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OPPONENTS | Southampton |
COMPETITION | FA Cup Fourth Round replay |
DATE | Wednesday 5th February 2020 |
PREVIEW |
The third match against the South Coast Big Club comes around so
soon, with the visitors coming off the back of a chastening 0-4 at
Anfield, while Tottenham have the warm glow of a 2-0 home win over
Manchester City to send them into this game. With only players registered in time to play in the first meeting available for the replay, Kyle Walker-Peters can't play for the Saints and Steven Bergwijn is ineligible for Tottenham, so it will be a different game from their last ones in the Premier League. With Dele potentially missing for Spurs after the kick he got from Sterling on Sunday, our problem might be finding goals again. Sonny and Lucas work hard up front, so it might be down to Giovani Lo Celso to open up the Southampton defence, using his guile and intuitive passing and he might be joined by Gedson and Ndombele, with Mourinho likely to make a few changes to the team's personnel in the line-up. With fewer options, Hassenhuttl might put out the bones of the team from the first match. Letting Cedric Soares and Maya Yoshida leave on loan gives him fewer choices in defence, but Vestergaard is now fit again to add height to the back line. He may be tempted to start with Boufal in this game, after he came off the bench to score the equaliser at St. Mary's, so pairing him up top with Ings could cause issues for the Tottenham defenders, otherwise a more muscular approach might be taken with Che Adams alongside Ings to put some muscle into their attack. Shane Long can come in to irritate opponents with his niggly fouls. The one thing that SCBC do possess is pace, with Nathan Redmond, Michael Obafemi and Moussa Djenepo. With Sanchez and Tanganga, the Tottenham back four are quicker than they used to be, but must be alert to any breakaways by the Saints. But they are also vulnerable at the back, with Bednarek having a mare against Liverpool and Stephens prone to being positionally poor. Ward-Prowse is a Mark Noble type player, whose ability is sometimes over-shadowed by an instance to try to strong-arm players, with his main strength being at set-pieces. Bertrand is a good over-lapping left back, but the engine in the side at the moment is Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who was linked with a move to Spurs in the transfer window. Aggressive in the tackle and comfortable with the ball at his feet, either to run with it or to pass, the former Bayern Munich midfielder is the one who can dictate the team's tempo.Tottenham have to match that and create their own forward momentum and that is where Winks, Lo Celso and Ndombele will come in. It might be that Mourinho could start with Lamela, who seems to work well with Gio and his running with the ball can be a useful tool to commit opponents. The important thing for Spurs is to take any chances that come along. The Manchester City match proved that and in too many games, we do not capitalise on the chances that we create.
The defeat to Liverpool will not have knocked the stuffing out of
SCBC, but they will be wary of what Tottenham are capable of, should
they repeat a performance like that. It will be tight, but
hopefully, a slim victory in normal time will see Tottenham
progress. |
PREDICTION | Tottenham Hotspur 2 Southampton 1 |
TOTTENHAM
HOTSPUR TEAM NEWS : Spurs are without Harry Kane (hamstring), Moussa Sissoko (knee) and Ben Davies (ankle). Dele Alli will be assessed before the match on his ankle injury sustained in a bad tackle by Raheem Sterling and Steven Bergwijn is ineligible, as he was not registered to play in the first meeting at St. Mary's. |
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SOUTHAMPTON TEAM NEWS : Staurt Armstrong will be missing with a hip injury, while Jan Valery will have a late fitness test before the Cup replay. |
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COVERAGE :
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FA Cup Fourth Round replay | Kick off 19.45 |
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (1) |
Southampton
2 (1) |
Goal-scorers
Stephens (o.g.)
11m 12s |
Long 33m 37s |
Cards | |
Gedson (foul on Boufal) 59
|
Bednarek (foul on Lucas) 55 Romeu (persistent fouling) 84 Adams (foul on Aurier) 85 Gunn (foul on Son) 86 |
Crowd : 56,046 | Weather : Chilly, dry |
Referee : David Coote (Nottinghamshire) | Assistant Referees : Mr. Lee Betts; Mr. Simon Bennett |
Fourth Official : Jarred Gillett | |
Video Assistant Referee : Stuart Atwell | Video Assistant Referee Assistant : Marc Perry |
Southampton kicked off and played towards the Park Lane end in the first half. | |
Game time : - 90 + 11 minutes. |
Tottenham Hotspur : | kit | Southampton : | kit |
1
Hugo LLORIS (c) 4 Toby ALDERWEIRELD 5 Jan VERTONGHEN (30 Gedson FERNANDES 54) 39 Japhet TANGANGA 24 Serge AURIER 15 Eric DIER 8 Harry WINKS 28 Tanguy NDOMBELE (20 DELE Alli 61) 19 Ryan SESSEGNON ( 6 Davinson SANCHEZ 90) 27 Lucas MOURA ![]() 7 Heung-Min SON (p) ![]()
Unused subs: |
28
Angus GUNN
16
James WARD-PROWSE (
4
Jannick VESTERGAARD
40)
Unused subs: |
||
Manager : Jose Mourinho | Manager : Ralph Hassenhuttl | ||
Sponsor : AIA | Shirt sponsor : LD Sports | ||
Kit Supplier : Nike | Kit Supplier : Under Armour | ||
Match report Spurs staged a stirring comeback to take them through to the Fifth Round of the FA Cup against a Southampton side, who had played the better football on the day, but succumbed to a late onslaught by Tottenham. Ralphie Hussenhatl's side had a go, but despite their superiority in possession and shots on goal, they could not kill off Spurs, who were energised by the introduction of Gedson and Dele. The tie at St. Mary's had been fairly even, with Spurs having the best of the first half, with the South Coast Big Club coming back in the second period, but here, Tottenham looked disjointed for long periods of the game and the Saints played the more expansive game. Jose Mourinho had to make changes, with injuries to Lo Celso and Lamela ruling them out in addition to our long term injured, with Raheem Sterling's studs putting Dele on the bench to start off with. On the other side, they welcomed back Vestergaard and Armstrong on their bench, with more or less a full squad to choose from. When the game started, Tanguy Ndombele looked good. Holding possession, turning opponents and keeping the ball ticking over and Ryan Sessegnon had an early shot as he got forward like he used to do for Fulham. It was end to end with Ings hitting a shot straight at Hugo Lloris from just inside the box, with the Spurs keeper alert to touch away a Boufal cross to get it wide of the danger zone. SCBC should really have been ahead, when Boufal and Redmond linked on their left and the latter's shot was kept out by Hugo's foot when he should have found the net. And that proved a costly miss, as in the 12th minute, Spurs broke finding Sessegnon on the left. Shrugging off Boufal's attempts to pull him down, the ball ran to Lucas, who played it back for Winks to play it forward over Bednarek's head. Ryan was onto it again and Stephens got a foot in, but could only run the ball into Ndombele's path. Tanguy's first time shot from the 18 yard line looked to be going wide, until it hit one of Stephens' legs, then the other to deflect into the goal with the goalkeeper Gunn unable to react. It was good to see Ryan and Tanguy involved and although the goal came against the run of play, the cynical attempt to foul by Boufal got what it deserved. Saints almost hit back eight minutes after our goal, when Ward-Prowse freed Ings to run onto the ball from the right side of the area, with Hugo backing off, the striker took his shot as he got into the six yard box and from an angle, he got just too much height on it and the ball bounced away off the crossbar. Lloris had to be sharp as the way opened up for Bertrand to drive a 25-yarder at goal that the keeper had to push aside on the dive to his left. Spurs were profligate when on the break, we had three versus three and Lucas ran from halfway, but his pass for Son was cut out, bouncing back towards him, but he won it off a defender and won a corner. Both sides were probing around the area, but without being able to find the pass that would create an opportunity on goal. With 34 minutes gone, Boufal moved with the ball from left to right, about 25 yards out. He played it to Redmond on the right and his shot long the ground was pushed out by Lloris as he dived to his right, but it didn't get the ball out of the six yard box, allowing Long to put the ball into an unguarded net to equalise. It was a goal that came out of players being given a fair amount of space to move and then shoot, so with the scores level, it wasn't perhaps out of context with the way the goal had gone. Just after the goal, what seemed to be an innocuous incident just in front of the dug-outs saw Ryan Sessegnon's clearance tight to the line blocked by Ward-Prowse. The Southampton man went down holding his leg and urgent attention was received form the visiting medical staff. He ended being carried off with Vestergaard coming on in his place. Lucas had another break but ran into traffic on the edge of the Saints box and on yet another, Son lost his bearings and ran into two yellow-shirted players instead of using Lucas to his left or Aurier on his right. Redmond tried a shot from outside the box, but it went over the top and when Spurs broke once more, Son played it to Aurier, inside the area and a shot on, but he returned it to Heung-Min, but it was under his feet and he was blocked off by two Saints defenders. Spurs were passing up on chances on the break, which Southampton couldn't finish the chances they created. It was Micky Hazard's 60th birthday, so he joined Ronny Rosenthal at half-time to reminisce about past FA Cup games against the same opposition, with Hazard telling it like it was and saying Spurs needed to pick up their game in the second half. But it was the visitors who started sharper after the restart. Hojbjerg put a header onto the roof of the net before Ings' run from the left was repelled, but the ball ran to Boufal ten yards out, slightly to the right of the goal, but with a clear shot. It was like the first game all over again, as it looked odds on for him to score, but he pulled his shot across goal and out beyond the far post for a goal-kick. It was a massive let-off for Spurs. Hitting back with Lucas meeting Son's left-wing cross with his head, the Brazilian couldn't get it on target and at this point Mourinho decided to change things up and go with a back four, taking off Vertonghen with Gedson coming on, meaning Dier dropped into defence with Aurier playing a more orthodox right back role. It didn't stop the game from going from one end to the other, with Long failing to turn a shot on target at the near post on our goal, while Son was freed on the left by Gedson, but his shot was blocked away for a corner and Ndombele had a shot blocked too. Hugo was having to deal with a lot of crosses and his tactic was to push them away. When he held them, it was much more effective and he could start moving the ball forward with the ball in his hands. He was called on to make a sharp save, when Vestergaard headed a corner goal-wards. It was straight at him, but he still had to react to tip it over the bar. SCBC brought on Armstrong for Boufal, following Mourinho replacing Ndombele with Dele on the hour. Tottenham started to put together some good passes and one saw Dier hit a ball from 20 yards that took a flick off a defender for a corner. That was cleared, but Spurs won another and when that was cleared it dropped for Redmond, just outside his own area. He ran away from Son, Winks and Dele before playing it to Ings in a central position 20 yards form goal. The forward cut onto his right foot and from just inside the area bent a shot around Tanganga to beat Lloris at the foot of his left post. It was a blow, as momentum just started to build towards the Saints goal, but it was a well taken goal and a good run by Redmond. We had been open to a breakaway and it had paid off for the opposition. Spurs were left with 18 minutes to salvage something from this and it didn't look likely. As Bertrand broke into the Spurs box, Hugo rushed out to meet him and the SCBC left back went down, but Lloris had pulled his hands back and it was a dive all day long, but the referee failed to punish Bertrand for it. At the other end of the pitch, Sessegnon was showing that his confidence was building, by taking on two defenders to win a corner. Nothing came of that, but when Spurs built again, the ball came through the midfield as Dele played it forward to Lucas. He still had a lot to do, but shaped to run left, cut back onto his right, losing Vestergaard in the process before delivering a low shot to Gunn's right from inside the right side of the D pulling Tottenham level at 2-2. The away section had been full of themselves when they went 2-1 up, but were now silenced by the way Moura made a yard for himself and finished well to nestle the ball in the bottom right hand corner of Gunn's goal. Hassenhutl knew he had to make a change and hoped bringing on Che Adams for the fading Long would be as his substitutions in the first game. They weren't. Almost immediately, the visitors started to lose their composure and Romeu (who committed three fouls in a minute ... impressive !), Bednarek and Adams all went in the book. The next booking decided the game. A neat passing move started when Dele picked up a loose pass from Adams, nut-megged the ref, laid it on to Gedson, who returned it and then Dele produced a fantastic pass from the right, cutting out Vestergaard and Bednarek to put Son in on Gunn, who rushed out to clear him out. The yellow card was shown (as the keeper had gone for the ball) and following his denial that he had fouled the Spurs striker and the VAR review, the penalty stood and with his painstakingly stuttering run up, Sonny squeezed the ball between the keeper and his left hand post to put Tottenham back in front in the 87th minute. Spurs had a minute plus five added to hold on to go through, with Jose taking no chances as Southampton threw the mountainous Vestergaard forward to play route one, he took off Sessegnon and brought on Sanchez. They aimed for the centre-half with a long-throw but Toby nodded it away, but it came back in and all Vestergaard could do was foul Tanganga. There was still time for Gedson to show his own growing confidence with an overhead flick that saw him flattened by a Saints player, but it was all over, with the next round bringing Norwich City to the Spurs ground. Southampton might regard themselves as unlucky; four fans on the train back to Liverpool Street certainly did claiming Son was a f***ing cheating b*****d after seeing the footage on their phones. It did seem to shot that Gunn hadn't connected with his foot, but had thrown a hand up to try to pull him back. After we levelled there was only going to be one winner, as Southampton had blown their chances and their chance of going through. They had started with the energy of an extra day's preparation, but in the end Gedson and Dele were running the show, while others put in good performances around them. Jose pulled this one out of the fire and hopefully for the next round, Lo Celso, Bergwijn and maybe even Davies by then could make a big difference to the side. With the Champions League campaign going on to Leipzig, this might be our best chance of a trophy, but there are still plenty of good sides left in it and it won't be easy, but let's see how far we can go. Dave Helston |
Match
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How the players did | |
Hugo Lloris | Looked a little hesitant on occasion, like when he backed off allowing Ings to shoot against the bar. Did make some good saves to keep us in it when we were under pressure. |
Japhet Tanganga | Another solid performance. Exposed when facing Ings for the second and maybe Long got into the right place for the first, but good tackling and heading, as well as use of the ball. |
Serge Aurier | Mixed performance. Good going forward and did some good things defensively, but . |
Toby Alderweireld | Solid again, with blocks and headers stopping Southampton getting in on goal. |
Jan Vertonghen | Had a wobbly game, looking vulnerable in a back three. Looked very upset at getting substituted. |
Eric Dier | Played well in a defensive role, breaking up play and his distribution was decent. Looked to get forward too. |
Ryan Sessegnon | Picking up speed on the left and showing the attacking side of his game. Good game by theyoungster |
Harry Winks | His second half performance helped drive Spurs forward, particularly the series of three tackles he won to get the ball into the Southampton half, when he had no right to win any of them, but his commitment was way higher than the opponents who tried to (and should have) won them. |
Tanguy Ndombele | Looked tired form the beginning, but that may be his languid style. Good shot for the goal, even if it was going wide and looked better than he has done recently. |
Heung-Min Son | Another who ran without releasing the ball at the right time, Sonny put everything into the game and won and converted the winning penalty near the end. |
Lucas Moura | Looked stranded sometimes when breaking and running into blind alleys, but kept going and was rewarded with a fine goal he made for himself. |
Subs | |
Gedson Fernandes | Looked like he is integrating well, as he started running with the ball and pulling out some tricks when Dele came on. |
Dele Alli | Game-changer with his vision and ability to run with the ball, which scared the Southampton defence. |
Davinson Sanchez | Late sub in added time to defend against Vestergaard, who had been pushed forward. |
Paulo Gazzaniga | Unused. |
Oliver Skipp | Unused. |
Troy Parrott | Unused. |
Dennis Cirkin | Unused. |
What you thought | |
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Other replay scores during this week : | ||||
Birmingham City (win 4-1 on pens a.e.t.; 1-1 at 90 mins) | 2 | Coventry City | 2 | Tuesday |
Cardiff City | 3 | Reading (win 4-1 on pens a.e.t.; 2-2 at 90 mins) | 3 | Tuesday |
Liverpool | 1 | Shrewsbury Town | 0 | Tuesday |
Oxford United | 2 | Newcastle United (a.e.t. 2-2 at 90 mins) | 3 | Tuesday |