Wycombe Wanderers (Away) 25.01.2021

It was a freezing cold night and Wycombe certainly sent a few chills down the spine as they threatened a FA Cup giant-killing, but a final flourish by Spurs saw them through to the Fifth Round 4-1 to meet Everton away.

Ten changes to the Spurs side saw Mourinho challenge those fringe players he was giving a chance to by telling the media that if Spurs were knocked out that it would be their fault and not his.  Wycombe came into this tie without the ideal preparation, as a combination of Covid-19 and then the recent snowy weather meaning that they hadn’t played for 16 days and had only trained once.  Some injuries meant that they didn’t have their strongest team out and their “strongest” player (self-styled “Beast” Ade Akinfenwa) was confined to the bench.  

An early move from back to front allowed Moura’s ball in to Vinicius to be laid off to Erik Lamela, just inside the box, but his shot was blocked for a corner. That was played too long. But another came shortly after, when Winks ran the ball out from his own defensive third, taking it away from Bloomfield to find Moura, who won the corner. It was played in and found Gareth Bale Just outside the six-yard box at the far post, but he guided his header wide, when he should have hit the target.  And get a header on target is what  Admiral Muskwe did, forcing Hart to push the ball away at his near post.  The corner earned another as Hart beat out an in-swinger just in front of his line, but Vinicius cleared away the following ball in.

A loose headed clearance in the 13th minute dropped to Bale outside the penalty area and he shifted the ball to have a shot that flew wide of the keeper’s left-hand post. Wycombe broke up a Spurs attack and Onyedinma broke three tackles up their left wing to take the ball up to the Tottenham penalty area, but it only ended in a goal-kick.  Some muscular work by Ikpeazu on the right shrugged Toby Alderweireld off the ball and his cross took a touch off Sanchez at the near post for the ball to run across goal to Onyedinma to put the ball past Hart from close range. It was a poor goal to give away, as Tottenham will have known that the home side would be out to use their physical presence to unsettle them and they needed to stand up to that.

Moura put Bale in on the right side and he shimmied outside to his right and shot into the side-netting. From that incident, dead-ball expert Jacobsen pulled a groin, but got up to play on. Spurs looked less than threatening and Vinicius put a header over from a corner, then Jacobsen had to be replaced before Wycombe won another corner. From it, Tottenham created a chance. The ball was played out to Bale on the right and his pass to Sissoko, back across the face of goal, brought a first-time shot that took a flick off the substitute Charles and came out off the inside of the post and into the hands of the keeper Allsop. Was this an indication that it wouldn’t be Tottenham’s night ?

Lamela forced Allsop to a save when he hit a low effort from 20 yards, but it was straight at him. A long ball forward saw Ikpeazu win a free-kick, falling into Winks on his way down and McCarthy tried to beat Hart at the near post, but the shot went wide. As time ticked towards 45 minutes, a corner was won and taken short, with the cross being met by Tanganga inside the six-yard box, only to see the ball bounce out off the crossbar. It was slightly above him and difficult to get over the ball, but that was forgotten shortly before half-time.  A short throw-in on the left wing went to Moura and he played the ball into the near post area and Bale ran in behind a defender to hook the ball past the keeper from a couple of yards out. Having had a few opportunities, this one was not a tap-in, but alone in front of goal with the keeper stuck on his line, it was a chance that Gareth would have backed himself to convert.

It was a bit of a curate’s egg of a first half. Tottenham had started so well and then succumbing to Wycombe’s strengths (quite literally). Having got back level just before the interval, it was important that the start of the second half started with some tempo and some clinical finishing to ensure that they weren’t caught out by the home team once more. To try and make sure that didn’t happen, Jose brought Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in place of Japhet Tanganga, with Sissoko going in at right back.

In the first two minutes of the second half, Ikpeazu was throwing his weight around and throwing Hojbjerg to the floor and then pulling Sanchez’s shirt to get him off the ball. This was followed by a succession of free-kicks conceded by Wycombe and they didn’t want to give any away around their penalty area, so Moura had the chance to run at the defence and toe-poke a shot at goal that went a foot wide with the goalkeeper nowhere. Then Winks played Vinicius out on the right, who played it inside to Bale. Gareth ran at the defence and from the right pulled a shot across goal and wide. The chances were coming, but not turned into the killer goals Spurs needed.

Lamela brought a save from Allsop when Loura laid it to him on the 18 yard line, with the keeper doing well to push it well out of danger. Vinicius was substituted with Kane coming on in the 58th minute as Mourinho wanted the game wrapped up. A free kick was given away by Lamela and Wycombe played it short rather than lumping it into the box and when it was played in Toby did well against Ikpeanzu to win the ball in the air.

With Son and Ndombele called upon to spark Spurs, replacing Moura and , but it was Ben Davies who almost set up Harry Kane, with the striker’s touch killing the ball into the box, but Allsop was on top of him as his shot looked as though it would spin into the goal, but was cleared by a defender.  With Ikpeazu warned by referee Jon Moss for persistent fouling and moaning about free-kicks being given against him, Ainsworth brought him and Muskwe off to introduce Adebayo Akinfenwa and Scott Kashket. It was the Spurs sub who almost broke the deadlock, with Son taking the ball on past a defender on the left and firing a low shot across goal.  When Winks found Bale, the Welsh winger lofted it to Sissoko in the box, it looked as though his set-up for Son would give him a good chance, but the striker fired it over the bar as the game entered the last ten minutes.

A super pass across the box and over the last man to Kane from Ndombele saw Harry take a touch and shoot, but the keeper blocked it. Kane was alive to the loose ball and put it into the goalmouth, where Bale was beaten to it by a defender. Whose clearance went to Winks 20 yards out. Having just seen a shot fly almost out of the ground from a well-worked corner earlier, this Harry also took a touch and moved the ball onto his left foot and curled his shot high into the top right-hand corner of the keeper’s goal with no chance of saving it. It was almost history repeating, with a late winner scored after being behind early on and with five minutes left, maybe there was no way back for Wycombe.

That proved to be the case, as winning the ball from the restart, Tottenham were on the front foot, with Hojbjerg spreading a pass left to Son and his pass into the box was side-footed into the net first time from ten yards out well wide of the keeper to make it 3-1.

Wycombe were getting ragged in the final ten minutes and a mix up between keeper and Knight gave Tottenham corner.  It was worked around and Hojbjerg played a straight return pass into the box to Ndombele, who sold two central defenders with one heel and then another before shooting into the net at the near post from ten yards out to add a shine to the score-line that perhaps was a little more than the reality might have shown.

In the end, it was Mourinho’s substitutions that made the difference with the quality of Kane, Ndombele and Son exposing the difference in squad depth and ability when Spurs had spurned so many opportunities early on. Ndombele brought a sharpness to the team, with incisive passing and some neat finishing now that he has adapted to the Premier League and is high on confidence.  Winks had a decent game, winning Man of the Match, but his goal wiped out the memory of the shots that he fired high and wide earlier in the game. When Hojbjerg came on, he established a degree of control when Wycombe started to play the ball up to Akinfenwa to get players playing off him.

Hitting the woodwork twice and a lot of chances going begging will not please Mourinho, as the killing off of games still needs improving, but through to the fifth Round and Everton at Goodison awaits.  A tougher proposition, as will be our next match, at home to the other Merseyside team, so a win over a Championship side, but how we stack up against a Premier League team having a tough time will be a good test of where we are.

Still alive on four fronts and that hasn’t been the case in the last few years, so there is hope still that this season might give us some reason to look back on 2020-21 fondly.

Pete Stachio

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