BEHAVE OR ELSE, GARETH TELLS STARS
GARETH SOUTHGATE has fired a chilling warning to his England squad after dropping Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood following their Iceland shame. As Sportsmail disclosed on Wednesday, Foden and Greenwood were omitted from the 30-man squad for the matches against Wales, Belgium and Denmark after they smuggled two women into the team hotel after last month’s win over Iceland. Southgate (above), who also provided a pointed response to Jose Mourinho’s stern
One game from the end of their gruelling opening sequence and all the face masks in Tottenham were unable to hide Jose Mourinho’s delight.
When he branded the schedule ‘inhuman’, the Spurs manager was both aiming his complaints at the powers that be and issuing a challenge to his players.
He will consider the response to have been somewhere close to super-human.
not because Spurs have been faultless every step of the way but from the defeat against everton to last night’s madcap goal feast against Maccabi Haifa, with a hat-trick for Harry Kane, two for Giovani Lo Celso, and one each for Lucas Moura and Dele Alli, they have shown desire to scrap in difficult circumstances.
They were open at the back against the Israelis but might have scored more and, ultimately, are alive in two competitions Mourinho has eyes on winning, in the last eight of the Carabao Cup and the europa League group stage.
Had it not been for a silly late penalty decision against newcastle they would be two points better off in the Premier League.
As it is, they are unbeaten in six games as they go to Manchester United on Sunday, the attackers are scoring goals, the new signings are settling nicely and Gareth Bale should be ready to go after the international break. Mourinho would have taken that at the start of the season.
Tottenham’s progress through qualifying has been fraught. They trailed to Lokomotiv Plovdiv in Bulgaria and there was another scare against Shkendija in north Macedonia, where the goalposts were the wrong size. There was a bye in the Carabao Cup when Leyton Orient were struck down by an outbreak of Covid-19 and a penalty shootout against Chelsea. It has been a stressful opening month to the campaign.
This was their seventh match in 19 days and Mourinho twirled his squad, with a recall for Kane, a breather for goalkeeper Hugo Lloris which enabled Joe Hart to make his home debut, and a puzzle as to how tired his players have to be before Alli is given another chance. Kane opened the scoring inside three minutes. He had been the target of an online taunt from Haifa midfielder Mohammad Abu Fani ahead of the game. Abu Fani, high on the adrenalin of beating Rostov in the previous qualifier, suggested Kane might be at his mercy.
In fact the Spurs striker was unmarked to tap into an open goal from close range after good approach play by Steven Bergwijn and a low cross, delivered from the left to perfection by Ben Davies.
Tottenham enjoyed the luxury of an early goal in Macedonia last week without taking a grip on the game and, again, they let their opponents back in.
Lo Celso broke clear only to slam a good chance into the side-netting, and Haifa’s American goalkeeper Josh Cohen denied Lo Celso and Lucas Moura in quick succession, but Spurs were again vulnerable at the back.
Tjaronn Chery tested Hart, and Fani whistled one wide before a loose pass out by Davinson Sanchez was cut out and Chery shrugged off Bergwijn before beating Hart from 30 yards.
The ball dipped, swerved and bamboozled the former england keeper. The Israelis celebrated but they were soon trailing again when Lucas scored with a glancing header at the near post.
This time, Mourinho’s side pushed on and scored the third before half-time. Kane brought the ball down in front of goal and Davies kept it alive. Lo Celso pounced, confidently sweeping the chance into the top corner. It was his first goal since January and he scored again three minutes later, when Kane punished a slip by central defender Bogdan Planic.
Lo Celso arrived to receive the pass and clipped a sweet finish over keeper Cohen.
On came Alli to replace Lo Celso but Haifa remained lively in attack, Spurs far from solid in defence, and nikita Rukavytsya reduced the deficit from the penalty spot.
It was another bewildering handball decision, this time against Matt Doherty, although easier to swallow than the one in the last minute which proved so costly against newcastle.
easier to accept, also, when French referee Ruddy Buquet levelled matters up by almost immediately giving one to Spurs. Kane scored his second of the night from the spot.
Rukavytsya had the ball in the net again, only to find he was just offside, before Kane completed his hat-trick and came off to rest for United. Then Alli made it seven. Tripped in the last minute, he stepped up to score the third penalty of the game. TOTTENHAM (4-2-3-1): Hart 6.5; Doherty 6.5, Sanchez 6, Alderweireld 6.5, Davies 7; Hojbjerg 7, Winks 6.5; Lucas 7, LO CELSO 9 (Alli 46min, 6), Bergwijn 7.5, Kane 8.5.
Jose Mourinho 7.