West Ham United London (Away) 02.04.2024

West Ham won a corner soon after the restart and Vicario flapped at it, knocking it down for Kudus to poke over the bar. They didn’t surround the keeper, but Zouma was at the back post waiting for a longer cross, while Soucek went up in the middle of the goal. It was an open game, with Spurs winning the ball high up the pitch and resulting in a shot from the right by Porro that skidded off the turf to skim wide of the far post.  Some more neat passing around the West Ham box after a poor clearance brought a shot from Son, but Fabianski was comfortably able to reach and hold the effort.  While West Ham tried to force Spurs back, they were dropping deep in a repeat of the game at the THS earlier in the season.  However, winning a corner on their right in the 19th minute, Bowen swung it in with Zouma running in from the back post to get it into the net off his back. It was against the run of play, but now Tottenham had to do it all over again.

Bentancur was dictating midfield, with his little runs and short passes that kept the ball moving around the opposition players. Brennan Johnson put in a couple of dangerous crosses; one that Fabianski tied to punch, but the ball skidded off his fists fortunately going out of danger and then another ripped across the face of goal with Werner not able to get to it at the far post. The home side were sitting in, hoping to break away when they got the ball and they did when Spurs gave the ball away twice in the centre circle. They played the ball forward and won a free-kick when Romero fouled Bowen. Ward-Prowse took it from 30 yards out and it was dipping under the bar, but Guglielmo fisted it out.

There were three corners for the Irons, but Spurs won them in the air when they came into the box. Some fat bloke in a number nine claret and blue shirt wanted a penalty when he made a back for Romero to come over and head the ball. Tottenham won three corners in added time, but the closest anything came from them was a shot wide by Bentancur from the last one that ended the first half.

During the first half, there had been a slow build-up by Spurs, but, when they did find space, there were enough crosses to have brought more than one goal, but there were not enough white shirts gambling on the ball coming in.  West Ham’s main threat came from set-pieces, as they had their minds set on defending rather than grabbing a piece of the attacking action.

Spurs almost threw a goal away at the start of the second half when Bentancur passed straight to a West Ham player and the ball dropped for the West Ham centre forward to shoot, but Vicario was equal to it and pushed it to safety.  Then Paqueta had a shot on the turn that fizzed wide before a Johnson cross went all the way across goal without a Spurs player getting a touch on it and then Maddison smashed a shot into Soufal’s sizeable arse.  Bissouma put a shot wide when he should have been testing the keeper and Spurs should have had a free-kick inside the D of the West Ham box, but the referee failed to see it from three yards away.  That allowed a hoof upfield that a West Ham player received looking offside and then he fouled Micky van de Ven before scuffing a weak shot to Vicario’s right, to where he had already dived.  I don’t think that player has much ground to criticise other forwards with efforts like that.  

There were nine men within 10 yards of the edge of the home area to defend when Spurs had the ball, but Tottenham still managed to create a shot for Porro, but it was straight at the keeper.  Ange brought on Pape Matar Sarr for Bentancur and Kulusevski for Maddison with 20 minutes left as he tried to effect a change in the way we were able to break the Irons down.  Sarr won the ball near halfway that saw it worked out to Werner, whose shot was deflected over for a corner, but in truth there were few chances for either side in the last 20 minutes of the match until the last minute of added time when Lo Celso touched on Kulusevski’s cross and it went to Udogie, but his shot went straight at Fabianski.  Spurs then broke three-on-three which ended with Kulusevski’s cross being blocked and West Ham broke, with players offside and running back from off the pitch, they couldn’t make anything of it and the match ended in a draw.

Quite how Tottenham ended up with four bookings to one of West Ham only the referee would know.  When Ward-Prowse knocked the ball away after he had a decision go against him, where was the yellow card that the ref so readily waved at Micky just before half-time ?  And the “fouls” committed by Romero and Bentancur were no worse than the two Paqueta put in.  Now, it may not have changed the result of the game, but once on a booking, it causes players to play within themselves and without the consistency that is the very least you can expect from the man in the middle, it leaves some players walking a tightrope, while others have free rein to commit more fouls.

This match was another example of packed defences proving an obstacle to Tottenham’s way to goal.  A lot of the attacks broke down on the edge of the West Ham box when our players had to turn back as there was little space to play the ball through to a team-mate and as the home side fell back towards their own goal, the match became a stalemate, which is probably what they wanted.

The result puts us a point closer to Villa, who are in fourth place, with their visit to Mancashter City to come tomorrow.  It puts extra emphasis on our remaining games, which include playing the top three, with two London derbies and two matches against teams in the bottom three.  None will be easy and the team will need to be sharper to achieve their eventual aim of European qualification this season.

Carl Francis

• Heung-Min Son made his 400th Spurs appearance.
• Yves Bissouma played his 50th Tottenham match.