Awful Spurs Suffer Third Straight League Loss With Wolves Defeat

Sunday 13th February 2022

Match Report

Tottenham Hotspur 0 – 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London

Competition: English Premier League

"Pre-Match Thoughts – That was a real blow for us losing to Southampton on Wednesday. Let's hope we can bounce back with a positive result to keep our chances of top 4 on track. It definitely won't be easy - Wolves have been ticking along somewhat unnoticed in the background, and if they manage to take all 3 points today, they'll overtake us in the table. I think we'll edge it 2-1 though."

Still no sign of the injured Skipp or Dier, as Conte made three changes from the side that started on Wednesday - both wing-backs were rotated with Doherty coming in for Royal to face his old club, and Sessegnon taking Reguilón's place. The final change was new signing Bentancur coming into midfield for Højbjerg. Quite a few were surprised to see Winks retain his place ahead of him.

7' Goal. Shocking start from Spurs, as Neves was allowed time and space to pop a shot from distance that bounced up awkwardly in front of Lloris causing him to punch it out and into the path of a Wolves player in the area, he shot, and Lloris opted to punch again, this time it seemed quite unnecessary, and it fell straight to striker Jiménez, who chested down and volleyed into the right side of the net. A rare mistake from Lloris, and it cost us. 0-1.

16' Excellent ball from Bentancur to slide in Son who'd made a well timed run. He opted to turn back onto his left rather than striking first time with his right, it allowed a defender the chance to get back and cause him to scuff his finish straight into the goalkeeper.

18' Goal. Another horror moment from Lloris as he went to play a simple pass out left to Davies but put it way behind him. Davies tried to clear the danger under pressure but played it straight to a Wolves midfielder, who wasted no time getting it to Semedo in the area. He pulled it back to Dendoncker whose shot was blocked by Sánchez but it deflected off him, then off Bentancur, then off the post. Dendoncker was fastest to react to the loose ball and raced between the two of them to poke it into the net. 0-2.

20' Kane was allowed space to take a shot from distance, he struck it well, but it was just over.

22' Jiménez was almost gifted another as Doherty headed it straight to him on the edge of the box, he struck it on the half volley and Lloris was forced into making a decent save. The defending continued to be all over the place, closing down and stopping shots was almost non-existent.

28' Things were was so bad that Conte felt the need to make a change before the half hour mark - Sessegnon was dragged off for Kulusevski, and we switched to a 4-4-2.

36' Wolves almost with another - Poor pass from Winks STRAIGHT to an opposition midfielder. A couple of snappy passes on the edge of our area eventually teed up Podence for a free shot at goal. Lloris got down well to palm it away.

"Thoughts at Half-Time – A truly shocking first half from Spurs. Our defending has been shambolic, and Wolves' attackers have bullied them. The two goals stemmed from surprisingly slack moments from Lloris, but that's not the only reason we're behind, it could have been four or five for the visitors going into the break. I expect they'll be receiving the hairdryer treatment from Conte in that dressing room. Let's hope it makes a difference as it's going to be very difficult to get anything from this game from here."

52' Wolves in again... This time a Sánchez error gifted them possession and a quick through ball saw Jiménez in one-on-one. Davies slid in from behind and did well not to give away a penalty while doing enough to put off the striker, as he shot straight at Lloris from close range. Another let-off.

57' Son played in Kane down the left side of the area, he took a touch before attempting a left-footed finish across goal, but the keeper made himself big and kept it out.

65' Son chipped in a free-kick from the right side, it was headed away and fell into the path of Winks, he struck his shot well on the half volley, but it deflected off a Wolves man and hit the post. Unlucky.

Wolves went through a bit of a shaky spell and Spurs really needed to take advantage by getting at least one back. Unfortunately, as with our defending, our attacking play seemed to have a distinct lack of coherence and composure, and we failed to find a goal back.

77' Winks sprayed a cross-field ball to Davies on the left, he nodded it back central to Kulusevski on the edge of the area, who got his shot away but it was just wide of the post.

88' Corner whipped in from Son which Romero did well to beat his man to and head at goal. A good effort, but unfortunately it was too central and tipped over by the keeper.

"Thoughts at Full-Time – A worryingly bad performance, probably the worst we've seen under Conte, and suddenly that's three league losses in a row. The players just didn't seem at the races today and it was no surprise to hear them booed off. Wolves jump above us in the table and looked strong, Spurs are struggling badly. Lots of work to be done. Man City next..."

Tottenham Player Ratings

• 1. Hugo Lloris – 4 – Strange punch straight to Jiménez for the opener. Shocking pass out to Davies that put us under pressure and ultimately lead to their second. Forced into making a few decent saves after those two howlers.

• 6. Davinson Sánchez – 3 – A nightmare day at the back for him, was dragged here there and everywhere by the Wolves attackers. Couldn't pass, couldn't tackle, couldn't do much at all. Many will be calling to see Rodon replace him next match if Dier is still out.

• 4. Cristian Romero – 6 – Still managed to put in a half-decent performance. Would've benefitted from having better defenders either side of him. Unlucky not to score from a header at the end.

• 33. Ben Davies– 5 – Not the best clearance for the second goal but was put into such an awkward position by Lloris. Would have been better to just put it out of play. Good last gasp sliding lunge to put Jiménez off when in one-on-one.

• 2. Matt Doherty – 2 – All over the place, looked lost out there as he has done so often in a Spurs shirt. Kept giving the ball away too easily with sloppy passes and strange headers. Not even close to being good enough.

• 8. Harry Winks – 3 – Surprised to see him get the nod ahead of Højbjerg, and didn't exactly cover himself in glory... Failed to get out to Neves in the build up to the first goal, didn't even attempt to. Made a string of poor passes, even when under no pressure. Slight improvement in the second half, but still not good enough.

• 30. Rodrigo Bentancur – 6.5 – First start for him in a Spurs shirt and was one of our better players. Lovely ball played through to Son in the first half. Looks composed on the ball and showed some nice touches.

• 19. Ryan Sessegnon – 4 – Didn't get to see much of him as he was subbed before the half hour mark. He didn't exactly do well in the short time he was on the pitch though, and you can see why he was hooked.

• 27. Lucas Moura – 4 – Started the game really brightly by being a bundle of energy and dribbling around. Unfortunately it never lead to anything, and he faded out of the game completely as it went on. Eventually subbed for Bergwijn.

• 7. Son Heung-min – 5 – Arguably should have done better when played in by Bentancur. Seems to be lacking in confidence, as though he worked hard, he didn't make much of anything that came his way today

• 10. Harry Kane – 6 – Determined to make things happen, started dropping into the midfield to win the ball and embark on solo runs. Sadly he can't do it all on his own, and it was another frustrating afternoon for him with a severe lack of service.

Substitutions:

• 19. Ryan Sessegnon ⬅ 28' ➡ 21. Dejan Kulusevski – 5 – Works hard which is always good to see. Maybe should have done better with his effort that he fired wide in the second half. Got on the ball fairly often but struggled to make a real impact. Will take some time to adapt to the Premier League.

• 27. Lucas Moura ⬅ 71' ➡ 23. Steven Bergwijn – 5 – Came on and tried to inject some drive into our attack. Looked lively, but couldn't help get us back into the game.

• 2. Matt Doherty ⬅ 82' ➡ 12. Emerson Royal – N/A – On as a late substitute and didn't do much.

Man of the Match – Somebody in a Wolves shirt