SPURS FLEX MUSCLES
Manner of win suggests they are in title hunt... but don’t tell Pochettino
AT some point we will all have to start taking Tottenham seriously. History suggests we should not, that there will be a dramatic capitulation and that they will contrive a way to confound optimism and embrace mediocrity.
But for now they have pretty much everything that their rivals, Arsenal, Leicester and Manchester City have, save, perhaps, quite so much depth in their squad as City and their north London counterparts.
In Harry Kane they have perhaps the best finisher; in Dele Alli, thrusting forward from midfield, they have one of the most exciting young players of the season; in Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier there is an excellent midfield platform. And few would argue that they have the best back four in the league.
There is no logical reason to discount them from the title race.
Yesterday, they did not sparkle and yet they got the job done, exploiting mistakes and collecting points in the manner you might expect from title contenders: decisively and with authority.
They were, in truth, aided by perhaps the worst entrance to the Premier League for some time, in Jan Kirchoff’s debut. The German only entered play on the hour and within 17 minutes had contributed to two goals which took the game well beyond Sunderland’s reach.
Yet despite Wednesday’s setback against Leicester, Spurs are quietly building a compelling case for credibility. Certainly anything other than the top four would be a crushing disappointment now.
‘It’s true that we are in a good position, that we are fourth in the table and it’s a realistic situation,’ said manager Mauricio Pochettino. ‘But it’s early to start to speak about the title. We need to improve a lot, to learn a lot. We have a young squad. Football can turn quickly. It’s step by step.
‘We are very young but we are very strong in our mentality. But still, we need to be stronger. We are in a process where every player begins to develop a winning mentality and believe. For me, it’s the last eight or nine games which is the realistic moment when you can speak about this opportunity.’
The game only really got going in the 40th minute when, against the run of play, Sunderland took the lead. Adam Johnson’s through ball was so well-weighted, it made a fool of Kieran Trippier at rightback, with Patrick van Aanholt running inside his man. Still, Van Aanholt had plenty to do and finished well.
And yet, just two minutes later, Tottenham equalised. Crisp passing and a Kane shot blocked by the excellent goalkeeper Jordan Pickford should not have been a problem, even though the ball fell to Christian Eriksen on the edge of the box, as Lee Cattermole was on the goal-line and ready to clear.
But somehow Cattermole fluffed his moment. Instead of clearing off the line, he sliced the ball into the net. ‘The big problem was letting them score just after we did,’ said manager Sam Allardyce. ‘I thought we’d done most things right defensively. We scored a superb goal but shooting yourself in the foot is letting them kick off and score. If we had got in at half-time at 1-0 it would have lifted us.’
Sunderland almost took the lead again when they broke on a corner in the 53rd minute. Johnson and Jermain Defoe looked to have a clear run on goal, though Tottenham defenders scrambling back did force Defoe a little wide and he shot into the side netting.
Tottenham took the warning seriously. Alli headed wide a minute later and Kane’s run and shot was well parried by Pickford. From the corner, Pickford was forced to parry again from Danny Rose’s strike and this time the ball rebounded to Dembele, who made it 2-1.
It would get worse for Sunderland. On came Kirchoff for his debut after joining from Bayern Munich but, when Eriksen lined up a strike from 20 yards, he turned his back and offered just a lazy foot as resistance, causing the ball to loop over Pickford for 3-1.
Kirchoff may have wished he had never ventured into the Premier League by the 79th minute. Playing as part of a back three, he panicked when Rose was played into the area and upended the full-back, conceding a penalty, which Kane thumped in.
‘It’s coming into the Premier League for the first time and he has found out how difficult it is,’ said Allardyce of Kirchoff. ‘It’s always a risk but you can’t judge a man on one swallow.’
Nor does one swallow make a summer, which was presumably the idiom to which Allardyce was alluding.
It remains as true for Tottenham, too. They have more to prove, tougher tests to face. But for now they are doing all they can.