Wolverhampton Wanderers (Home) 16.05.2021

Spurs were comfortable 2-0 winners over Wolves at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this afternoon, with the Black Country side a pale shadow of those faced in previous encounters since their rise back to the Premier League.

It was a sunny start as Spurs kicked off in the penultimate home game of the season., with the South Stand roof casting it’s latticework pattern over the Wolves penalty area.

The visitors were looking long in the first few minutes, with lone striker Fabio Silva the target, but the passes were too long for him. Five minutes in and Hojbjerg found Kane 25 yards out, with H letting go a shot from right of centre to his the goalpost to the keeper’s right, as Patricio struggled to reach the early take by Kane. The shot was fired in with barely a look at goal and that was what made it difficult for the Wolves goalie to react.

The first Wolves effort came a couple of minutes later when Silva was in the left side of the Spurs box on his own and he tried to beat Hugo Lloris at his near post, but the keeper got everything behind it.  Traore is hard to stop once he gets a head of steam up and he moved forty yards forward to release Silva to his right, but Dier blocked his effort that went out for a corner on the other side of the pitch.  When it came in Hugo made a loud claim for it but was fortunate to catch it off the back of Toby Alderweireld at the second attempt.

A couple of what looked like fouls on Traore were actually him following into a white shirt, as the game slipped into a slow-paced affair with passes going astray. Giovani Lo Celso quickened things up when the ball ran away from Harry Kane on the edge of the box and he shot first time, with the ball deflecting off a Wolves defender over the bar. After the corner was cleared, Saiss bundled Lo Celso over and Bale struck the free-kick to the keeper’s right and Patricio got down to it to save in front of his goal-line.

Another free-kick when Kane nipped in ahead of Moutinho, who caught him on the ankle, gave another dead-ball situation to Spurs and Bale clipped it into the right-hand channel in the box, catching out the Wolves defence, but Harry couldn’t wrap his foot around it to get it on target.  A super piece of trickery by Dele Alli nut-megging Dendoncker down by the right-wing corner flag then and pulling the ball back from the dead-ball line saw it cleared for a corner, but none of the officials noticed (unsurprisingly). Traore then made another burst through the middle of the field and set up Silva as he had done before, but the striker pulled it across the goal from the right.

Kane won a big cross-field pass in the air flicking it on to Son inside the box on the left. He did a step-over and drive in a shot that Patricio beat out and Wolves had a bit of luck when it hit Dendoncker’s knee and went straight at the keeper. A foot either side and it would have been in. A deep cross was jumped for by Dele but it was over him and Hoever got a touch out for a corner. Or it would have been if Atkinson and the linesmen had been watching the game.

Dele was involved again when Bale got through on the right wing and his low ball back towards the England midfielder saw Saiss just beat him to the ball with a stretching tackle. The corner caused chaos, with Patricio not getting to a flick on in the air and Kane’s headed it at goal from close range and Cady stopped it on the line. The ball went out to the right and Lo Celso and with the keeper remonstrating with the ref about a foul, Gio bent the ball in towards the near post, only for Coady to kick it clear as it was going in again.

A minute before half-tie, Tottenham were not to be denied thia time. A through pass saw Coady pushing up for offside, but Semedo on the left was playing Harry Kane onside. Hojbjerg’s ball down the middle sent him clear.  Moving the ball across Coady and then shaping to shoot, forcing the Wolves captain to dive in, but another touch freed him to slide the ball past the keeper from 12 yards out to put Tottenham ahead a
minute before the break.

A minute into the second half, Silva screamed after Lo Celso won the ball and slipped in doing so, making contact with the visiting striker, but play was waved on and Kane was taken out by Saiss (a cynical and not his first foul) to give Spurs a free-kick on the left wing that they could make anything of.

From the second phase of a free-kick to Wolves, However put a cross in for Saiss, who had got between Kane and Alderweireld, but his feeble header went gently at Lloris. A break at the other end saw Son forcing Siass to give away a corner, but it was cleared away. This seemed to make Tottenham pick up the pace and a neat passing move around the edge of the box brought a chance for Reguilon, breaking
on the left onto Son’s touch and his shot was pushed over the bar by Patricio.

On 53 minutes, Dele robbed Moutinho, who fell to the floor holding his ankle, but there was no foul.  Dele took the ball forty yards forward before putting the ball through Dendoncker’s legs for Kane to break into the area. Despite Semedo looking to pull him back, he put his shot across the keeper, but a touch on the ball took it onto his right-hand post. It came out to Dele and his shot hit the other post
before rebounding out. Fortune was favouring the Midlanders.  Kane drove another shot in when Bale back-heeled it to him and Patricio got down to his left to get his body behind the ball. Vitinha had a couple of chances, but pulled them wide of the goal.

When Reguilon stretched to keep in a fierce pass from Dele, it looked like However would tidy up the ball. However, Sergio slid the ball away from him and too the ball to the dead-ball line before pulling it back for Heung-Min Son. He took control of the ball and played it to his right to Gareth Bale, how drilled in a low first time shot that Patricio did well to get down to, but he pushed it out right in front of goal. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was alive to it and got to the ball before Coady, who reacted slowly, firing the ball into the net to give Spurs a 2-0 advantage. It was good determination by Reguilon that kept the ball for Spurs and PEH was alert to the loose ball to convert it into a goal.

Wolves brought on Willian Jose for Vitinha and the tempo was upped by Nuno Santo’s side. Traore and Gibbs-White created an opportunity for Silva, but he dragged it across goal and wide. Then Traore ran from halfway and cut inside Dier, but dragged his shot wide of the near post, when it looked as though he might have threatened the Tottenham goal.

Having weathered the Wolves storm, Tottenham went about managing the ball. It wasn’t too exciting, but they were playing around the Wolves press, although when the away side did break forward, Traore set up Moutinho, only for his shot to be blocked for a corner by Tanganga. The corner looked dangerous, but Dele kept Jose from getting near the cross.

Winks won the ball twice on the halfway line, as Wolves players looked like they had ended their season early and Son played it wide to Kane on his right. Harry came infield and hit a low, tame effort straight at the keeper. There was little else of note that went on, other than Japhet picking up a yellow card for persistent fouling (the one that brought the booking was a bit needless), which he needs to learn from,
although he showed good aggression when Wolves were on the ball.

Wolves had a lot of luck in the match to prevent them being over-whelmed, but a lot of their players were weak in challenges and on the ball. Even the bull-like Traore looked as if he couldn’t be bothered most of the match. It casts a shadow over rumours that Nuno Espirito Santo is being put in the hat for the Tottenham manager’s job. The only spell when they looked dangerous was when they were 0-2 behind and they have lost a lot of points when leading. There seemed little plan about how to approach the match, other than defending corners better than they had done previously this season. In terms of motivating his side and making changes that would spark a response, his passive stance on the touchline was reminiscent of Mourinho’s later days in our dugout.

So, two games left and, as always, they are must win matches.  Let’s hope we can win matches.

Pete Stachio

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