West Ham United London (Home) 18.10.2020

A goal at the very start of the match and a goal at the very end saw a turnaround that left Spurs wondering how a 3-0 lead had evaporated to leave them having to settle for a point against West Ham United London.

45 seconds in and this time around, it was Spurs who took the lead. West Ham went forward from the kick off and when Spurs got the ball off them. It was worked through Sissoko and Ndombele to Harry Kane, whose rangy pass forward to the left picked out  Heung-Min Son. Running at Balbuena, he took him into the box, before coming inside onto his right foot and curling a shot wide of
Fabianski’s dive to his left to give Tottenham a very quick start. Let’s hope it wasn’t a role reversal of the United match.

Davinson Sanchez had already given the ball away with a poor pass soon after the kick-off, then he gave away a free-kick 25 yards out on the left, which Cresswell took and fired a foot wide of Lloris’ right hand post. The Irons should have done better when they got a  corner shortly after, with it flicked on at the near post to Antonio, standing in the middle of the six-yard box a yard from goal.
He somehow managed to put his shot five yards wide.

Spurs almost added a second when Kane played Bergwijn away on the left an his cross was looking for Son at the far post, but it was headed away by Soucek. Son retrieved it, played it to Hojbjerg and got it back before playing a short, square ball to Kane on the edge of the box. He nut-megged Declan Rice, then fired a low shot through Ogbonna’s legs to leave Fabianski standing and giving Spurs a 2-0 lead within eight minutes.

A couple of corners for West Ham were dealt with well by Spurs and when we got the ball, we were happy to keep it, as the Irons allowed our players so much space and time to play it where they wanted. That was the case when Ogbonna played a pass that was intercepted by Bergwijn.  It was worked to Son, who was on the ball. Moving forward and he played in Sergio Reguilon to put a first time cross in, finding Harry Kane coming in from the far post to head back across Fabianski to make it 3-0. It was a header that was made easier by the pace on and quality of the cross. 

The only way that Antonio knew about how to stop Spurs was to go recklessly sliding in on Son and he received the first yellow card of the game. He might have got a second soon after, when he caught Moussa Sissoko in the face when defending another free-kick. Tottenham were too strong for West Ham at this stage and Tanguy Ndombele was looking the closest thing to Mousa Dembele.  His pass inside Masuaka to Aurier was sublime and he was sending his markers all over the place as he twisted and turned on the ball.

Apart from a weak effort in the first few seconds, it took until 27 minutes to get another shot on target when a long ball was headed on by Antonio for Fornals to take a first time shot, but Hugo took it comfortably at his near post.

35 minutes gone and Aurier fired a low ball into the area and Son’s run at the near post almost got him another goal, but Fabianski dived at his feet to gather the ball. West Ham broke to the other end and two crosses were cleared away, then from an opposition corner almost broke away with Kane going through to meet Son’s pass, but he was offside. Although Spurs didn’t look threatening in the next 15 minutes, they were making the Irons chase the ball without achieving anything and  that was without the referee giving us free-kicks for continual holding by the visiting players.

With the last move of the first half, a cross came in from the West Ham left and as Coufal lined up a shot, Harry Kane was back in his own box to block it and then get the defender’s studs in his lower back as he came down on him. It showed that he is much. Much more than just a goal-scorer and much more than a one season wonder !

Into the second half, a cross was missed with an attempted scissor kick by Soucek and Masuaka slashed at a shot that flew high into the North stand. Spurs looked sluggish in the early part of the half, typified by Antonio having space on the left, when he came inside and struck a shot that came off a Spurs player and rose towards the far post, where Fornals met it with his head, but put it over from a yard out ! West Ham were enjoying a bigger share of possession, but apart from a Soucek shot that Sanchez blocked, they weren’t making too much of it.

On the hour, it was Hojbjerg’s ball to Kane that saw him run forward and strike a low effort at goal that the keeper had to dive to his right to turn around the post. That corner was cleared but when the ball came back in from Son, Balbuena had to head it over for another corner. 

Spurs were playing good counter-attacking football, with first-time passing exploiting the space West Ham were invariably leaving as they went in search of a goal. Kane had a couple of opportunities blocked and then Son put in a low ball intended for Bergwijn, but cut out by Fabianski.  As Gareth Bale got ready to come on, West Ham won a couple of corners, delaying his entry into the action. A foul that got Ogbonna a yellow card for going through Bergwijn from behind was an opportune moment for our returning Welshman to arrive on the pitch. He claimed the free-kick and struck it on target, but not with any great power, allowing the keeper to get right behind it. Winks had also come on for Ndombele.  

With 22 minutes left, Son was in possession to the left and he played it square for Harry Kane to shoot first time and it almost brought his hat-trick, but his left foot effort smacked against the outside of the post and off the pitch to West Ham’s relief.  

It all started to go a bit pear shaped when Sissoko gave away a free kick that was then headed in by Balbuena at far the far post rising above Moussa with eight minutes left.  Then with a right-wing cross, it was played into the corridor of uncertainty, where Sanchez  went to low to head it and it went past Lloris without the keeper being able to move. Suddenly, it was 3-2 and the game was swinging the Irons way.

A minute into injury time, Bale came inside from the right and looked as though he was going to re-open his Spurs scoring account, but it went wide of Fabianski’s left hand post, when it looked as though he must score. 

It was a costly miss, as a free-kick (and a dodgy one at that – much like Newcastle’s that led to their equaliser) late in added time saw it cleared and with Winks getting a touch to it, Lanzini smashed a shot at goal from 20 yards out and it luckily went in off the crossbar and post, when most times it would have gone miles over the top.  There wasn’t time to do anything else, as the kick-off was quickly followed by the final whistle.

It was almost a repeat of the game at the Taxpayers’ Stadium, when Mourinho’s first game finished 3-2, but this time our luck ran out. The game should have been dead and buried way before they got their first goal. The Irons were so poor in the first half, Spurs should have led by more and then there were chances to score in the second period too. But just seeing the game out would have done, as they did against Manchester United. Keeping the ball. Not giving away cheap free-kicks. Getting bodies in the way. Looking back, Kane’s stop before half-time seems even more important. A win would have put us right up into the top four. Instead, we are in the same boat as Chelski, who let the lead slip in the last minute against the Saints yesterday to draw 3-3. It is weird that having played three games in a week, the team ran riot against United, but with a return from the international break they ran out of steam  about an hour in and while they had given West Ham the run around in the first half, they came back into it and kept going. 

It was a shocking collapse, but not the first we have seen from Spurs and it won’t be the last. But they need to learn from it and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again. The way we are playing, keeping clean sheets is unlikely and that is fine, but only if we are far enough out of sight for the other side to catch up.

Stanford Rivers

Gareth Bale made his second Spurs debut.

Balbuena’s 50th West Ham match.