Kane punishes Dortmund as Spurs lay marker
NEW home comforts, from some old-fashioned home decisions, and they may at last set Tottenham Hotspur on their way in the Champions League.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side finally claimed that first big win at Wembley to instantly banish so much debate about the stadium, even if there will be so much more debate that this otherwise impressive victory over Borussia Dortmund ultimately came down to the assistant referee’s inaccuracy as much as Harry Kane’s accuracy.
The ultra-prolific England international got his second of the game and Spurs’s game-clinching third just moments after PierreEmerick Aubameyang had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside in the second half that would have made it 2-2.
Pochettino and his side could justifiably say more than most that that’s just football – especially given Jan Vertonghen’s contentious late red card.
When they suffered such setbacks in their opening two league games here against Chelsea and Burnley, their argument was that it would have been so different had it not been for the basic fortune of the bounce of the ball, especially when Kane hit the post against the champions.
This was the flip side. It was that kind of borderline night, but also meant that Pochettino’s more calculated game-plan just about paid off.
One of the more interesting things about this match was that they are two of the most intense teams in Europe when playing their natural game, capable of overwhelming opposition to the point they can barely think.
So it was to Pochettino’s credit that he decided to step back and have a think, consequently deciding to have his team step off. That in itself ref lects progress, and was also productive.
One common criticism of Spurs’s recent European underperformance by those close to the squad was that they didn’t adapt their game sufficiently for more patient, continental sides, but that was far from the case here.
Pochettino obviously got his side to sit deeper, allowing Dortmund to push further up, but it meant that the Germans often lunged forward like a boxer overcommitting.
Spurs effectively side-stepped them in that regard, and were then left to take full advantage of the expanses of space, leading to Heung-Min Son sidestepping Lukasz Piszczek and goalkeeper Roman Burki for the opening goal after a mere four minutes.
The Korean just had so much space to run into in the Dortmund half. Although it seemed to ensure he took the ball too far once he had embarrassed Piszczek, it merely allowed him to also embarrass the poorly-positioned Burki by catching him at his near post.
The flip side of this was the invitation for a Dortmund with talent like this to attack, meaning there was a constant danger of moments like Andriy Yarmolenko’s sublime 11th-minute equaliser, as he curled the ball over Hugo Lloris from the edge of the box.
The match was developing into an exhilarating exchange of Dortmund compression and Spurs counters, and that became explicit on 15 minutes when Kane took advantage of the same problems that Son did.
The England striker might have got fortunate that a foul on Piszczek wasn’t called, but he was similarly left with the entire Dortmund half to eat up, and an out-of-position Burki to beat. Kane beat him with utter brutality, as he thundered a swerving effort inside the goalkeeper’s near post.
It continued like this for so long, Dortmund having a strike ruled out for Aubamayeng drifting offside close to the goal just before half-time.
Kane and Son then squandered two inviting counters with blazed shots over the bar. The England international was left with his hands in the air after he so enticingly set up Son with a swerved pass for the second chance, but he was just as culpable with a similar sort of strike just before it.
ADJUDGED
It looked like it would cost them on 56 minutes, as Dortmund again had the ball in the net through Aubameyang, but he was again adjudged to have drifted offside.
This was much more questionable, and would have left the Germans feeling much more aggrieved, especially when Kane almost immediately made up for that miss.
This was when the game really swung, after that swing of an assistant referee’s f lag.
On 62 minutes, again given that bit more space than a guarantee of goals like him should be allowed, he showed exactly that: that he is a guarantee of goals. Kane slid the ball past Burki with his precision.
Spurs could yet properly suffer from the same type of errors, given the suspension Vertonghen will now receive for what seemed a very soft stoppage-time red card after a collision with Mario Goetze.
He was ruled to have elbowed the Dortmund substitute late on, and received red.
Spurs had at least done enough on the night, and potentially for the season given the significance of at last getting that win at Wembley.
They put down a marker here, and maybe for the Champions League group, even if it had a lot to do with the linesman raising his flag. (© Independent News Service, London)