Jamie Redknapp has delivered a scathing verdict after Tottenham were booed off the pitch following another dismal home display against Chelsea.
The hosts were lifeless in attack, mustering just a single shot on target - Mohamed Kudus’ tame effort in the fifth minute of first-half added time - compared to Chelsea’s nine.
Joao Pedro’s 34th-minute strike ultimately proved decisive, the Brazilian pouncing after Moises Caicedo’s relentless pressing caught Spurs flat-footed.
In truth, the scoreline flattered Tottenham. Chelsea carved out chance after chance, with Pedro Neto and Enzo Fernandez both squandering fine opportunities before substitute Jamie Gittens blazed over from close range late on.
At full-time, former Spurs midfielder Redknapp didn’t hold back, labelling it ‘one of the worst performances I have seen from Tottenham’.
‘That was as easy as it gets,’ the 52-year-old said. ‘If it was a boxing match, they’d have stopped it. Tottenham were so poor, they never laid a glove on Chelsea. They made it so easy.’
Tottenham’s anaemic attacking output was reflected in the numbers. Their expected goals (xG) tally of just 0.05 was their lowest on record (since 2012-13) in a Premier League match, a staggering statistic across their 504 games in that period.
Redknapp, who made 49 appearances for Tottenham between 2002-05, continued: ‘At least when I look at Chelsea tonight there is a bit of excitement, a bit of flair. They’re bringing on players with excitement in Estevao who can do something.
‘Tottenham just looked pace-less today. They didn’t really have an idea of how to get up the pitch. And it just looked too easy for (Chelsea).
‘This year, if you actually look at the Premier League there’s one outstanding side in Arsenal. They’re head and shoulders above everyone else.
‘The rest are all really struggling. No one’s really finding that consistency.’
Spurs’ home form continues to haunt them. They have now won just three of their last 19 home Premier League games across the tenures of both Thomas Frank and Ange Postecoglou.
Frank, however, stopped short of criticising the supporters despite the chorus of boos that rang around the ground at full-time.
‘The fans started very well, they did everything they could to back the team throughout the game where we didn’t perform well,' the Tottenham boss said at full-time.
‘We met a Chelsea team that was better than us on the day. That’s it. We need to work hard to keep getting better.
‘Clearly we couldn’t match their energy and intensity today.
‘There’s a lot of things that hurt me today. I think we created very little. That’s part of many things and sometimes we can overanalyse it too much. I think we lacked the freshness today, unfortunately.’
Tottenham are contending with a raft of injuries to key attacking players, including James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, and Dominic Solanke.
Meanwhile, £52million summer signing Xavi Simons has struggled to find form since his arrival, with Frank bringing him on as a substitute only to withdraw him later in the match.
Next up for Spurs is a home clash with Copenhagen in the Champions League on Tuesday, before Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United visit north London next Saturday.