Burnley (a) 26.10.2020

There were serious concerns among some Tottenham supporters when Jose Mourinho was appointed as Spurs manager that we would lose the “Tottenham Way”.  This wasn’t quite the “park the bus” attitude that it was mooted that he would bring, but there were elements of Spurs at their best in a stuttering performance, but that was partly due to Burnley’s approach to the game that couldn’t stop Tottenham returning to North London with the three points after a gritty 1-0 win. 

Sean Dyche’s side are renowned for providing tough opposition, crafted in the manager’s image.  That became obvious from the first minute, when Josh Brownhill hauled down Tanguy Ndombele, as he nutmegged one and drifted past another Burnley man. An early yellow card was the result.

Alderweireld picked out Kane’s run between the central defenders, but he was too wide to trouble Pope in the home goal, while a free header at the far post from a Burnley corner was put into the mixer, where Lloris got to it with a punch ahead of Wood, who hit the keeper late. The overly physical approach was further emphasised when Ashley Barned lead with his elbow into Toby’s eyebrow, leaving him down and bloodied. How VAR took no action, with the officials’ prime objective in the game supposedly ensuring the safety of the players, was a great surprise. Spurs needed to be careful though, as a loose ball out of defence by Ndombele was recycled back in and Barnes was clear to fire the ball past Lloris from 12 yards out, but he was well offside and again, as is the common-day practice, the flag went up way too late.

Pope managed to fluff a clearance straight to Son, 25 yards out and as it was knocked past Lowton, he obstructed Sonny to make sure he didn’t make more of it and embarrass his keeper. The free-kick was touched short to Ben Davies, who put plenty of pace on his cross, but also too much weight and it went out on the far post for a goal-kick. Spurs were finding space around the back of the Burnley back four, with longer balls getting players on the end of them, but they could not make any clear-cut chances from the moves. While Tottenham were enjoying possession and controlling the game, you had the feeling that Burnley would rely on set-pieces or a long ballot pick up the pieces from to try and make something of.

It was 38 minutes before Burnley had a shot worth saving, when Westwood struck a shot from 25 yards that Hugo got down to his right to smother. They almost created another chance, when Hojbjerg let the ball escape from him 40 yards from goal and Gudmundsson tried to pick out Wood in the box, but overcooked it. Both teams started hitting long balls, but they ended up being too long and when Burnley did work it, Gudmundsson hit a skimmer of a shot from the edge of the box that Hugo dived to his left to save. Doherty had the ball taken off him ten yards inside his own half and Gudmundsson tried to curve the ball in but struck it too high.

The game reached half-time without troubling the scorers, with Burnley piling players back behind the ball and having the two best chances, but neither that threatening. Spurs were having trouble finding the space they needed to get behind the home defence, but with 45 minutes to come, hopefully, they would work out a way to get the ball moving quicker than the claret shirts.

The game was horribly reminiscent of the season opener against Everton, when Spurs looked sluggish and allowed the Toffees to capitalise. When Davies played a square ball behind Sissoko, Brownhill picked it up and dragged his shot wide. The gruff growling of Dyche echoed across the empty Turf Moor ground, while Kane’s protestations about Pope taking forever over free-kicks and drop-kicks received the silent treatment from the referee. Why have a law if it is not going to be enforced ?

Ten minutes into the half, Wood knocked the ball down to Barnes, but Toby got something on his shot to take it over the bar. Lamela replaced Moura and Bale was getting stripped for action, as Jose looked to change the way Spurs were playing. Tottenham’s touch was letting them down outside the box and then inside, when Doherty played in Lamela, who let the ball run straight off his boot. At the other end, Davies was making a great block to Westwood’s shot. The physicality dropped off as the half went on but having out muscled a couple of Spurs players, Burnley won a corner, that Tarkowski won. It was lucky for Tottenham that Harry Kane was there a couple of feet in front of the goal-line to head the ball away.

That was with 20 minutes left and a couple of minutes later, Lamela drifted a ball across the penalty area from the right and Davies, coming in at the far post, was a foot away from making a connection with. Ndombele made a great pass to release Son into the box, after it had been worked forward from the back. However, Son took the ball to his right and gave Long a chance to block his shot.

Then something amazing happened. Tottenham scored from a corner ! The ball was played in and Harry Kane got his head to the ball, which was behind him, but managed to get it back towards goal.  Heung-Min Son read it well and nodded the ball past Pope and over McNeil on the line. It didn’t look likely with Burnley having more of the shot son target from their two strikers, but their defence finally let them down and the goal-line clearance a few minutes previous looked as important as Harry’s assist. While Son got the telling touch, Doherty was right behind him if it had got through to him.

Long got a booking for a late challenge on Son, as Spurs were looking to hold onto their lead by bringing on Lo Celso for Ndombele. Gio picked out Lamela with a ball across the box, but Erik’s volley wasn’t powerful enough to trouble Pope. Dyche was throwing everything at Spurs, with Rodriguez adding to the niggly front two. They won a corner straight away, but Hugo came and took it high above everyone. That was followed by another with Lloris claiming it safely. Fresh legs for Burnley arrived in the shape of Vydra, replacing the worn-out elbows of Ashley Barnes for the final two minutes and another four to be added on.

Joe Rodon came on for his debut, with Son departing, as Jose expected Burnley to revert to the long balls that had served them so well. Dyche showed his ignorance of the interpretations of the law when the ball hits the referee, when Kane’s ball struck Oliver. A number of players and the touchline megaphone complained, as the ball would have gone to a home player, but the rule is that team who played the pass get the ball back. It’s simple, but perhaps not simple enough for the Clarets.

The added time was soon over and we had three points from this match, which we didn’t get last season. It was never going to be an easy match, as Jose alluded to before the game, but Spurs did reasonably well against a rough and tough team. It wasn’t faultless, but we got away with it this time, scoring with the first shot on target.

There were some good performances, with Ndombele looking good on the ball, Kane showing his footballing intelligence up front and at the back, Hojbjerg holding the ball well and making himself available, Dier and Toby putting in a decent performance against some strong strikers and Hugo’s dominance of the box preventing corners causing more trouble than they did. A clean sheet will also boost the confidence of the defence, who were criticised last week.

So, not the free-scoring games we have been used to, but it was a performance of a different type and one that they might need to repeat to grind out the results we need to press harder for a top four place. A lot will rely on the fitness of players across the season, with the tiring Europa League thrown into the mix. But moving us up to fifth puts us in a position that I would rather see us in than the one Burnley are in. No wins, lacking goals and done by a set-piece, Dyche will have a lot of work to do to haul them away from the relegation places.

Colin Fairlie

Joe Rodon makes his Spurs debut.