Sloppy Spurs put to the Sword by the Saints

Wednesday 9th February 2022

Match Report

Tottenham Hotspur 2 – 3 Southampton

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

Competition: English Premier League

"Pre-Match Thoughts – There's a real buzz around Spurs again, Conte has really rejuvenated them. If we play as well as we did against Brighton at the weekend it'd really kick us on in the march toward the top 4. I think it'll be another 3-1 win."

With Skipp and Dier still out injured, Conte named the same line-up as we saw in the FA Cup tie on Saturday.

4' It was a a shaky start and Southampton almost grabbed an early goal when a diagonal cross found Adams in behind our backline around 4 yards out. Thankfully Lloris stood his ground and used his torso to save the striker's first time effort.

13' Højbjerg did well to win a free kick on the right side, around 10 yards from the top corner of the area. Son chipped it in and Romero connected with an excellent diving header to nod it into the back of the net. Unfortunately the celebrations were short lived as he was deemed offside.

16' Spurs' first effective counter of the match saw Reguilón racing up the left side in reams of space. Son didn't see him as he jostled to keep possession in the middle of the park before squeezing it out to Kane on his right. Kane took it forward before sliding it across, putting it on a plate for Reguilón arriving at the far post, unfortunately he lacked composure with his finish and struck it straight at the outrushing goalkeeper Fraiser Forster. Big chance!

18' GOAL! Davies sprayed a long cross-field ball out to Royal, again down that right side, he found Moura who cut back before threading it through to Højbjerg who'd made an intelligent run down the right side of the area. He poked it across to Son in the six yard box, Bednarek slid in to prevent the tap in but in doing so diverted it into his own net. 1-0.

21' Ward-Prowse struck a low drive from distance and Lloris was down expertly to claw it away from finding the bottom corner.

23' Goal. Sánchez got a toe in to make an interception on the edge of his area and knocked it back to Davies in front of his own goal, he went to clear it out but slipped and ended up on the deck, gifting the ball to Southampton, who's initial cross was headed away by Sánchez, but only led to another drilled in right after, and this time Broja stabbed it into the net. 1-1.

30' Spurs were clearly struggling and Southampton were pushing for the lead. Lloris was forced into making another good save, this time from a free header in the centre of the box.

37' Saints in again, Sánchez seemed to just watch a long ball drift in past him and it saw their goal scorer Broja through one on one with Lloris. He should have scored but thankfully dragged his shot wide. A real let off.

42' Southampton came close yet again, this time left-back Perraud lashed one at goal from distance that beat Lloris but crashed against the crossbar.

"Thoughts at Half-Time – Oh Spurs ay... full of confidence going into this one and they end up being booed off at the break, that's how surprisingly bad we've been so far. For the majority of the half Southampton have been carving us open creating chances at will. It's been a nervy, uncoordinated performance from us, and we're lucky to be level going into the break. Let's hope Conte sorts them out in the dressing room and they come out a different side in the second half."

There was an improvement from Spurs and we began creating a few half chances here and there.

54' A good cross from Reguilón found Kane at the far post, a high foot may have put him off, as he headed it down and wide, when if he'd headed straight forward he would have found the net as he was right there just yards from the post.

60' Højbjerg made way for new signing Bentancur.

70' GOAL! Nice snappy pass from Kane to release Moura down the right side, he showed lightning pace to reach it and stretched to smash it across the face of goal first time, the incoming Son jumped in to meet it and side-foot into the bottom corner. Huge relief around the ground, and a slice of good fortune as Royal appeared to foul Broja in the build-up. The goal stood, 2-1.

78' Mistake from Winks on halfway as he dithered on the ball and was caught in possession. Broja found himself in on goal again, and this time he blazed it over the top.

79' Goal. A lethal Ward-Prowse ball whipped in from the right side and Elyounoussi waltzed in front of Royal to head into the net from around the penalty spot. 2-2.

82' Goal. Almost a carbon copy of the equaliser moments before - Another Ward Prose cross from the right, another free header from the middle of the box from Royal's man. This time Adams was the man to head into the back of the net. Shocking defending and Spurs deservedly behind. 2-3.

90'+3' We thought we'd witnessed another dramatic Bergwijn equaliser, as Kane crossed in, Romero headed down, and Bergwijn was there to tap it into the back of the net. Unfortunately VAR was quick to rule it out for offside.

"Thoughts at Full-Time – Same old Spurs... Just when we really needed a big result, we go and lose at home to a team in the bottom half of the table. I don't know if the weight of expectation put pressure on them, or the win last time out caused complacency to creep in, but for one reason or another, this was horribly nervy and disjointed performance all around. Credit to Southampton, they played well and deserved to win the game. It's a big setback for our top 4 aspirations, but they'll have to put it behind them now and focus on winning against Wolves at the weekend."

Tottenham Player Ratings

• 1. Hugo Lloris – 7 – A busy night for him as he was forced into making a good few big saves. Conceded three goals but he was left heavily exposed by disappointing defending.

• 6. Davinson Sánchez – 4 – Shaky Sánchez again tonight, looked nervy throughout and kept giving the ball away. His positioning left us prone to being caught-out on multiple occasions.

• 4. Cristian Romero – 7 – Cleaned out Broja with a slide tackle while making sure he still won the ball cleanly. Did his best to be the commanding presence he was at the weekend but would have benefitted from Dier being there to bring a bit more organisation to the backline and give him more license to get forward. Scored a header and assisted Bergwijn when he did get up there, but both were ruled out for offside.

• 33. Ben Davies– 5 – He's been Mr. Reliable in that back three since Conte arrived, but looked uncomfortable there tonight. Scuffed a few of his clearances and lost his footing on a few occasions, most notably right in front of his own net which lead to their second goal. Heroic defending to put his head in the way of a blasted Ward-Prowse shot at one point.

• 12. Emerson Royal – 3 – Wasteful in possession, sloppy in defence, lost his man for both their second and third goals. An alarmingly bad performance from the man that's supposed to be our first choice right wing-back.

• 8. Harry Winks – 4 – Seemed to buckle under the pressure today. Dithered and gave the ball to Broja to see him through on goal at one point. Misplaced passes, didn't make his mark on the midfield, and was ultimately outplayed by James Ward-Prowse.

• 5. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 4.5 – Not a good outing against his old side. Another one who gave the ball away too many times. Nice assist for the opener but failed to make much of an impact other than that when going forward.

• 3. Sergio Reguilón – 6 – Missed a sitter put on a plate for him by Kane. Found Kane with a good cross to the far post later on and delivered another few decent crosses. Caught out a few times defensively, both crosses that lead to their second and third goals came from over on his side.

• 27. Lucas Moura – 7.5 – Threaded a lovely ball to release Højbjerg in the build-up to the first goal, and did well to get an assist for Son before being subbed. We were still ahead when he went off.

• 7. Son Heung-min – 7 – Quite quiet on the whole but still grabbed a goal. Looked set to score the first before it was taken off his toe by a Southampton player and knocked in for an own goal. Grabbed the second himself in true Son style - arriving in the box and tapping it home.

• 10. Harry Kane – 7 – Frustrating night for him. Had a pot-shot from a long way out early on that was straight at the keeper. Should have scored with a header right by the back post. Didn't have many other chances carved out for him. Tried to make things happen and played some nice passes, including one to Moura that led to Son's goal.

Substitutions:

• 5. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg ⬅ 60' ➡ 30. Rodrigo Bentancur – 7 – Uses the ball well. Played a lovely pass out to Moura as soon as he came on. Perfectly timed a slide tackle in the box on one occasion, and played another few accurate balls here and there. May well have earnt himself a start next time out.

• 27. Lucas Moura ⬅ 76' ➡ 21. Dejan Kulusevski – 5 – Didn't do much. Disappointing cross into the first man on one break down the right side.

• 3. Sergio Reguilón ⬅ 83' ➡ 23. Steven Bergwijn – 6 – Looked like he'd made another late impact, but he was just offside. Not much else of note in his short cameo.

Man of the Match – James Ward-Prowse