Wolverhampton Wanderers (Home) 17.02.2024

Having to start the match without Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie, it seemed like it never rains when it pours for Spurs.  Losing one wing back is unfortunate, but losing two !  Davies and Royal came in, with Bissouma taking Bentancur’s place in midfield and the skipper Son back in instead of Werner.  Would Spurs struggle again at home as they have done since the New Year ?

It looked as though they were up for it, with Richarlison’s cross having to be headed behind for a corner with 30 seconds on the clock.  While that was cleared, the pressure was kept up and the ball was played between Maddison and Richi in the area, but the number of players in front of them prevented the opportunity to shoot.  It was to become a recurring theme during the match, with Tottenham sometimes over-playing around the box, but more often than not, the sheer weight of numbers in red blocked the way.  

During the early part of the match, the referee was letting a lot of pulling and pushing over go, but as the game went on there were decisions given for what had ben allowed previously, making it difficult for fans and players to understand what was and what wasn’t allowed.  One of these early challenges that was allowed to go saw Richarlison dumped on the ground in midfield allowing Semedo to move on with the ball and his s shot from the right just in front of the penalty box.  Vicario got down to it very well and the ball ran out in front of him to Hwang, who managed to fire it over the bar from the six yard line.  The response was a ball into Richarlison’s feet that saw him turn well and he looked to shoot, but his foot went from underneath him forcing his shot to squirt wide.  It was yet another instance of players slipping over, which has happened in the last three home matches.

When Spurs did manage to get a shot away, it fell to Ben Davies, who put his rising shot over the top from 20 yards out and then Gugliermo was soon in action again, diving to his left to hold an attempted curling shot around him by Ait-Nouri.  When Lemina went down holding his head and his own players didn’t put the ball out, it was very frustrating when the referee stopped the game when we had the ball.  It was doubly so later in the half when a shot from long distance hit Taylor and he stopped the game and then allowed the Wolves players to argue that they should have the ball dropped for them and Sarabia refused to retreat the 2 metres from where Taylor was going to drop it.  This showed a lack of authority, which was again shown when instead of herding Wolves players back to the centre circle, following their goals, he just pointed to his watch.  Being allowed to celebrate for a lengthy period in front of the home fans is surely worth as much as a yellow card for a home player going to his own fans to show his joy at scoring.  It is certainly is more inflammatory. 

Sonny put an inviting ball across the face of the goal that would have been ideal for Johnson coming in at the far post, but he was on the bench and nobody was where he would have been.  When a Maddison free-kick went into the box, it was headed out to Pape Matar Sarr around the 18 yard line and he dug his volley into the ground, that produced a panicky moment for the Wolves defence, as Micky van de Ven went for it with his head, but they managed to put it out for a corner, from which we won another, but it couldn’t create a clear chance.  It looked like Wolves might cause a problem when Hwang tried to find a team-mate in the middle with Spurs out-numbered, but Yves Bissouma made a vital interception to stop the attack (which was subsequently flagged offside), but play went on as Tottenham broke away and Richarlison looked for a team-mate when he went down the left but his square pass was also cut out.

Kulusevski went close when van de Ven stepped forward and slipped in Maddison in the left side of the box, with his touch putting the ball slightly behind Dejan, who was only able to jab the ball past the near post.  Three minutes before half-time, Spurs found themselves behind.  Having won a corner on their right wing, the ball was played in to the middle of the goal about six yards out and no white shirt jumping with Gomes, he had a free header that looped into the far top corner to make it 1-0.  It was a bit of a stunner, as we had been the more attacking side, but they were looking to hit on the break and would have almost set up a second if Royal hadn’t cut out a pass that would have freed Sarabia and Hwang on the right side.  Then Vicario made a fine stop to deny Sarabia, but the offside flag was raised late again, as is the practice these days where VAR would be left with the decision if it had gone it.

In truth, it was another disappointing 45 minutes, with Son not looking at his sharpest and Maddison’s prompting wasn’t coming off, leaving us struggling to find a way through.  We didn’t have to wait long, as a throw down near their corner flag on the right was taken into Richarlison in the box.  With Toti behind him, he knocked it backwards to Sarr a yard behind him, but the ball came back and past him, being picked up by Kulusevski.  Taking it with his left foot, he dragged it in one movement away from Ait-Nouri, nudged it past Dawson and with Sa at his near post, took his shot so early with a prod through the keeper’s legs, it went into the net just 35 seconds after the re-start !  It was another startling turnaround start after half-time and we were all hoping for a repeat of the Brentford game.

Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.  The goal caught a lot of the crowd out, as they still hadn’t taken their seats after the interval, including the two men who sat next to me, who turned out to be Romanian and had come to see Radu Dragusin.  Bit of a double disappointment for them, although one of them assured me he enjoyed his beer !

When we did find some space wide, our final ball into the box lacked quality and too often Sa was able to claim it.  Conversely, while the Wolves keeper wasn’t being made to work too hard, Vicario was making another fine reflex save to stop Sarabia’s volley, but straight after Sa had to be alert to dive low to his left to turn Kulusevski’s low drive wide at the foot of his left-hand post.  After Dejan had a volley that was blocked out for a corner, Wolves broke from it and caught us out.  Neto ran into the right hand channel and lost Royal, with Spurs players chasing back, but they all went beyond Gomes, who finished the pass in front of him with a firm shot that beat Vicario to restore their lead.  It seems like Wolves are becoming our bogey side lately, but there was still 27 minutes plus to play, so there was still hope.  

The Wolves goal-scorer was booked for a crude tackle on Royal and was allowed to stay on for a late tackle on Davies and then another bad one, which the referee over-looked as he knew that he would have to send him off.  Maddison drove an effort just over the bar, before Ange made a triple change with Bentancur, Johnson and Werner on for Richarlison, Sarr and Bissouma.  It didn’t change the flow of the game, with Wolves having another opportunity when Royal hooked a pass square to nobody in a white shirt and Neto collected the ball, played it into the middle to Sarabia, but Emerson recovered his mistake by blocking the shot to avert the danger. 

Shots were swapped at both ends, with Lemina’s volley tame into Vicario’s stomach and Sa flopping to his left to save Royal’s low shot, before Emerson went off, much to a section of the crowd’s approval and Lo Celso replaced him, with Maddison leaving the pitch to be replaced by Hojbjerg.  Wolves players were dropping like flies, with Neto hitting a shot way over the bar from just outside the box and then falling to the ground.  The referee bought it every time and didn’t seem to understand that it wasn’t just time-wasting, but breaking the game up and giving them time to regroup.  

van de Ven headed Lo Celso’s free-kick at goal, but Sa took it easily, then Werner did well to work his way into the box near the dead-ball line, managing to get a shot away, but it was blocked and shouts for handball were waved away.  Tottenham’s best chance for an equaliser came four minutes into added time when a left-wing cross from Betancur managed to pick out Davies in the middle of the goal, but his header went wide when he only needed to glance it at goal and it might have found the net.

The best thing that you could say is that Wolves’ tactics worked for them, while it is interesting that they have lost to Crystal Palace, Sheffield United and West Ham, while doing pretty well against the top sides.  It appears that when they open up to try and out-play their opponents, they come unstuck, but when they stifle and defend in numbers, they are more effective.  Whatever gets them their points, I am sure that they don’t care.  But it is a failing that we have seen from Spurs in the past where they are unable to find a way past stubborn defences, with little room to play.  It is about making the most of the openings you do create, which we didn’t do today.

There is now a two week break until we play Crystal Palace on 2nd March.  They will have a new manager in place by then and will be looking to impress him and as it is likely to be Oliver Glasner, I am also sure he will want to show Tottenham what they are missing as he was over-looked for the manager’s job here.

Stan Chun

• Tottenham scored for the 37th consecutive Premier League match, making them the team with record for the second longest sequence since the competition started in 1992.
• It also lengthened the club’s own record for scoring in consecutive league matches.
• Dejan Kulusevski’s goal was the 200th scored by Tottenham in competitive matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers.