Frustrating Showing at Southampton as Spurs Slip to Sixth

Tuesday 28th December 2021

Match Report

Southampton 1 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur

Venue: St Mary's Stadium, Southampton

Competition: English Premier League

"Pre-Match Thoughts – On paper we should be picking up another 3 points here. Away games are always tricky though, and Southampton are off the back of an impressive win over West Ham on Boxing Day. It seems too good to be true for us to just keep on winning, but there's a new-found confidence in the team under Conte. I think we're going to edge it 1-0."

Big opportunities were handed to Dele and Winks who came into the side for Skipp and Moura. Davies was the only other change, he returned to left centre-back in place of Tanganga.

5' The first chance fell to Southampton as a cross from ex-Spurs man Walker-Peters found Shane Long with a free header from six yards, fortunately he failed to get enough on it and Lloris was relieved to see it bounce wide of the post.

The home side continued to press in the opening stages as Spurs struggled to settle into the match. They appeared to be targeting us down our left side with Reguilón being tested early on.

13' Reguilón then gave Walker Peters a taste of his own medicine as he ran in behind to chase a Harry Kane pass played down the wing. The Southampton right-back couldn't keep up and brought him down.

The resulting free-kick was lofted onto the head of Davies from Son and he found the bottom corner with a header only for it to be swiftly ruled out for offside.

25' A long throw from the left evaded the head of a Southampton attacker and rolled off the thigh of Dele who chased down the loose ball but it'd fallen into the path of Ward-Prowse who sliced it on the half volley across goal into the right side of the Spurs net. 1-0.

It was no more than the Saints deserved for their bright start and now Spurs had some serious work to do.

39' Winks threaded a through ball behind the backline that Son sprinted onto and closed in on goal before being chopped down by Salisu – penalty. Not only that, but the defender had already been booked so his clumsy challenge earned him a second yellow and a red card.

41' Kane blasted the penalty into the top left corner, keeper had no chance. 1-1.

Suddenly Southampton's promising afternoon wasn't looking so good with Spurs back on level terms and with a man advantage.

"Thoughts at Half-Time – Southampton were looking the stronger of the two sides, but we did well to weather the storm and catch them on the counter to earn a penalty that got us back on level terms. Now with an extra man and boosted by Conte's half-time team-talk, we should go out and win this in the second half."

The yellow carded Reguilón was replaced by Matt Doherty at the break.

53' An immaculate lofted long ball from Winks found Kane who brought it down beautifully with the outside of his boot with his first touch and buried it into the bottom corner with his second.

Unfortunately what looked a perfectly good goal was chalked off by VAR that deemed Harry Kane's armpit offside… Harsh, and yet another controversial VAR decision to be discussed. I thought they'd adjusted the rule for this season to allow such fractional offsides?

-Chief referee Mike Riley at the start of the season – "We’ve introduced the benefit of the doubt for the attacking player so where we have a really close offside situation, we will follow the same process as last year but now apply thicker broadcast lines. So it’s the toenails, the noses of players that were offside – they won’t be offside now.” (Source: inews)

…Kane looked onside on the replay.

Spurs continued to pile on the pressure and it felt like a second goal was coming.

67' Harry Winks ballooned a cross towards the far post, Doherty challenged the keeper who spilled it as he attempted to gather and it bounced off the back of his leg and into his own net. There didn't look like there was much in it but the ref deemed it a foul on the goalkeeper and disallowed another Spurs goal.

70' Son slipped in Doherty on the overlap who tried to finish from a tight angle but the keeper got down to save it with an outstretched leg.

76' Doherty continued to get in behind down that left side and Winks found him again with a delightful chipped pass but he finished like a defender – volleying the tricky chance sky-high over the top.

77' Attack-minded change from Conte as right-back Royal made way for young winger Bryan Gil.

79' Gil made an immediate impact as he shimmied to the side of his man and delivered onto the head of Son. Unfortunately his effort was too central and it was caught by the keeper.

Time was running out for Spurs as they continued to press for a winner but just couldn't find one.

90'2' Sloppy from Dier as he lost out to Broja in a 50/50 on the backline and presented him with a clear chance in on goal. Sánchez raced across brilliantly and blocked the shot with a last-ditch sliding challenge.

90'+4' Winks found Kane at the far post who managed to get his head on it but he was falling backwards and twisting and as a result couldn't get his effort on target.

90'+5' Doherty played it to Gil who cut inside and shot but it was saved by the keeper above his head.

"Thoughts at Full-Time – Incredibly frustrating afternoon as we see two goals controversially ruled out and countless opportunities to win it squandered. It definitely feels like two points lost rather than a point gained against a team in the bottom half with ten men. Hopefully they learn from it and return to winning ways against Watford on New Year's Day."

Tottenham Player Ratings

• 1. Hugo Lloris – 6.5 – Didn't have much to do. No chance with the goal.

• 6. Davinson Sánchez – 7.5 – Another solid performance. Made a superb recovery challenge to cover for Dier's error late on.

• 15. Eric Dier – 6 – Not at his best today. Passing was off and almost gifted them a winner at the end with a lapse in concentration.

• 33. Ben Davies – 7 – Went about his duties. Found the net with a good header but was just offside.

• 12. Emerson Royal – 6.5 – Saw a lot of the ball but his final ball was lacking in quality again.

• 8. Harry Winks – 8 – Didn't make the best start but grew into the game and demonstrated an excellent range of passing including a beautifully weighted through ball to Son that led to the penalty, and a lofted pass to Kane that he scored only to see harshly disallowed.

• 5. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 6 – Got about the pitch in his usual dogged manner. We could have benefitted from him being more attack-minded at times.

• 3. Sergio Reguilón – 6 – Subbed at half-time after picking up a booking in the first half. Needed to calm down and keep his composure in certain situations.

• 20. Dele Alli – 5 – Visibly disappointed to be subbed but had failed to make his mark on the match and was barely involved.

• 7. Son Heung-min – 7 – Showed his lethal pace to win the penalty. Had a few shots but they were too central. Worked hard but couldn't find the finish we needed.

• 10. Harry Kane – 7 – Put his penalty away expertly. Could have been a different story if his second wasn't controversially ruled-out for offside. Promising signs of him getting back to his best with 3 goals in his last 3 games.

Substitutions:

• 3. Sergio Reguilón ⬅ 45' ➡ 2. Matt Doherty – 6.5 – Surprising to see him on the left but he did well getting in behind the defence and had a few chances. Signs of improvement from him.

• 20. Dele Alli ⬅ 62' ➡ 27. Lucas Moura – 6 – Did some good work but ultimately couldn't help find the breakthrough.

• 12. Emerson Royal ⬅ 77' ➡ 11. Bryan Gil – 7 – Looked lively and provided a threat by beating his man and getting crosses in. Had a chance to win it at the end that was saved.

Man of the Match – 8. Harry Winks