Rough Day for the Defense

Southampton came from behind twice to beat Spurs in a match that was end-to-end from start to finish | Previewing the weekend fixtures

It's often said that a player is "just having a bad day." Very true. The problem is when multiple players are having a bad day. The right flank of Spurs' starting XI were all underperforming in the midweek match against Southampton, and the Saints were able to come back twice to win 2-3 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

For a neutral, this would have been a very entertaining match. For the diehard COYS amongst us, it was 90+ minutes of stress. Poor Hugo must have known he was in for a busy match when Che Adams nearly scored in the 4th minute from close range. And in fairness to our captain keeper, he made a lot of superb saves during the match--six to be exact. It just wouldn't be enough to make up for three costly defensive errors. There wasn't much he could do about any of Southampton's goals.

It was quite a physical match overall, and I'm surprised there weren't more cards awarded by referee David Coote. Our own Davinson Sánchez was lucky to avoid a red on a particularly hard challenge.

Spurs would strike first--well, kind of. What at first looked like a Son Heung-min goal was actually an own goal from Jan Bednarek, but kudos to Sonny for putting on the pressure and forcing the error. Unfortunately, the team collectively seemed to let up on the gas after that first goal and Southampton were able to equalize just a few minutes later through Armando Broja. Ben Davies' almost comical slip in the box was a rare moment of shakiness from the usual consistent defender, and Spurs just couldn't clear the ball in the ensuing chaos. We made it to halftime at 1-1, but it wasn't pretty. I was relieved for the break in play, so I can only imagine the squad was too (though Conte's reception in the dressing room probably wasn't enjoyable).

Like many fans, I was clamoring for Rodrigo Bentancur to be subbed on after halftime, but we would have to wait until the 60th minute for him to make his PL debut. He made an immediate impact, and while I'm not usually one to include highlight videos in my newsletter, this moment from Bentancur deserves a second look.

Cheers to Dakota for the excellent pun 😛.

For real though, if Bentancur doesn't start the next match... we riot. Dude needed exactly zero time to get acclimated to the game, displayed his cool and collected ball-handling skills once again, and served an exquisite through ball to Lucas, all with his first few touches of the match. Not bad at all.

We were looking better on the whole after Bentancur's arrival on the pitch, pressing more effectively and creating some decent chances. So I wasn't surprised when we got back into the lead in the 70th minute through a classic Kane-to-Lucas-to-Son linkup (after a controversial non-call on an Emerson foul on Broja). Lucas hadn't been having the best game, truth be told, but it was a quality cross from the Brazilian to set up Son's clinical finish. I was really getting caught up in the emotion of the moment, watching Son celebrate and try to gin up the home crowd. Son had been one of our better players on the day and it was so gratifying to see him get a goal when we needed it. That was Lucas' last touch of the match, and he was replaced by Kulusevski, making his own PL debut.

And then the defense struck again. Emerson Royal and Sánchez had been struggling to deal with Southampton's ambitious press all game long, and their combined errors lead to two nearly identical goals back to back, in the 79th and 82nd minutes. Both goals came as the result of James Ward-Prowse crosses from Southampton's attacking right over the center of the pitch and into the waiting leg/head of his teammates Mohammed Elyounoussi and Che Adams. Both Elyounoussi's shot and Adams' header found the left side of the goal, out of reach for Lloris, because neither of them was being marked properly. There was clearly a lack of communication between Emerson and Sánchez for their marking assignments. It seriously felt like déjà vu, even though one goal was a shot and one a header. Of course, some liability lies with the players meant to be keeping Ward-Prowse from delivering one of his signature crosses. Kind of an important responsibility! At least we didn't give him a free kick opportunity.

To Spurs credit, we kept pushing for another goal to equalize and at least try to salvage a point from this difficult game. And Conte decided to bring on the team's secret (well, not anymore) weapon:  Steven Bergwijn. And god bless him, he almost did it! With just four minutes left in stoppage time, Bergy found the back of the net. It would have been a beautiful team goal if it had counted, because it resulted from a crafty back-heel pass from Son to Kane, who then crossed it into the box for Romero to head down to Bergwijn to finish. But he was offside, undeniably so after the VAR check. Crushing.

I haven't felt this viscerally disappointed after a match in a long time, probably because it was such an emotional rollercoaster--and we definitely should have won, if only we had cleaned up better on defense. It was also a bummer to see the exact same lineup that defeated Brighton pretty handily on the weekend fail to deal with Southampton in a similar fashion. It doesn't help that Southampton has quite a few decent finishers in their attack and Brighton has... Neal Maupay. I do think Southampton deserve some credit for bringing the game to us, which is not something that should be happening when it's our home game, but there you have it. They knew to exploit our weaker right defensive flank and it paid off.

There were still some positives to take out of the match, however. Son and Kane both put in great shifts. Cristian Romero (who had a headed goal chalked off for offside very early in the match) also played well again and has been offering a lot more going forward. (Side note:  shoutout to friend-of-the-newsletter Shuban for explaining the origin of the term "Rolls Royce defender" to me; apparently it's a defender who is comfortable on the ball and offers more than just your standard defensive effort. Good to know!) I mentioned Hugo's valiant performance in goal earlier, but it deserves another special mention. Bergwijn showed once again that he can (almost) deliver in a crunch-time situation. And although his finishing was pretty awful, it's still heartening to see Sergio Reguilón continuing to get into good positions to score. Sooner or later he's going to start, you know, scoring. Right??

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that, unlike some fans who are prone to reactionary panicking, I'm not worried about the top 4 push. Yet. If we struggle so badly in defense again when we play Wolves on Sunday I might be feeling differently, but for now, I think it was just a bad day at the office for a few of our players, not an indicator of a much deeper problem. And offensively, I can't help but feel optimistic. We scored two goals, had two ruled out for offside, and had two more very solid opportunities from Harry and Regui. We know what the strengths and weaknesses are for this current squad, and where we need to bolster in the summer window. Everything will be fine.

Weekend matchups

Okay folks, it's going to be a two-screen kind of weekend, because both of our teams are playing at the exact same kickoff time. You'd think the PL and WSL could try to coordinate this better...

I'm sure many of you watched Wolves lose their home match to Arsenal, despite Arsenal going down a man with twenty minutes left and just a one-goal advantage, so you'll know that they aren't exactly in the best of form. Their young Portuguese striker came on as a late sub for Coady to try to bring more attacking firepower and at least earn them a draw, but he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. The likes of Semedo and Neves were getting some decent crosses into the box, but Jiménez and the rest of the starting forward line weren't finding the back of the net. What I'm saying is, if our defense is back to its usual standard under Conte on Sunday, conceding goals shouldn't be a problem. I am also not particularly intimidated by their backline of Saiss-Coady-Kilman, especially considering the form that Son and Kane have been in the last couple of games. And if we get our wish of Bentancur starting to spice up the midfield? It could potentially be a high-scoring game for Spurs. Which we frankly need at this point, because we're dangerously close to being back in the negative for goal difference again. Sigh.

As far as injuries go, Wolves are still missing a couple of key players that actually could make a difference, the veteran midfielder João Moutinho and promising young winger Pedro Neto. From Conte's last update, it sounds like Eric Dier is unlikely to be back for this match, but could feature against Man City. Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga remain out.

Spurs Women take on Birmingham City, who are still at the bottom of the table after losing their must-win match against Leicester City. That being said, they are still the only team to have beaten league-leaders Arsenal in a WSL match, for what it's worth. Spurs will be in high spirits after the 4-0 thrashing of Brighton last weekend, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a similar scoreline against Birmingham. I will readily admit that I have not watched a single Birmingham match this season except for when we played them on opening matchday (a 1-0 victory courtesy of a Kit Graham goal), so I'm not very familiar with their playing style. Spurs will have a boost from Tang Jiali and Cho So-hyun returning to the squad, though I doubt that either will start. Assuming she's fully fit, I would expect for Ashleigh Neville to be back in the starting lineup, though possibly playing in a more advanced position than usual, as we saw when she subbed into the match against Brighton.

I listened to this podcast featuring Molly Bartrip and former Spur Chloe Peplow (she plays for Reading now) discussing their experiences with disordered eating and how it affected their football careers, plus their thoughts on possible solutions for tackling this issue in the women's football sphere. Definitely worth listening to and sharing to raise awareness. Molly also shared more of her personal story in The Players' Tribune. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but it's in my queue.

Elsewhere across the WSL, there's a huge, possibly title-deciding matchup between Chelsea and Arsenal, if you find yourself with some free time on Friday afternoon. More relevant to Spurs fans, in terms of table implications for us, is the Manchester derby kicking off an hour and a half before our match. I'm definitely going to try to haul myself out of bed early enough to catch most of that match (but considering how late I've been staying up watching the Olympics, that might be touch-and-go).

For a non-soccer treat, here's a funny Twitter thread lovingly roasting Nathan Chen's costumes. We love you, Nathan, but your costumes are Not Good.

Speaking of the Olympics, I'm sending this issue out into the world very, very late (local time at least, good morning to everyone in the UK!), so don't forget that you can subscribe, for free, to get every issue sent to your email. No more looking out for the link on Twitter at odd times of day 😉. It will just be waiting in your inbox to be enjoyed over morning coffee, lunch break, afternoon tea, whenever you fancy. And if you're enjoying the newsletter, feel free to share Spurs Across the Pond with a friend. The more the merrier!

COYS