AFC Bournemouth (Away) 29.10.2022

Conceding a corner inside two minutes gave Bournemouth the opportunity to pick out Kieffer Moore’s head, but he powered his header just over the bar rippling the roof of the net as it went off for a goal-kick.  The home team looked to get at Spurs early and Tavernier was put through on the right, coming inside when in the box to hit a lot shot that Lloris got down well to to gather before Moore tried to snaffle the loose ball away from him.  Spurs were looking to use Sessegnon’s pace down the left and winning our first corner in the eighth minute, it was played in by Heung-Min Son to Kane’s head at the near post, where his header came off a defender for another corner.  It was taken short and eventually went all the way back to Hugo, whose long ball forward almost found Son breaking into the box, but it was nicked off him by Senesi.

Zemura had to be alert to knock away Harry Kane’s cross from the left that was aimed for Emerson Royal coming in from the right side.  Another corner, which was cleared this time, although, after a couple of challenges in the centre circle, it did lead to a period of Spurs possession, but nothing came of it.  Bournemouth were packing the middle of the pitch, but with Tottenham looking wide, there was space to attack them there, although our crosses into the area were not great.  Ben Davies had a shot in the 18th minute that went well wide, but across the face of goal when a touch might have made more of it.

In the 22nd minute, Bournemouth won the ball inside their half on the right through Tavernier, with it played up to Solanke, who held off Lenglet before laying the ball into the path of Tavernier, who had continued to make ground on the right wing.  With Sanchez going across to try to challenge, it left Moore unmarked in the middle and a square ball picked him out, leaving him with the simple task of slotting the ball right footed past Hugo’s left from 12 yards out to find the bottom corner past the Spurs keeper’s dive.  It was a little against the run of play, as Spurs had grown into the match, but exposed our defence far too easily. 

A couple of minutes later, things could have got worse, with a ball into the box for Moore knocked away from him by Royal, but the ball ricocheted off Sanchez and fortunately wide of the Spurs goal by three yards.  We were looking tentative in possession and happy to go side-to-side rather than looking to find passes that broke the lines, but when we did look to play through, it was forced and ended up with the ball being lost.

Moore tired to slip Tavernier through just into the penalty area, but Hugo was quick out to dive at his feet to stop he getting to the ball and then he was up again to clear the loose ball that had run outside the box.   Spurs were controlling the game, but had to be wary of Bournemouth hitting them on the break, but with 35 minutes on the clock, Emerson Royal got to the dead-ball line and pulled a pass back for Oliver Skipp who took a touch forward and from an angle on the right struck a well-hit shot that Travers had to push wide.  When Son’s right wing corner corner was headed out, it was recycled to him and a vicious left foot cross came off Senesi’s head and smacked against the far post of his own goal.  Kane then received a nice one-two in the box and put the ball low into the goalmouth, but it was hacked away.

With five minutes to half-time Kane scooped a ball into the box meant for Skipp, but Billing got his head to it and when it dropped, Emerson turned on it and tried a shot that managed to clear the Steve Fletcher Stand roof.  From about the 35 minute mark to half-time, Spurs were bossing the game, but without making many clear openings, but the Cherries were dropping deep and packing the midfield to try and make things difficult.  We were winning the ball high up in midfield, with Bissouma doing a decent job and Lenglet stepping forward to challenge nearer the halfway line.  In added time, Son took a free-kick on the right by playing it square to Bissouma, who played a very firm, first-time pass into Kane.  Harry took it under control and fed Skippy outside him and from the right of the box, he played a low ball into the area, where it was hurriedly cleared in the six-yard box for another corner.  Nothing came from it, but with the last kick of the half, Son struck a left-foot effort that Travers dived to push out to his right and the whistle blew for the break.

Some tuneless home “fan” chanted something undecipherable that got the other home fans excited, but Spurs were making their usual re-invigorated second half performance with Moura having come on for Skipp and he was looking to get the ball into the area at the earliest opportunity.  Davies rasped a shot at goal from 20 yards that always looked as though it would curve away from goal, but some lax defending saw Tottenham go 0-2 down.  Bournemouth had an overload on their right wing from a throw-in and when Spurs failed to close down three of their players there, Solanke played the ball back to Adam Smith, captain for the day, the former Spurs defender swung in a first-time ball to the edge of the six-yard area and Moore was more determined than Royal, who went for it with his foot and Sanchez, who got knocked out of the way, leaving the forward to plant a header past Lloris right, with the keeper having no opportunity to even move.   The good start to the half was undone by a straightforward ball into the danger zone and Spurs did not smell the danger of Moore’s strength in the air.

There was an attack where Hojbjerg had a right foot shot blocked and when it came to him again, he tried to hit it with his left, but it came off his shin that took the ball well wide of the Bournemouth goal.  Moore went down in the box shortly after, hoping that Lenglet’s flailing arm to his chin might have won him a penalty, but it was a vain hope.  There was a better chance for them when they broke from a Spurs corner and only a poor ball into the area from Lerma on the left prevented more problems for Spurs.  Bentancur, Perisic and Dier were being lined up to come on, but they waited with Spurs on the attack and Hojbjerg’s fine pass inside Tavernier allowed Ryan Sessegnon run onto the ball, take one touch and stroke a shot across the keeper to see the ball go in off the far post.  It was what Spurs needed and it kept Ryan on the pitch as Perisic sat down, while the other two came on for Bissouma and Sanchez.

You could now sense the nervousness among the red and black shirts as they were more circumspect in going forward with Tottenham’s white shirts quicker to the ball and into the tackle.  The crowd also went quiet until Bournemouth passes were missing their targets and then they were met with a groan.  They did get excited when Sessegnon brought down Tavernier as the right back broke forward, but it should only have been a foul, but the referee thought different and booked him.  They didn’t like it when a foul was given against one of their players though.

Perisic eventually made it onto the field, but for Royal and not Sessegnon, although Ryan moved to the right to allow Ivan to play on the left.  Sessegnon made a good dart into the box to put a low ball in that was cleared for a corner and another came when Son tried to catch the keeper out at his top right corner as he cut in from the Spurs left.  The corner was played low to the near post and Perisic’s header hit a defender, before it came back and he headed it into the air before lifting his volley as it dropped over the bar.  Kane won a free-kick when Lerma fouled him and got booked for dissent, while Adam Smith was talked to by the referee for a number of fouls he pointed out, but didn’t get the same punishment.  Son teased the ball into the six-yard area from a central position and Kane went in for the header but was beaten to it by Moore, as the ball went out for another corner.  It was headed out for another corner.  This one was a short corner that won a throw-in, but from it, the ball was worked across the pitch for Sessegnon to put a pacy cross in that Kane glanced just wide.

Moura then went down the right and won a corner when his cross was blocked.  This time, Perisic took it and it went deep to the far post.  with Harry going to the near post, it was Ben Davies who won the header unchallenged to find the top right corner of the keeper’s goal.  Having been the hero in his debut game when Bournemouth beat Spurs 1-0 at their ground in 2019, today he was starting to look a bit like a zero, with an attempt to come for the cross that got nowhere near the ball.  It was a well-controlled header that Davies only had to get on target and it pulled Spurs level with 74 minutes gone.

It was one-way traffic, with Dier joining the attack to cross and win a corner, which Son took, aiming for Kane, but Moore got there first with the keeper once more flapping well away from the ball.  This one was well defended, but there was nothing sticking up front for Bournemouth, with Moore dropping deeper and unable to hold the ball when it did get to him.  Dier made a run up the right wing again, pulling a low ball back for Son to fire and shot at goal, which required Travers to fly to his left to push wide.  

There were calls for a red card for Sessegnon when he brought down substitute and former Gooner Jaidon Anthony, but it was only a free-kick, although it didn’t look much different to the one he did get a yellow card for.  Cook did get one for clattering into Moura as he ran to the edge of the D with ten minutes left after the free-kick that Bournemouth had been given was gently delivered into the Spurs area with no home player near it.  Unfortunately, the ball smacked straight into the wall, but as the home team tried to take the ball out, Moura won a tackle and the ball was whipped in towards Harry Kane, but Smith defended strongly to win the header and Hojbjerg picked it up at the far post to curl a shot that went a foot over the top.

Sessegnon finally made way for Bryan Gil with just six minutes left.  A late throw to Tottenham saw a Bournemouth ball-boy stop Moura taking it quickly by not releasing the ball in a shameful move to stop Tottenham’s relentless pressure.  The home club should be censured for such behaviour and when the FA are talking about stopping time-wasting, just removing the ball-boy from his position is not sufficient to stop such a thing happening again.  The crowd booed Lucas Moura and as the boy was led off and obviously, they are fully supportive of such underhand tactics to prevent play continue.  Wonder what their would view would be if it was the opposition’s ball-boy stopping them going forward ??  Interestingly, Anthony was vocal towards the linesman and the referee, but didn’t get booked, while Kane did for what appeared to be much less dissent than that. 

The corners kept coming.  It was the 19th that brought about a goal that gave Tottenham the lead two minutes into added time.  Son took it on our left wing, Bentancur headed at goal from the edge of the six-yard box, but it was blocked back to him and he calmly side-footed it into the net past the keeper in the middle of the goal over a red and black wall to spark wild celebrations on the pitch and in the stands.  3-2 was not a score that looked likely when Moore put the Cherries 2-0 ahead, but as the home side tired and lost their shape and discipline, Spurs pushed forward in waves, with nothing feeling better than a winner in added time against a team who were set on time-wasting.

Lerma’s foul throw when he clearly over-stepped the side-line ended up in Hugo’s hands after it was weakly headed towards goal was the last nit of defending Spurs had to do, as they moved the ball around well and Harry kept the ball in the corner until he finally got a foul after two players tried to kick at him.  .

It is still a mystery as to why Tottenham were so sluggish in the first half, but came out as a different side after half-time.  Looking disjointed, maybe as a result of the number of changes to the team, Bournemouth caused plenty of problems for our side, but after the turnaround, Bournemouth were pushed back with Lloris having less to do, other than pick the ball out of the net again.  It was something Bournemouth brought on themselves, by dropping deeper it invited Spurs to go at them and while the goal-scorers were not those that you might have expected, they all took their goals very well.  And let’s not forget the other chances we had including Senesi’s touch that took the ball onto his own post and the couple of saves the Bournemouth goalie had to make.

There are still issues to be ironed out before we can either challenge at the top of the table and in Europe, but still third in the table and with Kulusevski warming up before the game and maybe back before the World Cup break, things may be set to get to look brighter.

Pete Stachio

• Eric Dier makes his 250th Spurs appearance.