Manager Mauricio Pochettino has been strongly linked with a move to Tottenham in the summer if Tim Sherwood is not retained.  The Argentinian was little known when Southampton sacked Nigel Adkins and brought him in from Spain, but he has shown that he has a belief in playing football the right way to gain results.  His style has been to bring out the best of the young crop of players at St. Marys. 

Spurs have players returning to the side form injury, rest and suspension, so should be stringer than on Thursday on paper, but they will need to be strong in the head to improve our home record and get the three points that will now help us retain fifth place, but Everton have a game in hand.  The most important aspect of the game is to play a decent game and show that the team can focus to get a run of victories going as we approach the end of the season.
 

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16  Kyle NAUGHTON
  4  Younes KABOUL (c)
  5  Jan VERTONGHEN
  3  Danny ROSE

19  Mousa DEMBELE  (22  Gylfi SIGURDSSON 46  )
42  Nabil BENTALEB      

  7  Aaron LENNON  (17  Andros TOWNSEND )
21  Nacer CHADLI
23  Christian ERIKSEN   

  9  Roberto SOLDADO

Unused subs: 
24  Brad FRIEDEL
32  Zeki FRYERS
20  Michael DAWSON
  8  PAULINHO
35  Harry KANE
 

  2  Nathaniel CLYNE
  6  Jose FONTE
  5  Dejan LOVREN
 -  Luke SHAW

18  Jack CORK
  8  Steven DAVIS
20  Adam LALLANA (c) 
 -  -

  7  Ricky LAMBERT
  9  Jay RODRIGUEZ 

Unused subs: 
-  -
-  -
-  -
-  -
-  -
-  -

While Tottenham were almost architects of their own downfall in the first half, they built to a crescendo in the second, with Gylfi Sigurdsson's injury time drive winning the three points, which keep them in touch with fourth place and jumping on top of Everton top go back fifth, although they have played two more games than the Scousers.

Sherwood shuffled his pack of aces once more and brought back Mousa Dembele, dropping Paulinho, with Sandro nowhere to be seen.  Nor was Adebayor, still suffering from a few knocks.  There was no Walker either, but Dawson made the bench. So, Spurs had Lennon, Eriksen and Chadli comprising the midfield three, with Soldado ahead of them.

When the game started, it looked as though Tottenham were up for it. A couple of early crosses from the right were blocked and from a corner, Kaboul had a free header, which he put down, but he headed straight at Boruc. Six minutes into the game, Lallana had a chance of scoring, but his shot bent wide, while Rodriguez did manage to beat Lloris, but the whistle had gone long before he shot as he had gone beyond the last defender.

When Chadli broke down the left wing, he pulled the ball across the area, but failed to pick out either Soldado or Lennon, leaving a good chance going begging. Two minutes later, Southampton took the lead. An eighteenth minute goal kick by Boruc flew upfield and Kyle Naughton went to head it, but was way underneath it, allowing the ball to run through to Jay Rodriguez, who slotted it home past Lloris to the keeper’s left. It was another poor goal to concede, following a string of others lately.

Halfway through the half, Lallana was set up by Lambert, but his shot was weak and directly at Hugo, then Shaw moved forward without challenge and fired in a shot which flicked off Kaboul and went out for a corner. Their next attack lead to a second goal, with Naughton once more the fall guy. A move around the Spurs box broke down, with Shaw putting the ball into the air, with Lambert and Lallana offside, but with the linesman not flagging until they touch the ball, Kyle panicked when he saw them both standing on the edge of the box and tried to clear, only succeeding in slicing the ball to Lambert. The England forward passed to Lallana and he fired past Lloris to double the Saints lead and spark the devil in the Spurs crowd, many of whom booed at the score-line.

With 28 minutes gone, Spurs were facing a massive task to get anything from the game.

It took half an hour to get a shot at goal and Bentaleb’s effort went about five yards wide. However, it was the precursor to the goal, which came a minute later. Naughton got forward on the right and his cross was missed by Soldado’s jump at the near post and Clyne was in place at the far post to deal with it. Well, he was, but he squirted the ball a yard in front of him, allowing Christian Eriksen to get to the ball first and ram it past Clyne and Boruc from very close range. Getting the score back to 1-2 before half-time was a good morale booster and it also showed that we are not the only team who could cock up in conceding goals.

Dembele went close with a volley when a free-kick was cleared, but it was not that Southampton didn’t have chances to add to their lead before the break. Hugo had to make a point blank stop from Lallana’s close range shot, Lambert was played through on goal, but dithered and muffed pass to a team-mate. Davis had a volley near the end of the half go wide thanks to Naughton getting in the way, but Eriksen came closest to hitting the net, with a whipped in free-kick, which forced Boruc push the ball over the bar hurriedly.

Ex-Spurs and Saints striker Martin Chivers came out at the break, allowing him to reminisce about his time with both clubs and to urge Spurs fans to get behind Roberto Soldado and the team in the second half. but away from the interview, a string of coaches came out to warm up Gylfi Sigurdsson. Freund, the fitness coach and then Tony Parks all spoke to the Icelander before Brad Friedel came out to take him back to the dressing room.

The winger’s entrance in place of Mousa Dembele, who had looked weaker than normal, sparked an immediate reaction. Within a minute, he won the ball, which went to Lennon and he played it back to Gylfi. His pass down the right wing looked too long for Soldado, as Lovren got there first, but as he tried to buy a foul, the Spaniard took the ball off him and looked up to pick out Eriksen with a ball that went across Boruc and the six yard box to give the Dane a tap in at the far post, with Southampton sub Chambers all at sea. Lovren’s attempted cheating left him furious that he didn’t get a free-kick for his weakness on the ball.

The assist by Soldado did wonders for his confidence, trying a shot from 25 yards out shortly after the goal, but it flew wide. Then, his chest down to Eriksen saw Chadli released on the right channel, but Boruc got a touch on his shot and it went into the side netting. There was plenty going on off the ball, as Lovren tried to provoke Soldado, but ended up conceding a string of fouls and getting booked when he went through Roberto challenging for a high ball. Eriksen was slipped in for a shot into the side netting by Sigurdsson, then he was robbed of another shooting opportunity, when Chambers got a tackle in as the ball would not come down from Vertonghen’s long pass quick enough.

Spurs were rarely threatened by Southampton now, as the pressing further up the pitch put pressure on the visitor’s players, as they had done to Tottenham’s in the first half. An Eriksen free-kick came out to Gylfi on the edge of the box, but the defenders were on him before he could get a shot away. Christian was then involved in a good breakaway. Rose’s tackle deprived Chambers of the ball and he passed to Chadli, who fed Eriksen, setting him free on the left wing. Reaching the left side of the penalty area, he looked up, spotted Soldado in the box and played the ball across goal for him, but it was too far in front to allow the striker to reach it.

A free kick gave Southampton a chance, with Lallana’s cross heading for Lambert, but Kyle Naughton, much improved after the interval, just knocked the ball away from him as he closed in. Lambert went close with a couple of minutes to go, but, seizing on a loose ball in the box, he hit a left foot shot wide to the left of Lloris’ goal. In between, Soldado went close with a volley from just outside the area, after Chadli had flicked the ball on, then two minutes into injury time, a ball into the box was weakly headed out by Jose Fonte, but straight to Christian. He laid the ball sideways to Sigurdsson, who could run onto the pass and smash it, first time from 20 yards out, low and past Boruc’s right hand as he dived, but could not stop the ball nestling in the back of the net. It was a fine reversal of fortunes for the team and for Gylfi, who has not been a regular in the side. And the unnecessary attempts the Saints made to be sinners, with time wasting in kicking the ball away and feigning injuries (Lallana never used to be like that before he played for England - that much I do agree with Mark Clattenburg on), came back to bite them in the end.

But there was still time to extend the lead further. Spurs broke well and caught out the pulled out of position full back Shaw, as Chadli broke on the right and looked to set Roberto up with the goal he deserved for his link-up play, but the ball did not reach him, as it was cut out by a desperate lunge. As it was, it didn’t matter, as the whistle blew shortly afterwards with the ball in the corner at the Southampton end and the three points were Tottenham’s, while the visitors slumped to their knees in despair at not being able to hold onto the lead.

And therein lies the tale. Southampton had the bulk of the play in the first half, but failed to finish the game off when they were on top. That is something that is normally associated with being one of our failings. On this occasion, Sigurdsson’s energy and advanced role helped deny Southampton the time and space on the ball to play the ball long and run at the Spurs defence. This allowed Spurs to get at their defenders, who wilted under the pressure. Lovren twice was eased off the ball, with Fonte not clearing the ball for the winner.

Sherwood’s tactical genius takes the credit for the win, but the players pulled the game around with the Head Coach up in the stands for the majority of the match.

Whether that can continue for six of the seven games left, with next week’s match at Liverpool a real test of how the team might be progressing.






 

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