Kepa pays penalty as Son earns level for Spurs in thriller in opposition to Bournemouth

Credit score Tottenham for his or her resilience. Credit score their character for coming again into the sport. Credit score them for battling their method to a degree that by no means actually appeared believable till Son Heung-min transformed an 84th-minute penalty. However let no one get carried away: this was a recreation that raised extra questions for Spurs than it answered. It was not a efficiency that ought to reassure anyone.

The daffodils have been out in entrance of the flats on the Seven Sisters Highway. There was some heat within the solar. Followers uncertainly solid off their thick winter coats. Lastly, Tottenham’s damage disaster is starting to ease. Eventually Ange Postecoglou has had a while to work together with his squad. Spurs had gained league video games on three successive weekends. Even with a 1-0 defeat by Manchester Metropolis of their final league recreation, it may need been doable to consider that winter is over, that renewal has begun.

Then got here Thursday and a depressing efficiency away to AZ Alkmaar within the Europa League. That it was solely 1-0 at the least gives some hope for Thursday’s second leg – and that Postecoglou can keep his much-vaunted run of at all times profitable a trophy in his second 12 months at a membership, however on that the whole season hangs. And no one will be too bullish after one other weirdly sloppy house show.

Cristian Romero has at all times been an erratic presence however even by his sometimes unreliable requirements, the primary 4 minutes have been determined. Twice his makes an attempt to play out from the again received Tottenham into hassle, presenting probabilities to Evanilson and Justin Kluivert. Solely a pair of high quality saves from Guglielmo Vicario prevented Bournemouth taking an early lead. It isn’t simply the Argentinian; the overwhelming majority of Tottenham’s issues would disappear in the event that they stopped giving the ball away needlessly in their very own half.

That at the least was not the supply of Bournemouth’s Forty second-minute opener, though that the ball was given away within the opposition half is probably not an inconsequential variation on the theme. Milos Kerkez intercepted Pedro Porro’s move, surged ahead and crossed deep for Marcus Tavernier to attain with a managed volley on the again put up. Kerkez instantly turned to his supervisor and, after that they had pointed at one another in mutual admiration, exchanged a double high-five in celebration. The execution of some tactical grasp plan? Maybe, though inducing Spurs to present the ball away felt extra a case of ready than something difficult, the purpose then ensuing from the directness of the Hungarian’s run and the excellence of the cross.

Though a penalty shootout victory took Bournemouth previous Wolves into the sixth spherical of the FA Cup final week, they’ve been a little bit out of types just lately, dropping three of their earlier 4 league video games, a run that had dropped them into the mass of sides simply exterior the anticipated Champions League qualification slots. With 10 video games to go, all people within the prime half has a practical probability of a top-five end – a broad grouping that, notably, doesn’t embody Tottenham.

That’s why frustration is mounting on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the best decrease mid-table enviornment on the earth. With out Dejan Kulusevski, they appear desperately in need of creativity. Postecoglou picked a useful midfield of Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur but when the intention was so as to add an additional curtain of safety, it didn’t work and left Spursreliant on their wingers for creativity.

The introduction of Lucas Bergvall and Son half-time, then James Maddison on the hour, provided larger attacking menace but additionally made Spurs look terribly weak to the counter. Though Son had a shot deflected in opposition to the bottom of a put up and Sarr dragged inexplicably broad after neat work from Maddison, Kluivert had already had one purpose dominated out for offside when a shift of physique weight took Kevin Danso out of the sport as he slipped in Evanilson to dink house Bournemouth’s second.

When Sarr did finally rating two minutes later, it was a mishit cross that looped in off the far put up. Bergvall had hit a put up seconds earlier and Kluivert then hit a put up from one other breakaway as the sport collapsed right into a reckless openness. No person embodied that greater than Kepa Arrizabalaga, whose careless lunge at Son conceded the penalty that introduced the equaliser.

Maybe to an extent that’s merely the character of Angeball, however selecting up the scraps from chaos doesn’t appear a plan more likely to create persistently constructive outcomes. The issue is that Spurs are constant for the time being, simply not in a great way: they’ve taken six factors from 9 house league video games since beating Manchester Metropolis 4-0 on the Etihad in November. Is that sufficient to maintain Postecoglou within the job subsequent season? Maybe not in isolation, which is why Thursday is such a giant day within the historical past of the membership.