| Match report
A deflating 0-1 defeat at
Southampton ensured it wasn't a Happy New Year for Spurs and with
injuries to Kane and Ndombele, that looks like it might continue.
Southampton had what must be one of their easiest home games for
quite a while and while they can't keep a clean sheet at home,
Tottenham's performance ensured there was no stain on it this time
out, despite two changes to our side from the one that turned out at
Norwich.
The Spurs defence was
exposed inside the first two minutes, when a left wing cross from
Bertrand picked out Cedric in loads of space at the far post and he
headed won, but weakly wide when he really should have got it on
target. Spurs countered with Kane firing in a blocked shot and
then another that was deflected wide, when maybe he should have
played in Sissoko to his right in a lot of space.
It was quite an open game,
with both teams spreading the ball around, but when Dele took
Vertonghen's pass in the box and went down, referee Mke Dean
(without using the review system) decided it wasn't a penalty.
The home team then crafted a chance, with Redmond turning in the box
to make a yard to shoot low at goal and Gazzaniga got behind it, but
couldn't hold it, leaving Toby Alderweireld to put the loose ball
out of play.
When Spurs lost the ball in
midfield, it was quickly played up to Danny Ings in the right hand
channel. He touched the ball over Alderweireld's head and then
waited for the ball to come down to fire into the net to the
keeper's left from ten yards out. It was a goal out of nothing
and made for himself by Ings, but our defence was once more too open
and too weak to stop a goal. With clean sheets a rarity these
days, the defence need to be tightening up. When Armstrong
broke through the middle soon after the goal, it was only Ndombele's
foot that prevented him getting a clean strike on the ball and when
the corner came in and was cleared, it was the Southampton
midfielder who put it wide without any help this time. It was
Tanguy's last involvement, as he limped away to be replaced by
Giovani Lo Celso.
Harry Kane set up Lo Celso
with a chance to shoot and it was deflected wide. The first
corner didn't beat the first man and the second went straight into
McCarthy's hands. When Southampton had the ball in defence or
midfield, their plan was to put a quick ball through to use the pace
of Djnepo and Redmond. It meant that Tottenham were having to
be quick on the turn or win the first ball to prevent the goal
coming under threat again. When Armstrong kept a bal in on the
right wing, his low ball into the near post was met by Redmond and
Toby had to get a boot in the way to take it wide for a corner.
The home side were winning most of the ball in midfield and that put
pressure on our defence. Losing Ndombele, who Southampton
weren't slow to make a contact with him.
Spurs started to get geed up
by the decision that were going against them and Dele burst into the
box and the ball came out via a Southampton boot to Harry Kane, who
struck a low effort at goal that McCarthy got behind, but it came
off him and Dele followed it in. The ball went wide as
McCarthy recovered his position, with VAR looking at it for a
penalty, but it never was. From the corner, the bal came off a
Southampton defender at the near post and it hit Dele just in front
of the keeper but ran through to Jan at the far post. Coming
to him quickly, he stretched for it and knocked it over the bar from
close range.
VAR came into play again,
when Ings swung an elbow into Sessegnon's face, but decided it was
nothing, despite the blood coming from the teenager's mouth.
Tottenham started to move the ball a little quicker and when it was
worked to Lo Celso, he couldn't get a decent swing on it and the
ball squirted wide off his foot. Just before half-time,
Sissoko swung a ball into the box from the right with his left foot
and the defensive header dropped for Lucas Moura, but he could not
put his shot on target, dragging it wide.
It had been a lethargic
performance from Spurs, which is typifying our play lately.
Mourinho has had to turn these sort of performances around with his
work at half-time, with us going behind too often to have to come
from behind to get anything from matches. The players needed
to match Southampton's work-rate and use the ball simply and
sensibly to ensure that they troubled Southampton more and kept the
pressure on them, rather than the other way around.
There was little sign of the
Spurs team being more alert as Redmond met a right wing cross with a
volley, but he didn't keep it down, as a goal then might well have
sealed the result for the Saints. There was even more worry
when a cross from Bertrand struck Alderweireld on the arm in the
box, with VAR looking at the incident again. It was deemed not
to be a penalty, but could easily have gone against Tottenham, but
it also had the added benefit for Southampton as Spurs had looked to
take a quick free-kick, but were delayed by the VAR review.
Lucas won the ball by being
stronger in the tackle in his own half, then breaking forward with
Spurs out-numbering the home defence for a change. He played
it to Dele on his left, but the ball aimed at Kane never had the
weight on it to find the Spurs captain, so the opportunity
evaporated. The pressure Southampton were putting Spurs under
saw the ball constantly given away, with sides working out how to
play against us. While Lo Celso looked keen to get on with the
game, he had few options when on the ball, while other players were
playing short passes to concede possession. Eriksen had looked
particularly weak on the ball today, with others looking less than
willing to make the effort to be first to the ball.
Mid-way through the second
half, Tottenham enjoyed some possession and some pressure on the
home goal, without creating anything from it. The press we
were so noted for was absent, as we looked heavy-legged and the
running wasn't in the legs of the players. Jan got a header
from a free-kick on target, but he was looking away from it when it
hit his head, so wasn't met with any force. Bookings were
swapped as the rain continued to fall and VAR held up play after
Ward-Prowse cynically brought down Lo Celso. From the free-kick,
Kane put the ball into the net from Eriksen's ball in, but he was
ruled offside and then had to limp off with what looked like a
hamstring pull. Was there much lese that could go against us ?
Lamela came on in Kane's
place as VAR looked at the offside again, before it was ruled that
his arm was offside. It is getting a bit of a joke that the
game is being disrupted time and time again for no result.
Most of the time, the players are just as non-plussed as the crowd.
Off the pitch, Mourinho got a yellow card for going over to the home
bench to speak to one of the Southampton coaching staff.
Almost every decision went in Southampton's favour, so it was a poor
performance and we need to find ways of winning when things aren't
going our way. While Dean was quick enough to book Lo Celso
for asking for a booking, he let Redmond get away with kicking the
ball away to waste time after a free-kick had been given against his
side.
It was too little too late,
but Sessegnon and Lo Celso worked well on the left to put the ball
into the box and it came out to Moura, whose shot was blocked, but
he reacted well to have another go, this time hitting Bertrand and
spinning off the defender to leave McCarthy helpless, but it was
wide of the goal. VAR looked at it for a handball, but it was
close to the Southampton man, who also had his arm close to his
body. It was never going to be a handball, so why did it need
looking at ?
Late pressure putting balls
into the box made it look like Spurs had the chance of an equaliser,
but they lacked conviction, making easy to defend. Southampton
were looking to put the ball way upfield when they had it in defence
and Spurs' last chance went when Aurier skied a cross way over the
goal.
Too often we played the
wrong pass, as opponents were swarming around us and we didn't use
the space that should have created to open Saints up. Few
players looked like they wanted to put their foot on the ball, as
there were not players moving off the ball to receive it.
Basic things, like moving off the player to receive a throw-in, it
did look as though nobody wanted the ball.
Sessegnon was signed to be
the pacy winger we needed on the left and whether the instructions
he had been given is preventing him doing so, he looks shackled and
Dele had a shocker after his recent return to top form. Kane
had little service and while we had opportunities, few were clear
cut nor troubled McCarthy unduly. Whether this was a game too
far over the Christmas/New Year period or whether it was just
another game we didn't turn up for, it is worrying that we didn't
even cause Southampton much of a concern when they hadn't kept a
clean sheet at St. Mary's in a year. Eriksen misplaced too
many passes to get Spurs moving forward and the distribution from
the back was also poor.
With performances like this
European football will be out of the question for next season and
that will not help in recruitment, with talk about Sporting Lisbon's
Bruno Fernando interested, but would he come if there was no
Champions League ? And why Leicester or Wolves players would
consider joining us at the moment, let alone Real Madrid or Napoli
players.
With Middlesbrough hitting a
bit of home form the FA Cup tie won't be the straightforward game it
seemed a week or so ago. The team need to put in a
performance with Liverpool visiting the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on
the horizon.
Stan Chun
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