Tottenham Hotspur failed to hold on to 3 problems opposite Wolverhampton Wanderers as Jorgen Strand Larsen’s strike claimed a draw.
Set pieces were again part of the game, with a well-worked free kick from Wolves giving them the lead through Hwang Hee-chan, before Rodrigo Bentancur equalised with a header from a Pedro Porro corner. Son Heung-min then missed a penalty before Brennan Johnson scored Spurs’ second just before half-time. Wolves pushed hard towards the end and were rewarded with Strand Larsen’s strike.
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In addition to missing out on all three points, there will be more concern for Ange PostoClorou, as the left destination destined for Udogie was not fulfilled just five minutes into the second half, and Spurs’ defensive injury issues did not worsen.
The result is that, for the first time since 2008-09, Tottenham will end the calendar year at the back of the Premier League table.
Jay Harris breaks down the action from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
It was only Bentancur’s second Premier League appearance after serving a seven-match ban in domestic competition for racist comments he made towards teammate Son in the summer.
Bentancur broken the property of the midfield position with Yves Bissouma, but began opposing the Wolves and he gave the Spurs a more solid base in the midfield from which they could take more advantage.
It also allowed Dejan Kulusevski, who has been Tottenham’s most productive player this season, to focus on staying higher. Bentancur’s physicality was on display and is a lost Spurs quality. Tottenham’s record in defensive pieces is rarely very wonderful, as evidenced by Hwang’s purpose, however, the Uruguay foreigner produced some very important defensive headlines. He got into the demanding situations and intercepted Jean-Cner Bellegarde’s Cross after Udogie had lost the ball in a damaging area.
Bentancur is only 27, but was Tottenham’s second-oldest outfield player in the starting XI behind the 32-year-old Son. The midfielder’s experience was crucial and he could be heard barking out instructions to his team-mates.
It is an impressive complete functionality of Bentancur, which included its header that attracted the spurs point after an unstable start. Unfortunately for the Spurs, after being reserved for a poor challenge before, it will now lose the next game opposed to Newcastle United after collecting five yellow cards this season.
It is a difficult and sensitive subject for Tottenham supporters to talk about, but it is time to accept that Son has underperformed all season. In the early stages of the campaign his struggles could be attributed to a persistent hamstring injury that forced him to miss three league games. Tottenham’s captain scored recently in the 5-0 thrashing of Southampton and the chaotic defeat by Chelsea but he looks well below his best.
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At his peak, the South Korean would weave defenders who have largely passed. Currently, he seems less confident and is to blame for slowing down riots. There is an example in the first half against Wolves when he played an undeniable pass to Udogie that killed the momentum of a counter-attack.
When Johnson received a penalty before the part -time, it seemed to be an intelligent opportunity to recover his trust. It took a long time to hit the ball and its tamed effort was stored in José Sa. His son little by little recovered his position and, at one time, put his hand on his hip with disbelief. The fact that he replaced Timo Werner at the time the adjustment was still at stake tells you everything you want to know about its effectiveness. It seemed that his failure would not matter, but Larsen’s matched in the 86th minute caused him to face.
Perhaps there is an argument to be made that it is not very productive for the Postcoglou system. to place themselves in promising positions. The most productive players are putting tactics in place to adapt even though right now, your child is struggling to make an impact.
Tottenham’s injury curse struck back on Sunday afternoon and Udogie is the latest victim. Arriving here after the first half of Tottenham’s 5-0 win over Southampton on December 15 due to muscle strains, he missed the next match against Manchester United a few days later and was an unused replacement in the 6–3 defeat to Liverpool before returning to Nottingham Forest.
Maybe it should not have come as a surprise then that at the beginning of the second half, he dropped to the floor and clutched his right hamstring after attempting to overlap Son. The Italy international looked in discomfort and, with Djed Spence suspended after being sent off in the 1-0 defeat by Forest, he had to be replaced by Sergio Reguilon.
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Reguilon came off the bench here in the Carabao Cup quarter-final victory against Manchester United, however, it was his first Championship appearance for Spurs since April 2022. The 28-year-old’s contract expires this summer and from following week, you will be able to indicate a preseason contract. -The contractual agreement with foreign clubs. It might make sense for the Spurs to keep him with all those injuries piling up.
The left back naturally looked rusty when he arrived. He lost some passes and looked for a version in Goncalo Giredes: lucky that Groedes jumped his legs. Postcoglou likes his side reverses to be reversed, however, Reguilon’s abilities are not suited for those tactics. Pour on the wing and beat crosses in the box stand out. There were a few opportunities when he seemed tempted to do so, but there aren’t enough bodies to target.
If Udogie’s injury is serious then Spence is primed to replace him, but do not rule out Reguilon making more appearances in the near future.
Speaking after the match, the Tottenham manager said, “It’s a disappointing outcome. Obviously we went a goal down but after that I felt we controlled the game. It wasn’t easy always to get openings but we did look pretty threatening every time we did get forward. We scored a couple of goals, we obviously missed the penalty and then second half, I just thought we had some really big moments to kill the game off.
“You felt we kind of needed that third goal and obviously they score at the end and you’re kind of left with a disappointing outcome, but it’s not through the want of trying. It’s obvious, you know, the lads are fairly fatigued, especially in that front third, we’re not as sharp as we can be, which is understandable because we’re asking a lot of a sort of small core group of players and, as I said, it’s not for the want of trying and they’re trying to get the outcomes for us.
“It hurts because in the end I am guilty. I am the manager. Then, of course, it hurts. When I see how much they review, it hurts even more because they need to be praised and I think they deserved a praise for their efforts, even if they extracted from their Powraray reserves what I don’t even know. Where they come from. I looked for them to be praised for their efforts. Then, of course, it hurts. It hurts extremely. At the same time, it is my duty to know where we are lately and it is my duty to see it to get out of it.
Saturday, January 4: Newcastle (H), Premier League, 12.30pm UK, 7.30am ET