Thrown to the Wolves
Leggy Spurs’ title bid gets mauled
Mauricio Pochettino saw Spurs’ title hopes dealt a crushing blow – and blamed it all on Christmas.
Harry Kane had celebrated his new year MBE in style with a stunning first-half opener.
But the striker’s hopes of adding a Premier League winner’s gong at the end of the season receded dramatically after the break as goals from Willy Boly, Raul Jimenez and Helder Costa condemned them to defeat.
It was Spurs’ third match in seven days over the festive period and boss Poch reckons it showed in the second half as Wolves knocked the stuffing out of them.
He said: “The moment we conceded the first goal the team was down, they started to feel the time, the fixture, everything, and it was difficult to find the energy to win the game.
“We conceded the first goal and the last 20 minutes was tough for the team to f ind energy, to be competitive or to try to win.
“I think the game was under control in the first half, maybe it was easier than we expected to dominate the game.
“But in the second half we started to feel maybe the game was over, and when you feel the game is over you start to play the way we played, start to decide the wrong way, play too many long balls and then it was difficult to recover the balls.
“We played more with the heart rather than the head and we started to spend a lot of energy and of course you need the energy in the end, you miss that.
“I’m very disappointed, like the players, but this type of result can happen and now we need to move on and be sure we are ready for the next game.”
England captain Kane had celebrated his award in the New Year Honours by unleashing a superb strike from 25 yards to put Spurs ahead.
But it went downhill for him and his mates after Boly equalised with a header before the Spurs skipper copped a booking for diving.
When Mexican ace Jimenez poked Wolves in front with eight minutes left Spurs had nothing left in the tank and Costa added a late third as the visitors ended a memorable 2018 on a high.
Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo said: “I’m very proud. The second half was really good.
“We had a lot of belief after the equaliser, I would have said a draw was a good result, but I cannot control the emot ions of the boys if they see space in front of them. “We have achieved something very special in getting to the Premier League and it has been a special year.”