The game started as most neutrals could predict; tackles flying, energy high, and end-to-end football. A true derby game, but Tottenham seemed to be on the front foot. But Spurs suddenly, and quite rapidly, capitulated, and the hammers headed home with midfielder Kouyate putting west ham ahead. Tottenham continued their terrible performance throughout the rest of the first half, and big Sam’s men were by far the happier of the two teams come the second half. Mauricio Pochettino made sure to take off the diabolical Mousa Dembele at half time, who after a good run of games, had a terrible game. In his place came a rested Christian Eriksen, who has looked jaded in recent games for spurs.
More of the same continued in the second half, and west ham proceeded to run rampant at white hart lane, and none of Tottenham’s regular performers or star players could stop their performance from getting worse and worse as the game went on. Pochettino took of the abysmal Andros Townsend and placed all his hopes on Roberto Soldado, a confusing substitution to most Spurs fans, considering the presence of Nacer Chadli on the bench. West ham’s inevitable second came in the form of Diafra Sakho, who scrambled in a cross past Lloris just after the sixty minute mark.
Tottenham looked defeated from the start, but with ten minutes to go in the game, something switched. Pochettino’s men got their heads together, realised route one football wasn’t going to get them any goals, and began to work as a team. From that point on, Spurs did what they’ve done best this season, and grabbed crucial points in the last few minutes of a game. The first came from a smartly hit Danny Rose goal in the eighty-first minute, and spurs continued to back the hammers into a corner and piled on the attack.
However, the game looked almost lost and over, until old Arsenal man Alex Song took down golden boy Harry Kane in the box, to thunderous cheers from the crowd. The referee, who had been rather lenient the entire game, gave the penalty, and Harry Kane stepped up. The clock ticked over, and Harry Kane’s last kick of the game was a poor one, and Adrian managed to deflect his penalty with ease. But Kane finished the rebound in true poacher style, and Tottenham put themselves level. Spur’s last minute winners are becoming almost cliché, but is a credit to the training that Pochettino employs so that his team can fight right until the end.
There were so many negatives to today’s game, but you can hear about those on twitter, so to conclude I’ll talk about the positive, Danny Rose. He fought hard, and was the only solid performer from spurs today, and was stand out because of it. Defenders rarely get enough praise, but Danny had a fantastic game, and his goal was very well deserved. So, not all bad, hopefully Spurs can go on to grab themselves a place in the next round of the Europa league, and a trophy by beating Chelsea in the Capital One Cup final.
Matt Healing
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