| Match report
A game where central defenders
took the limelight (not always for the right reason) saw Heung-Min
Son pop up in the final minute of added time to score a winner to
give Spurs a 3-2 win at Villa Park against a spirited Aston Villa
side.
Villa had to make a change
after Tyrone Mings went down with tonsillitis, replacing him with
Bjorn Engels at the back, while Spurs welcomed back Ben Davies
(taking Japhet Tanganga's place) and Dier came in for Ndombele to
play with Harry Winks in the defensive midfield positions.
Despite Storm Dennis blowing a gale and depositing a huge amount of
rain around the ground, the fixture went ahead. With Villa’s
first attack, the ball was nicked away and Son looked to take on the
home defence, but Konsa put in a robust challenge on him, leaving
him needing treatment in the first minute. When Villa went forward
again, with Aurier having given the ball away, the defender pulled
Grealish down, with the ball far away on the other wing, leaving
Spurs to face a free-kick 25 yards out, just to the left of centre.
For us, it was lucky that El Ghazi took it and put it over the bar.
Aurier took Grealish out with a heavy tackle, accompanied by a
scream, when the Villa man kicked Serge’s foot. The desire to close
players down was leading to a succession of free-kicks, but there
was little quality coming from them.
Villa started a move in their own area, when Reina played it to the
right wing where El Ghazi took the ball past Davies and played the
ball into the near post. It took a touch to slow its flight, making
Lloris come and then go back, forcing Alderweireld to get there in
front of Samatta, but he only succeeded in poking the ball into his
own net with Hugo static. It was poor decision making by Lloris, who
should have taken charge of the situation.
Villa were encouraged by the goal and Grealish came in from the left
to curl a shot just wide of the far angle of post and bar and then
Sanchez made a good tackle on El Ghazi just outside the six yard
box. Tottenham were finding it hard to string anything together and
the ball kept ending up with a claret shirt, but when El Ghazi gave
the ball away, Lucas Moura was through, taking it to his left and
then laying it back for Dele. As the midfielder tried to place the
ball to the far side of the goal, a defender got a block in. Moura
then found some space in front of the Villa defence to take Winks’
pass, but his shot went wide.
In the 18th minute, Villa should have been 2-0 ahead, when they
played the ball out from the keeper, up the left to Grealish, who
ran away from Toby, then laid it across to Luiz, who had the whole
goal to aim at, but Ben Davies made a fantastic block to divert it
away for a corner. From it, there was a huge scramble in front of
goal with Toby blocking a shot from Luiz, but play went on and
Tottenham broke away with Bergwijn on the right. He played an early
ball into the box and found Dele, but it was a little behind him and
he was unable to direct his diving header on target. Samatta
went close with a near post header, when he got across Sanchez to
meet Luiz’s cross, as Spurs were second to every ball. When Aurier
gave the ball away again, Grealish went away from him into the box
and squared for Samatta, but it was hacked away to safety. The
defence was getting strung out and Grealish was finding space to
operate in. Tottenham’s long balls forward were not getting
much joy and when they kept the ball on the floor, Bergwijn played
the ball inside Targett, Aurier got there, but the defender slid in
to concede a corner. It was played in to the near post, where the
ball hit Dier and fell for Toby to turn on it and smash a shot in
high at Reina’s near post, with the keeper slow to react. It was a
fine finish and cancelled out the one he put in at the other end !
Heung-Min Son looked a bit out of sorts, maybe from the first minute
challenge on him, but he was giving the ball away more than he
usually did and looked sluggish. When Villa broke down their left,
Aurier was often exposed and a couple of corners for the home team
proved troublesome for Lloris, who couldn’t judge the flight of the
ball and being faced by four big Villa players coming in. The last
one, Hugo got a slap to and Spurs broke with Son sending Lucas away
on the left, but he tried to go alone and was blocked out, with
three white shirts in the box waiting for a ball across. With
35 minutes on the clock, Son turned the ball around the corner on
our right wing, sending Dele away and into the box, but from a tight
angle, he tried to bend it in with the outside of his boot, getting
it all wrong and the ball going well wide. Lloris had to be alert
when El Ghazi struck a 25-yard shot and awkwardly beat the effort
away via a hand and his face. Villa fans were irate when El Ghazi
played the ball into the box and Sanchez turned away from it, with
the crowd baying for a penalty. Dele got the ball from Winks, who
took it off Drinkwater, but he ran into three players, when he
should have laid it off. Then Bergwijn broke with Son up with him,
but he tried to take on Guilbert, who blocked him off.
The Villa tactic of Grealish
and Targett on their left was less effective when Lucas got back to
even up the numbers and that looked to be the way to competently
deal with it. It might have cut back our ability to break away, but
with Bergwijn in the side, he has pace to threaten in the opposition
half. Bergwijn and Davies linked well on the left and the Welshman
set up Dele, who tried to place his shot and again it was blocked by
Konsa. The ball fell for Bergwijn and he drove it in on goal, with
it being blocked and VAR looked at it for some time before deciding
it wasn’t a handball. Play had gone on for some time until being it
stopped when Spurs had a 30 yard free-kick that was worked left to
Bergwijn, laying it back to Winks, who bent it just over the bar.
The new signing used his
pace to outstrip the Villa defence and Engels got back at him to
slide tackle him. After some time, the VAR review awarded Spurs a
penalty. Sonny was the one to take it and his stuttering run saw him
drag it to the keeper’s right where Reina had dived, then reacted to
try and get the loose ball. Son was alert to the situation and got
there to poke it under the keeper and in for a goal, which he should
have got from the spot. It was a poorly struck penalty and allowed
the keeper to get to it, but his reaction made up for his mistake.
A Villa free-kick early in the second half for a foul on Grealish
was swung in, but cleared for Winks to touch it on to Bergwijn.
Drinkwater was weak as he was shrugged off the ball and Steven was
away. Bearing down on goal, he was tracked by Guilbert, who had to
concede a corner. Nothing came from it and when Son broke on the
right, he dwelt on it, rather than playing it across and got crowded
out. The onus was on Villa to get goals and that should have left
space for Tottenham to exploit. The next chance fell to El Ghazi,
who shot straight at Lloris after being set up by Samatta.
Grealish had dropped deeper in later stages of the first half and at
the start of the second, he came inside to try and influence play.
As it was, a Grealish corner wasn’t attacked by Spurs and Engels
out-jumped Toby to head past Hugo on his line. Poor defending of a
set-piece had allowed Villa to level when it looked like Tottenham
might have got the next goal in the game which gave the impetus to
the home side. No Spurs player was attacking the ball at the corner
and it allowed Engels a free run at the ball. Tottenham went up the
other end and won a corner, which came out to Winks and he swung a
cross in to the far post, where Dele headed it back towards Dier,
but Luiz got there first. It was getting a bit end-to-end, with
moves breaking down and teams breaking away. A neat pass almost put
Son through, but he was tackled and then Hause lost out to Moura,
with the ball going to Bergwijn, who put in a low shot that Reina
was right behind.
Eric Dier made way for Giovani Lo Celso, as Spurs sought to be more
offensive, but Villa had taken off Drinkwater with Nakamba coming on
to shore up their midfield. On the hour, Moura played the ball
inside to Son, who nutmegged Hause and hit a shot that was too close
to Reina. Moura went up to head a lofted pass by Winks as Spurs
played the ball out from the back, but the ball dropped for Aurier
to pick out a pass to Son in the left channel, but again, he held
the ball too long and from it, Grealish was played up on the left
wing, leaving Toby to block it for another corner. Engels won it and
El Ghazi went for it, but his header was soft and Lloris claimed the
ball, with the Villa man needing attention for a bash in the face as
he went for it.
From his floating infield,
Grealish was spreading the play and Spurs were getting pulled across
and forced into conceding corners, which we have been suspect in
defending. It wasn’t a great tactic, but Grealish was proving hard
to pick up when he moved in off the left. Spurs were finding space
on our right and Bergwijn played in Aurier, whose cross was blocked
but the Dutchman ran onto it and Nakamba threw himself in front of
the ball to take it over for a corner. Son had a shot but hit a heap
of players on the floor in front of him, but a break when Toby cut
out a Villa pass leading to Moura running away with it. A deflection
took the ball past Konsa and Dele was through on Reina. He dallied
in taking the shot leading to Konsa getting back to get a leg to the
ball as Alli tried to flick it past the keeper. Spurs were passing
up chances to regain the lead and when they were giving away
set-pieces, they were playing a dangerous game.
As the last quarter of an hour was reached, Villa were playing in
the Spurs half, with Sanchez intercepting a square ball across the
penalty area by Grealish that could have spelled danger. Samatta
took the ball away from Alderweireld when it was played up to him,
then finding Trezeguet on the far side. The substitute’s shot was
blocked for another corner that Lloris got a good punch to. The next
attack saw Grealish put a ball over from the right looking for
Trezeguet, but Aurier got across to take the ball away from him.
Gedson was given the last eight minutes in place of Dele and Baston
came on for Samatta for Villa. A corner straight after the
substitutions saw it reach the far post, where Moura had a free
header, but put it wide from a couple of yards out. Son was then
released on the left, striking from a narrow angle that saw the
keeper push it wide, with the same player having a great chance when
the ball was poorly cleared straight to him by Baston and his shot
was kept out by Reina’s legs.
Guilbert got the first booking of the game for a late trip on
Bergwijn with four minutes left and Spurs could make nothing from
the resulting free-kick. With two successive late winners in home
games for Villa, they were hopeful of that happening a third time,
with four added minutes to be played. Entering the added minutes,
Spurs worked the ball from centre to left to centre and right, with
Lo Celso shooting from the edge of the box, which Reina held well.
Nakamba slid in to foul Bergwijn out on the left wing, but Villa
defended it well. What they didn’t defend well was when the ball was
played forward by Sanchez and Engels let the ball go under his foot
as he tried to control it with the sole of his boot, allowing Son to
run through on the left. He ran on in the clear, waiting for Reina
to come to cover his near post and then slipped the ball wide of the
keeper to net the winner. Villa had benefited from late goals to win
games, but this time it went against them and for all the chances
Spurs had missed, Sonny took the vital one to push Spurs into fifth
place.
Tottenham had enough chances to win this game twice over but could
have been two behind before they got going. It was almost a replay
of the first game of the season, with Villa playing well, but
lacking the quality to finish teams off, which has been the story of
their season. For everything that had gone before, at that stage of
the game Engels should have been looking at clearing his lines,
rather than being too clever. It has plunged Villa into peril with
the number of remaining games running down. They weren't the
worst team we have played this season, but whether it is naivety or
lack of stamina, they tired visibly going into the last 15 minutes
of the match.
Too often, indecision led to
Tottenham moves breaking down. While Aurier was the full back who
was pushing on, his passes too often were picked off too easily, but
once they had worked out how to play Grealish, he was forced inside,
where it was a little more crowded and he didn't have the
opportunity to put balls into the penalty area from a wider angle.
Samatta looked half-decent, playing as their target man and El Ghazi
was busy but couldn't finish. They were obviously missing
their absent men - Mings and McGinn - who add a bit of added quality
to the side. There may be some hope for them, as there are
worse sides in the Premier League, but their inability to stop goals
flying in at their end may cost them and if relegated, they will
lose players.
Reaching 40 points (albeit
much later in the season than we have recently been used to) may
well be enough to fend off relegation for Spurs this season and puts
us one point behind Chelsea, although they have to play Manchester
United tomorrow. With Chelsea to play on Saturday in the early
game, it could be a crucial game of the season. Once more, it
will not be enough to play like this against Chelsea, so I am sure
Jose will have them up for it, after facing Leipzig in midweek.
Perry Digs
Weed |
(o.g)