Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
RYAN MASON
Stand-in Tottenham boss enjoys a winning start, thanks to a Gareth Bale cracker and Heung-min Son’s last-minute penalty
NO Harry Kane, no problem.
If Tottenham can retain the character they summoned up here for stand-in boss Ryan Mason they might just have a chance against Manchester City on Sunday.
A second-half strike from Gareth Bale and a 90th-minute penalty from Heung-min Son, courtesy of VAR, did not just put the north Londoners back in with a squeak of the top four.
It boosted their confidence and that of the club’s fans going into their Carabao Cup showdown against the championselect.
If Kane somehow makes it back from his ankle injury by then, so much the better.
But for Mason this win alone must have been the stuff of fantasy.
In charge of his boyhood club, the 29-year-old former midfielder led his team out as the youngest manager in Premier League history.
Three of his stars, Hugo Lloris, Bale and Toby Alderweireld, were older than him.
All of them, however, were ready to rumble in the first game after the Jose Mourinho era.
Bale was straight back into the side from the start – a statement in itself – and another exile, Harry Winks, made a second half appearance as a substitute.
You get the sense that whatever the fortunes of the club may be under Mason, every one of those Spurs stars that found their feet under Mauricio Pochettino will get a chance to perform under Tottenham’s interim boss.
Not that it all went Mason’s way though.
During the first half Spurs were poor and often overrun by a Southampton side who had lost 12 of their previous 17 games in all competitions.
By half-time Saints had enjoyed more shots and more efforts on target, and they went ahead when Danny Ings headed home from a 30thminute corner.
It looked then as though Mason’s reign would be even shorter than the ill-fated Super League that Spurs had pulled out of just 24 hours earlier.
Tottenham under Mourinho had lost seven of their previous eight Premier League games when conceding first.
Southampton hadn’t lost an away Premier League match when scoring first since December 2019 against Newcastle.
But Mason made his mark with his half-time team talk, sending his side back out to compete, and they were helped hugely by the sudden withdrawal of Ings, who limped off 11 minutes into the second half as a precaution.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s Saints were suddenly rudderless, and Spurs took control.
On the hour, Lucas Moura’s shot from just inside the box was blocked but it ran loose to Bale, who curled a delicious effort beyond keeper Alex Mccarthy into the far corner.
From then on it was all Tottenham. Their desire to make the first match since the end of the Mourinho era a winning one caught the eye.
And the visitors cracked in the final few minutes.
Jannik Vestergaard escaped a penalty when he looked to have touched the ball with his arm. But VAR stepped in when substitute Moussa Djenepo’s foul on Winks was shown to be just inside the Southampton penalty area.
Son, who had earlier seen a goal ruled out for offside, made no mistake from the spot.
If timing is everything then Spurs chairman Daniel Levy’s gamble to pull the trigger on Mourinho’s tenure might yet produce the Carabao Cup confidence boost for Sunday the club is hoping for.