By OkayGoal
Tottenham didn’t just lose at Elland Road because of a refereeing call. They lost because Leeds took away the one escape route their build-up had been leaning on, and nobody else in the squad could give them another.
The Jayden Bogle tackle on Mathys Tel will dominate the post-mortem, and rightly so. We think it should have been a red card, and Spurs are right to take the decision to Pro Ref. With Bogle off, Leeds would have struggled to get up the pitch at all, and De Zerbi’s side might well have gone into the international break with four wins on the bounce.
But be honest about the 90 minutes. Even with 11 against 11, Leeds were the better side, and the way they were better tells Tottenham Hotspur something important about what they need in January.
What really went wrong at Elland Road?
Leeds pressed high and pressed well, and Spurs never found a rhythm in midfield. Mateus Fernandes played in a deeper role alongside Archie Gray and Sandro Tonali, which took something away from his game. He is at his best punching passes into the pockets, not shuffling the ball sideways under pressure, and Leeds were able to get in behind him, which is not easy to do.
When a team can’t play through a press, it needs a way to go over it. That is the real story of the 1-0 defeat to Leeds: Spurs had no reliable out-ball, no one to hit long when the short passes were closed off.
Why was Kudus the only escape route?
During the three-game winning run, Mohammed Kudus was the reference point. When the opposition squeezed Spurs, the ball went long into him, he took it down, and suddenly Tottenham were facing forwards in the opposition half. Against Coventry, with every short option shut off, Antonin Kinsky simply launched it into Kudus, who secured it and took Spurs up the pitch.
At Elland Road that release valve didn’t work. Kudus won none of his three aerial duels and only four of his 13 ground duels, his least secure display in weeks. Leeds pressed in on him, and once he couldn’t hold it, Spurs had nowhere else to go.
We wouldn’t blame him for that. One player having an off day shouldn’t be enough to break a team’s whole build-up. When it is, that is a squad problem, not a Kudus problem.
Marmoush and Solanke couldn’t do it either
Omar Marmoush won three of his seven ground duels and one of his two aerials. He can run the channels, but he isn’t secure with contact on him. Dominic Solanke, off the bench, was a little better but still won only three of his seven duels, which isn’t enough for a striker of his size.
Solanke is meant to be the player who gets Spurs over a press, especially away from home. Right now he isn’t secure receiving with a defender on his back. More games and more rhythm may change that, but at the moment it’s hard to trust him in that role. Savinho and Tel, for all their quality, are not that kind of player either.
Kinsky’s long balls tell the same story
Kinsky made a superb save to deny Sean Longstaff in the second half, so this isn’t about his goalkeeping. It’s about his distribution, which had been a big weapon in the wins before Leeds.
| Match | Accurate passes | Accurate long balls |
|---|---|---|
| Chelsea | 73% | 11 of 22 |
| Leeds | 58% | 29% |
Against ten-man Crystal Palace he completed all 13 of his passes. Hitting half of your long balls accurately as a goalkeeper is very good going, and Kinsky managed it against Chelsea. At Leeds it dropped to 29%. Put poor delivery together with forwards who weren’t winning duels, and Spurs had a problem every time they tried to go direct.
What do Arsenal and Man City have that Spurs don’t?
Look at the squads at the top end of the table. Arsenal and Manchester City each have several forwards they can go long to when the build-up from the goalkeeper isn’t working, either in behind or into feet, in the channels or down the middle.
Tottenham have one, Kudus. That is fine while he is winning his duels. On a day like Saturday, it leaves them with no plan B, and every away trip to a side that presses like Leeds will ask the same question.
Is Christian Kofane the answer for Tottenham?
Which is why the latest January link makes sense. Reports suggest Arsenal are exploring a move for Bayer Leverkusen striker Christian Kofane in the winter window and are seen as serious contenders, while Tottenham remain interested and keep monitoring his progress. It is only a link for now, but it suggests Spurs know exactly what is missing.
Kofane is the profile. Against Arsenal he gave William Saliba and Gabriel a genuinely hard time, holding them off in the channels, winning throws and fouls, and letting his team-mates get up the pitch around him. If defenders can’t win the ball cleanly from him, they either foul him or concede a throw. That is what Spurs were missing at Elland Road.
He is still a project. He isn’t yet a reliable finisher in the box, and nobody should sign him expecting a goal machine. But that is not the job Tottenham would be signing him to do. We looked at his name earlier in the year, when his agent named Everton among the clubs interested, and the case for him at Spurs is stronger than it ever was there.
A target man and a finisher
Everyone talks about goals and creativity when recruitment comes up. But how do you create anything if you can’t get the ball into the opposition half in the first place?
The smart January business would be a pair: a strong, physical striker to hit over the press, and a sharper finisher to play alongside or off him. That fixes two problems at once, the build-up and the finishing efficiency.
Verdict: Leeds exposed a gap Tottenham can fix
Nobody at N17 should panic about one defeat at Elland Road. This is a young side still learning under De Zerbi, and three straight wins before it weren’t a fluke.
But Saturday showed a profile gap in the squad that recruitment, not coaching, has to solve. If Kudus is the only player Spurs can go long to, every good pressing side will try to do what Leeds did. A Kofane-type striker in January would give Tottenham a second escape route, and that could be the difference between a good season and a really good one.