2  Max AARONS
  5  Grant HANLEY
  6  Christopher ZIMMERMANN
12  Jamal LEWIS

27  Alexander TETTEY  (14  Todd CANTWELL  86)
  8  Mario VRANCIC         (19  Tom TRYBULL)
18  Marco STIEPERMANN  (23  Kenny McLEAN  70)
17  Emiliano BUENDIA
11  Onel HERNANDEZ

22  Teemu PUKKI

Unused subs: 
33  Michael McGOVERN
  3  Sam BYRAM
24  Ibrahim AMADOU
32  Derek SRBENY

28  Tanguy NDOMBELE

24  Serge AURIER  (o.g)
18  Giovani LO CELSO  (11  Erik LAMELA  74)
23  Christian ERIKSEN      
19  Ryan SESSEGNON

10  Harry KANE   (p)
20  DELE Alli 

Unused subs: 
13  Michel VORM
39  Japhet TANGANGA
15  Eric DIER
29  Oliver SKIPP
 

After the come from behind win over Brighton at the Lane two days ago, it was hoped that a similar haul from this game would propel us above Chelsea into fourth place, but some lazy finishing by Spurs and a massive slice of luck saw Norwich hold Spurs 2-2 at Carrow Road.  There appears to be some cracks appearing in Mourinho's facade, as he referred to the same mistakes being made every week, so, whether this is a reference to the team playing out from the back in the manner Pochettino wanted them to and giving the ball away to let goals in, we will see when he gets the team playing the way he wants.

Norwich had the first shot with Lewis firing an effort from outside the box wide of Gazzaniga’s left hand post and while Spurs looked in control, but then began getting to the ball second. When Ndomebele was crashed into by Eriksen, Stiepermann was left to run forward and shoot at goal. It  was more of a toe-poke and Gazzaniga got to the ball with his left hand on the dive to push the ball wide. Zimmermann was at fault as he dwelt on the ball allowing Ndombele to block his pass and Kane was suddenly free on goal. But with players back covering, he played the ball to his right to give Dele a clear shooting chance but with only Krul between him and a goal, he side-footed it well over the bar with time to make sure he got into target.

Taking a corner at his near post, Paulo started a move that let Toby Alderweireld play a long, straight ball to Harry Kane. He took his first touch to the right, but Krul was out to meet him as he shot and block it. Then Aarons was alert to block Sessegnon’s shot from Eriksen’s square ball after Hanley gave the ball away. The move continued as Spurs recycled the ball and Dele had a low shot straight at the keeper.

Buendia won the ball off Juan Foyth, with Vrancic picking up the ball as it ran free and moved forward to put it past  Gazzaniga’s right hand as the Spurs defence backed off him. It was against the run of play, but it was of Tottenham’s own making, as they were far too open once they lost the ball. Norwich were determined not to allow Spurs time on the ball and Vrancic caught Ndombele late and got a booking. Spurs had possession but failed to get dangerous balls into the box and when Norwich broke, they found Hernandez in space on the left to run at Foyth and luckily, he screwed his shot wide.  When  Aurier lost the ball in the Norwich half, nothing looked on, but Vrancic’s crossfield ball from the left saw Pukki get in front of   Vertonghen and stuck the ball past Gazzaniga to give Norwich a 2-0 led. VAR was looking at it and gave it offside as an armpit was ahead of Jan.

There was little more noteworthy action before half-time other than a crunching late challenge on Lo Celso by Tettey, which was worse than Vrancic’s that he got booked for and all Friend did was have a word with him.

At the start of the second half, Jose brought Moura and Sanchez on for Vertonghen and Foyth, switching to a back four and it seemed to have an immediate benefit, as we broke up a Norwich move and Eriksen played a long, low pass inside Tettey for Dele to run at goal, but Stiepermann caught him up to block his shot. The defender caught a knee on the head and after treatment had to go off and when the corner came in, we had a man advantage. It didn’t show as the ball was cleared and by the time we looked like we could get the ball back in the box, Stiepermann was back on the pitch. A clash of heads between Lo Celso and Vrancic led to lengthy treatment for the Norwich midfielder, who managed to carry on after going through the concussion protocol.

Lucas’ introduction caused a mistake by Lewis, as taking on two yellow shirts, the Brazilian looked for Kane and Lewis knocked the ball away with his hand to stop it reaching Harry. It looked as though it would be stopping a goal-scoring opportunity but only a yellow card was given. Luckily, Christian Eriksen punished them more harshly with a perfect free-kick at the top of the D that beat Krul’s dive to his right off Tettey’s head and Vrancic’s arm. Level within ten minutes of the restart, could Spurs go on to win this game ?

Suddenly the home crowd went quiet, as they felt every decision was going against them. They got one when Lo Celso lifted the ball over the Norwich defence for Dele and he scooped the ball over Krul as he came off his line.  It was a tight angle, with Dele to the left of the goal, but he was off-side and it didn’t need VAR to spot that. The home crowd were then ecstatic every time they got an offside and when Hernandez went down the left side and pulled it back to Pukki, the Finnish forward got it stuck under his feet and Sanchez took it off him.  Pukki got all the luck in the world shortly afterwards when Alderweireld tackled him, but the ball went in past Gazzaniga off Aurier to hand the home side the lead once again. It was against the run of play, as it had been all Spurs since the start of the second half and now we had to start again.

Spurs were back in possession, but apart from a Lo Celso shot that hit Dele as it looked like being on target and then Giovani putting a weak shot to Krul’s left that he saved easily, they had little to show for it. Lucas got a yellow for blocking off Aarons, off the pitch, which was not as bad as some of the Norwich fouls that Friend had let go. It was a booking, but so were some of the home team’s.

Eriksen put in a 25-yard drive that Zimmermann missed diverting past Krul by inches, but it went through to the keeper to save. Lamela replaced Lo Celso with the view to running at the Norwich defence, but so packed was it that there was little space to run through. Eriksen picked out Kane on the left and his first-time volley across the face of goal was missed by Dele, as he tumbled in the box.  As it was, it was Lamela who won the ball and knocked it to Dele, who passed right to Kane. Harry cut the ball back as Zimmermann slid in and took Harry’s legs. Penalty according to the ref and to VAR too.  Kane had a long time to wait and Krul was trying to psyche him out, but as the keeper went right, Kane struck the ball to his left and it was 2-2.  Norwich were naïve in their defending and so were their fans in thinking it wasn’t going to be a spot-kick and Harry dispatched it with his usual efficiency.

Lamela struck a dipping shot straight at Krul, but the movement on the ball forced the keeper to push it out for a corner. From it, Ndombele rabona’ed a cross that Kane tried to overhead kick, but only clashed with Hanley, so a free-kick went to the Canaries as time ticked down to the 90 minute mark. As Spurs worked the ball forward, every time a player touched the ball, the home supporters wanted a handball. However, seven minutes were to be added on for stoppages. Toby was booked for a foul on Cantwell on the half-way line, Aurier miscued a cross with time and space, putting it into the crowd and Krul tried to shield a ball off but ended up wrestling with Kane and looked to have conceded a corner, but it was only a throw-in. From it, Eriksen slipped and turned his back as he bumped into a yellow shirted player, as Friend deemed this a booking too ! With Aurier winning a late corner, Eriksen failed to beat the first man and that was that.

Two points dropped or one gained ? Although Norwich had beaten Manchester City at Carrow Road, too many sides have gone there and won. One mistake and one moment of bad luck meant we were always chasing the game but could have been 1-0 ahead before Norwich scored had Dele hit the target when clean through. Easy to say I know but failing to convert our chances will cost us against the lowest of teams.

Once more, changes sparked a better effort in the second half, with Lucas and Lamela adding an energy to the team that helped win the ball and create both goals. The first goal in game seems vital to us and the fact that we are unable to keep a clean sheet makes the opener all the more important to make sure we score it. Having to chase games at this time of year when they are coming so soon after each other means that players may not have time to recover, so the games against  Southampton and Middlesbrough coming up need to be won from the start to prevent further tiredness among the squad.
 

Stanford Rivers