Burnley (Home) 28.02.2021

With a “crisis” at Tottenham declared by the media, a second 4-0 win in a week was a welcome outcome of this visit to Tottenham by Burnley.  With an attacking line-up and less than challenging opposition, these victories will be regarded as confidence building wins and Tottenham need to take that forward to get something out of this season.  

This week there was an early goal again against a team in claret and blue, but this time it was for Tottenham. With Son coming inside from the left wing, he bent a ball into the goalmouth and Gareth Bale ran in behind Mee to prod the ball into an empty net with his right foot from just inside the six yard box, with Pope exposed. Arms were in the air for offside, but the defenders simply failed to pick up Bale’s run and that of Kane who was behind him, giving Spurs a simple opening goal that would mean that Burnley would have to come out to try and get something from.

Burnley had a vain appeal for a penalty when the ball was played against Reguilon at close range in the box.  However, when Lucas Moura broke from inside his own half in the fourth minute, he was pulled back, but the referee played on. As he went forward, he slipped, but managed to play the ball to Son while on the floor. The ball got played right to Kane, whose shot was blocked by Son. Kane’s next effort a minute later saw him run from just inside the Burnley half to 20 yards out, when he switched the ball from left to  right foot and shot between Tarkowski’s legs, with the ball going a foot wide of Pope’s right hand post.

Brownhill tried a lob over Lloris from 30 yards out, but it went wide and not very high, while Rodriguez got a header on target, but Hugo took it above his head. Moura should have added a second goal in the tenth minute when he took Son’s pass and nudged the ball one side of Tarkoweski and ran the other, getting clear in the middle of the box, but he tried to power a shot past the keeper, but hit him instead.

Gareth Bale showed a glimpse of his former self with a push of the ball past Taylor and racing past him before finding Kane, who put Son away. He waited for Bale to come up on his right side and his pass was just a little too far beyond him to take first time, so he pulled a right foot cross low back around the penalty area, but it was behind all the white shirts. The speed of the break was devastating and a better pass could have reaped a richer reward.

With Sanchez winning a high ball in the box, Bale’s long pass to the left was over Westwood and sent Kane away. With that much space, he took the ball into the area and drove at goal, with a flick coming off Tarkowski that sent the ball over Pope at his near post to make it 2-0. Not a route one goal, but a fine pass beyond the last man with enough on it to hold up for Harry, who took it down and did what he does so well.

The game started to even out, with Burnley trying to get forward, but the only effort near goal was a poke at a low ball across the 18-yard line by Vydra that went wide of the goal, but Spurs broke yet again and the ball was worked from Son to Bale on the right. He came inside two defenders and drilled a shot that rose over the bar.

Tottenham then got some settled possession and when they moved the ball well from right to left, Reguilon’s cross evaded Kane, but it came to Lucas Moura, who killed it with his right thigh and swept a left foot shot inside the post beyond Pope’s right hand to score the third goal. It was a very good piece of control and finish by the Brazilian, who was clinical.Aurier exchanged passes with Bale on the right wing near the halfway lien and broke past some attempts to pull him back before playing Moura in on his right foot in the box, but he fired his shot high into the Paxton end.  Harry Kane was enjoying dropping deep and even megged Cork to rub things in.

Serge Aurier drove a shot over the bar when Rodriguez decided to take out his own defender Charlie Taylor in his own box, but the effort flew over the bar, while Rodriguez did get something on the ball at the other end, when he bobbled a shot from 18 yards out at goal. Hugo was right behind it and that was the end of a half that had seen Burnley set up with two banks of four getting behind the ball but were caught out by longer balls in behind their defence and untypically getting caught out by a cross into the box.

With the Clarets trying a higher press at the start of the second half, when Tottenham got past that they pushed forward, although they weren’t able to create much goal threat. There were more arms around necks and shoulder pulls by Burnley players, as they couldn’t live with the pace of the Tottenham players.

Spurs broke quickly once again with Ndombele, Reguilon and Son working space on the left wing in their own half before Sonny ran forward with the ball. Shades of the goal he scored last season might have gone through the defenders’ minds and when Moura made a run in front of him from right to left, it left acres of space for Bale on the right. The pass found him in the right side box and he stepped inside to arc a shot to the keeper’s right hand side to hit the inside of the post on its way into the net. Moura took three players with him to leave the space in behind him for Gareth to capitalise on and it was a finish similar to his one in the week against Wolfsberger that left the goalkeeper standing.

When it looked as though Burnley might make something of a high ball into the Spurs box, they were suddenly back at their own end, when Dele and Kane linked to send Son away and he came back across the 18-yard line to fire a low shot to the keeper’s left and he did well to get down to the ball and touch the shot past the post.

With fifteen minutes left, it resembled a training match, with Tottenham knocking the ball around slowly, happy to retain possession and Burnley players not looking that keen to chase it down. With Moura and Bale leaving the pitch, it looked as though some of the zip in Tottenham’s play had gone with them. When Spurs did spring into attack, Lowton produced a good sliding tackle to prevent Kane getting a shot away. The team were finding it so easy to create chances, like when they broke down a Burnley attack and four passes later, Kane had released Son and he looked to beat Pope from 25 yards out, but again, it only troubled the ball boys in the South stand.

Rodriguez hit the bar with a late header, but Wood had wiped out Sanchez with a push, so the whistle had gone before he got to the ball. Lamela took a heavy touch on the half-volley when Son tried to play him through when another Burnley corner was cleared, but another Burnley corner had to bring an excellent defensive header from Alderweireld from underneath his own bar at the far post. The corner was taken high at the far post by Lloris, who rolled it out quickly to Kane and his pass to Son on the right was returned into the box, where Harry scuffed it past the far post. Erik Lamela was waiting behind him and was not happy that the ball wasn’t allowed to run through to him.

Worse was to come when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg went down away from the ball, when his foot got stuck in the grass and he went over on his ankle. He managed to get up and then play on, but the damage will have to be assessed in the coming days. Hopefully it won’t be too serious.

With the tactics being to attack Burnley and as quick as possible, the goal within 69 seconds of the kick-off gave them a flying start and the willingness to finish off the game early (one of Mourinho’s trademarks) was put into full effect as the 3-0 half-time lead made it difficult for a team that doesn’t score many goals like Burnley to come back from. In addition to the 4-0 final score-line, the clean sheet was most welcome, with Sanchez having a very good game and the two full backs able to concentrate mainly on attacking, as there was little threat from the visiting side.

With Fulham and Palace the next two games, Mourinho will be looking for players to stake their claim for a start in the League Cup final and the competition might create an impetus for the remainder of the season.

Peter O’Hanrahanhanrahan

Hugo Lloris recorded his 100th clean sheet in his 285th Premier League appearance.

Gareth Bale’s second goal was the 50th English league goal of his career.