Brentford (Home) 05.01.2021

With an almost unworrying performance, Tottenham progressed to the League Cup final at Wembley on April 25th, where one of the Manchester clubs will provide the opposition, after they swiped aside a subdued Brentford side, who rarely threatened.

After a corner in the first couple of minutes for Tottenham, it was Brentford that made the brightest start, getting forward without causing too many worries for the Spurs defence. There was not really a lot to report in the first ten minutes, but with 12 minutes on the clock, Tottenham went ahead. Having worked the ball from Kane on the right, across to Reguilon on the left, Regi picked out a Spurs head just ahead of the penalty spot and the ball ended up in the top corner. The strange thing was it was Moussa Sissoko’s head that put the ball there. His well-timed run saw him meet a cross that Pinnock got underneath and Sorensen failed to go to him, having Harry Kane to worry about behind him, resulting in a large amount of space to score the opening goal.

Spurs moved the ball quickly and Moura took Kane’s pass to lay the ball in front of Son to shoot from the edge of the box. Rea was equal to it, as HMS tried to curl the ball past his left side, but his dive palmed the ball away and Aurier put his follow-up cross over the goal. Brentford were losing some of their discipline, with Canos booked before the Son chance with a snide trip on Reguilon and then Janelt took Ndombele from behind well after the ball had gone, so both went into the book.  When Brentford won free-kicks, they piled players forward from the back to add height to their attack. They were playing in the attacking style that they employ in the Championship, but it may have left them open to the counter-attack, but most times they failed to get the ball on target and then when Lloris came for a corner and kicked long to Son, Henry just about got there first to stop a break on goal. When Spurs did attack, it looked as if they were deliberately leaving Son and Kane outside the box to confound the Bees defence, giving the opportunity for others to move into the penalty area without being picked up. The moves didn’t amount to much in the middle of the first half, but you could see the intention.

With 35 minutes gone, Mbuemo put in a ball from the right wing and Toney got his head to it, but it ballooned into the air and Hugo took it under the crossbar, with Davinson Sanchez doing well to get his body between the Brentford striker and the ball to ensure he didn’t get a clean header on it. The away side had a few passes around the Tottenham box, with the move ending with Son’s sliding block denying Dasilva’s drive getting anywhere near goal. Tottenham broke away, won a corner and from it, Moura went for the ball in the air, but it was Toney’s header that needed to be touched away by Rea as it was bound for the top corner.

With no changes at half-time, Mbuemo got past Sanchez, who was then careful not to bring him down in the area, but Aurier made a perfect block as the ball was pulled back to Toney a few yards out. The chance came just after Canos had crudely brought down Lucas Moura after his first half booking, referee Mike Dean brought the captain over to let him know that was going to be his last chance. Aurier than appeared in the box at the other end of the pitch, taking a pass from Moura and then getting the bounce of the ball to take a shot that flew across and over the bar.

Reguilon picked up a booking for blocking Toney as the ball came out of the Brentford defence, but when Tottenham broke next, it was Moura finding Sissoko inside the right side of the box and it looked as if he had made a yard of space but was closed down.  The game was starting to look a little too easy for Tottenham, as they were winning possession regularly, but that is always a worrying sign. Dier spread a ball diagonally to his right and Aurier found Sissoko, who crossed to the other side of the penalty box for Son to volley at goal, but he put the ball back the way it had come and wide of the goal.

As it was, a one goal lead is always tenuous and a long throw from Sorensen was flicked on at the near post by Sissoko to the back of the goal and Reguilon shinned it over the bar. With a corner resulting, the ball went to the far post and Pinnock nodded the ball back across goal. Hugo could only get a hand to it and Toney headed the ball in from just in front of the line in the 63rd minute. There was no offside flag, but VAR adjudged that Tolney had been on the floor when Pinnock headed the ball across and his knee was offside, so the goal was ruled out. Fine margins and a warning to Tottenham not to sit back on a one goal lead.

And Spurs heeded that warning. Reguilon won the ball on the left-hand touchline, with the ball moving through Kane to Ndombele. His inch perfect pass saw Son released between two defenders to go on and sweep it past the advancing Rea into the keeper’s top right-hand corner to make it 2-0. It was a fine piece of finishing and came at just the right time for Tottenham, with Ndombele’s ball exploiting Son’s pace against an open defence.

Jose immediately made a couple of subs, with Winks and Davies replacing Moura and Reguilon. When Frank made a double substitution, it almost back-fired on him, with Kane getting into the box and only stopped by a sharp close-range save by the keeper. Tanguy Ndombele then hit the post after Aurier and Sissoko worked the ball up the right and Kane and Son set up the French midfielder. He made the shooting opportunity his own with a deft touch over the defender and then crashed a shot against the outside of the post.

There was one incident where Brentford were going forward and Harry Kane won a tackle on the edge of his own box. Harry then took the ball forward 50 yards and Tottenham should have made more of the possession high up the pitch, but the ball ran through to Rea after Son tried to play it into the box. Hojbjerg went down after a horrendous challenge on him by ex-Gooner Dasilva, going over the ball and running his studs down the Dane’s shin. Dena looked at the pitch-side monitor and that could only really mean one thing, with the red shown to the Brentford midfielder, who everyone had praised before the game for his excellent performances for the Bees. When Pierre-Emile saw the mess his shin was in with two lines of studs running the length of it down to his ankle, he was incandescent and Mourinho took him off for his own benefit, as he had lost his composure.  Son was given a little breather with Vinicius coming on with a few minutes left plus five minutes added on.

The ball bobbled around the Spurs box as the game ticked into added time, it dropped to Rico Henry, who drilled it over from the left of centre just outside the box. It was partly borne out of defenders not being able to tackle without their arms behind their back for fear of conceding a penalty. The handball interpretation has changed the game and not for the better. Aurier conceded an untidy free-kick alongside the penalty area and Emiliano smashed it at goal, even though it was a tight angle, but Hugo was behind it. He saved it over his head but patted the ball down and had to be sharp to grab it before Toney got a toe on it a couple of feet out from the line. At the other end, the Bees defence backed off and Kane fizzed a shot over the top, but with ten men, it was just a question of managing the ball until the end of the match.

It ended up as a job well done by Spurs, while Brentford gave it a go, but on the night came up short, with not enough up front to create much on goal, despite their neat passing and build-up.  VAR worked in Tottenham’s favour tonight, but then that is what it is there for and Jose takes Spurs to a final in his first full season in charge.  If he can work his magic on the team on 25th April, it might mean that his good run in winning the competition continues too.

Jimmy Fraser

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