16  Antonio BARRAGAN
25  Calum CHAMBERS
  6  Ben GIBSON 
  3  George FRIEND  (c)     

18  Cristhian STUANI
14  Marten de ROON
  8  Adam CLAYTON  (34  Adam FORSHAW 82)
19  Stewart DOWNING

21  Gaston RAMIREZ  (37  Adama TRAORE  59     )

10  Alvaro NEGREDO  (  9  Jordan RHODES  59)

Unused subs: 
12  Brad GUZAN
  4  Daniel AYALA
11  Vicktor FISCHER
24  George ESUE

 

  2  Kyle WALKER      
  5  Jan VERTONGHEN
  4  Toby ALDERWEIRELD
33  Ben DAVIES

12  Victor WANYAMA
20  DELE Alli 

17  Moussa SISSOKO  (11  Erik LAMELA  70)
23  Christian ERIKSEN  (14  Georges-Kevin N'KOUDOU  90)
  7  Heung-Min SON   

  9  Vincent JANSSEN  (28  Harry WINKS  8)

Unused subs: 
13  Michel VORM
38  Cameron CARTER-VICKERS
16  Kieran TRIPPIER
27  Kevin WIMMER
 

Not quite a game of two halves, but Tottenham's impressive first half display put two goals past Middlesbrough, but the second saw the home side get a goal back and set up a wobbly last 25 minutes, when they should have been dead and buried.

The sun shone, but a chill wind blew as Boro kicked off at the Riverside.  Alvaro Negredo looked lively as he almost got across the near post to meet a Downing cross, but Sissoko had already fired a shot over the bar from distance and Alli's shot was tipped over by an alert Victor Valdes.  Hugo Lloris had to be quick out of his box to beat Negredo to a through ball, but son Spurs were moving the ball confidently and created a good opportunity that Heung-Min Son took to give Tottenham a seventh minute lead.  The ball was played by Eriksen in to Vincent Janssen, who had a man at his back in the area but held him off and laid the ball into the path of Sonny as he ran into the area from the right.  Taking the ball inside, he drilled a low shot past Valdes' right hand from ten yards out to make it a good quick start from Tottenham.

Son was obviously confident after the two goals he got at Stoke City and soon he was replicating that performance, as he netted in the 22nd minute.  The ball was played to the winger on the left side of Middlesbrough's area and looked to have lost the ball, but got to the loose ball first a yard from the dead ball line.  Although there were three Boro defenders around him, he ran away from goal until he was 16 yards out.  There was no red shirt going with him, so he curled a right foot shot that left Valdes flat-footed and doubled Tottenham's lead.  it was the finish of a player in good goal-scoring form and put Boro in a position of being caught between trying to get back into the game or trying to contain Spurs.

They did neither really.  Alli and Eriksen went so close to getting onto through balls, only to be denied by offside flags.  Son's run down the left wing saw him play a low ball in to Eriksen and his shot was blocked, taking it into the path of Sissoko, but Valdes recovered to block the shot from the Frenchman and Spurs got a corner.  When it went to the far post, the ball was worked to Dele on the left by Sissoko and Stuani came in behind him giving him a nudge on the way, but referee Scott pointed for a goal-kick, taking the easy way out rather than awarding the penalty the foul deserved. 

Spurs were stroking the ball about to dictate the play and Sissoko almost played an inviting ball across goal, but defenders got there to clear.  Son got the ball and hit a shot that was deflected well over for a corner.  Another corner followed and once more the ball was recycled keeping the play mainly in the home team's half.  Dele Alli had a shout for a penalty as Ben Gibson challenged for a ball into the six yard box and then the England midfielder should have scored when Eriksen nicked the ball off a dawdling Gooner Calum Chambers in his own area and squared for Alli, who blazed over from ten yards out.  Too often Spurs players had the ball with a ten yard radius around them without a red shirt in it and Boro were almost bringing Spurs onto them, but they did not have an out ball or an ability to break-away. 

Boos rang out as Boro headed for the safety of the dressing room.

Spurs kicked off the second half and Jan Vertonghen was soon slaloming the ball out of defence, taking him into the Boro half, where he let Alli play a first time ball through to Janssen on the left of centre.  He got there first, but couldn't wrap his foot around it enough to get it on target.  Spurs were working the ball well and forced a couple of corners, before some neat passing in the final third saw a number of shots blocked.  Whenever the ball went loose, it was a gold shirt picking it up and the pressure was building on Boro.  Son went down in the area as Barragan dived in, but no penalty was given once more.

Two subs for Boro looked to change the game, with Adama Traore and Jordan Rhodes coming on for Ramirez and Negredo.  Traore got the crowd buzzing with a pacy run through the middle of the pitch, but his final ball was too far ahead of Rhodes and Lloris gathered the ball.  When Spurs strung together a passage of passing, the ball was set up for Alli to shoot just over the angle from outside the box.  Boro got a cheap free-kick when Walker was bundled over and went to grab the ball only to find a free-kick against him and a yellow card being waved in his direction.  It looked a threatening position, 25 yards out on the left wing, but when Downing took it, he swung the ball straight out of play.  The next one, given against Wanyama, was put into the heart of the box and Gibson rose above Sissoko to head low past Lloris's left hand.  Sissoko hardly jumped and Gibson came over the top of him to bring Boro back into a game that they should have had no way of getting a goal.

Sissoko had to go off after a challenge from Friend and Lamela came on.  Wanyama was nudged over in the centre circle by Stuani and the ref gave a free-kick. Strange that when the same sort of incident happened in the box, he wasn't willing to blow his whistle.  Tottenham were being closed by the pace of Traore and he knocked Vertonghen over without being penalised and could not find Rhodes with his pass.  Spurs were also picking up loose balls, manoeuvring the ball around the box to give Son a shooting chance on the left, but his shot was blocked.   Lloris had to be alert twice in a couple of minutes, with a race to the edge of his box, where he handled the ball but pulled his hands back as he slipped out of the box and then he gathered a header low down as Rhodes met Downing's left wing cross.

Eriksen moved the ball to the edge of the box linking well with Davies, but as he took it inside to the D, his final pass right was short and was picked off, allowing Boro to go forward.  Walker had to conceded a corner, then as the home team built the move up again, Spurs could not clear the ball.  Boro won a corner, but fouled when it was played in, so when the next phase nof play developed, Chambers lost it in his own half and Spurs broke, passing the ball in the opposition's area, but couldn't fashion a clear shooting chance, until Lamela curled a low shot and Valdes got behind it. 

Janssen was substituted and Harry Winks came on, but not before Gibson shoved the Dutchman two handed in the back to encourage him to leave the field.  Again, weak refereeing allowed the Middlesbrough man to go unpunished.  However, Traore did see yellow when he lunged, studs-up on Lamela.  With time ticking down, Boro slung balls into the box or forwards and one went up into the air from a clearing header and it fell to Forshaw wide of the goal on the right, but his shot was well wide. 

Barragan started pointing his finger in Son's face when he had the ball in the corner at the home end, but again, the referee failed to act, other than have a word with him.   Boro were in the Spurs half and passing the ball about, but their final ball was long and  the chance had gone.  Son tried to keep the ball in the corner again, but gave away a free-kick in the last minute of added time, but Tottenham won the ball when it was played forward and sub N'Koudou fired a shot over the top.  The referee finally showed some understanding of the game when he went back to book Friend for an awful tackle on Lamela, which could have done the Argentine midfielder some damage if the Boro defender had been good enough to actually get there. 

The game ran out of time, with Spurs managing the ball and surviving a bit of a scare, with the side sitting back a little in the second half.  With a long midweek trip to CSKA Moscow and then Manchester City at home next Sunday, it will be a tough week and perhaps you could forgive the players having that in the back of their minds.

What Tottenham had done in the first half, passing and moving, they didn't do as well in the second.  Some of this might have been because Middlesbrough were a bit better, but not having the buffer of more goals from the dominant first half performance and then not being clinical enough with the chances in the second half, it gave Boro an opportunity they should never have deserved.

Son was the shining star of the team today, but honourable mentions should go to Walker and Davies, who raided up the flanks in the first 45 minutes (and a bit in the second); Wanyama, who covered a lot of ground and was strong when tackling; Janssen, who battled away up front, holding up play until support arrived, with Alli and Eriksen being that support.  They played the ball nicely in the first period, worked hard to get it back and didn't allow the home team to get any momentum.  Spurs sit second in the league and to stay there or get further up the table, we need to do it for 90 minutes and on a consistent basis.

Frank Shipham