Defeat of Hull Underlines Needs Ahead for Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham

WHITE HART LANE, London — The sun shone warmly in north London, and a pleasant spring breeze hung in the air. The pre-match presence outside the ground of a steel-drum band tunefully promoting the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation was a further attempt to add to/generate the carnival feel of the last home game of the season.

It took Mauricio Pochettino's side 54 minutes to make their own contribution to the majority of the White Hart Lane faithful's final day out of 2014-15. The subsequent 2-0 win over Hull City was a timely, if not thoroughly convincing reminder of what this team might be capable of next season (a notion which may or may not be backed up on the final day away at Everton).

As is usually the case, Spurs chairman Daniel Levy had the future on his mind in his traditional end-of-season programme column (also available below).

"Going forward, we have restructured the footballing side of the Club to ensure our sporting philosophy is adhered to," Levy wrote. "We need to ensure that we have a balance of experienced and home grown players, playing attacking, entertaining football our fans love to watch."

Head coach Pochettino's last programme notes of the campaign echoed the plans to progress, too. "We want to create a strong team that can deliver even more positive results and performances in order to push us further up the table into those league positions that we all crave."

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From the aforementioned moment Nacer Chadli opened the scoring, Tottenham proceeded to remind everyone what they are already capable of.

The Belgian's goal was his 13th since August, and it was another impressively executed example of the blend of skill and strength he brings to Spurs' attack.

Played in behind Hull's defence by the persistent Erik Lamela's well-weighted through ball ("a very good game for him for recovering his confidence," Pochettino remarked in his post-match press conference), Chadli held off a couple of challenges before calmly rounding Tigers goalkeeper Steve Harper.

Six minutes later, Spurs' second was just as good, albeit less direct. Chadli and Ryan Mason's initial link-up looked wasted when Mousa Dembele lost possession. The home side quickly regained the ball, however, and Mason lofted a superb pass behind the Hull back line for the on-running Danny Rose to volley home.

Pressure off, Spurs began playing more freely and might have added one or two more through Harry Kane. Down the other end, they defended with a calmness not so evident prior to the interval—each of the back five making some timely interventions, even one off the line from Federico Fazio—and certainly not in their preceding loss to Stoke City. The return to fitness of the confident Rose certainly helped here.

Finding a way to maintain a more satisfactory and consistent performance level for his team is a priority for Pochettino moving forward. More variation is required in attack, both in terms of personnel and the football they play, while concentration and organisation (for yet another season) remain concerns at the back.

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Although understanding the difficulty of facing Hull right now, "a team playing to survive in the Premier League," the Argentinian's frequent, angry technical-area reactions to first-half mistakes by his team proved that he realises plenty of work still needs to be done.

"I was very disappointed in the first half because I think that we can play better," he said afterwards (much more content with the three points secured). "Our energy wasn't good in the first-half, but in the second-half we changed and we scored two good goals."

The White Hart Lane faithful enjoyed what was one of their team's better half hours of the last couple of months, notably giving a standing ovation to the substituted Kane while also serenading former Spurs players Tom Huddlestone and Michael Dawson.

If the half-empty stands for the Player of the Year awards presentations and the team's lap of honour are anything to be go by, though, they still need convincing Pochettino's young team can deliver on its potential. For now, this win has kept them in sixth place and on track for qualifying for the Europa League.

While Spurs mostly enjoyed a gorgeous spring day, Hull and their travelling support were left to contend with the irony that nature's time for renewal may see them suffer from the dreaded little-death of relegation. Football's perverse but thrilling twist on this time of year's rituals.

Newcastle United and Sunderland dropping points on Saturday means the 18th-placed side may still escape the drop. Though, Tigers boss and former Red Devils captain Steve Bruce noted, "we've got to beat Man U[nited] and I haven't done that in seven years. Maybe Man U owe me something after wrecking me knee and me hip and me ankle."

Affording a wry smile there, Bruce otherwise cut a despondent figure. His team's travails are proving more painful than the knocks and injuries he suffered during his playing career.

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Reflecting on the damage done to his team's hopes by unreliable form, frequent injury problems and his midfielder Jake Livermore (another former Spur) failing a drugs test this week, he was left to rue a day that might have gone differently had they capitalised on the problems they caused Spurs in the first half.

"We've played well enough, we've had five or six really glorious opportunities and at this level you've got to take them because you can't expect to keep coming and getting 10 or 12 chances against Tottenham," Bruce said.

"We've had enough to score a goal and there lies the problem with the frustration we've been having with trying to score a goal, what is the hardest part of the job."

Finding the back of the net was proving problematic for Tottenham, too. But Chadli and Rose ensured they would not go a third home match in a row without scoring, creating some end-of-season cheer and reason to be cautiously optimistic for the future.

Quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise stated.