TOTTENHAM 4 SHEF UTD 0
CLASSY HAT-TRICK AS FAB FOUR FIRE
SLICK BALE JUST THE TRICK FOR SPURS:
NOT for the first time this season, Tottenham fans were left to scratch their heads and wonder what might have been.
Gareth Bale turned the clock back to prove the matchwinner with a hat-trick of such class that even a much better side than Sheffield United would have struggled to stop him. Maybe even Manchester City. So why, oh why, did he not play from the start in the Carabao Cup final the previous Sunday?
Finally unlocking something of what Spurs hoped to see from Bale when he returned from the Bernabeu has been the undoubted success of Ryan Mason’s short interim reign.
He had been the man of the match against Southampton in the first game post-Jose Mourinho but was given just a 23-minute run-out at Wembley.
It was too little, too late and Spurs were consigned to another trophy-less season.
With fans needing something to put a smile back on their face, Mason picked up the pieces by naming a starting line-up that included all of the Fab Four – Harry Kane, HeungMin Son and even Dele Alli joining Bale for this one. But it was the on-loan Real Madrid star who shone brightest in a match which might otherwise have been one of those drab, scrappy victories which won Mourinho points but few friends.
Spurs dominated the first half but struggled to unlock a Blades side keen to go down with their pride intact – if they could.
But they could not keep Bale shackled for long.
Serge Aurier’s clipped pass in the inside right channel after 36 minutes was all Bale needed and he dinked a measured lob with the outside of his left foot over Aaron Ramsdale and into the net. An unseemly studs-first landing by John Fleck on the face of Giovani Lo Celso was generously considered accidental by the officials at the start of the second half. Instead of being reduced to 10 men, the South Yorkshire club actually enjoyed their best spell. However, that was all quickly ended with the slickest and fiercest of counter-punches. Son, left, broke and squared the ball to Bale just before he crossed the half-way line. The 31-year-old glimpsed briefly over his shoulder to see how far clear he was. More than enough.
Just a few griant strides took him to the edge of the area and he blasted the ball into the top corner as if in a training drill.
Son had a similar finish ruled out narrowly for offside, but not even the VAR’s crosshairs could keep the score down for long.
Alli started a move, but it was again Aurier who picked out Bale and the Wales forward had his easiest finish of the night to secure the match ball.
He was replaced soon after but Tottenham were not quite finished.
Son produced an even better finish to the one that had been ruled out to complete, finally, what had become a total rout. TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Lloris 6; Aurier 7, Dier 6, Alderweireld 7, Reguilon 6; Hojbjerg 7, Lo Celso 6 (Winks 70); Bale 9 (Bergwijn 75), Alli 7 (Lamela 78), Son 7; Kane 7. Goals: Bale 36, 61, 69, Son 77. SHEFFIELD UNITED (3-4-1-2): Ramsdale 6; Baldock 5, Egan 6, Basham 6; Bogle 5 (Berge 46, 6), Norwood 7, Fleck 5, Stevens 6; Osborn 7; McGoldrick 5 (Mousset 83), Brewster 5 (Burke 46, 6).