Premier League Part 2 – Electric Boogaloo kicked off Boxing Day with an early game for Tottenham Hotspur in Brentford. Antonio Conte had a tired squad to manage, with a number of the Spurs squad having been heavily involved in the World Cup. Either way, Conte opted to start the majority of his available international players outside of the two finalists in Cristian Romero and Hugo Lloris, and with Clement Lenglet favored over Ben Davies. Perhaps the biggest surprise was a rare start for Japhet Tanganga on Davinson Sanchez on the right side of Spurs’ back three.
The game started tentatively, with both teams looking rusty and uncertain, until a drive-thru run from masked Son Heung-Min earned a free-kick from Spurs in an excellent position. Son, Dier or Perisic could all have been good cries to test David Raya in goal, but of course Harry Kane duly drove the free-kick straight into Brentford’s defensive wall.
It was Brentford, however, who struck the first blow. Ivan Toney sent a header to Bryan Mbeumo, whose excellent cross found Mathias Jensen in acres of space in the box. A significant deflection meant Fraser Forster could only parry Jensen’s shot at Vitaly Janelt, who happily accepted the late Christmas present of a tap-in goal.
From there, Brentford looked to pick up the pace, giving Spurs no time on the ball and trying to move forward quickly whenever they had possession. Tottenham made some effort from range, but Brentford continued to have the better chances, with Forster netting a good kick from a Zanka shot after a Brentford corner.
Brentford had the ball in the net for a second time after a terrible midfield giveaway from Yves Bissouma was played quickly towards Toney. He rounded Forster and finished easily but was ruled offside after Japhet Tanganga made a smart bet by stepping up just before the ball was played. Tottenham looked to advance late in the half but were unsuccessful, and the first half ended with Brentford deservedly 1-0.
Tottenham looked sharper early in the second half and screamed loudly for a penalty, as Ben Mee’s rugby tackled Harry Kane in the box while trying to reach an Ivan Perisic cross. Spurs’ cries were in vain, however, as the on-field referee and VAR refused to acknowledge the foul. Instead of looking to level the game at 1-1, Spurs found themselves trailing 2-0. A gruesome shoot from Eric Dier on an innocuous ball striker gave Brentford a corner. Ivan Toney gambled on a graze header near the post and easily tapped the ball in for Brentford’s second.
Spurs finally made the breakthrough in the 64th minute. The ball came to Lenglet deep in half space who curled a dangerous cross into the penalty area. Harry Kane leapt over the Brentford defense and powered a brilliant header into goal to cut Spurs’ deficit to a solitary goal.
It didn’t take long for Tottenham to strike again. A fine interaction from Dejan Kulusevski and Matt Doherty down the right found the Swede in acres of space in the box. His reduction was deflected, but fell on Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who had plenty of time to throw the ball past Raya and put things right.
Frustration started to creep into the Brentford squad, and things started to get a little hectic after Brentford objected to a hilarious embellishment from Matt Doherty in the Brentford box. This work of art was clearly an inspiration for Brentford as Mbeumo attempted to replicate it with his own dive, earning him a booking.
Harry Kane nearly had Spurs in the lead after beating Raya to another cross from Clement Lenglet, but he could only shake his head in disbelief as his header effort rang out over the bar. Brentford followed that up with his own luck as Toney beat Forster for a chipped ball into the box. The bookmakers’ odds would have been in favor of Toney’s finish, but he could only pick up his attempt over the crossbar. Tottenham continued to search for a late winner with a flurry of set pieces but were unable to find the winner and a thrilling game ended in a split.
reactions
- So… the break didn’t do much to ‘fix’ Spurs, did it? An austere and slow first half, followed by a second half of urgency and momentum. Did you miss it? I know not.
- Much of this improvement in the second half was due to Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. He really took the game by a scratch on the neck in that second half, covering huge amounts of ground and really chasing the tempo with his passes. Kulusevski also looked much sharper in the second half.
- On the other hand, Yves Bissouma had a bad game. He looked good in a midfield two in the friendly against Nice, but here his shortcomings were on full display with Brentford’s pressure combined with his lack of passing range to smother him on the ball. It will be nice to have Rodrigo Bentancur back in action after his suspension.
- Conte has work to do with the defense; Individual mistakes always hurt this team, and reinforcements in the January window may be the only solution.
- Today’s leader had a very… interesting definition of a fault. A game of rugby threatened to explode on points, but he continually swallowed his whistle. At least was he consistent?
- At the same time – BOO the referee for not having Kane’s first shot on goal after missing THAT penalty at the World Cup be another penalty attempt. We all wanted to see it! See of course be the slang for hiding behind our sofas.
- Next, Villa at home. COY!
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