SPURS SUNK BY A
Needless Aurier penalty barge predicted by Jose
Jose Mourinho can take little satisfaction from the fact he foretold this festive meltdown from serge Aurier. ‘i am afraid of you as a marker,’ said Mourinho to Aurier during the All or Nothing series filmed last season behind the scenes at Tottenham. ‘You are capable of doing a s*** penalty with VAr.’
And so it came to pass. With this game drifting through stoppage time at the end of the first half, Aurier barged needlessly into
Wesley Fofana from behind, enabling Jamie Vardy to score from the penalty spot and set Leicester on course for victory.
‘it’s not a penalty created from a sequence of something great,’ groaned Mourinho afterwards. ‘it’s a penalty we commit.’
indeed, Fofana was going nowhere, heading away from goal in the corner of the penalty box when Aurier bundled into him from behind. referee Craig Pawson pointed to the spot after he was advised by the VAr to check the replay on his pitch-side monitor.
it was a moment of madness from a right back who has now conceded four Premier League penalties since arriving at spurs in 2017. only David Luiz, Arsenal’s epitome of reckless defending, has conceded more during that time (five).
Vardy made the chance count, taking him to 13 goals in all competitions this season, before going on to force Leicester’s second of the game, turned into his own net by Toby Alderweireld after the striker had got on the end of Marc Albrighton’s cross.
Tottenham, in truth, deserved nothing and have only one point from three games. They shaded possession against Brendan rodgers’ team and yet never hit their stride. Mourinho’s criticism focused on the passive opening phase. ‘We started bad,’ said the spurs boss. ‘empty spots in terms of pressing, attitude, recovering the ball, i didn’t like it at all.’
he thought they improved and he was right, although this was as flat as they have been over 90 minutes since the defeat at home against everton in the opening fixture of the season.
The usual telepathic link between harry Kane and son heung-min seemed to be off kilter. Gareth Bale made no impact from the bench. nor did Lucas Moura or harry Winks. Dele Alli was available but did not even make the list of nine subs.
The first half hour passed almost entirely without incident, but gradually the contest began to show signs of life as it approached the half-time interval.
Kane extended Kasper schmeichel when his free-kick from 25 yards clipped Jonny evans on the end of the wall. schmeichel pushed it aside without too much trouble.
At the other end, hugo Lloris dived to keep out a deflected long-range effort from James Maddison but there was little danger when Aurier toppled Fofana and Vardy opened the scoring.
‘he made a mistake,’ said Mourinho, in no mood to castigate Aurier, who has been in good form this season. ‘But before his mistake in minute 45 or 46 we had other players making mistakes in other areas of the pitch. i can’t blame a player for a mistake.
‘it was unrelated to the context of the game because it came in our best period.’
in the land of the counter-attackers, however, he who scores first is king. Leicester dropped deeper after the interval and became more of a threat on the break. Tottenham, on the other hand, ventured forward and looked more vulnerable and dishevelled at the back.
Lloris saved at his near post early in the second half to deny Maddison, the Leicester playmaker who was then foiled by a hairline offside call.
Maddison collected a long pass forward from James Justin with a wonderful first touch and finished coolly. There was no flag from the assistant referee but the VAr’s digital lines ruled him offside by millimetres. Purely, it appeared, by the angle of his upper body.
Leicester extended their lead when Vardy climbed high above Moussa sissoko to reach a cross from Albrighton. he headed the ball down, and back across goal, where it struck Alderweireld on the thigh as he ran back towards his own net.
The spurs defender was only three yards out and Lloris had no chance as he was beaten again.
Tottenham mustered a late flurry. schmeichel saved Kane’s shot from the edge of the box and produced a fine reflex stop to keep out an effort from son, but the visitors held out with some degree of comfort.
rodgers’ side have won six out of seven away from home in the Premier League and, for all the fuss about Mourinho’s title challenge, it will be Leicester, not spurs, who will be closest to leaders Liverpool at Christmas.
TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Lloris 6; Aurier 4.5 (Winks 64min, 6), Alderweireld 5.5, Dier 6, Reguilon 6; Sissoko 6, Hojbjerg 6; Lo Celso 6.5 (Moura 49, 6), Ndombele 5.5 (Bale 46, 5), Son 6; Kane 7. Subs not used: Hart, Doherty, Rodon, Bergwijn, Davies, Vinicius. Booked: Winks, Dier. Manager: Jose Mourinho 6. LEICESTER (4-2-3-1): Schmeichel 7; Justin 7, Fofana 6.5, Evans 6.5, Castagne 6 (Amartey 60, 6); Ndidi 7.5, Tielemans 7; Albrighton 7.5, Maddison 7, Barnes 7 (Praet 84); VARDY 8 (Iheanacho 88). Subs not used: Ward, Perez, Under, Mendy, Fuchs, Thomas. Scorers: Vardy 45+4 (pen), Alderweireld 59 (og). Booked: Albrighton, Ndidi. Manager: Brendan Rodgers 7. Referee: Craig Pawson 6. ORIGINAL COPY . ORIGINAL COPY . ORIGINAL COPY . ORIGINAL COPY . ORIGINAL COPY