Gest the ticket for Woodgate
Ings gives Jose plenty to moan about
JOSE MOURINHO’S unbalanced Tottenham side were outplayed and out-thought by an inspired and organised Southampton.
So the Spurs boss thought he’d give everyone something else to talk about.
First there was his farcical confrontation with the Saints bench. Then his post-match interviews saw him accuse the club’s record signing of always being injured, blame the Southampton ball boys for time-wasting and blast VAR.
Ralph Hasenhuttl’s team still won, thanks to Danny Ings’ 13th league goal of the season.
The outstanding moment of an ordinary match was the 17th-minute goal that was reminiscent of Paul Gascoigne against Scotland at Euro ‘96.
Running on to a Jack Stephens ball, Ings’ first touch with his right foot lifted the ball over the defender’s head before drilling home on the volley with his left as Toby Alderweireld trailed in his wake.
“He is unbelievable at the moment,” said Hasenhuttl. “When he gets a chance, he
NEIL McLEMAN scores.” Mourinho branded the 90 minutes a strange game where his team were in control apart from Ings’ moment of magic.
It is now over a year since Tottenham last kept a clean sheet away from home in the Premier League.
But the Spurs head coach, who saw record signing Tanguy Ndombele and Harry Kane both limp off, was keener to talk about the failure to award his side a debatable first-half penalty.
Dele Alli went down under a challenge from Stephens but it was not even referred to VAR – unlike a later challenge on the England star by keeper Alex McCarthy and an apparent handball by Alderweireld.
“For me the referees are not the referees,” said Mourinho. “I think the VAR should change their name because Video Assistant (inset)
Referee is not true. It should be VR – Video Referee – because they are the referees. It is strange.
“You see the refs on pitch and they not the refs, they are the assistants. The other guys in the office are the ones who make the big decisions of the game.
“What I know is that the Dele Alli penalty was a penalty and the VAR didn’t interfere. He then interfered in a penalty that from 75 yards away I knew was not a penalty.
“But they let the VAR analyse it to try to make us blind about the penalty that was a penalty.”
To be fair, Mourinho does know all about trying to confuse and divert people.
For Southampton, the story was more straightforward. Ten points in four games over Christmas and a first home clean sheet in 15 home games.
Hasenhuttl said: “The clean sheet is what pleased me most. The self-confidence is coming because of this hard work.
“It was the best performance at home so far. We were so aggressive today. If we stay like this, we can compete with anybody.”
RUDY GESTEDE ended a near two-year scoring drought as Middlesbrough made it four wins on the spin.
The striker justified boss Jonathan Woodgate’s decision to give him his first league start of the season by scoring for the first time since February 2018.
After a Ben Davies own goal had added to Gestede’s 40th-minute opener, the injury-hit Benin international said: “It’s a big relief to score – it’s been a long time coming.
“I have had injuries that kept me out for long spells and when I was fit I wasn’t picked.
“I never lost belief because I have scored goals wherever I have played. But the most important thing is the win.”
Woodgate said he had decided to play Gestede even before the shock 2-0 win at West Brom on Sunday.
“I just had a gut feeling to play Rudy,” he said. “He was a real handful, took his goal well, could have had more and I’m really pleased for him.”
Woodgate’s side are now only seven points off a play-off spot and he added: “In the space of four days we have ended West Brom’s unbeaten run and now won at the team who had the best home record in the Championship, so it’s been a good Christmas.”
Boro deserved Gestede’s acrobatic strike after Preston had failed to clear Paddy McNair’s free-kick.
Davies gifted them their second midway through the second half when a mix-up with keeper Declan Rudd saw him poke into his own net.
Preston boss Alex Neil said: “It was very similar to the defeat to Reading. We gave the ball away far too often and our final pass let us down.”