newcastle had a soft spell, they started playing well, one five straight, as I've mentioned, one loss, and look at that, it even keeps Spurs in, so with Villa, five games and a win, I mean, they'd have to run the table, I think, for them to get up there, I mean it's possible if everybody keeps losing in front of them, but unlikely, you know, almost, I think Brighton has a better chance in that, but those two teams will be in a fight, because one loss, it seems like more than three points, because it's so tight up there, and that's why I worry, Manchester United now, I mean, as you know, look at the injuries that they have, so I mean, you have to worry about them, and you know, they played against Sevilla last night, dominated the game, could have won it four or five, ended up drawing, losing key players, like Lissandra Martinez, on top of Rashford, and now they're going to be thinking, my goodness, what happens when we go away to Sevilla, and yes, we have four, but what if, because there's certain players that are going to have to step up, so ultimately, to answer your question, I have had big doubts about Spurs, and nothing changes, obviously, today, I still think they're going to be outside looking in, I still believe that Newcastle Manchester United will stay in the top four, if they falter, I honestly see a Brighton or maybe Villa coming in before I see Spurs, because I think this is a devastating loss, I can only imagine how that feels in the 95th minute, when you felt, you know, you draw late, you have one goal disallowed, rightly so, because there was an offside, and then you have Richarlison with a header from five yards out, pretty free, where he misses the target, and you lose in the 95th minute, I think the repercussions of that are massive. Well, actually, here's an interesting stat for you too, only Arsenal and Manchester City, the league leaders, have scored more Premier League points than Aston Villa have, since Unai Emery took over last November, I mean, they have just gone straight up, this is a Manchester City who, by the way, are already 2-0 up on Leicester City, Merlin Holland and John Stones, shock, Man City, this could be an absolute goal fest, as well, as we've seen so far, but as I mentioned, amazing stat there, Janusz, what's the one thing, I suppose, under Emery, or about Unai Emery at Aston Villa, that's kind of made you go, wow? Good managers make a difference, right, and, you know, we've talked about Chelsea, we've talked about the issues that Spurs have, look, he came in, recognised what I think everybody knew, right, and the massive mistake that Steven Gerrard has made, because maybe of his inexperience, or maybe he just didn't know, who knows, but I think we all felt that Ali Watkins was, you know, a central player, right, that he needed to play a striker, remember, under Gerrard, that system was with the front three, I think it was putting Ings and everybody else in there, but Ali Watkins, so I think the change to that 4-4-2 has made a massive difference, obviously, in terms of attack, they've scored, I believe, in every game since Unai Emery has been involved. Defensively, you're seeing the same that we saw under Dean Smith, remember, when he first started in that first year, where Emi Martinez, I think, led the league in clean sheets, I don't know, what it was, 14 or 15 on the season, I think, Mings and Konstant were incredible, Matty Cash was playing on the right-hand side in the back four, and Matt Target, if I remember correctly, was on the left-hand side, they were the best back five, of course, we have to include the goalkeeper in it, because Emi was so good, they were the best in the league, and, you know, and then, all of a sudden, Dean Smith started to make changes, Steven Gerrard made changes as well, I think Dean Smith went to three in the back, God only knows why he did that, since he was so successful with that, and the rest is history, Unai Emery has, obviously, greatly experienced in Europe and Spain, even though it didn't work out for him at Arsenal, that gave him a great experience of maybe looking back or looking towards himself, saying, okay, maybe that's where I made a mistake, this is what Premier League is all about, next time I get a chance, I'm going to make it differently, so I think that's, you know, fair play to Unai Emery, I love those stories, I was very critical, by the way, of Unai Emery, I'm no saint, if you go back, somebody probably has receipts on me from that time at Arsenal, but, you know, I love to see that story, I love to admit that maybe I was wrong, and I should have known, because Unai Emery has proven over the years that he's a very, very good manager. Yes, he has indeed, love me some Unai Emery, man. Alright, well, that's it for us right now, Janusz, I know you have to shoot off and watch this Manchester City match-up against Leicester City, oh goodness me, let's hope it doesn't end in absolute despair for Leicester City. Oh, Dean Smith, I mentioned him, right? Yeah, exactly, it's a tough challenge to go up against Manchester City, and the goals are already pouring in, so we'll let you go to watch that. Guys, thanks so much for tuning in, make sure to join us again tomorrow, we'll be live after another big one, as we said, there's battles going on at all ends of the table, Manchester United trying to stay in that top four, especially with all of those that are looking for that top four spot now that we just discussed, up against Nottingham Forest who are fighting for their lives currently in the relegation zone, but I think that result that lost for Everton probably would have helped them a bit. Alexis, you might have to suit up for United tomorrow. I might have to, I'm probably going to get my shin pads on or something and try to do anything today in a centre-back pairing, so thanks so much Janusz, thanks to everyone for watching, and we'll see you guys again tomorrow after United for it. Thanks so much for watching ESPN on YouTube, and for more sports highlights and analysis, be sure to download the ESPN app, and for premium content and live streaming, subscribe to ESPN+.