JOY FOR JOSE AFTER SPURS CUP VICTORY
Shoot-out win seals progress for Spurs
JOSE MOURINHO got one over on his former student Frank Lampard as Tottenham beat Chelsea on penalties to reach the League Cup quarter-finals last night.
Timo Werner had put Chelsea in front with his first goal for the club but Erik Lamela levelled with seven minutes left to send the game to spot-kicks.
And after nine successful penalties in the shootout, Mason Mount fired the decisive kick wide to send Tottenham through to the final eight in December.
It started with Werner’s first goal for Chelsea on 19 minutes, which, for the better part of an hour, appeared to have been enough to put his side through.
Spurs had been dreadful for much of the first half but finally managed to apply pressure in the second. They had a flurry of chances, two of which were well saved by Edouard Mendy, but appeared to be heading out in an angry blitz.
In one incident, Mourinho rowed with Lampard, before then telling the referee in the second half that one of his decisions was ‘f ****** s***’. When Eric Dier then disappeared down the tunnel, Mourinho seemed ready to blow, but they were saved by Lamela’s equaliser.
Mourinho hailed his team but insisted, even with the packed schedule, they should not be playing three games in quick succession.
The Tottenham manager had bemoaned a fixture schedule that left them unable to ‘compete’ for the lesser pickings of this competition.
Victory came 48 hours after their 1-1 Premier League draw with Newcastle on Sunday while Spurs host Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League on Thursday.
‘I said before the game we’d be ready to fight. I told the players before the penalties, I don’t care about the penalties, I care about what they did,’ he said.
‘The football authorities, with so many rules which are in place, should be forbidding a player to play two matches in 48 hours.
‘Newcastle was a Premier League match and this one was at Premier League level.’
Spurs made nine changes to cater for their third game in five days. It meant a debut for Sergio Reguilon at left wing-back.
In the context of selection, they were weakened, but far from weak. So perish the thought that Mourinho may have attempted to mislead with a few of his pre-match comments, but the presence of Harry Kane on the bench suggested his manager held more than a passing interest in going through.
Lampard made eight changes but also put out a strong side, with Mendy given his debut in goal and Ben Chilwell handed a first start.
The upshot of all that tinkering? Chelsea dominated. And Spurs let them.
While Chelsea pushed, and indeed held 71 per cent of the possession for the first 45 minutes, Spurs sat deep, swallowed up what they could, and looked bloated any time they attempted to get off the couch.
The early warnings that might not work came from Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi, who had shots but neither caused much of an issue.
The breakthrough followed on 19 minutes after an unforced error, and it was also the opening contribution in a Spurs shirt for Reguilon. His first mistake was to get caught in possession by Cesar Azpilicueta, and he was then quickly dropped on his backside. From there, Azpilicueta rolled low to Werner on the edge of the area and the German finished.
The only sign of life from Spurs came when Mourinho had an entertaining row with Lampard on the sidelines. At one point, he told his former player to back off and Lampard held his ground. To think, they all used to listen.
In terms of Spurs chances, it was a limited bunch. One attack that saw Gedson Fernandes close on goal, only for Kurt Zouma to stop him with a tackle of quite brilliant precision. Lamela got a shot off that Mendy saved well. Maybe Lampard’s goalkeeping worries are drawing to a close.
He managed a second excellent save early in the second half in rerouting a Reguilon drive over the bar, and by that point Spurs were managing a period of consistent pressure. Both Steven Bergwijn and Serge Aurier had chances when Chelsea struggled to break from their half.
But there was no cigar. Kane came on with 20 minutes left and with his only opening, hooked a shot off his left boot over the bar. That appeared to be it for Spurs, before Lamela stretched on to a Reguilon cross and nudged in the equaliser.
The first nine penalties were all converted in order by Dier, Tammy Abraham, Lamela, Azpilicueta, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Jorginho, Lucas Moura and Emerson and Kane before Mount’s kick was saved by Lloris.
TOTTENHAM (3-5-2): Lloris; Tanganga (Kane 70), Alderweireld, Dier; Aurier, Fernandes (Hojbjerg 63), Sissoko, Ndombele, Reguilon; Lamela, Bergwijn (Moura 76). Subs not used: Hart, Doherty, Sanchez, Davies. Booked: Aurier, Tanganga. CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Mendy; Azpilicueta, Tomori, Zouma, Chilwell (Emerson 66); Jorginho, Kovacic (Kante 70), Hudson-Odoi, Mount, Werner, Giroud (Abraham 76). Subs not used: Arrizabalaga, James, Barkley, Havertz. Booked: Kovacic. Man of the match: Hugo Lloris. Referee: Lee Mason.