Spurs Stunned by Second from Bottom Burnley Days After Defeating the Champions

Wednesday 23rd February 2022 - 7:30pm

Match Report

Burnley 1 – 0 Tottenham Hotspur

Venue: Turf Moor, Burnley

Competition: English Premier League

"Pre-Match Thoughts – Still smiling about that sensational win at the weekend... Let's hope we see another excellent performance tonight. It's a tougher fixture than some may see it on paper - Turf Moor is a notoriously difficult ground for away sides, and Spurs will have to switch up the tactics that worked so well against City, as they'll likely be the team attacking tonight, rather than defending and waiting to pounce on the counter.

Confidence should be high though, and we have superior players. I think we'll win 3-1."

There were no surprises in the starting line-up, as Conte went with the same side that overcame Man City at the weekend.

1' A delightful passing move right from the kick-off, to the backline, out down the right via Kulusevski then Kane, he crossed looking to complete the move via Son, but it was blocked by a Burnley defender who was a fraction away from diverting it into his own net. Silky start from Spurs.

It was a pretty uneventful opening half an hour, as both teams struggled to really get anything going under the relentless rain lashing down. Burnley were slightly on top, they looked sharper and hungrier than Spurs in the opening stages.

45'+1' Kulusevski did well to win the ball deep in Burnley's half, he passed it to Son who had an excellent opportunity to slide Kane in on goal to his right, but dithered on it and ended up dribbling down a blind alley to his left. Chance wasted, Kane frustrated.

"Thoughts at Half-Time – The performance has matched the weather so far... A drab, dreary encounter, with neither side threatening to break the deadlock. Let's hope for a much improved second half, as we need to take 3 points from this to bolster our hopes of achieving top four."

It appeared that Bentancur was still feeling the strain of an awkward slip early in the match, as Winks was brought on to replace him for the second period.

47' Son picked up the ball in his own half and embarked on a tenacious run through the centre of the pitch. He covered a lot of ground before eventually being hacked down. The South Korean stepped up to take the free-kick and whipped it in from the right side, Kane rose well to win the header that beat the keeper, but crashed off the crossbar.

It was much better from Spurs in the opening stages of the half, and they pushed to find a breakthrough.

60' Kane fired left-footed from distance, but it was narrowly wide from finding the bottom corner.

64' Kane sent a diagonal over to Royal on the right side, he hooked it back into the danger area where Kulusevski was amongst a cluster of Burnley bodies, it ricocheted back to Royal, this time he pulled it back to Davies who fired first time at goal, but the Burnley keeper stood tall to keep it out with his shoulder.

65' Conte made an attacking change bringing on Moura for Royal. It meant that Kulusevski dropped to right back.

69' A dangerous cross from the left side was met by the head of Rodriguez who headed down well, but Lloris was there to make a good save and push it away from danger.

69' Son carried it forward, when he reached the edge of the area, with three Burnley players in front of him, he laid it right to Kulusevski who curled left-footed toward the far corner, but it was agonisingly wide of the post.

71' Goal. Sessegnon conceded a foul over on the right side. It was ballooned in, all the way over to the far post where Ben Mee beat Romero to it and headed down back across goal into the bottom corner. 1-0.

83' Should have been 2-0 Burnley... A corner found Ben Mee again at the far post, he skewed his shot, but it fell favourably to Rodriguez who was free around four yards out, thankfully he managed to shin it over the bar.

85' The chance of a free shot at goal fell to Moura on the edge of the box, but he blasted it way over the top. He should have shown more composure.

87' Son pulled it back to Bergwijn who side footed it first time across goal, but it was too close to the keeper who saved with relative ease.

"Thoughts at Full-Time – We all saw it coming... beat reigning Champions Man City in glorious fashion then go and lose to second from bottom Burnley days later. 'Spursy' to a tee. Visible improvement in the second half, but we wasted our opportunities. On the whole you have to say Burnley were the better side. Spurs just couldn't get it going, and head back home having suffered a colossal blow to our hopes of finishing in the top four."

Tottenham Player Ratings

• 1. Hugo Lloris – 6.5 – Made a strong save from a header before being beaten by another moments later. Couldn't have done much about it. Didn't have a whole lot else to do.

• 4. Cristian Romero – 6 – Looked strong and composed all game. Raced forward to join attacks time and time again. Beaten to a header by Ben Mee that lost us the game though.

• 15. Eric Dier – 7 – Did a good job of keeping it tight at the back. Covered well for Royal by coming across to deny a dangerous chance with an excellent block on one occasion.

• 33. Ben Davies– 7 – Similar to Dier, another reliable performance where he didn't do too much wrong.

• 12. Emerson Royal – 3 – Found himself in good positions down the right side but kept wasting them yet again. It's becoming tiresome... Beaten far too easily inside his own box at one point too.

• 30. Rodrigo Bentancur – 6 – A nasty looking slip early on was probably the reason he was subbed off at half-time. Let's hope it's nothing serious as we missed him the second half.

• 5. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 6 – The sort of player you want in battle-like matches such as these. Got stuck in and worked hard, but struggled to create much for us going forward.

• 19. Ryan Sessegnon – 5 – Put a few good crosses in but looked short of confidence at times, as his running with the ball was often tentative rather than tenacious.

• 21. Dejan Kulusevski – 7 – Showed good determination as he was eager to get involved at all times and looked confident that he could make things happen when on the ball. Still noticeably favours his left foot, but was productive in possession on the whole. Unlucky not to find the net with a curling shot towards the bottom corner.

• 7. Son Heung-min – 5 – A disappointing night for him. Should have played in Kane at the end of the first half. Came out fighting with some driving runs early in the second half, but all in all, it was a quiet display from him.

• 10. Harry Kane – 7 – Unlucky to head against the bar. Dropped back into the midfield a lot again, determined to grab the game by the scruff of the neck, but it was tough in the conditions. If only we had two of him, as he kept picking it up in midfield and supplying quality crosses, problem is we need him in the box to get on the end of them too... Frustrating night for him. Can't fault his effort.

Substitutions:

• 30. Rodrigo Bentancur ⬅ 45' ➡ 8. Harry Winks – 5 – Didn't have the incisive impact Conte would have been hoping for. Tried a few forward passes but didn't produce a whole lot to help the cause.

• 12. Emerson Royal ⬅ 65' ➡ 27. Lucas Moura – 4 – Struggled to get involved and skied his one big chance over the bar.

• 19. Ryan Sessegnon ⬅ 79' ➡ 23. Steven Bergwijn – 6 – Looked strong on the ball and managed to get a decent shot away that was saved.

Man of the Match – A Burnley Player