It was a foggy, dreary day in Nottingham where Tottenham Hotspur were set to take on the surprising Nottingham Forest today. There was a mist on the pitch and a mist in the minds of the Spurs players who worked hard but couldn’t find a way past Matz Sels and a stout Forest defense. Anthony Elanga scored the only goal of the match in the first half, slipping past Destiny Udogie on a counter-attack and slotting past Fraser Forster. Spurs huffed and puffed but couldn’t find an equalizer, and fell further down the table with a 1-0 loss.

Tottenham did some mild rotation (which is about all Ange Postecoglou can do these days) for the starting lineup. Rodrigo Bentancur returned from his seven match suspension to start in midfield alongside Pape Sarr. Destiny Udogie, who had been rested after picking up a knock a couple of games ago, rejoined the starting lineup, with Djed Spence giving Pedro Porro a much needed break on the right. James Maddison was also rested with Brennan Johnson returning to the lineup.

A frustrating result. Here are my match reactions.

Match Reactions:

• Yeah, this was one of those games. You know the ones. I’ve said before one of the stories of this match is the fact that Spurs have failed to win ANY of their 50/50 matches this season. This was another one. I’d almost say Spurs were comfortably the better side, and they still came away with a 1-0 loss. How do you explain that?
• This match was reminiscent of Spurs early in the season — a lot of possession, plenty of box entries, but very little shot production to show for it.
• And of course with all that possession it makes total sense that Forest would score the only goal of the match via a classic counterattacking goal following a stupid midfield giveaway.
• Final xG: NFO 1.21 — 1.28 TOT, Spurs had 71% possession and outshot Forest 13-10.
• Spurs really really missed any sort of creativity in the first half, and the subs of Bergvall and Maddison did make a difference. Bergvall I thought especially provided a spark, he played well, snapping into tackles and making progressive passes.
• The mist on the pitch was really obvious on TV, it made me wonder whether it impacted the players on the pitch as much.
• Really disappointing matches from the entire front line today. Son, Solanke, and especially Brennan Johnson all were sub-par, and you’re not going to win many games when that happens.
• Gonna go out on a limb and suggest finishing a match with Archie Gray and Yves Bissouma as your two central defenders is a little less than ideal. Thankfully, Ben Davies could be back for Wolves?
• Spence picking up a cheap second yellow and a suspension for the next match was just the cherry on this stupid crappy sundae.
• Forest are a good side and Nuno is making them proud, but this still feels like a match that Spurs let slip away. A point would’ve been fair. A win was not out of the question here. Grr.