Southampton may not share the dejected appearance common among some of their peers but alarm bells are getting louder. This defeat, their fourth in the last five games, was troubling for its snug fit into the mould familiar to struggling teams: failure to capitalise on chances, followed by catastrophic defending and a subsequent loss of steam. Tottenham did not need to play especially well to win and Ronald Koeman, mentioned in connection with the Chelsea job earlier in the week, evidently has enough concerns closer to home.
The sloppiness that conceded the match in a three-minute spell before half-time will top Koeman’s list. Southampton had emerged sharply, dominating the opening half-hour and pressing from the front in the manner that became familiar last season. But there was none of that intensity when Harry Kane ran through three challenges to score the 40th-minute opener and barely a defender in view when Dele Alli, alone six yards out, was afforded two touches to double the lead within 180 seconds.
“We need to change our attitude,” said Koeman, who pulled no punches afterwards. “Normally I am the first to defend my players, but this time I criticise because we need to change our mentality. [We need] the mentality that, as a player, I win my battle against my opponent.
“Tottenham were more clinical, more clever and we were so naive in defending. If we don’t change then we will continue struggling because the teams in this league are too strong.”
Such admonishment might have been averted if Sadio Mané had not been thwarted by Hugo Lloris inside the first 10 minutes. His sidefooted shot from 15 yards was not quite far enough into the goalkeeper’s right-hand corner and Lloris got down to deflect it away.
What followed bore the hallmark of a side whose confidence has taken a beating. First Kane, given the chance to break after Alli bravely beat José Fonte to the ball, was allowed to run past two defenders and, gifted a sight of goal by Virgil van Dijk’s decision to take a wild swipe at the ball, beat Paulo Gazzaniga comfortably on his 100th Tottenham appearance.
Shortly afterwards Kyle Walker advanced and, with Van Dijk backing off, centred low. With none of Southampton’s back five commanding the six-yard box, Alli had time to complete a finish of bemusing simplicity.
“Maybe the players don’t realise enough the situation that the club is in today,” Koeman said. “Maybe they are still living with what they did last season. If we don’t give more than 100% we have a normal team and they have to realise that.”
Excepting an added-time examination of Lloris’s reflexes by James Ward-Prowse, Tottenham cruised through an almost event-free second half. This win, on Mauricio Pochettino’s former turf, arrested a stutter of their own and moved them up to fourth place. “I think we fully deserved the victory,” Pochettino said. “It’s true that for 20 minutes Southampton were better, but we managed the game and the effort was fantastic against a great team and manager with one of the best squads in the league.”
