| Match report
A frantic finish put Spurs
under more stress than was entirely necessary, but the fierce Wolves
comeback was repelled, despite the concession of two penalties.
The three goals that Tottenham already had in the bag were a vital
cushion to take the three points home from the Midlands.
Tottenham’s trip to the Black Country didn’t feature Dele Alli, but
otherwise it was the strongest eleven available to Mauricio
Pochettino, having kept Christian Eriksen on the bench after a
run-out in midweek against West Ham.
Within two minutes, a slide
tackle by Davies took Costa into Dembele and he went down
immediately indicating that he was in great pain. Spurs played on
with ten men for a couple of minutes, as Mousa was helped around the
pitch before getting on a stretcher, as he couldn’t put any weight
on his ankle. Heung-Min Son replaced him and the side had to be
immediately reshuffled, as Sissoko had to give up his advanced
midfield position to drop back into Dembele’s place alongside Winks.
The early possession was Tottenham’s, but they failed to get through
the Wolves defence and the home side had the first meaningful effort
in the 11th minute, when a quick throw. Following Davies getting
caught on the ball, put him in space and he struck a 20 yard shot
that flew just over the angle of the goal. Doherty came down the
same side and cut inside to hit a low shot, but it lacked any power
and Lloris got down to it easily, as Wolves got into the game a bit
more.
Both sides were passing the ball around, but didn’t make much of
them, until Kane got into the box onto Winks’ smart pass and he hit
a low shot across the keeper in the 20th minute to force a low save
from Patricio. Tottenham were a bit loose with their passing
within 30 yards of their own goal, but the final pass from the
Wolves players wasn’t crucial. When Spurs did get away, Kane was
pushed over and trying to take a quick free-kick, Moutinho stood in
the way of it and Mike Dean failed to even talk to him, so it
appears another law of the game is fading from use by the officials.
What happened next was against the way it had been going, as Spurs
created an incisive break into the box. Trippier and Lamela
exchanged passes before Erik did the same with Sonny, taking the
ball on his chest and running into the right channel in the penalty
area. He took the ball on with his left foot and then shot with his
right, clipping it through the keeper’s legs to score. Spurs
had worked the ball well and then Wolves allowed their markers to
run into space, which cost them.
Within three minutes, Wolves found themselves further behind. A good
string of passes saw Tottenham work the ball across the pitch and it
came wide to Trippier, who lofted a cross to the far post. Of all
players, it was Lucas Moura who was there to put a precise header
back where the keeper had come from to hit the net for 2-0. Just
half an hour gone and Tottenham were two goals to the good.
In the 33 rd minute, Harry Kane struck a low shot that bounced in
front of the keeper and came off his chest, but he got up to claim
it at the second go. Four minutes after that Wolves thought they has
got back into the game when Jimenez put a shot past Hugo from close
range, but the offside flag was up a long time before he got
the ball. Tottenham were under some pressure as a corner saw a lot
of jostling for position and then white shirts were thrown in the
way to stop shots ending with Boly putting a diving header wide.
Spurs almost hit on the break as Moura’s pass found its way right to
Lamela, but his touch took it too far wide right and a cross went
over everyone and then a bit of over-playing let a good situation go
begging. When Moura just failed to reach Winks’ through pass, Wolves
built from the back and got an effort on goal, but Neves’ drive
sailed over.
The second half started to the strains of Jeff Beck’s “Hi Ho Silver
Lining” with words adapted to meet the home team’s name, with their
fans hoping that this particular dark cloud had one. When a Spurs
attack broke down, it looked like that might happen. Costa was
allowed to run from the hallway line, finding Jimenez in the box on
the right, but his shot was beaten out by Lloris, then Costa got
into the same side of the area and in trying to beat Hugo at his
near post, the keeper stuck out a foot that stopped the ball and it
bounced off Foyth for a corner. The next attack was also from
Wolves, who went close when Cavaleiro’s cross was cleared and hit
back in by Neves. Lloris had to be alert to dive to his right and
get low to push the ball wide for another corner.
Spurs were having trouble getting hold of the ball, as Wolves roared
out for the second half. There was a bit of a face-off when
Trippier went for a high bouncing ball with Jimenez and the Wolves
striker hit the floor to Kieran’s annoyance. The referee wasn’t
interested in the penalty appeals, but the players went head to head
before being told to calm down. There was also a debate about
whether Spurs should have had a free-kick off to the right of the
area but Sissoko tried to keep his feet and then hit a cross off for
a goal-kick. When Kane got away down the right it looked as if there
might be something until he decided to blaze a shot over the top,
while ignoring Son and Lamela in the area.
Sonny was substitutes in the 59th minute, with Eriksen coming on,
so, when Kane scored on 61 minutes, it looked a good change. A long
goal-kick from Lloris was headed on by Kane to Erik Lamela, who
jinked into the box and was allowed to progress as the Wolves
defenders failed to put a challenge in on him. He hooked the ball
back to Kane on the edge of the six-yard box and he struck a right
foot volley that Patricio beat out, but Harry was sharpest to it and
squeezed a left foot shot between the keeper, the post and a
defender on the line. It was clinical by Spurs, which they aren’t
always, but Wolves’ head of pressure was released with the third
goal.
Wolves dropped their intensity a little and Spurs passed the ball
around almost unhindered. Lucas Moura was enjoying time and space
and when the ball went out to Kane on the left, he came inside
to bend a shot towards the far post which Patricio did well to dive
across to and push wide. Spurs were trying to get a bit too clever,
with Trippier trying to nut-meg Bonatini and Foyth brought down
Jimenez and Dean had no doubt about pointing to the spot. Neves made
no doubt by sending Lloris the wrong way to bring the score back to
3-1.
Spurs almost made the score 4-1 straight away, when Lucas knocked a
ball over the top to Kane, who struck and early shot that the keeper
had to beat out, although it was straight at him. Wolves
almost cut Tottenham’s lead further when substitute Gibbs-White
threaded a pass through to Costa with 15 minutes left. He was
through on Hugo, but the keeper spread himself and the pressure on
the winger forced him to put his shot narrowly wide of the Spurs
keeper’s right hand post. The opportunity to get back closer was
handed to them again by Foyth, who nudged over Jonny as he went past
him, but Jimenez slotted the ball home to make it 3-2. It
immediately brought Sanchez on for Moura and Spurs looked as though
Pochettino was determined to dig in for the narrow win.
All the things that Spurs had been doing were now lost and when
Bonatini went down under contact from Sanchez off the ball, the home
crowd wanted another spot-kick. Playing the ball out from the back,
Spurs were now getting caught and the ball kept coming back at them.
All the play was one way now and the midfield weren’t closing down,
allowing Wolves to play the ball into wide positions.
The fourth official showed four minutes to add on and Tottenham
needed to hold onto the ball to take the strong out of the game.
When Traore threw himself into Davies’ challenge, Dean gave a
free-kick that saw the final minute of added time tick on. The
free-kick was cleared away and Lloris had to dive out to punch a
Bennett header towards goal away. It was enough to keep the
score-line the same as the ref blew the whistle.
Despite all Gary Neville’s comments about the club being
“spineless”, they showed some strength after letting the home team
back into the match. As the Spurs fans celebrated yet another away
win, the club snuck into fourth place in the table ahead of teams
who had dropped points earlier in the day. It was another good
team performance and the goals are coming now. Lamela was
probably the man of the match, but there were good contributions all
round. A special word must go to Juan Foyth, who conceded two
penalties on his debut, but showed enough to give glimpses that he
will be a fine defender in the future. And he managed to give
away two pens and not get booked !! Hugo made amends for his
recent mistakes, with some very good saves and Toby marshalled the
back line when it was close to caving in.
Doherty failed to trouble Spurs too much and left his defensive
responsibilities at the other end of the pitch, making it easy for
Moura to score, while Moutinho showed he still possesses his passing
range, but his legs have gone and the number of times he fouled to
tried to (and missed) was almost embarrassing. Many of the Wolves
players did not seem to be at their best in the first half and the
two successive defeats may have knocked their confidence, but they
had a better second half, with Spurs having to defend desperately in
some instances.
For Spurs, the under the
radar ploy of not playing well and winning seems to be holding true
and it will be onto the game with PSV next, which is a must win
game, as is the one against Palace next Saturday night. Looks
like they will just have to win them all !!
The Polyphant |
(p)