| Match report
There is a lot to be said for
Tottenham winning the second consecutive away league game with four
goals scored since 1960, but perhaps there is more to be said about
the manner in which it was achieved. Watford are not great at
the moment, but you still have to beat what's in front of you.
The performance left nothing out on the pitch in the first half and
a 3-0 half-time score-line barely flattered Spurs, who could have
had a hatful by the time the ref blew on the first 45 minutes.
Missing Walker and
Vertonghen through injury, Wimmer and Trippier came in to take their
places, with Pochettino starting out with a 3-1-4-2 formation, with
Sonny joining Harry up top. Watford are going through horrid
time and at New Year, probably the last thing they wanted was to
meet Spurs on a good run. Especially being injury hit and then
losing Zuniga in the warm-up, meaning a late re-shuffle. While
they initially attempted to close Spurs down and had a bit of joy
when we tried to play it out from the back. Their play was panicked
and their passing often went sailing into the crowd or to a Spurs
player, with their players often blocking passes hit straight at
them. It allowed Tottenham to pick up possession and we were working
hard to get the ball and keep it. Moving the ball around the pitch
became easier after Rose took some early clogging (as usual) and we
won a couple of early free-kicks, putting the ball into the penalty
box for a nervous Hornets defence to deal with. Son tested Gomes
from just outside the box, but it was easily dealt with and handled
well, as Capoue did with Eriksen's shot with his arms in an
unnatural position as he slid in to block the effort. A defensive
cock-up allowed Kane the opportunity to curl a shot at goal, but it
went wide of the top corner, then Spurs were denied opportunities
with balls into the box. Alderweireld looked for Son, but Gomes came
to claim it, then another ex-Spur – Kaboul – just got the ball away
from Dele, as Kane's cross looked for him at the back stick. They
did get through when Eriksen picked up Trippier's cleared cross and
slipped it to Danny Rose bursting into the area and from just ahead
of the penalty spot he slashed his shot well over the goal.
Christian Eriksen was moving well to receive the ball and when Alli
slipped a square pass to him, he struck it early and it fizzed just
over the bar, but the Spurs and England midfielder came closer when
Wimmer gave the ball away out on the left side, but won it back,
then the ball got to Dele, who struck a rising shot that cannoned
back off the crossbar. It didn't matter though, as the
resulting throw-in from the clearance Watford switched off and Kane
played the ball to Eriksen and he moved it to Trippier out wide
right and his perceptive pass inside two Watford players allowed
Harry to move onto it and slot the ball between Gomes and his near
post. 1-0 after 27 minutes saw Spurs move ahead with the balance of
play having been in their favour.
It was only another five minutes before the lead was doubled with
the same two involved in the second goal. Alli spread the ball right
to Trippier, who took a touch and whipped in a pacy low cross as the
ball dropped. Kane was alive to the chance and got between Cathcart
and Prodl, who both failed to go for the ball, but the Spurs striker
lunged in to poke a volley past Gomes from the edge of the six yard
box with a real poacher's instinct.
The main thrust of Watford's game was for Amrabat to pull and foul
Spurs players, then whinge and moan to the ref if he got fouled
himself. There was a bizarre incident when he manhandled Rose off
the ball, who stopped, only to see the referee wave play on !! The
home team's closest chance came when Kane, back defending, cleared a
ball close to goal straight against Deeney and the ball kindly went
just wide of the goal for a goal-kick. But normal service was
resumed when a free-kick from Eriksen was met on the volley by Son,
who steered it inches wide with Gomes helpless.
Again, it didn't matter too much as a minute later it was 3-0 when
Dele Alli took control of a weak clearance from Kaboul and stroked a
low shot precisely inside the keeper's left hand post to give
Tottenham a big half-time lead.
As the half went on, Watford lost their composure and were flying in
with tackles, as their frustration at not being good enough was
taken out on the Spurs players. Tottenham, however, were growing in
confidence and were playing the ball out from the back in the first
half in ever tighter situations.
That soon became even bigger when Harry Kane was presented with the
ball by Prodl 25 yards out inside the first minute of the second
half. He nut-megged his former team-mate Kaboul and then pulled the
ball across to Dele on the left. While his first touch with his left
foot was a bit heavy, his second with the same foot was delicate
enough to slide the ball under Gomes from a tight angle to score
Tottenham's fourth. The clinical finishing had punished the slack
defending by Watford, but the approach taken by Spurs made it hard
for a struggling side to make any impact on us.
With four goals to their credit, Tottenham slightly too their foot
off the gas. Not that it gave Watford any opportunities to score,
but the retention of the ball and making Watford work to try and get
it back was enough to manage the game at that stage of proceedings.
They picked off Watford at will and Kane put Son through, but the
Korean's shot wide as Cathcart slid in.
The dangerous partnership of last season between Deeney and Ighalo
is not functioning at all this campaign. One header on by the
captain saw it put Ighalo through, but he checked back and then
curled a shot way wide from 15 yards out. Tottenham were swarming
over Watford and picked up the majority of loose balls with Watford
always late to arrive in the tackle. One on Rose gave Kane the
chance to hit a low free-kick around the wall, which Gomes pushed
wide although it might have been going wide.
A series of substitutions disrupted play and saw Spurs able to rest
some of their first choice XI, while it gave Watford fans the chance
to have their biggest cheer of the day when young debutant Brandon
Mason made a pass to his own team and then won a tackle !! Most of
them had left to nurse their New Year's Day football hangover, when
a late free-kick was scrappily bundled over the line at the second
attempt from one foot out by Younes Kaboul, sitting on the floor.
Son, Eriksen and Dier had shot off target, as they looked to
increase the lead before being pegged back, but it was of no
consequence. Deeney slid a ball across the penalty area eight yards
out, but there was no yellow shirt on hand to get a finishing touch.
The Spurs fans were in good cheer and sang out “Can't Smile Without
You”, as they had to make their own entertainment, with lots of red
and yellow seats emptying from about 75 minutes into the game.
Son was always a good outlet to the Tottenham defence – even if he
didn't have his shooting boots on today, Wanyama did a great job
going about his work efficiently and while Dele didn't have his
greatest game, he still ended up with two goals. The first half was
as good as they have played for a long while and there was a gulf in
class between the two clubs.
All the pre-match talk from Watford had been from Capoue about being
disrespected by Pochettino and how he would love to score against
Tottenham. When it came to it, he put in a performance that showed
why Mauricio shipped him out, as he was anonymous for the majority
of the 78 minutes of the match he played before being substituted.
Even then, he was slightly better than Doucoure, who must have put
in one of the worst performances by a Premier League player since
Ali Dia at Southampton. He did put in a good tackle to stop Son near
the end as it looked like he was on for a shot, but other than that
he was desperate. Amrabat was embarrassingly bad, putting a
challenge in on Wanyama by forgetting about the ball in his control
and barging the Kenyan over before doing a funny walk with the ball
at his feet and then knocking it off to a team-mate.
A more straightforward win
than was expected and one that sets up Wednesday's meeting with
Chelsea at the Lane nicely. With them also in good form ,it
will be tougher than Watford, but Spurs need to rise to the occasion.
Sparky Marky |
