NERVY SPURS NEARLY BLOW IT
Poch ‘softies’ hang on after three-goal lead
SPINELESS... soft... pathetic? Gary Neville’s damning analysis of Tottenham Hotspur’s historical fragility created much debate before this match and Mauricio Pochettino’s men almost proved his point last night.
The sharp-tongued Sky Sports pundit said that back in the day Tottenham could be leading 2-0 in the Premier League and their opponents would still believe they could win 5-2.
Here at Molineux, with Neville in attendance, they led by three goals then conceded two clumsy penalties and had to see out a nervy final 10 minutes to win.
Wolves left feeling hard done by, having had a legitimate goal ruled out for offside in the first half. As far as they are concerned, a draw would have been the fairest of results.
Still, Pochettino will take the positives from this. For one, they bounced back from last week’s 1-0 defeat by Manchester City and dealt with the difficult loss of midfielder Mousa Dembele after only three minutes. They also played with patience until the deadlock was broken midway through the first half and had three different goalscorers in Erik Lamela, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane.
Yet the two penalties, both conceded by Premier League debutant Juan Foyth and scored by Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez, showed some signs of weakness. Tottenham got away with it, just.
This was a weekend when the footballing family came together for Leicester – and Wolves played their part to perfection. Before a ball was kicked or a whistle blown, the West Midlands club made a show of solidarity for their East Midlands rivals.
It was just seven days since Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha’s tragic death at the King Power Stadium and Wolves players wore Leicester blue in the warm-up, wreaths were laid on the pitch and the programme was packed with tributes to the Thai businessman.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have been set the goal of winning the Premier League within seven yearsby Fosun International, the ambitious group that own the club. So far, their first season back in the top flight has been so-so.
Wolves went into this with a rather miserable record. They had failed to win any of their last 24 Premier League games against teams in the top half of the table, having drawn 10 and lost 14. Tottenham, meanwhile, had not been beaten by a newly-promoted side in 38 matches.
The visitors were forced into a reshuffle within three minutes. Midfielder Dembele went down under a heavy challenge by Helder Costa and was wheeled away on a stretcher. The silver lining was that his replacement, Son Heung-min, ran Wolves ragged.
The South Korean created the opening goal in the 27th minute when he played a superb one-two with Erik Lamela. He had only Rui Patricio to beat and the Argentine attacker slotted the ball through the Wolves goalkeeper’s legs. Less than three minutes later, Son found Kieran Trippier, whose pin-point cross found an unmarked Lucas Moura and the Brazilian headed home for his fifth of the season.
Before half time, Wolves had the ball in the back of the net through Jimenez, but it was ruled out for offisde by the assistant referee. TV replays showed Matt Doherty clearly onside.
Tottenham had got away with one, and Wolves were left wishing they had the use of the video assistant referee.
Jimenez stung the palms of Hugo Lloris early in the second half, showing Wolves were still in the game. The Tottenham goalkeeper then stopped a powerful drive from Neves. On the hour, though, Spurs struck again. Kane saw his first shot saved by Patricio but scored with his second from a rebound.
In the 68th minute Wolves were awarded a penalty by Mike Dean when Premier League debutant Juan Foyth clipped Jimenez and Neves struck from the spot.
Then they were awarded another spot-kick when Foyth took out Jonny. Jimenez stepped up this time and made it 3-2 with 10 minutes remaining.
It handed Wolves a lifeline but it was too little, too late. WoLvES (3-4-3): Patricio 6; Bennett 6, Coady 6.5, Boly 6; Doherty 6, Moutinho 6 (Gibbs-White 62mins, 6), Neves 6, Jonny 6; Cavaleiro 5.5 (Bonatini 62, 6), Jimenez 6.5, Costa 6 (Traore 84). Subs (not used): Ruddy, Vinagre, Hause, Dendoncker. Booked: Bennett. ToTTENHAM (4-3-2-1): Lloris 7; Trippier 6.5, Foyth 5, Alderweireld 6, Davies 6; Sissoko 6, Winks 6, Dembele 6 (Son 7, 6.5) (Eriksen 59, 6); Lamela 7.5, Moura 7 (Sanchez 79); Kane 6.5. Subs (not used): Gazzaniga, Llorente, Aurier, Skipp. Booked: Foyth, Winks. Referee: Mike Dean 6.