COVENTRY CITY
1     TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
2
   
(0) (0)
  Date : –  Wednesday 18th September 2024
Kick off : –  20.00
  Competition : –  League Cup Third Round
Venue : –  Coventry Building Society Arena
  Crowd : –  24,606
  Referee : –  Darren England (Sheffield & Hallamshire) Linesmen : – Mr. Nick Greenhalgh; Mr. Akil Howson
  Fourth official : –  Stephen Martin
  Weather : –  Cloudy, chilly
  Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North Stand end
  Playing time : –   90 + 7 minutes

 

COVENTRY CITY TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
GOAL-SCORERS
      Asante  62m 41s   Spence  87m 04s  (asst.  Kulusevski)
         Johnson  90+1m 33s   (asst.  Bentancur)
  CARDS
    Binks (foul on Gray)  25   Maddison (dissent) 90
    Allen (delaying play) 55     
    Kitching (delaying play as a substitute) 85     
    Asante (foul on Maddison) 90+4     
   
  TEAMS
13.   Ben WILSON 20.   Fraser FORSTER
     
27.   Milan van EWIJK 14.   Archie GRAY
4.   Bobby THOMAS 6.   Radu DRAGUSIN
2.   Luis BINKS  33.   Ben DAVIES  (c)
21.   Jake BIDWELL 13.   Destiny UDOGIE  (  24.   Djed SPENCE  46  )  
       
28.   Josh ECCLES  (c)  (  14.   Ben SHEAF  71)  29.   Pape Matar SARR
8.   Jamie ALLEN  30.   Rodrigo BENTANCUR
15.   Lucas BERGVALL  (  10.   James MADDISON  62 
23.   Brandon THOMAS-ASANTE      
5.   Jack RUDONI  (  29.   Victor TORP  78)  28.   Wilson ODOBERT  (  21.   Brennan JOHNSON  18   
11.   Haji WRIGHT  (  10.   Ephron MASON-CLARKE  71) 19.   Dominic SOLANKE  (  7.   Heung-Min SON  62) 
    16.   Timo WERNER  (  21.   Dejan KULUSEVSKI  74) 
37.   Norman BASSETTE  (  9.   Ellis SIMMS  70)   
Substitutes Substitutes
  40.   Bradley COLLINS 1.   Guglielmo VICARIO
  51.   Harvey BROAD 23.   Pedro PORRO
  54.   Kai ANDREWS 3.   Sergio REGUILON
  15.   Liam KITCHING  47.   Mikey MOORE
  7.   Tatsuhiro SAKAMOTO   

    = Assist        =  Goal scored       =  Own goal scored

Manager : –  Mark Robins Manager : –  Ange Postecoglou
Kit Supplier : – Hummel Kit Supplier : – Nike
Shirt Sponsor : – Monzo Shirt Sponsor : – AIA
Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : –  Mercury Shirt Sleeve Sponsor : – Kraken
Colours : –  Sky Blue Shirts
                    White Shirts
Sky Blue socks
Colours : –
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website

 

MATCH REPORT
  While Spurs progressed to the Fourth Round of the League Cup, the late come-back win show not paper over the cracks of what was a rank bad performance, salvaged by a couple of decent goals that saved an embarrassing exit from the competition.

An early loose pass by Fraser Forster, playing his first match since we were knocked out of last season’s League Cup, made Lucas Bergvall stretch and the ball was only diverted to Rudoni. From the edge of the box, he shot, but it was too near Forster and he pushed it wide for a corner. The set-piece was played in to the near post and Fraser grabbed it nervously at the second attempt.

The aggressive approach by the home team involved lots of pushing and hands on marking, so there were plenty of turnovers and lost possession. Wilson  Odobert got hit by a challenge that resulted in him having to leave the pitch, as Brennan Johnson came off the bench to take his place with only 16 minutes gone. There was lots of possession in the middle third of the pitch without much danger being caused in either penalty area.  Both Werner and Johnson were sticking to the side-lines but passes to them were always behind them, making them turn back rather than being able to  run forward with it. When someone could run at the Coventry defence. Gray was cynically brought down by former Spurs Academy defender Binks, who got a yellow card for his foul.

Timo Werner had to slide in to block a shot after Udogie had been the victim of a clash of heads in the Tottenham box, but when the corner came in Forster’s height helped him punch the ball away.  It wasn’t until the 38th minute when there was another effort on goal. And it was a left wing cross from Coventry that went beyond all the players in the box except for Rudoni, who drifted in at the far post and stroked a volley on target, but Destiny blocked it in the six yard box. Then Bassett burst through for a shot that was always rising over the bar.

The half petered out, with Spurs conceding possession too easily or failing to combine with team-mates in mis-understanding where players would be running.  Postecoglou brought on Spence as a direct replacement for Udogie as both sides were giving the ball away cheaply at the start of the second half. Johnson fired in a shot from the right after a good run by Solanke, but it hit a defender and went out for a corner. When it was played in, there were players all over the floor as the bumping and pushing went on.

When Spurs looked to play the ball out, there was nobody ready to take the ball on the half-turn to go past an opponent. When Spurs lost the ball, it was a simple forward pass that released Bassette and his low shot was well saved by Forster. Another looped ball forward almost found the same player until Spence appeared to put the ball out for a corner taking it off the forward’s toe. Forster came for the corner and let the ball slip through his hands when it should have been an easy catch and when Coventry played a high ball forward, he had a rush of blood, coming rushing out of his penalty area. Bassette was under it, but the keeper’s jump missed him, then bumping into Dragusin and the ball ran loose behind them to Asante, who slid the ball at the open goal, but Ben Davies made a fine sliding interception to put the ball away for another corner.  Nerves were jangling in the Spurs defence and it was Forster who was causing most of them. Some of it might have been due to players unused to playing together, but a lot was down to basic communication.

Tottenham’s best chance came from a Bergvall corner when Davies came in and powered a header at goal and the keeper had to make a reflex save to concede another corner.  The goal for the home side eventually came in the 63rd minute, when a break down the left saw the ball played in low by Bassette and Asante had got in behind Davies to slide his shot in at the near post and it was all the Sky Blues deserved. Coming just after the Spurs substitutions, it was a bad time for Tottenham to concede, as not having looked like scoring they now had to get two.

Twice Mason-Clarke came in at the far post to take a ball across from Ellis Simms.  First time he guided it wide but was offside, the second time he did the same from an onside position, so it could easily have been 0-2.

Spence did well to win the ball as a defender looked to shield it out and it came back to substitute Kulusevski (who came on when Werner got injured) and then the Swede had his follow-up shot blocked.  That was a pre-cursor to a nice move started by Bentancur, who was probably Tottenham’s best player and saw Maddison turn the ball forward for Kulusevski to nudge it on into the box. There he found Djed Spence running on and despite being pushed over by van Ewijk, he reached the ball and poked it past Wilson to make it 1-1.

It was Bentancur again who started an injury time move when he won the ball in midfield, moved forward and for once, the ball was played in front of Johnson. As the ball ran into the penalty area, the keeper came off his line to close Brennan down, but the winger put the ball wide of the keeper to find the opposite bottom corner to turn the game around in Tottenham’s favour.

Coventry started losing their heads and Asante’s snide knee in Maddison’s arse brought him a booking, as the game came to an end shortly after. It brought an end to a match that saw Spurs poor for the majority of the match and maybe it was the difference in quality that prevented Coventry from getting a second goal and when Spurs were presented with a couple of opportunities, they finished clinically. That hasn’t happened too much for Tottenham this season, but it shows that when you put the ball in front of a player with a well-weighted pass, they are more than capable of doing the rest.

Coventry did well against a mix and match Spurs side that was much like the one Ange put out to face Fulham last season, when we were knocked out on penalties.  This time he got lucky and while he tried to juggle the squad in the four competitions we will be playing in this season, it might be necessary to pick a bit more of an experienced side to get ahead before resting some players. The injuries to Werner and Odobert won’t help things either.

More direct play brought about both goals, so the difference between the laboured slow build-up that typified the Spurs play in the first 80 minutes. It was more like the way we played last season and hopefully, it might make the players more aware of the way to get past defences. However, as much as the win was achieved by Spence and Johnson’s goals, great credit must go to Ben Davies, who stopped a certain goal when Asante looked certain to score after the Forster/Dragusin clash.

Then again … green kit … last minute winner.

Sound familiar ??

Sparky Marky

 

MATCH NOTES
 

 

OTHER RESULTS
  Stoke City  (won 2-1 on pens) 1 Fleetwood Town 1
  Blackpool 0 Sheffield Wednesday 1
  Brentford 3 Leyton Orient 1
  Everton 1 South Coast Big Club  (won 6-5 on pens) 1
  Preston North End  (won 16-15 on pens) 1 Fulham 1
  Mancashter United 7 Barnsley 0
  Queens Park Rangers 1 Crystal Palace 2
  Brighton & Hove Albion 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2
  AFC Wimbledon Newcash United
  Chelsea Barrow
  Mancashter City Watford
  Walsall
Leicester City
  Wycombe Wanderers Aston Villa
  Woolwich Wanderers Bolton Wanderers
  Liverpool West Ham United London