| MATCH REPORT
With the benefit of a goal inside a minute of the game kicking off, Tottenham then tried to defend their lead, but has been seen recently, it is not something that the team are adept at, so, lo and behold, Wolves grabbed a late goal that earned them a point and saw Tottenham lose two.
Tottenham started on the attack and Son chased down a straight long ball from Davies into the left side of the penalty area and won a corner off Patricio. Sonny took it and it went in low to the near post, where Hojbjerg jumped over it and the ball ran to the back post. Davies laid it back and Ndombele shot from 20 yards out, with his effort going in to the keeper’s left. Well, it was a lightning start and was a goal scored too soon, coming after 57 seconds ?
Neto looked to create something with a break down the left to get Wolves back into it, but his ball across the face of goal didn’t find an old gold shirt on the end of it. The next chance came about ten minutes later when Traore moved forward and set up Podence, but his weak low shot was simply saved by Hugo Lloris. Spurs went close in the 14th minute, when the ball was worked out of defence and resulted in Ndombele’s right wing cross being slid just wide off the head of Sergio Reguilon.
Wolves were getting more of the ball in the middle of the first half, mainly because Tottenham were turning it over, with loose passing. When Davies baulked Podence, the scream from the Wolves man got him a free-kick 25 yards out, but Saiss’ free-kick hit the wall and when the rebound came to him he managed to perform a massive air-shot. Podence went down outside the box and seemed to be spending a lot of time in the first period on the floor.
When Spurs broke up a Wolves attack 25 yards from our goal, Tanguy Ndombele broke away, surging through a number of challenges and leaving two gold shirted players in a heap after they tackled each other rather than the Spurs midfielder. He played the ball to Reguilon on his left when he was 25 yards from the Wolves goal, but unfortunately, Sergio finished with a shot straight at the keeper. Coady needed a lot of treatment as had gone to ground in the box as Reguilon lined up his shot but managed to get up to play on. Spurs nearly broke through in the 25th minute, when Kane and Ndombele linked well, with the Frenchman’s pass inches too long for the England striker’s run into the box. With Traore breaking
past defenders on the right wing, it looked dangerous until he crossed the ball into the empty stand behind Hugo’s goal. With Semedo making headway on the Wolves right, he played a low ball in to the near post area, where Fabio Silva got free ahead of Doherty, but his first time shot went a foot wide.
The Spurs press was better in the opening half hour, forcing Wolves to mis-place passes and to hurry when on the ball. The home side were getting two banks of four behind the ball when they didn’t have it, so Spurs were happy to play the ball around, with Wolves unwilling to come out of their own half when Spurs were in possession. They went on the attack when Marcal did well on their left and his cross was played back into the box, where Sanchez headed out, but straight to Podence, who struck a slightly harder shot than his last effort, but not with enough power to trouble Lloris. When Spurs broke forward, Son’s pass was over-hit, but it was played out by a defender off Reguilon to Ndombele. With Reguilon and Davies pushing up, the ball was lost and Traore looked as if he was ready to burst forward, but only until Winks brought him down without any ceremony. A yellow card was his reward.
The first half had been dictated by Tottenham’s early goal and then they were satisfied to soak up the Wolves moves on goal, where the closest they came was with Silva’s snapshot at the near post. Spurs needed to hold the ball better and to try and keep Wolves at bay a bit further out, rather than allowing them in the box.
Within a few seconds of the restart that proved to be what should have happened, because a ball into the Spurs box saw Silva go down theatrically as Dier came in and VAR looked at it, but it was no penalty and unfortunately, that cannot be used for diving. However, Podence did see yellow for dissent. It was one of those occasions where Dier hadn’t seen Silva coming from behind him and penalties have been given, although the theatrics were entirely unnecessary. When the corner was eventually taken, Saiss got to the ball with his head at the near post, with the ball flying straight to Hugo.
Spurs were up against it and the only relief came when the ball was cleared and Tottenham players could win free-kicks up near halfway. When we did get the ball into the final third, we didn’t look particularly committed to threaten the home goal. Ndombele’s closing on Coady won the ball 22 yards from their goal, but Coady pulled Tanguy down and received only a yellow, when it might have been more. Dier stepped up to take the free-kick over the wall but wide.
A bounce of the ball almost got Wolves back in the game. Neto’s good run saw him reach the by-line and pull the ball back for Silva, who got a bobble off two players to run towards goal and Lloris had to be brave to dive on the ball and take a kick in the head for his troubles. They worked the ball across from the right to left for Neves to have a shot that took a deflection wide. After Spurs had looked threatening at the other end with Hojbjerg slipping Kane wide on the right side of the box, Wolves broke and Neto’s shot was blocked by Sanchez, as it looked as though it might have beaten Hugo if it had gone past him.
Kane got in a cross from the left which Saiss cleared, when it looked as though it might have ended up in his own goal. Entering the last quarter of an hour, Tottenham were finding it difficult to hang onto the ball and it kept coming back at them. When Son gave the ball to Neves 25 yards out, he let fly but it was reasonably comfortable for Lloris to get down to his left to get his body behind it. Spurs had been doubling up on Traore, but when Davies fouled him thirty yards out on the Wolves right, it gave them a free-kick which then brought a corner. Harry Kane headed it away and it wasn’t for the first time in the match.
With five minutes to go, Davies did well to block Traore’s cross, at the cost of a corner, which Neto put in with some pace to the near post and this time Saiss got a header to it and it went across the goal and in at the far side. He had worked the move once already and Spurs got caught out by it again. Like Liverpool’s winner, it was alate corner that done for us.
It looked as though VAR might be called upon in the 88th minute, when Winks’ ball through to Kane saw him knocked over by Saiss, but there was no call on the monitors at Stockley Park. As Spurs were pushing forward, the ball was won by Wolves on the halfway line and Neto was away, but his low cross was cut out by Lloris, who couldn’t find the ball and needed a couple of attempts to get hold of it, but he was under no pressure. Neto was again involved with a cross over Dier’s head that Silva nodded into the ground and gently into Hugo’s hands. Kane had a shot blocked right at the end for a corner but this time there was no repeat of Vertonghen’s winner of last season.
It looked like a re-run of the Palace match, with Wolves being invited on, but with no counter-attacks on, because so many players were back behind the ball. The amount of possession Wolves had during that second half should have probably brought more than the one goal, but Tottenham did defend well. However, with a single goal lead, it only takes one chance to be taken and suddenly your lead disappears.
It was a little disappointing that few players were looking to go forward and when we were conceding free-kicks and corners, you had a feeling that one of them would produce a good opportunity. Having lost a three-goal lead to West Ham, you would have thought that attack was the best form of defence. It should have told Mourinho that three goals is not enough, so by keeping going forward, it would push the opposition back, as we are suspect when pressure builds and builds.
James Thoroughgood
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