Hotspur Hive

It was a return to winning ways for Tottenham Hotspur after a miserable three games for the Lilywhites, with Harry Kane back in the lineup and Heung-Min Son back amongst the goals.

The team news was met with shock from Spurs fans and rival fans alike: both Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela were playing, but the attention-grabbing inclusion was Harry Kane, injured a few weeks previously against Liverpool, but back in the side sooner than expected. Mourinho made four changes, while Sam Allardyce made five after his own disappointing defeat midweek.

The game got underway in snowy North London, with Spurs the side looking to make the early punches. Harry Kane’s passing clearly made a difference right from the start, and Lucas looked lively, making an early run through the West Brom defence, before Bartley made the most of a heavy touch round Ajayi.

The first few big chances of the game fell to Harry Kane. The first was a product of some excellent work down the right flank by Erik Lamela, playing the ball through to a surging Serge Aurier (pun intended) despite being on his way to the ground. Aurier played a beautiful square ball across to Harry Kane who, on his left foot, blazed agonisingly wide. The next one was a far bigger chance. Kane was somehow first to a wayward through ball from Tanguy Ndombele, after taking a deflection of a defender, and found himself in acres of space in front of the net. A fully fit Harry Kane is smashing it past the keeper, but his shot could only bobble past the post. Perhaps he was distracted by the tribute to Ronald McDonald that West Brom were wearing.

His ankle seemed to give him issues again minutes later. Not feeling that he could hit it first time, Kane shifted it to his right foot inside the box, before having his rather weak shot blocked by a defender. Another effort was palmed away by Johnstone soon after.

A big chance came from a corner, but neither Aurier’s header or Toby Alderweireld’s strike could beat a desperate defence as Lee Peltier and Robert Snodgrass threw everything at it.

After 45 minutes, West Brom created a big chance. Snodgrass sent a cross over to the back post, where Diagne had drifted away from Davinson Sánchez. His header was a solid one, but Hugo Lloris got behind it at the crucial moment. West Brom were adamant that it had crossed the line, but there was no buzz of the watch. It would have been the ultimate smash-and-grab half from West Brom, but the sides went in at half-time still level.

Heung-Min Son had the first chance of the second half, but his low effort was kicked away by Johnstone. Lamela followed it up with a slalom in the snow that most Olympic skiiers would have been proud of, but he couldn’t find the finish, a right-footed shot (or cross?) going off for a goal kick.

6 minutes later, BOOM! Harry Kane latched onto an incredible through ball from Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and slid it past the keeper. He still couldn’t quite hit it with the venom that we’ve come to expect of Tottenham, England and perhaps the world’s best striker, but it was placed with accuracy that more than made up for that.

His class was shown again with a sumptuous touch with his chest, sending Lucas through on the counter. The Brazilian obliged, surging right through the defence and sliding the ball into Heung-Min Son. He’d missed one opportunity today, and that was certainly not happening again. 2-0. Spurs were firmly in the driving seat.

Snodgrass sent a cross over to the back post, where Diagne had drifted away from Davinson Sánchez. His header was a solid one, and this time it was sent past Hugo Lloris, but it was deemed offside. A wake-up call.

At 64 minutes, Erik Lamela did what Erik Lamela does best (no, not making the most of minimal contact from Anthony Martial) and got booked for a lunge on Sam Gallagher.

Lively throughout, Lamela had a pretty good game. Sharp on the ball, dedicated in the challenge before he was replaced by Steven Bergwijn with 20 minutes left to go.

On 82 minutes, Pereira sent a cross over to the back post, where Diagne had drifted away from Davinson Sánchez. His finish was a solid one, but again, his goal was disallowed for offside. To his credit, it looked like very good defending from the Colombian, making sure the offside call would be given through clever use of his body.

16-year-old Dane Scarlett came on for a minute-long cameo, and became the only ever 16-year-old to take part in a Premier League game for Tottenham Hotspur. And that was about it. An uneventful final ten minutes culminated in three points for Tottenham Hotspur, and a thoroughly deserved win.

Attention now goes to an FA Cup clash against Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton, who we face for the first time since our inability to head the ball in defence cost us points in our first game of the season. Spurs are still in all the cup competitions this season, and it would be lovely if we could keep it that way. Come on you Spurs.

It may have felt like a lifetime ago, but Spurs returned to action eight days after defeating Sheffield United to face Wycombe Wanderers in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The competition’s draw has been quite generous to Jose Mourinho’s team so far, putting them in a David vs Goliath match up with eight-tier Marine and then bottom of the Championship Wycombe. 

Tottenham had made ten changes from the side that won 3-1 at Bramall Lane, with stand-in captain Ben Davies being the only player to remain. Gareth Bale was given the opportunity to start his first game in a month, having recovered from a calf injury sustained against Stoke in the Carabao Cup quarter final.

Gareth Bale should have given Spurs the lead in the opening five minutes, as the Welshman connected with Lucas Moura’s corner but his header was wide of the Wycombe post.

Only a couple minutes later and accomplished backup goalkeeper Joe Hart was all that stood in the way of the hosts taking the lead. A flicked header from Leicester City loanee, Admiral Muskwe looked destined for the top corner but the former England number one was able to claw the shot away for a corner.

Not long after regaining control of the fixture, another opportunity arose for Bale as the ball fell to him on the edge of the eighteen yard box but he failed to convert once again.

Despite having come close to conceding on multiple occasions, the Chairboys were able to take the lead in the 25th minute after Davinson Sanchez’ attempted block landed perfectly for an incoming Fred Onyedinma to slot into the bottom left corner.

Shortly after going ahead, Gareth Ainsworth was forced into making a change due to injury. Joe Jacobson had tried to battle through the pain but was clearly not in any condition to continue and was subsequently substituted for Darius Charles.

It seemed as if it just wasn’t going to be Tottenham’s night in the closing stages of the first half, with efforts from Moussa Sissoko and Japhet Tanganga smacking the crossbar.

After trying to find a breakthrough all half, Spurs fans were able to take a sigh of relief. Gareth Bale finally took advantage of the lack of concentration from Wycombe’s defenders by getting on the end of a Lucas Moura cross before guiding the ball into the back of the net.

Jose Mourinho had decided to go with a new approach for the second half, as Japhet Tanganga made way for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. A move that would see Moussa Sissoko play the right-back position instead of his usual role in the heart of the midfield.

Not much had changed for the two sides after the restart, Spurs were unable to make their numerous chances count while Wycombe sat back and hoped to take advantage of the few chances that they had.

The sixty minute mark seemed to be when Mourinho had seen enough as superstars Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Tanguy Ndombele entered the frame over the course of the next fifteen minutes in place of Carlos Vinicius, Lucas Moura and Erik Lamela.

Gareth Ainsworth tried to counter the opposing substitutions by making a few of his own over the same time span. Matt Bloomfield, Admiral Muskwe and Uche Ikpeazu had their time cut short and were replaced by Garath McClary, Scott Kashket and fan-favourite Adebayo Akinfenwa.

Harry Kane and Son Heung-min continued the Lilywhites’ streak of not finding the back of the net but a new sense of danger could be felt upon their arrival.

Harry Winks would break the hearts of many Wycombe fans in the 86th minute, as he broke the deadlock with a curling effort from twenty yards out. A goalmouth scramble had led to a poor clearance from the defender which eventually fell to the England international.

It seemed as if Spurs just needed that late goal to spring into action, as Tanguy Ndombele would increase the lead just a minute later with a calm one touch finish into the bottom eight corner.

With just a minute remaining in added time you would expect Spurs to just maintain possession and see the match through, but Ndombele had other ideas. The Frenchman would remind everyone that he is one of the most technically gifted footballers in the world by dancing his way into space, before using an outrageous piece of skill to split the two defenders and strike the ball between them for his second goal of the game.

Ndombele’s game consisted of two shots on target, two goals, sixteen touches, three duels won, two key passes, one big chance created and a 75% pass completion in only twenty-two minutes of action.

Jose Mourinho admitted that he feared his side would be taken to extra time by the Championship outfit.

What can we do? We want to progress in the competition. We don’t want to throw it away. We don’t want to lose. We needed a good strong team and a good strong bench.

“It would be more of a problem with 30 minutes extra time because Kane’s 30 minutes becomes 60 and so on, but hopefully nothing. I didn’t see huge fatigue. Ben Davies, I hope just a bad feeling and not anything on his calf.

“But I knew that the game was going to be difficult. We prepared the game knowing it could be hard and it was. It’s not easy to handle their style of play.

“I showed the players clips of when we played them four years ago and it was a difficult game then and it was again.”

Everton will be Tottenham’s opponents in the fifth round of the FA Cup, having beaten Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday.

Spurs will now be looking to avenge their last minute defeat at the hands of Liverpool on Thursday. With only a point separating the two teams a win for the North London side would take them five points behind leaders Manchester City.

By Reece Coughlan

Last night saw the first time in history that both the sides met whilst occupying first and second on the table, each looking to get one over on their title challenger.

Both clubs were coming off the back of disappointing draws at the hands of Crystal Palace and Fulham respectively, intending to put the record straight in what would be a tight contest.

After what could only be described as a frustrating evening at Selhurst Park, Jose Mourinho made two changes from the side that took a point away at Crystal Palace. Tanguy Ndombele dropped to the bench for Giovani Lo Celso, while birthday boy Sergio Reguilon made way for the surprise inclusion of Ben Davies.

Beating Liverpool over the past few seasons has been a tough task in itself, but beating the Reds at Anfield has been something that no Premier League club has been able to achieve in three years. Jurgen Klopp’s side has not suffered a home defeat since the 2-1 loss against Sam Allardyce’s Crystal Palace in April 2017.

From the offset it was apparent that Mourinho would employ his traditional ‘park the bus’ tactic against last season champions, as Spurs soaked up pressure while Liverpool were able to dictate the tempo of the game.

Despite having a fair few amount of chances, the combination of Hugo Lloris and the Spurs backline had kept Liverpool at bay, until Mohammed Salah’s deflected strike gave the Merseyside outfit a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute.

In classic Mourinho fashion, Spurs did not have to wait long for an equaliser as seven minutes after Salah’s strike, Heung-Min Son tucked away his 11th goal of the season.

Spurs once again showed why they are one of the best counter attacking teams in Europe, as a driving Giovani Lo Celso played a ball in behind the Liverpool defence to the South-Korean, who made no mistake by slotting the ball past Allison.

However the first half action wasn’t done there, as Lloris was able to stop Salah from restoring Liverpool’s lead. The World Cup winning goalkeeper was able to get down a parry the Egyptian’s shot away to safety, moments before the two sides headed down the tunnel.

Steven Bergwijn was able to start the second half on more of a positive note for Tottenham by being able to shield off pressure from Trent Alexander-Arnold before narrowly putting the ball past the post.

Not long after Bergwijn’s attempt, Harry Kane almost pulled off the spectacular by attempting to chip Allison from 30 yards out, but the Brazilian goalkeeper was able to recover and acrobatically tip the ball over the bar.

The first change of the evening was made by Spurs in the 58th minute with Lucas Moura entering play in exchange for Lo Celso, who left on a yellow card.

Although the second half had become tougher for Liverpool, they were still piling on the pressure as Salah once again was denied by Lloris who pushed an awkward shot behind him.

If there was a moment for Spurs to take the lead then Steven Bergwijn and Harry Kane needed to make their chances count. On the counter, Son managed to flick the ball on for Bergwijn, who somehow hit the post despite being one-on-one with the Liverpool keeper with defenders nowhere to be seen.

Seconds later, Harry Kane got onto the end of a Tottenham corner and somehow managed to send a header past the post from six yards out.. A rare occurrence for the hot in-form striker.

A few minutes later, Sadio Mane smartly spun Toby Alderwiereld before letting off a lethal attempt which flew past Lloris, but off the crossbar and out of play.

Bergwijn’s evening was an up and down affair, as he was subsituted for Reguilon in the 76th minute. Suggesting that Mourinho would be trying to hold on for a point. While Son left the field for Dele Alli in the 87th minute.

Just when it looked like Spurs were going to avoid defeat at Anfield, they went back to their old ways and allowed Roberto Firmino to win an uncontested header from an Andy Robertson corner in the 90th minute.

Jose Mourinho expressed his dissatisfaction with the result, believing that Spurs should have come away with the victory. A statement that expresses the views of many Tottenham supporters.

“The best team lost and he (Klopp) disagreed but that’s his opinion.” Mourinho said. 

“I think even a draw would have left us not with the best taste because we had them there to win it.

“It was not just about the big chances it was the moments of the big chances and the moment was when they were in trouble in their worst moment and we had it there to kill it but we missed it.

“Normally at matches at this level you pay and I thought we would pay just taking a point.

“In the end we didn’t even take a point, so it is very disappointing. But looking at the performance I am happy with the team, with the proposal of going to a match to win it.”

The disappointing result now means that Liverpool have regained their spot at the top of the Premier League table, while Spurs currently sit three points behind in second place. Mourinho will be hoping that his old club, Manchester United don’t come back to bite him as they will leapfrog Spurs if they are able to win their two game’s in hand.

Spurs will now turn their attention to Leicester City, who visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday. Three points against the Foxes will allow the Lilywhites to stay close to Liverpool, who head to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace in a fixture that certainly won’t be easy for the Reds.

The main takeaway from last night is that both teams are fiercely matched this season, and will be in and around the top come the end of the season for sure. Whether it be a surprise season from Tottenham or Liverpool retaining their control of the Premier League, remains to be seen.

Written by Reece Coughlan

Edited by Joey Pickthall

After last week’s frustrating 3-3 draw with LASK, it was tough to take any real positives from that performance. However, a point against the Austrian side meant that Spurs had cemented their place in the knock-out stages of the Europa League.

Despite qualification being wrapped up, Spurs sat second in Group J. Meaning they needed to beat Royal Antwerp in the last game of the group to finish first.

Jose Mourinho made nine changes from the side that won 2-0 in last Sunday’s North London derby against Arsenal. Sergio Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso being the only two remaining in the starting eleven.

Tottenham seemed to be in control of the game from start to finish, as Antwerp failed to register a single shot on target during the 90 minute affair.

With the score still at 0-0, half-time saw Reguilon make way for winger Steven Bergwijn, as Mourinho decided to shuffle the pack by going to a back four for the remaining 45 minutes.

Although looking comfortable, it took until the 57th minute and a moment of brilliance from Gareth Bale for Spurs to find a breakthrough.

The Welshman stood over a free-kick from at least 30 yards away and launched a rocket of a strike towards the top right corner, which was somehow tipped onto the post by Beiranvand.

Carlos Vinicius was the first to react to the loose ball, finishing into an empty net to give Spurs a 1-0 lead in front of 2,000 loyal supporters.

Bizarrely, Jose Mourinho made a triple substitution seconds after taking the lead, with the goalscorer Carlos Vinicius making way alongside Gareth Bale and Harry Winks for Harry Kane, Heung-Min Son and Tanguy Ndombele.

To nobody’s surprise the substitutes settled into the game instantly. A nice piece of linkup play between Bergwijn and Son resulted in Beiranvand having to turn away another shot which could have doubled Tottenham’s lead.

The changes didn’t stop there for the North London side, as in the 68th minute Moussa Sissoko was introduced at the expense of Lucas Moura.

Two minutes later, Lo Celso latched onto a Kane through ball and guided an outside the boot finish into the bottom left corner.

The Argentine put in a performance of the highest quality: recording an 82% pass success rate, twelve recoveries, four crosses, four chances created, six dribbles completed and scoring a goal.

Lo Celso’s performance may have spoken for itself but it didn’t stop Jose Mourinho from adding further praise.

“He was at a high level last season but got an injury and didn’t have a pre-season.

“He’s playing in the Europa League and coming off the bench in the Premier League. He played the last match well and this match very well. This is more like normal Gio.

“When he’s fit he can show that the intensity is there.”

The result now means that Spurs sit atop of the Premier League and their Europa League group and now look forward to the Round of 32 draw.

The possible opponents for the Round of 32 consist of Krasnodar, Red Bull Salzburg, Olympiakos, Dynamo Kiev, Young Boys, Molde, Slavia Prague, Lille, Benfica, Granada, Real Sociedad, Braga, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Wolfsburg and Crvena Zvezda.

Written by Reece Coughlan

Edited by Joey Pickthall