Burnley vs. Tottenham Hotspur, Final Score 0-0: Spurs were boring, drab, awful, and uninspired

There was, allegedly, a football match today. I say allegedly because if there was one, I didn't see it. I'm also mostly sure that Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley were unaware that they would be required to football today. There's all sorts of adjectives that could describe how poor this match was, but let's just say it was the most boring 0-0 I've ever seen Spurs play. More boring, certainly, than any AVB match I remember.

The match was weird before it even began with Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino naming an utterly baffling lineup. Sure, injuries and illness left Pochettino without Hugo Lloris, Federico Fazio, and Jan Vertonghen, but that doesn't explain why Paulnho and Nacer Chadli were included in the XI. Predictably, neither Paulinho or Chadli did much to impress.

This is the point in the match recap where I should provide a summary of the first half, but I honestly can't remember anything of note that happened. Spurs lacked any sort of shape or attacking impetus. Playing both Ryan Mason and Paulinho meant Spurs had a midfield that was ready to chase and harry, but Spurs had so much of the ball that it didn't even matter. When Burnley did get the ball, Paulinho and Mason were both so woefully out of position that it was easy for Burnley to carve Spurs open.

Burnley had perhaps the best chance of the half, as the result of a poor giveaway by Mason. Danny Ings should have done much better with the chance, but instead fired right at Michel Vorm. Spurs had a good chance later in the half with Christian Eriksen leading a breakaway flanked by Harry Kane and Kyle Walker. Unfortunately, Eriksen's pass to Walker was behind the fullback, forcing walker to slow his run and allow Burnley to get back in position. Walker's subsequent pass went to a man in an offside position. Yes, that's right. Our best chance ended not in a shot, but in an offside call.

The second half was equally baffling as Walker, visibly limping following a challenge from Trippier in the first half, returned to the pitch to start the second. He lasted all of two minutes before being subbed off. Pochettino, with only one defender on the bench, was forced to use Ben Davies as a center back and shift Vlad Chiriches to right back.

Other things probably happened in the second half. I distinctly recall a couple of decent saves from Vorm and a horribly botched shot by Paulinho. Other than that the game just simply petered out. I polled the writer's room and we came up with this list of good things that happened: Kane had a few good dribbles, Danny Rose made a good run, Vlad was peak Vlad, and Ben Davies was pretty good at center back.

It really feels like the team has checked out. If that's the case, then we might as well start trying some stuff. Let's play some of the kids, get Lamela more time, try Stambouli in midfield again, etc. Anything is better than two more months of this.