RIATH AL-SAMARRAI: Son saves the day as Spurs FINALLY show some pride and backbone... it might not be enough to save their season but the 2-2 draw with Man United will feel a lot like a win
- Tottenham went in at the break 2-0 down after Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford scored for the visitors
- Pedro Porro volleyed home from the edge of the box before Son Heung-min's equaliser earned Spurs a point
- Re-live the action as it happened from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Manchester United draw at Spurs
Beneath the shame, the excoriation and the soul-baring statements of contrition, it would seem Tottenham had one last thing to reveal in their week of brutal truths. The big secret? They have a little pride and backbone in that squad after all.
Goodness, under their new policy for reactive price schemes, they might even raise the admission fee after a quite bonkers and uplifting evening in which they flirted with another kicking but somehow snatched a draw that felt an awful lot like a win.
It won’t be enough to save their season. No, the body of work has been too grubby for that. You would guess the most meaningful European places are long gone, too.
But after the debacle of Newcastle and a defeat that triggered protests and fury and the abandonment of one caretaker for another, this was so much better. So much more heartening. So much more like the kind of enterprise that might soon be deemed worthy of the reputational risk by Julian Nagelsmann.
And yet, ultimately, this wasn’t a night for considering Tottenham’s future, because the present, in a rare moment, was awfully fun. And for that, credit to Ryan Mason, who inherited the ashes of Cristian Stellini’s mess – or Daniel Levy’s if we are to go even a fraction beneath the surface – and somehow succeeded in making this place rock.
That was no mean feat in the circumstances, both of the league table and also the nature of this game, which for a while threatened to be quite dire indeed. To go through the undulations of it all, Tottenham trailed after seven minutes to Jadon Sancho – a fine goal – and were 2-0 down at the break to an equally good finish from Marcus Rashford. Both were rooted in defensive errors and by then the odds were fair on more to follow.
But what a fine act of resuscitation, with Pedro Porro kicking open the door at the start of the second half and Heung-Min Son saving the day late on. They even created enough chances to win, and it has felt a while since this marvellous stadium has known that kind of joy. The happiness of the damned, maybe, given the institutional problems Tottenham must solve, but they will take it for now.
For United, this was painful. Partially because of the missed chances and the missed opportunity, but also because Newcastle are going so well in the battle for third. With the FA Cup final on their horizon and the general air of growth under Erik Ten Hag, they can handle it, even if we might revisit the topic of how they have occasionally struggled on the road in these sorts of fixtures. Given how bleak their own recent history has looked at times, the issues are hardly considerable.
In any case, Tottenham will serve as a shot of perspective for most, the outcome of this match notwithstanding.
The struggle ahead of kick-off was in narrowing down a point in time when the mood around Tottenham had been so low. Aston Villa in May 2021? That was probably it, when, by coincidence, Mason was overseeing the last home game of his first stint as the caretaker of this dysfunctional family. It wasn’t his fault then either.
On this occasion, it meant protests on High Road, just across the street from the club shop. ‘Levy out, Levy out, Daniel Levy Out,’ they sang. It wasn’t many, maybe 100 or so by 6.30pm, but it grew in numbers through the evening. Wherever one falls in the great blame game of our time, it is a swelling sentiment.
How do you cater for an uprising? In Mason’s case it meant three changes to the side that started last Sunday's debacle at Newcastle, which may have seemed light by around eight. By some decent logic, Mason also ditched the system of a back four and returned to Antonio Conte’s preference for a back three.
Despite the slog of extra-time and penalties to see off Brighton on Sunday, Ten Hag made only a single change, with Jadon Sancho in for Anthony Martial. Elsewhere among the Dutchman’s decisions and considerations, Harry Maguire, back from suspension, was not involved because of a ‘training injury’, but Bruno Fernandes had recovered sufficiently ankle problem to start.
Of the decision to bring in Sancho, Ten Hag put it down to ‘rotation’. His vindication would come quickly, or after seven minutes if we are to be precise, though Newcastle have re-written the rules on how much of a pummelling Spurs can take in a short space of time.
In this latest instance, the opener was traced to a Spurs mistake, with Oliver Skipp twice lunging at Marcus Rashford, leaving himself on the ground. That allowed Rashford to advance before rolling left to Sancho, who cut in from the right edge of the area and found space easy to buy from Pedro Porro and Cristian Romero before whipping a finish across Fraser Forster. A lovely goal, all told.
The response from the visiting end was to call for the Glazers to leave, and Tottenham’s bunch reacted immediately with an invitation for Levy to do likewise.
To give Mason’s side their due, they got better. They found traction in midfield, created chances - notably for Harry Kane and Richarlison - and were only a few sharper final-third decisions from pulling level, but were then floored for 2-0 by Rashford. The finish was excellent, as was the ball from Fernandes, but Eric Dier’s reluctance to engage as Rashford advanced was crucial.
‘Harry Kane, we’ll see you in June,’ sang the United end. No answer was forthcoming from the Spurs fans, but after the break Spurs stormed back into life.
Clement Lenglet clipped the bar with an early header, Hojbjerg demonstrated an escalating confidence by launching at goal from 35 yards – albeit wildly off target – and on the whole the home side were scrapping. Grafting. Pushing. They point came when Kane had a shot blocked by Luke Shaw and Porro nailed the rebound, because from there Tottenham had their lifeline.
Almost immediately Fernandes hit the bar in the retaliation, and that too was vital, for it was followed by a mass of Spurs chances, culminating in one for Son who, having been so underwhelming this season, bundled one over the line. Amid all the recent difficulties, it was a nice interlude for man and team.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMioAFodHRwczovL3d3dy5kYWlseW1haWwuY28udWsvc3BvcnQvZm9vdGJhbGwvYXJ0aWNsZS0xMjAyMjIzNS9Ub3R0ZW5oYW0tMi0yLU1hbi1Vbml0ZWQtU29uLUhldW5nLW1pbnMtbGF0ZS1lcXVhbGlzZXItY29tcGxldGVzLXRocmlsbGluZy1zZWNvbmQtaGFsZi1jb21lYmFjay5odG1s0gGkAWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmRhaWx5bWFpbC5jby51ay9zcG9ydC9mb290YmFsbC9hcnRpY2xlLTEyMDIyMjM1L2FtcC9Ub3R0ZW5oYW0tMi0yLU1hbi1Vbml0ZWQtU29uLUhldW5nLW1pbnMtbGF0ZS1lcXVhbGlzZXItY29tcGxldGVzLXRocmlsbGluZy1zZWNvbmQtaGFsZi1jb21lYmFjay5odG1s?oc=5
2023-04-27 21:08:09Z
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar