TOTTENHAM 1 MBE*
WOLVES 3
ONE glance at the scoreline suggests this was the same old Spurs – but manager Mauricio Pochettino was having none of it.
Within touching distance of putting real pressure on tabletopping Liverpool at the start of the day, and, guess what, the Argentine’s side bottled it.
It’s difficult to level that accusation against a side that had fought tooth and nail to reach second place in the Premier League table, the semifinals of the Carabao Cup and last 16 of the Champions League. And Pochettino (right) wasn’t about to start, either – even though his usual good humour had well and truly disappeared into the chill night air.
He said: “We know very well that if you are not 100 per cent in every single game in the Premier League, this can happen.
“You need to play your best for 95 minutes. Today, we dropped our energy a little bit, our focus and in the last 20 minutes we conceded three goals.
“This was a clear example that if you don’t play with the right quality and energy, it’s difficult to compete.”
What a day it was for Harry Kane, too. It began with a gong as he picked up an MBE in the New Year Honours list, and continued with a bang as he rifled in a trademark 25-yarder midway through the first-half.
But it ended with a whimper as referee Stuart Attwell called him out for diving, cautioning England’s captain.
Pochettino’s mood was not helped when he was quizzed on that, either. In fairness, Kane did appear to have his shin clipped by Ivan
Cavaleiro on the follow-through.
“It’s difficult to talk only about him,” he said. “He scored a great goal but in the end, he is not happy as we didn’t win and we lost three points.”
None of this should detract, however, from Wolves’ display.
Prior to yesterday, Nuno Espirito Santo’s men had taken points from the two Manchester clubs, Arsenal and defeated Chelsea.
But this was a different scalp. They were away from Molineux against a team of real pedigree.
An upset hardly looked on the cards