WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1 (0) | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0 (0) |
Date : – Saturday 4th March 2023 | Kick off : – 15.00 |
Competition : – Premier League | Venue : – Molineux |
Crowd : – 31,585 |
Referee : – Tom Robinson (Sussex) | Linesmen : – Mr. Scott Ledger; Mr. Nick Greenhalgh |
Fourth official : – Paul Tierney | |
VAR official : – Neil Swarbrick | VAR Assistant : – Gary Beswick |
Weather : – Chilly, cloudy | |
Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the Sir Jack Hayward Stand end | |
Playing time : – 90 + 13 minutes |
WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | ||
GOAL-SCORERS | |||
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Traore 81m 35s | ![]() |
None |
CARDS | |||
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Neves (foul on Perisic) 45+4 | ![]() |
Kulusevski (foul on Kilman) 61 |
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WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS | TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR | ||
1. | Jose SA | 20. | Fraser FORSTER |
22. | Nelson SEMEDO | 17. | Cristian ROMERO |
15. | Craig DAWSON | 34. | Clement LENGLET |
23. | Max KILMAN | 33. | Ben DAVIES ( 9. RICHARLISON 85) |
19. | JONNY | ||
23. | Pedro PORRO ( 12. Emerson ROYAL 81) | ||
8. | Ruben NEVES ![]() |
4. | Oliver SKIPP |
5. | Mario LEMINA ( 37. Adama TRAORE 46) | 5. | Pierre-Emile HOJBJERG |
14. | Ivan PERISIC | ||
21. | Pablo SARABIA ( 12. Matheus CUNHA 67) | ||
27. | Matheus NUNES ( 9. Joao MOUTINHO 67) | 21. | Dejan KULUSEVSKI ![]() |
7. | Pedro NETO ( 4. Nathan COLLINS 46) | 7. | Heung-Min SON |
29. | Diego COSTA ( 9. Raul JIMINEZ 28) | 10. | Harry KANE |
Substitutes | Substitutes | ||
25. | Daniel BENTLEY | 40. | Brandon AUSTIN |
3. | Rayan AIT-NOURI | 6. | Davinson SANCHEZ |
35. | Joao GOMES | 15. | Eric DIER |
24. | Toti GOMES | 25. | Japhet TANGANGA |
29. | Pape Matar SARR | ||
16. | Arnaut DANJUMA |
= Assist
= Goal scored
= Own goal scored
Manager : – Julen Lopetegui | Manager : – Antonio Conte |
Kit Supplier : – Castore | Kit Supplier : – Nike |
Shirt Sponsor : – AstroPay | Shirt Sponsor : – AIA |
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – 12Bet.com | Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – cinch |
Colours : –![]() |
Colours : –![]() |
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website | |
MATCH REPORT |
When Spurs play this well and lose, I am always more frustrated than we were are not on it. Hitting the woodwork twice, Jose Sa having a Man of the Match performance and some poor finishing left Wolves to take the points with a late sucker-punch goal from Traore and leave Tottenham beaten twice in the space of four days by a goal scored at the tail-end of the match.
Some odd changes in the Spurs team saw them line up without Eric Dier and Emerson Royal, with Clement Lenglet and Pedro Porro taking their places, but they started the match with vigour … well, more than we saw on Wednesday. Within a couple of minute, Porro picking up on a blocked shot by Kulusevski and tried to bend it in with his right foot, but it went wide of the goal. Then Sonny hit a shot that Sa had to be alert to keep out and the keeper almost handed an opportunity to Harry Kane when Skipps’ blocked shot skewed wide and Sa tried to keep the ball in. Close to the edge of his area, he made a mess of it and was lucky that the ball went out for a corner, although Dawson was covering, but it could easily have given Harry the chance to make something of it. Tottenham’s passing was sharp and accurate, with no problem getting into the Wolves half, but the difficult part was making something of it. A neat move saw Son pass to Kulusevski on the right and he tried to bend a left-foot shot into the opposite side of the goal, but Sa stretched to get a hand on it and push it wide for a corner. Diego Costa, who was probably included in the team to wind up Romero, ended up being stretchered off with a knee injury after 28 minutes with Jiminez replacing him. Kilman then took a blow in the face when defending and there was a lot of time spent treating him when Spurs really wanted to maintain the momentum they had built up. The chances kept coming, as Perisic got in behind Lemina from Son’s free-kick from the right and flung himself to head the ball which forced Sa to beat it out for a corner and then Son did well to take the ball on past the goalie, but he shot over the bar, but there were defenders on the line and he was given offside anyway. The fourth official showed eight minutes of time to be added and halfway through it, Spurs broke away with four against three until Perisic took Son’s pass on and was dragged down by Neves, who got a yellow card. It was the opportunity to make the most of a free-kick a yard outside the box, just to the left of the D. It signalled the crossbar being rattled twice within a couple of minutes either side of half-time. Son, Kane and Porro stood over it and as Sonny peeled away form the ball, Pedro stepped up and smashed a right-foot shot over the wall, but saw the ball bounced away off the bar. Perhaps we have finally found someone who can take our free-kicks. Within two minutes of the restart the bar was struck again, as Son moved into the box, did a step-over and was disappointed to see his left foot effort came back out off the woodwork. Hojbjerg was strong in the tackle to take the ball off Semedo on halfway to start that move and then Kane put Son away on the left. While Forster had to take one low cross on the bounce in the first half, Wolves had threatened rarely and it took until five minutes into the second half for them to create a decent opportunity. Jiminez got in on the left side of the area and managed to pull the ball across the face of goal, where Semedo couldn’t quite get to it to slide it in. Lemina’s detail seemed to be to kick Harry Kane whenever he got the ball and Semedo followed suit, although when Harry took the free-kick, he hit the wall and Porro followed up with a shot, but that was blocked too. Forster was called into action to keep out a Jiminez header low down to his right with a very good stop, while Sa had the easy task of collecting a Lenglet header after a corner had come back in and Sonny tested Sa with a shot from about 30 yards out, with the keeper diving to his left to save. After Kulusevski had been booked, Spurs attacked again, with Skipp’s perceptive pass putting Kulusevski in space before he played it to Porro whose effort was deflected, causing Sa to use his feet to be able to tip the ball over for yet another corner. Wolves were defending with numbers and so it was difficult to find space – even from dead-ball situations – and they were now looking a bit livelier in attack, with Traore and Moutinho causing more problems. Forster had to be quick to get down to his right to save a long-range effort and then Neves hit the target with his effort as play continued, with Fraser pushing the shot over the top. Neves then fizzed an effort over the bar and Cunha should have done better when he was in the box, but put his effort wide. A spell of pressure won a corner and Son’s ball in was punched clear, but Lucas Moura, on as a sub, recycled it into Kane and his shot was blocked. From this corner, it came out to Perisic, but his volley went wide. Entering the last ten minutes, it looked as if it would end all square, but Moutinho found Jiminez 20 yards out and he moved the ball forward before letting fly, forcing Forster to dive to block the shot. The ball went out to just inside the penalty area, but Traore was there to hook a volley into the top right hand corner of the keeper’s goal to give the home side a richly undeserved lead. With just eight minutes left, Spurs were tasked with trying to do what they hadn’t in the time leading up to the goal. We did try and a good passing move saw Royal’s cross go out for a corner and from that we had a shot scrambled away, with Perisic playing it into the box where Kane got a head on it, but didn’t meet it right and the ball squirted wide. Wolves thought they had done the unusual when they had the ball in the net for a second time, but when Semedo’s shot gave Jiminez the easy task of netting the ball, he was a long way offside. Killing time in the corner, Wolves saw out the game that dented Tottenham’s hopes of a top four finish, having seen Newcash beaten earlier in the day. It seems like every time there is a chance to cement fourth place, we fail. This Wolves team is noted for not scoring a lot of goal so one would have been enough to get something from the match and coming after the wins over Chelsea and West Ham it is so frustrating. Just how the prioritisation of competitions within the club is come to, I don’t know. We have thrown away the League and FA Cups already this season and so it appears a top four place and the Champions League is all we are chasing. It is not going well though it it ? East Stan |
MATCH NOTES |
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OTHER RESULTS | |||
Mancashter City | 2 | Newcash United | 0 |
Woolwich Wanderers | 3 | AFC Bournemouth | 2 |
Aston Villa | 1 | Crystal Palace | 0 |
Brighton & Hove Albion | 4 | West Ham United London | 0 |
Chelsea | 1 | Leeds United | 0 |
South Coast Big Club | 1 | Leicester City | 0 |
Nottingham Forest | 2 | Everton | 2 |
Liverpool | 7 | Mancashter United | 0 |
– | Brentford | – | |
– | Fulham | – |
Premier League Table 2022-23
Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | For | Against | Points | Goal difference | ||
1 | Woolwich Wanderers | 26 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 59 | 25 | 63 | +34 |
2 | Mancashter City | 26 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 66 | 25 | 58 | +41 |
3 | Mancashter United | 25 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 41 | 35 | 49 | +6 |
4 | Tottenham Hotspur | 26 | 14 | 3 | 9 | 46 | 36 | 45 | +10 |
5 | Liverpool | 25 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 47 | 28 | 42 | +19 |
6 | Newcash United | 24 | 10 | 11 | 3 | 35 | 17 | 41 | +18 |
7 | Fulham | 25 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 36 | 31 | 39 | +5 |
8 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 23 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 43 | 29 | 38 | +14 |
9 | Brentford | 23 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 37 | 30 | 35 | +7 |
10 | Chelsea | 25 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 24 | 25 | 34 | -1 |
11 | Aston Villa | 25 | 10 | 4 | 11 | 31 | 38 | 34 | -7 |
12 | Crystal Palace | 25 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 21 | 32 | 27 | -11 |
13 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 19 | 35 | 27 | -16 |
14 | Nottingham Forest | 25 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 20 | 44 | 26 | -24 |
15 | Leicester City | 25 | 7 | 3 | 15 | 36 | 43 | 24 | -7 |
16 | West Ham United London | 25 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 23 | 33 | 23 | -10 |
17 | Leeds United | 25 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 29 | 40 | 22 | -11 |
18 | Everton | 26 | 5 | 7 |
14 | 19 | 28 | 22 | -19 |
19 | South Coast Big Club | 25 | 6 | 3 | 16 | 20 | 41 | 21 | -21 |
20 | AFC Bournemouth | 25 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 24 | 51 | 21 | -27 |