LASK (Away) 03.12.2020

What had been a mess of a match for 80 minutes burst into life in the last 25 minutes, with a late goal earning LASK a point, with Spurs progressing out of the group courtesy of the 3-3 draw and will face a winner takes all match with Royal Antwerp next week to determine the group winners.

The home team came out quickly and tried to pen Spurs in their own last third. A third minute corner was cleared by Bale to Ranftl, who was 30 yards out and his shot went off for a throw-in. When Bale lost the ball on our right, a cross came in that cleared everyone, but it was played back in forcing Sanchez to a sliding block to prevent LASK taking the lead. Shortly after, Eggestein struck the base of Joe Hart’s left-hand post from the edge of the box.

Tottenham then broke on LASK and a better ball from Son might have put Bale in, but they had to settle for a corner, which failed to produce a chance. While LASK’s three front men were trying to press forward, their team-mates were guilty of loose passes giving the ball away, thus interrupting any fluency. Having said that Tottenham’s passing wasn’t up to their usual standard either. It made for a stuttering, bitty game.

Joe Hart had to be alert to twice deny Renner. His first was a drive from just inside the box on the left side, which Joe had to punch out on 20 minutes and the second, on the half hour, saw the keeper come off his line smartly to block the shot with his chest, showing good awareness.  Tottenham had a break when Lo Celso ran 50 yards with the ball, but ran into a bunch of pink shirts and when Gio was brought down 25 yards from goal, it allowed Gareth Bale to have a go at goal form the free-kick. His shot was blocked by Michorl’s hands as he jumped to stop the shot, so he got a booking and the ball was moved forward 10 yards to provide Bale to try again. Once more he hit the wall, but it came back to him to volley at goal, with the ball pinging around the box until it was cleared.

It was handing the home team the advantage that Spurs were too slow on the ball and the bad passing bug was spreading to Gio. When Doherty slipped in possession when he was 25 yards from the LASK goal, the pink shirted players worked the ball forward and Michorl struck a dipping shot from 28 yards that dipped in front of Hart’s dive to give them a deserved 1-0 lead. It was a piece of play that typified Tottenham’s evening, with sloppy play and allowing LASK to take the initiative.

Some great play from a throw-in between Son and Moura on the left wing saw Lucas play the ball across the box and Ndombele’s shot was  blocked by Andrade’s hand as he slid to block the ball. All the yellow shorts appealed and the referee took a moment before pointing to the  spot. It was the first decent move that Tottenham put together, but it may have been against the way the play had gone. However, Bale was given the responsibility to take the penalty and he confidently stroked it to the keeper’s right, sending him the wrong way and levelling the score.  It was the last kick of the half and perhaps saved the side from a Mourinho tongue-lashing, as they had been pretty
abysmal in the previous 46 minutes.

Right at the start of the second half, LASK almost found a man at the far post with a long cross, but they only got a corner.

Spurs took the lead when Tanguy Ndombele won the ball off Madsen inside the centre circle and set Son in on goal, with Heung-Min taking it on into the box on the right side, sliding it across the keeper who was protecting his near post. It was out of keeping with the nature of the second half, which was scrappy, with Spurs unable to string anything together, but it is about taking your chances and Son is one of the best at that.

The snow behind the goals showed how cold it was and whether that had any bearing on Tottenham’s performance, with a home game at the weekend in the Premier League ahead. When Ndombele again won the ball, this time on the edge of his own box, Lo Celso put the ball beyond the LASK defence. Son had to leave it as he had been offside, so he let Bale ran it up the right side and went into the middle to receive a square ball. However, when it came, it was behind him and the chance evaporated like the home back four had to allow the break in the first place.

Little in terms of goal-scoring chances were being created, with substitute Karamoko dragging a shot wide from 18 yards and Hojbjerg firing over at the far post from a very tight angle following a corner.  Twice Bale tried to release Son, with the first bringing a linesman’s flag and the second intercepted by a desperate leg stretched out by a defender. The Ivory Coast man picked up a yellow card, as he pushed Hojbjerg in the face and then blocked a shot from Reiter.

Following some substitutions by Mourinho to see the game out, a through ball by Andrade to Eggestein saw the striker smash a low shot that Hart got a forearm to, but couldn’t keep out.  It was a bit of a shock, as Spurs were looking as comfortable as they had all match (although that wasn’t much to write home about) and coming in the 86th minute, would there be time for Spurs to grab a winner ?

When Steven Bergwijn ran through on goal onto Sanchez’s long ball, he looked good for a shot on goal until he was dragged down by Wiesinger and the referee gave a penalty, just when it looked as though LASK had got back into the game. Dele grabbed the ball straight away, having just come on as a sub and he drove the ball just left of centre, as the keeper dived out of the way. So, Spurs took the lead again with four minutes of the 90 left and it was against the run of play, but poor defending by LASK allowed it to happen.

With a couple of minutes of added time left, the ball was played up to Karamoko 20 yards out and he had space enough to curl a shot inside Hart’s left hand post to make the score 3-3. He wasn’t closed down and Sanchez allowed him the time to score what was a very good goal and pull a point out of the game for LASK.

Two penalties for Tottenham almost turned this match in our favour, just as LASK were hoping to secure a grip on the game. The first at the end of the first half prevented them going into the break with a lead and the second, straight after LASK had equalised, but the home side kept going and earned the draw that reflected their performance.

Doherty had a bit of a nightmare performance really, apart from a couple of good defensive interventions. He was responsible for losing possession for the LASK goal. Regularly giving the ball away and making the wrong decisions when passing the ball. It may be a throwback to his positive Covid-19 test, but he needs to sharpen up now that he is playing for Tottenham.  He wasn’t alone, as Sanchez failed to enhance his reputation with some panicky clearance, committing himself and letting the ball go for their second goal and then not getting close to Karamoko for the third.

A bad day at the office really, with Mourinho criticising some players for the attitude they approached this match with.  However, we got a point out of it and go through to the knock-out stage, but to win the group would hand us an advantage in those games, so winning against Antwerp next week takes on a more important look. 

Ted Maul

Gareth Bale scores his 200th career goal  (Southampton 5, Tottenham 57, Wales 33, Real Madrid 105).