35  Jan BENDAREK
  3  Maya YOSHIDA
  4  Jannik VESTERGAARD
43  Yan VALERY      

14  Oriel ROMEU       (39  Josh SIMS  46)
23  Pierre-Emile HOJBJERG
21  Ryan BERTRAND

16  James WARD-PROWSE  (c) 
10  Charlie AUSTIN  (  7  Shane LONG  46  [17  Stuart ARMSTRONG  73])
22  Nathan REDMOND     

Unused subs: 
  1  Alex McCARTHY
  5  Jack STEPHENS
33  Matt TARGETT
55  Callum SLATTERY

16  Kyle WALKER-PETERS
  5  Jan VERTONGHEN
  6  Davinson SANCHEZ
  3  Danny ROSE  (33  Ben DAVIES  82)

15  Eric DIER
17  Moussa SISSOKO     

20  DELE Alli  (18  Fernando LLORENTE  )
23  Christian ERIKSEN
27  Lucas MOURA  (  7  Heung-Min SON  72)

10  Harry KANE 

Unused subs: 
22  Paulo GAZZANIGA
21  Juan FOYTH
12  Victor WANYAMA
11  Erik LAMELA

 

Despite looking to have recovered from the blip in results, Spurs managed to fritter away a goal lead and comfortable control of this game by allowing Southampton back in, an opportunity they took with both goals in the second half.  The watching Mauricio Pochettino, serving the first of a two match ban, must have been looking down in anger, having seemingly done enough in the first 45 minutes to go on and win the game.

Spurs kicked off and looked in control from the off, with Harry Kane looking sharp and having two early chances.  Dele Alli's header set Harry up for a third minute shot, but he dragged it wide of the goal, before he was put through by Christian Eriksen in the next minute, but again, he missed the target.  The only response from the home side was a low ball in by Ward-Prowse, but Jan Vertonghen was there to clear the ball.  Lucas Moura wriggled into the penalty area before being bumped down and despite calls for a penalty from the Spurs contingent behind the goal, the referee waved away any suggestion of a spot-kick.  When Lucas was pulled back as he tried to break away, Romeu was rightly booked.  The Dele-Kane axis was working well, despite Harry straying offside on one occasion

Eric Dier was neatly set up by Kane, who took Rose's cross and laid it into the path of the midfielder, but he got it much too high.  With 20 minutes gone, Kyle Walker-Peters, preferred to Aurier who didn't feature in the match-day squad, won the ball and Harry took it off him, firing in a low cross looking for Moura, but Yoshida intervened.  Fortunatley for the Japanese defender, the ball cannoned off the post and away to Danny Rose, who was fouled.  Valery was booked for it and the home team almost paid a bigger price, as Christian Eriksen curled it expertly over the wall and the ball smacked against the bar. 

Just when Southampton had their first chance, Austin's shot was blocked by Dier and the ball ran out to Kane, who spotted Dele away to his left.  He looked like he was going to have a go himself, but squared the ball to Harry, who looked like he was going to hit it on the volley, but stopped the ball and then slid it past Gunn to open the scoring from a narrow angle on the right side of the goal.  It was a classy piece of finishing, but one made by Dele's deft ball to land on his foot and give him the time to decide exactly what he wanted to do with it.

Southampton's response was for Bertrand to play a low cross towards Austin, who turned and found Jan in the way, with Betrand playing a free-kick in, but Dier was there to head it away.  Spurs hit Southampton on the break with Lucas racing away from Vestergaard and he found Dele, whose shot was pushed over by the keeper.  Redmond had a shot over the bar after he skipped away from Dier on halfway, but there was little for Lloris to get involved in, as Spurs moved the ball around confidently.   Jan worried the Spurs fans with a shot way over the bar, before Dele forced Gunn to punch the ball away from a 22 yard shot just before half time.  A Saints free-kick turned into a Spurs break, but the pass in towards Lucas Moura was picked off by the keeper.  Eriksen also tested the keeper with a 20-yarder, which Gunn  couldn't hold and Spurs own another corner.

Ralph Hassenhuttl made a double change at the break, with Long and Sims coming on for Austin and Romeu, which perked up the Saints, with Sims recording the team's first shot on target seconds after the restart, but Hugo saved it even though it bounced in front of him.  Sims then turned away on the right and crossed for Long to head down into the box (I think it was supposed to be on target though), where KWP cleared it away.

As Saints looked more offensive, there was a large amount of space for Spurs to attack and only the keeper kept Kane out as the England captain cut between two defenders to try and bend a shot to the far post.  From the resulting corner, Jan sliced a volley wide when he perhaps should have tried to play it back into the crowded six yard box.  Dele again fed Kane and his shot was blocked by Bendarek.  In the second phase, Southampton won the ball and released Long, whose cross picked out Redmond on the far post, but his shot hit the side-netting.  Spurs were pinned back for a while and Dele's header from Ward-Prowse's free-kick averted the danger, then Hojbjerg struck a shot well over the bar.  Sims took a kick in the face ducking low, but the ref played on, as did his team-mates, but it was worked to Redmond, who again found the side-netting from a good position.  The angry home supporters wanted a penalty, but Jan's foot wasn't that high when Sims head-butted it !

Spurs did look to add to the lead, but Eriksen's shot from outside the box was straight at Gunn, who got everything behind it.  A near post dash by Redmond got ahead of his marker to nudge a low cross from Valery into the side-netting once more.  Shane Long did his usual and pulled back Vertonghen on halfway, leaving both players down injured and needing treatment.  When play resumed, Sissoko made a strong run on the right wing, cutting inside and finding Eriksen, who played it on to Kane, who tried a cheeky trip over Gunn, but cleared the bar. 

With a large number of subs warming up, Pochettino must have been messaging Jesus on the bench for a change to be made to try and stem the flow of Southampton's play.  Son came on for Moura and Southampton exchanged Armstrong for substitute Long, moving Redmond as the lone striker.  Southampton had been building pressure and when the goal came it wasn't much of a surprise, but it was sloppy, as Armstrong's cross was left by Danny Rose and Valery scuffed the ball over Hugo for an equaliser.  The ball travelled all the way across the six yard box before it reached the Southampton full back.

When Armstrong dispossessed KWP, the Spurs defender dragged him back on the edge of the penalty area as he looked like he was in on goal.  It was a foul that deserved perhaps more than a yellow, but when Ward-Prowse curled it over the bar and beat Lloris, the punishment was complete.  Spurs had been poor in the second half and as poor as Southampton had been in the first half, Tottenham had been as complacent in the second.

As the seconds ticked down to 90 minutes, Redmond raced away for Sanchez, but his shot was weak and straight at Hugo as he reached the penalty area.  A late corner saw Sissoko's shot blocked for another corner, which this time was taken by Gunn unchallenged.  At the end of the game, Spurs were lumping the ball into the box and Southampton defended doggedly until the final whistle went and the home fans had something to celebrate.  I don't think the fact that Pochettino being in the stands had much to do with the defeat, but the players eased off and quite shockingly lost a match in which they allowed Southampton to build up some second half momentum from the restart. 

This leaves Spurs hoping that other results go our way when we should have been in charge of our own destiny and that winning mentality that saw them through on Tuesday has vanished into thin air.  A three week break now will hopefully lead to them re-energising themselves, but the last break we had seemed to disrupt our form.  It's not what was needed with a return to White Hart Lane on the cards.

Burton Coggles