Tottenham Hotspur v Leeds United: Talking Points

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: Picture by @CapFootballUK

Tottenham Hotspur's latest battle to survive the dreaded drop to the Championship next season saw stalemate against Leeds United.

Spurs have a two point advantage over fellow strugglers West Ham United who were edged out by Arsenal in a dramatic meeting on on Sunday. Both London sides have two more games to bookend their Premier League campaign with relegation issues potentially going to the final day on 24 May.

Here, Captial Football looks at a few of the issues from the 1-1 draw against Daniel Farke's Leeds side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Defensive frailties

This was a game where a massive opportunity presented itself for Tottenham. In theory, a win over a Leeds side who are already safe from the drop, thanks to a fine run of form over the last few weeks. Indeed, victory for Spurs would essentially have proven to be the key moment in this season's top tier survival, after so much turmoil and managerial change.

Yet at times in the first half, the Lilywhites were susceptible to different kinds of threat. Destiny Udogie, Joao Palhinha and Mathys Tel were all guilty of ragged distribution under pressure or static defending from crosses which the Yorkshire side should have capitalised from.

Spurs boss Roberto De Zerbi has had little time to work on shape and organisation since taking over last month. This survival strategy is all about man management and rekindling self-belief to an uncertain set of players. The current Tottenham way is simply to play as high a line as possible and to attack at pace and somehow minimise those shortcomings. Leeds' goal was under a fair amount of siege as a result, until tel broke the deadlock in the 50th minute.

More ruthlessness required?

Some of Spurs' approach play showed the kind of confidence lacking in the more desolate months of a difficult season. Such verve has of course come a t such a late stage, but they had Leeds under a lot of pressure across the first half. Deliveries into the Peacocks' peanlty area were excellent and tricky to defend against.

However, the split second chances for the likes of Palhinha and Richarlison lacked accuracy. De Zerbi has to address the dearth of a killer touch at times, especially when Tottenham are actually in periods of ascendancy.

A tale of two Tels

The Spurs' creator was at the heart of all the promotings by the hosts - and it was only fitting that the Dutchman was the man to break the deadlock on a stuffy night in north London. Never quite appreciated by De Zerbi's predecesors Igor Tudor and Thomas Frank, last night saw him blossom as Tottenham took control.

Picking up a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area, the Frenchman took the required second to compose himself before delivering a lovely, curling finish into the far corner of the net. In doing so, the roar which greeting the moment in the 51st minute could be heard for miles. This was an explosion of joy, of relief. It may have been just so 'Spursy' to keep their supporters locked in a state of ongoing anxiety - this, though, was undoubtedly a priceless moment in a porous season.

Tel was, though, guilty in the 70th minutes for a foul on Ethan Ampaddu which led to a penalty for Leeds after a lengthy VAR check. Dominc Calvert-Lewin slammed in the leveller from the resulting spot kick to take the sting out of Spurs' earlier vibrancy.

Motivation - and Maddison's return

How, after dominating so much possession, could Spurs respond after Leeds came back into the game? The final 20 minutes or so were as much a test of mentality as anything else. De Zerbi was becoming increasingly animated on the touchline. In the end the Tottenham chief had to settle for a single point.

The more co-ordinated outfit of earlier in the evening dissapated. De Zerbi sent on Lucas Bergval for Rodrigo Bentancur in the hope of supplying some much needed fresh bite in a midfield which was becoming increasingly Leeds' territory.

With six minutes to go James Maddison returned to action after over a year on the sidelnes with an ACL injury, much to the delight of the Tottenham faithful.

In any case, maddison showed creativity and threat in those few moments, showing fans - and De Zerbi - what they have missed. "If you love football, you'll love James Maddison", said Farke in his post-match press conference.

Farke was Maddison's manager at Norwich City earlier in the midfielder's career. It said a lot for Farke and the Leeds manager's sense of sportsmanship and decency that he embraced his one time player on the touchline before entering the action.