So there we go. Thanks for your company and comments; enjoy the rest of your weekends.
Full-time: Southampton 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton’s winless run extends to ten league games, but they played well here and ought really to have stolen all the points. Spurs, meanwhile, were flat, and if Liverpool beat Swansea tomorrow, they will be in trouble, five points off the top four.
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90+4 min Sissoko goes down the left, comes back inside, and crosses into the box, but the ball is cleared. James Ward-Prowse is named man of the match by Gary Neville, which is a fair enough choice as far as I can see.
90+2 min Sissoko gets the ball outside the box, and with men buzzing around him, he cleverly smashes over the bar.
90 min There shall be five added minutes.
90 min Aaaarrrgggh! Spurs work the ball really well, Wanyama moving the ball square to Alli, who slides immediately for Kane, pulling free on the left of the box. It looks for all the world that the winner is coming, but his swing isn’t quite true so he uses the side of his foot, not the instep, which is enough to swing the shot just wide!
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89 min Aaaarrgggh! Southampton come again, another pass finding Tadic in space! He looks up and again sees Obafemi, but this time cleverly cuts back for Boufal, who takes a touch before powering home the winner, then takes another touch, then has a think, and just when the space into which he can finish has gone, he shoots into it and his effort is blocked! Southampton really ought to be ahead.
87 min Aaaarrrgggh Nice from Southampton, Ward-Prowse working the ball back for Davis, who slides a lovely pass down the line for Tadic as the Spurs defence step up. He crosses low and there’s Obfemi, arriving onto it to make himself the hero ... and he totally botches it, the ball skidding sideways off his boot.
86 min It’s not been a happy afternoon for Alli, who pulls back Romeu but avoids a booking.
85 min Wanyama replaces Dembele. To what end, I’m unsure.
84 min Aaaaarrrrggh! Southampton are sitting on the edge of their box and Spurs work the ball across them, Kane sliding into the path of Sissoko, down the right. His first shy at a cross is blocked, but the rebound falls kindly and he forces square for Lamela, six yards out, who might shoot first time, but opts to control with his right to go with his left, by which time the space has been squeezed.
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82 min Great stuff: 17-year-old Michael Obfaemi comes on for his debut, replacing Gabbiadini.
81 min Dembele sends a pass through the Southampton defence that picks out Alli, on the left of the box. He turns inside just as the flag goes up and then, to the delight of the crowd, tries a shot anyway, sending it wide. Meanwhile, the aprtly-named Kevin Friend turns away to avoid having to book him.
80 min “Sissoko, running into trouble”. Ctrl+C.
80 min Change for Southampton: Davis replaces Lemina.
78 min “All we ask is consistency,” etcetera. Trippier pulls back Boufal - the same foul that Lemina escaped a card for committing - and receives a card. I love this game.
77 min Southampton waste the resultant free-kick and Spurs break on them. Lamela is a bit slow to pass, but when Lemina leans on him a yelo card ought still to be shown. It is not, and there follows anger.
75 min And there it is! Dembele applies an arm to Bertrand’s phizog, and finally, he is booked.
74 min This has been a disappointing half so far, which will greatly please Mauricio Pellegrino. Spurs have not built up a head of steam, never mind continued pressure.
73 min Lamela appears to be playing behind Kane, likewise Alli. I don’t know; it’s crowded in that central area, and Spurs have the best striker in the league. Why not put balls into the box for him, against a defence who have not looked happy defending corners?
72 min Aurier seems to have hirt himself, and is replaced by Trippier (pronounced Trippeyay, to rhyme with Sami Hoopiyay).
70 min Vertonghen steps forward and drives a shot wide of the near post, while Lamela replaces Son. I’m a bit surprised at that; Spurs need to win and don’t really look like so doing, so surely it makes more sense to take a risk and get another attacker on?
67 min Spurs have lacked composure in midfield today, while Southampton have buzzed about well, disrupting rhythm and taking up intelligent spaces. But here’s Dier into Alli, and he finds Davies down the left. In comes the low cross and Hoedt clears poorly to Sissoko, who moves the ball onto Kane; his shot is blocked behind, for a corner which comes to nothing.
66 min Change for Southampton: Boufal replaces Hojbjerg.
65 min Nice from Alli, gathering the ball 20 yards from goal and moving with bad intentions, striking a low shot just wide of the left-hand post.
63 min “Spurs are really missing Eriksen here,” emails John Punter, “clever and stout defending by Southampton is effectively bunting any passes to capitalise on Son’s speed. Lamela for Sissoko?”
I was just thinking that Eriksen has been the architect of so many of those late wins Spurs have conjured in recent months. I’d not be surprised ti see the change you suggest, but at the risk of going on, it’s absurd that there’s no winger to bring on to put balls in the box for Kane and Llorente.
62 min Dier and Tadic are still at it; no doubt Dier will deal with him just as soon as he’s dealt with Ander Herrera, who earned his terrifying displeasure only a year ago.
61 min There’s not a whole lot coming to pass here, but Eric Dier has gone down, claiming an elbow from Tadic. We see it again, and there’s a bit of an arm, but nothing more.
60 min Alli skirts around the outside of Romeu, who scythes him down and experiences significant indignation when he too is booked. It’s a conspiracy!
58 min “What’s the record for most fouls committed without getting booked?” wonders JR in Illinois. “Maybe Kevin Friend’s last name has been shortened from its original Friendofdembele.”
Talking of which, I always wonder if he’s related to Rachel, who achieved renown playing Bronwyn in Neighbours, and who is married to the former Australian spinner, Stuart MacGill. Is there a better celebrity relationship than that? I guess there’s June Ackland off the Bill being La Roux’s mum....
57 min Hoedt slides a pass out to Bertrand, who knocks it around the corner. Naturally, Sissoko then appears on the scene, ploughing through him and looking bemused to receive a yellow card.
55 min I should’ve said, Son, who spent most of the first half doing nothing on the left, has now moved alongside Harry Kane. As such, Southampton need to change, but to Gary Neville’s disgust, Stephens can’t simply work it out for himself but waits for a break in play to come to the touchline and seek instructions. “Just work it out for yourself, mate”, reckons the commentary box.
54 min Martin Tyler is seconds away from calling this the “Go Marching in” derby.
52 min Dembele gets away with another foul. His booking has got lost in the post.
50 min “Just a thought on the salary and redistribution of wealth question,” begins Anthony Capel. “Wouldn’t it be fairly simple to enforce a ‘match day squad’ salary cap on all teams in each English competition? This way free trade is not compromised and players and owners can still pay or charge what they like. Hopefully this would also trigger more homegrown/younger players getting into the squad.”
Perhaps, but it might not stop the better teams stockpiling - the foreigners rule didn’t really work in Italy in the 90s. And we’d still have the problem of telly money going up, so owners putting more of it in their pockets.
49 min Ward-Prowse finds himself on the charge through the middle, but with Vertonghen galumphing behind him, decides he can’t trust his pace to get him any further - though I wonder if he could’ve squared to Gabbiadini. So he shoots low, and Vorm dives to gather.
48 min Kane takes a hold of Stephens’ shirt as they contest a high ball on halfway. Stephens responds in kind, then swings him to the ground, playground-style, for which he is harshly booked.
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47 min Son bursts through - we’ve not seen much of him today - and he pokes a low shot that McCarthy kicks away. Good keeping that, because he wasn’t expecting the ball and had to react quickly.
46 min “Re people who prefer Bugs Bunny,” tweets Michael Clifford. “I put them with the sort of people whose favourite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle was Leonardo. Definitely untrustworthy.”
Rafael all the way.
46 min We go again.
Half-time correspondence: “All salaries negotiated by PFA, agents just for image rights and such,” tweets @Jolly_Good_Show. Also a maximum wage for young players up to 18.”
Agree totally about having players repped by the PFA, actually tweeted the same myself.
Half-time entertainment: the Bunesliga title race is a real thriller this term.
James Rodríguez, that pass is delicious ↗️↘️
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) January 21, 2018
Thomas Müller scores Bundesliga goal 💯 but it's all about the assist.
Served up on a plate 🍽 pic.twitter.com/pDEqFprXUR
Half-time: Southampton 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
An entertaining first half ends all-square. Southampton started well, but shot themselves in the groin giving away that equaliser so soon after taking the lead. Spurs then grew into the game, and looked the more likely scorers thereafter, without creating all that much. See you in 10.
45 min There will be one added minute.
44 min Spurs are finding it tricky to get hold of the ball in midfield. I wonder if this is a game for Wanyama, whose solidity and positioning might be more useful than Sissoko’s charging about aimlessly to no particular avail without apparent thought as to his purpose on a football pitch or to the meaning of life in general.
42 min Mark Turner emails on the final Spurs step: “Simple: two world-class players (plus lots of good/very good ones) are certainly good enough to make you a top-six team, but not enough to make a top-one team. A second mega-forward or a Coutinho-type playing behind Harry, for starters. Or both.”
Hmmm. I’m, not sure City have more than two world class players, likewise other champions before them. But what they do have is a lot of attacking options and variety, and that’s the element which I think Spurs are missing.
40 min Romeu plays a cute pass for Gabbiadini at inside-right, and he turns square for Lemina to shoot. The connection is decent too, but it’s straight at Vorm, who handles it well given the conditions.
38 min Something to consider: can you trust a person who prefers Bugs Bunny to Daffy Duck? Also, what is the best way of protecting football’s competitive balance? A salary cap would allow owners to keep more money, aggressive redistribution of wealth would allow owners to keep players against their will.
36 min Dembele bundles into Hojbjerg and presents Southampton with a free-kick, 35 yards from goal out on the right. And what a delivery Ward-Prowse delivers! It curls right into the run of Stephens, right in the middle of the box, but having lost the entirety of Spurs’ defence he can’t get over the ball, heading wide in the act of trying to head down.
35 min A better spell for Southampton, who look ok as long as they’re not asked to defend.
33 min Vertonghen slides in and curls his near leg around Ward-Prowse to poke the ball away, then brings his far leg around to whack legs. To this, Ward-Prowse takes exception, poking a return kick, and there’s a brief period of indignance which sadly fails to materialise into the kind of thing which NO ONE likes to see.
32 min Spurs look by far the more dangerous side now. They’re not exactly outworking Southampton, but it looks like they are because they’re so much more focused, so first to the majority of loose balls.
30 min Aurier comes inside onto his left foot and crosses towards the back post, where Ward-Prowse and Cedric are dreaming, of trees, and beaches, and fluffy pink candy floss, and plastacine cactii. Harry Kane, meanwhile is dreaming of FOOTBALLFOOTBALLFOOTBALL and duly picks up the loose ball, which he lays back for Davies, who whams a shot ... it’s going wide, until Sissoko sticks out a leg and diverts it wide.
27 min In commentary, Gary Neville and Martin Tyler are praising Mousa Dembele, who has the ability to beat men in the middle of the pitch. I wonder if he’s quite as good as he should be, given how good he is at almost everything.
26 min Southampton look handy when they’ve got the ball, and Spurs look dodgy when that ball is crossed. this time, Ward-Prowse tries a high one, Aurier gets underneath it, and Tadic knocks down for Lemina, who thrashes only just wide of the near post.
25 min I find myself asking and wondering about this a lot, but what do Spurs need to do to take that final step? In the first instance, they could really do with winning something and should go all-out for the Cup, but how far off are they in terms of players? A winger and another goalscorer?
23 min Is there a point at which the slickness on the pitch turns into drag? How much rain does it take for that?
21 min “The trouble with Dele playing deeper is… well… it hasn’t really worked” emails Richard Coopey. “I’m thinking of Monaco in the Champions’ League last year in particular. He might grow into the role, but he’s not Dembele yet…”
No, agreed - it’s a much harder role to play because it comes with responsibility. The problem is that to play behind the striker, you have to deliver numbers first and foremost, and there’s so much more to him than that.
GOAL! Southampton 1-1 Tottenham Hotspurs (Kane)
This is miserable from Southampton, who’ve looked nervous on every Spurs corner. The ball comes into the middle of the box and Kane runs away from Stephens to head home. Poo-werr, as my Gran would’ve said, and Southampton have ruined their good start with remarkable zealotry.
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17 min Spurs win a corner down the left, improperly cleared when Vertonghen knocks down, and the ball breaks to Dier whose snapshot cracks the outside of the post.
16 min The lead is well deserved by Southampton, who’ve clearly planned to cross low and hard into the box. Sanchez has looked a bit nervous, and he’ll not be keen to defend more of those balls.
GOAL! Southampton 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur (Sanchez own goal)
Nice from Tadic, sliding a perfectly weighted ball into the path of Bertrand, absolutely bousting outside him. Again, a low, hard cross comes in and this time Sanchez intercedes before a striker can make a mess of it, sliding a perfect finish in off the far post.
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12 min Davies is given as much time as he likes to swerve in a cross from the left, and Lemina, perhaps pondering his latest fashion misstatement, daydreams while Alli pulls off the back of him and nods wide.
11 min But here’s Ward-Prowse down the right, delivering a low cross that narrowly eludes everyone, likewise when Tadic retrieves the ball and does the same from the left; Hojbjerg somehow allowed it to pass between his legs. The rain has given us what looks like a pitch of perfect slickness.
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10 min Already, Southampton look a little ragged. They’re struggling to hang onto the ball and at the back are being pulled about by the movement of Spurs’ front players.
7 min Is it now the case that Son is no longer a decent option for Spurs, but a first pick? I hope so, because I’d love to see Dele Alli play a bit deeper. Behind the striker, he affects the game by making and scoring goals, but does little else; as a midfield general, he’s more likely to be involved, and has the game and attitude to excel at that.
6 min This is a lively start, with both teams looking to press when not in possession.
4 min Nice from Southampton, ball into the outside-left channel finding Tadic. He crosses low into the middle, but Hojbherg, arriving onto it, can’t quite get a foot there as Vorm tests the bravery of both by sticking his head in the road.
3 min Nice from Spurs, Aurier spotting Sissoko’s run in behind and sticking the ball into the same area. The eventuating cut-back doesn’t work, but shows us how Spurs will look to play in the absence of a winger.
2 min Sanchez hoiks a clearance and Bertand looks to exchange passes with Tadic, only for the return to be overhit.
1 min Off we go and immediately, Gabbiadini finds himself outside the Spurs box. He turns well, moving the ball into his stride, before shooting low; Vorm saves well.
Dier and Sissoko are talking, Dier with his mouth covered. Nuclear codes the topic, no doubt.
The players and crowd pause for a minute’s applause in honour of Cyrille Regis, an absolute hero of the game.
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Sky reckon Spurs will be playing 4-3-2-1, for what that’s worth.
Out come the teams!
A question: in each of the last three seasons, Spurs have hamstrung themselves by starting slowly. Perhaps this time around we can blame Wembley for that, but otherwise, is there a reason? Does it take them time to groove their style? Does it work better when pitches are a bit slicker?
Jermain Defoe is in the studio, talking about being a striker. He says that in his gym at home, he had a list of all the strikers with more goals than him, and that he’d tick them off as he passed them. I like that.
Mauricio Pochettino says that some of his players are not in the greatest nick, though doesn’t give and isn’t asked for any further detail. He’s happy to be back at Southampton.
Mauricio Pellegrino thinks Southampton are in a ... wait for it .. “difficult moment” and thinks his players need to focus. He also thinks Spurs are good. More news as I get it.
So let’s take a closer look at those teams. Mauricio Pellegrino fiddles yet again, replacing Davis and Long with Lemina and Gabbiadini, while for Spurs, Ser Lloris and Eriksen are ill, so Vorm and Sissoko deputise. Quite what Wanyama and Lamela make of that I don’t know; quite what I make of that I do know, and it is not a lot.
Congratulations to 17-year-old #SaintsFC forward Michael Obafemi, who makes the bench today!
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) January 21, 2018
Take a look at some of his goals so far this season: pic.twitter.com/IbIbf8pyUM
Snorkels and Furs
Southampton (a resigned 4-2-3-1): McCarthy; Cedric, Stephens, Hoedt, Bertands; Romeu, Lemina; Ward-Prowse, Tadic, Hojbjerg; Gabbiadini. Subs: Forster, Pied, Bednarek, Davis, Boufal, Redmond, Obafemi.
Tottenham Hotspur (a blasé 3-5-2): Vorm; Sanchez, Dier, Vertonghen; Aurier, Dembele, Sissoko, Alli, Davies; Son, Kane. Subs: Gazzaniga, Foyth, Trippier, Walker-Peters, Wanyama, Lamela, Llorente.
The aptly-named referee: Kevin Friend (Bristol)
Preamble
It’s not easy being a saint. Decent rep and an easy life, it’s true, but sometimes you can get just that bit too clever – and God is pretty moody company. Likewise, it’s not easy being a Saint. Decent rep and an easy life, it’s true, but sometimes you can get just that bit too clever – even if Le God is pretty witty company.
And Southampton got too clever last summer right enough, when they swapped Mauricio Pellegrino for ClaUde Puel; since then, things at St Mary’s have not been good. Their last league came win 11 games ago – and that against the risible debacle that was Ronald Koeman’s Everton, while just last week they contrived to cede a two-goal lead – and that against the risible debacle that was Marco Silva’s Watford. If they are not exceedingly careful, they are going to go down, though do still have some proper players – just a few weeks ago, they were composed, enterprising and brave in having the better of a goalless draw at Old Trafford.
They will need to be all of those things this afternoon. Spurs walloped them on Boxing Day and have won three out of four since, on top of which Mousa Dembélé is back, Dele Alli is back in form, and Harry Kane is, well, Harry Kane. But they’re not currently in the top four, a particular problem this season – they will not want to christen their new home with hott Thursday night nookie; they will want to hang onto their most nubile assets. As such, and given Liverpool’s likely devastation of Swansea tomorrow, it is essential that they win today; the gap between the sides is currently three points.
Kick-off: 4pmGMT
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