Winks saves Spurs as Pochettino's men tighten grip on top-four spot

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In a stunning late afternoon of football, Spurs came from behind to beat Fulham 1-2.

Mauricio Pochettino’s men inflicted Claudio Ranieri’s first-ever loss to Spurs with a gutsy come from behind win. They went 1-0 down but never gave up and found a way to get the win. What did we learn?

1. Harry saves Spurs again!

It’s deep into stoppage time and Spurs are still level. Pochettino’s men are desperate to get a winner, to conjure one out of nowhere. They are throwing everything they can at their opponents. Crosses are booming in from both full-backs. Fernando Llorente isn’t helping. Things are getting seriously tense, will they drop points?

Just then a cross comes in from the left. It’s a good one, evading the near-post defenders and dropping perfectly at the back-post. And Spurs have a man running in, holding off the opponent’s full-back and taking advantage of Fernando Llorente occupying defenders to attack the ball. The striker stoops and heads the ball into the net, giving Spurs and incredible win!

Harry to the rescue, as always – but not Kane this time, it’s Winks! Perhaps it’s the shared name that gave Winks the goalscoring instinct to make that back-post run and the sense to merely nod the ball instead of trying to full-on thump it in with his head. Who knows. But Winks delivered a colossal moment to save Spurs from a damaging draw.

2. “The Dele” to the rescue

Spurs were 1-0 down and all out of ideas against Fulham. Their superior quality wasn’t as evident as it should be and with some sharper decision-making, the Cottagers could have held a lead of more than one goal. Spurs needed something. That’s when they went to one of their old favourites, something they can always rely on: “The Dele”

The move is simple: the full-back advances high to the by-line, opening up a gap in the half-space. A midfielder will move into that gap and then receive a pass from the full-back. The midfielder then, first-time, lifts the ball in a gentle cross along the line of the six yard box to Dele Alli at the back-post where the Englishman rises to head the ball back across goal.

The Dele is ice-cold. It’s so hard to stop because the unexpected early cross from the midfielder can catch a defence running towards their own goal, thus making it hard for them to adjust and get enough height and control to stop a rampaging Dele Alli. Spurs used to beat Chelsea an age ago, and then England used it to finish off Sweden, now Spurs have used it again to keep themselves alive.

3. Babel’s saviour potential

Ryan Babel played 55 minutes against Spurs and although he didn’t score or register an assist, the potential for the Dutch wing-forward is screamingly obvious. Of course, the fact that he didn’t score a goal was a problem for Fulham in the game – but this was his first outing in the Premier League for eight years. When he last played in England, Harry Kane hadn’t even become a loan merchant, let alone enter the part of his career where he became a titan.

At Craven Cottage, Babel added so much cut and thrust to the Fulham side that they looked a genuinely potent against a good defence. With a bit more sharpness there’s no doubt that Babel would have registered on his Cottagers debut, his movement and intention was that impressive. In many ways he’s set to provide what Ryan Sessegnon should have done, but has yet to figure out.

In fact as a former protegé gone astray yet come good again (Babel’s return to prominence has already occurred as he was an important part of the Dutch side that made the UEFA Nations League final four) there is probably much advice that Babel could offer Sessegnon. This would allow him to “save” Fulham in more ways than one.

4. Spurs’ “Plan B” exposed

Since the start of 2014/15, Spurs have ridden Harry Kane’s goalscoring ability to relevance. The consistency of England’s no. 9 is such that Spurs have never really had to truly generate a credible “Plan B” – Kane has just usually been fit and when fit, unless it’s August, he scores.

So they’ve had various back-ups over the years, the latest of which were Vincent Janssen and Fernando Llorente. Janssen has proven such a disaster that he doesn’t even have a shirt number this season and has had to play with the u-23 side all season.

Meanwhile Llorente, a towering striker of great experience, has often looks like a handsome, confused dullard who is just now fnding out about life outside the bubble (think Jon Hamm in 30 Rock). These strikers being so maladjusted never used to be a problem, but with Harry Kane out injured Spurs are now suffering.

Llorente’s miss with less than 10 minutes to go was a staggering thing to behold, a tall striker leaping to meet a perfect cross and doing it so meekly that the ball just drifts out for a goal-kick. Spurs may have won, but their striker woes are clear and will cost them.

5. Calum Chambers: the Petersfield Pirlo

Finding a midfield partner for Jean Michael Seri has been very difficult for Fulham this season, but this afternoon Calum Chambers announced his candidacy with a spectacular performance. He screened his defence well, blunting Spurs attacks that attempted to push into that zone, and moved the ball on nicely too. In fact, nicely may be an understatement.

Chambers played a key role in Fulham’s best move of the first half: he held the ball up superbly under immense pressure, then showed great vision to play it forward with a devastatingly accurate diagonal pass through to Ryan Babel – who then fed Schurrle whose shot was saved and an offside Mitrovic scored on the rebound.

Later in the first-half he even picked the ball up on the edge of the box and without hesitation, slid a backheel through the Spurs defence into Ryan Babel, where the Dutchman’s shot was saved point blank by Hugo Lloris. Maybe it’s just because it was Arsenal, but Chambers may well have proven himself to be the man to partner Seri.

The post Fulham 1-2 Tottenham: Five things learned as Winks saves Spurs at Craven Cottage appeared first on Squawka News.



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