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Norwich City 2 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur
28 December 2019 | Premier League
By Lee Clow
Tottenham scrapped a 2-2 draw against Norwich after going behind twice at Carrow Road.
Mario Vrancic gave Norwich City the lead in the first half following Juan Foyth’s costly mistake. The Argentine centre half, making only his second start under Jose Mourinho, was robbed of possession in a dangerous area allowing Vrancic to stroll through the Spurs defence and curl an effort into the back of the net past Paulo Gazzaniga.
It then went bad to worse for Spurs as Norwich put the ball into the net again through Teemu Pukki. The Norwich striker got in behind Spurs’ leaky defence and controlled excellently before sliding the ball past Gazzaniga to send the home fans into raptures. However, moments later VAR intervened and fortunately for Spurs, the goal was ruled out for the tightest of offside calls between Pukki and last man Toby Alderweireld.
It wasn’t until the second half before Spurs found an equaliser. Jamal Lewis was penalised for a handball and this resulted in Spurs winning a free kick on the edge of the area. Christian Eriksen stepped up and superbly fired the dead ball into the top corner pulling his side level.
Spurs thought they had completed the turnaround three minutes later when Dele Alli gathered Giovani Lo Celso's pass and lofted a shot over Tim Krul, but the effort was ruled out for offside.
The action then took place at the other end of the pitch as Norwich found themselves back in front. Pukki made another dart towards goal and this caused panic in the Spurs defence resulting in Alderweireld diverting the ball off Serge Aurier into the back of his own net.
Tottenham were given another route back into the game when Christoph Zimmermann clumsily brought Kane to ground in the penalty area. The Spurs and England captain stepped up to the spot and as he always does, dispatched well in the net.
Jose Mourinho had this to say after the game: "The same defensive mistakes we made in the first half, we made in the second half. This is being a little bit of our history. We conceded two very bad goals. Our defensive mistakes are match after match.”
"I have lots of work to do but it has been difficult because I always say you have to try and hide your fragilities. We have to improve defensively because there are too many individual mistakes.”
"That's very frustrating because we played well and could not have been more offensive than we were in the second half, where Norwich defended with their souls and their lives."
Norwich boss Daniel Farke said: "It's a good point for us in a game that was our second in three days. To come away with a point is without doubt a good result. I'm not very frustrated, I'm proud and a bit disappointed.”
"Some crucial decisions didn't go out way and we are disappointed not to get three points, but I have to praised my players' spirit first and desire, especially in the first half."
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Southampton 1 – 0 Tottenham Hotspur
01 January 2020 | Premier League
By Lee Clow
Tottenham had a nightmare start to 2020 as they fell defeat to Southampton and lost Harry Kane to injury.
Danny Ings scored a superb goal as Southampton sealed a huge victory over a Spurs side who never turned up. The Saints striker got in behind the shaky Spurs defence and turned Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld inside out before slotting the ball past Paulo Gazzaniga.
Southampton had huge chances to extend their lead, but it was former shot stopper Gazzaniga who stopped them in their path.
Having taken their time to adjust to the game, Spurs finally settled in the first half and started to create chances. Dele Alli was denied well by Southampton keeper Alex McCarthy following his spill from Harry Kane’s low drive and Jan Vertonghen skied over from close range following a corner.
In the second half not much changed with Southampton standing strong at the back and Spurs lacking any real quality. There were huge shouts of handball by Alderweireld, but VAR did not deem it worthy of a penalty due to the intensity of the strike from such a close distance.
Kane appeared to have earned Spurs their equaliser when he turned home a free kick but VAR was there to deem the goal offside. To make things worse for Spurs, Kane looked to have pulled his hamstring whilst on the stretch for the disallowed goal forcing him to be substituted for Erik Lamela.
In the final 10 minutes Lucas Moura came close to a last gasp equaliser when his shot in the deflected wide of the posts but Southampton held on securing the victory and their first clean sheet at home.
Following his sides defeat Jose Mourinho addressed the incident involving himself and Southampton’s bench as well as giving his opinion on VAR: "I think the yellow card is fair because I was rude, but I was rude to an idiot. And for some reason, I was rude, but I was and because I was I deserve the yellow card.”
"For me the referees are not the referees. I think the VAR should change their name because Video Assistant Referee is not true.”
"It should be VR - Video Referee - because they are the referees. It is strange. You see the refs on the pitch and they are not the refs, they are the assistants.”
"What I know is Dele Alli penalty was a penalty and the VAR didn't interfere. He then interfered in a penalty that from 75 yards away I knew was not a penalty. But they let the VAR analyse it to try to make us blind about the penalty that was a penalty.”
"Sometimes it goes in our favour like at Norwich and sometimes against us. But the direction it is taking us in is really really wrong."
Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said: "It's a fantastic start to the year - a really intense game - and our best performance at home so far. We were so aggressive, so committed, very difficult to create chances against this team.”
"Everyone was doing his best job. We can score always but the key was the work against the ball and the clean sheet. This is the biggest difference from two months ago.”
"Ings is in an unbelievable moment when he has a chance he scores, to do what he did today you need a lot of self-confidence and he is full of confidence."
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Middlesbrough 1 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur
05 January 2020 | FA Cup
By Lee Clow
Lucas Moura saved Tottenham’s blushes as they earned a replay against Championship side Middlesbrough in the third round of the FA Cup.
Tottenham started their first FA Cup tie of the season brightly by creating some good chances. Middlesbrough keeper Tomas Mejias had to be on call twice when he denied Christian Eriksen from long range and moments later prevented the onrushing Son Heung-Min.
Boro soon grew into the game and began creating chances of their own. It was now Spurs goalkeeper, Paulo Gazzaniga, on call when he pulled of an excellent double save, first getting down to deny Dael Fry and secondly to clear George Saville’s rebound shot with the help of Toby Alderweireld.
In the second half it was Boro who was the better side, and this soon paid off when they took a shock lead. A Spurs defence, which has been leaking goals all season, once again was caught out by a long ball allowing Ashley Flecther to ghost through and place the past the onrushing Gazzaniga.
Despite going behind, Spurs responded well and found themselves level only 11 minutes later. Serge Aurier was given huge space down the right allowing him to pick out fellow Spurs colleague Moura to head home superbly.
Both sides could have won the game with chances being created at both ends of the pitch. Jan Vertonghen was let off the hook when he was robbed of the ball, but Fletcher could not capitalise with his strike firing straight at Gazzaniga. Erik Lamela had an effort parried by Mejias and Moura almost sealed the win with a spectacular strike but again Mejias was there to preserve the replay.
After the game, Jose Mourinho spoke to the press stating how he was disappointed with his sides performance: "When we were losing 1-0 without strikers or the power to play inside their defensive line with lots of bodies and great soul, at that moment I had the feeling of 'we are in trouble',"
"But then everyone reacted. I reacted. The boys reacted. Giovani lo Celso and Erik Lamela helped us a lot. If one team has to win, it has to be us. We played well very in the last 20 minutes; we were just missing a second goal."
We wanted to win but we knew it would be difficult. We managed to bring the game to our stadium. It's a game we don't need, our squad is short with so many problems - but it's a game at home and we have to go for it,"
Middlesbrough manager, Jonathan Woodgate also spoke after the game giving his thoughts on the tie: "I'm really pleased. They gave everything they had. We were against a side who reached the Champions League final and have an unbelievable manager. So for us to go toe to toe with them, which we did at times, [was good]. I'm disappointed to come out 1-1.”
"I wanted them to press higher [in the second half] and not be so deep. That was the key. We knew we'd get chances. They haven't kept a clean sheet away from home.”
"Jose Mourinho is an incredible manager. He made changes and got the result. I can learn from him. He's a fantastic person.”
"We want to try to get to the next round. There's no point competing if you don't think you can win."
What’s next?
The replay of this tie will be played on January 14 at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
Tottenham return to league action next week with a huge encounter against league leaders Liverpool at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. Meanwhile, Middlesbrough take on Derby in the Championship next Saturday.
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