Teammates crowd Dango Ouattara as the Spurs lose. Photo: Reuters/Tony O'Bryan Tottenham Hotspur v Bournemouth 2022-23
Apparently, one of these teams is chasing the Champions League, while the other is afraid of relegation. Twenty points and nine places in the league now separate these teams, but Tottenham were inferior to Bournemouth in attitude and application. It was a hell of a bad result, and a performance by a team that Christian Stellini supposedly cares about. Based on this evidence, you would be afraid to go abroad and entrust him to feed your cats.
In truth, rotting began long before what would no doubt be a simple interlude under Stellini, but where to start with spurs and where does it end? Probably not from the top four and without Harry Kane.
The momentum of a bright start was lost when he took the lead early through Son Heung-min only to fall deep and concede the initiative. It was how they pulled themselves back into a position where they seemed to be the only likely winner of the game with two minutes left and then managed to lose anyway. But the worst Tottenham story this week in a season full of such events belongs to Davinson Sanchez.
It was a rare dose of shame for the Colombian defender who came on as a first-half substitute for the injured Clément Lenglet and then managed to play a key role in both of Bournemouth's first two goals. Shortly thereafter, he came out of his misery without injury, but was substituted after a disastrous 23 minutes.
“We played two different games,” Stellini complained. “Good game until we scored and conceded the second goal. What's in the middle is not the kind of thinking we should be using.”
Bournemouth was everything they weren't. Their approach was Philip Billing's typical Oliver Skipp challenge with 16 minutes left. Soon after, Richarlison replaced the diminutive Spurs midfielder.
The Brazilian player did make things better by knocking out a tiring Bournemouth defense, but he headed it in stoppage time in the second half as the crowd went into win mode prematurely and were expecting a winner.
It did, but at the other end Dango Ouattara showed fantastic presence of mind to cut Pierre-Émile Hojbjerg's slip and finish past Hugo Lloris to win the game in stoppage time. The Bournemouth bench was delirious, but Gary O'Neill was surprisingly calm afterwards.
“In order for Dango to show composure at his age, he stepped off his weak leg and plunged it into the far corner with how big the target could be was really impressive.
«The last 10 minutes have been like a roller coaster, but now I've calmed down.» he said.
The O'Neill family are Spurs fans who attended the event. He claimed that everyone was behind Bournemouth that day. “They knew how big it could be for us, so they will be happy, I'm sure. Looking forward to spending the evening relaxing, trying not to open my laptop and maybe watching Match of the Day this week when we won.» Carol King Night on BBC2. One of Sanchez's first acts was an ill-conceived pass to Porro, who was easily cleared by Bournemouth left-back Mathias Vigna, making his first foray into the club. After two quick passes, he completed the move he had begun.
There was little improvement after the break and in the fifth minute of the second half Sanchez lost due to a footswap by Marcus Tavernier.
The Spurs defender recovered enough to clear the ball from Tavernier, unfortunately it was passed straight to Dominic Solanka , which is finished with sharp sharpness. As Sanchez was driven away, the home supporters burst into thunderous applause. It was useless, Stellini suggested.
«We need to support him, this is a difficult moment for him, but also for the team,» he said. «I understand that this is a tough time for everyone, but we need to re-evaluate how important it is to support the players.»
They have been a tolerant and indulgent crowd in this glittering stadium for most of the season. Yesterday it bordered on the toxic at times. The game was accompanied by the chant «We want Levy to go away». At the end, shortly after the excellent Bournemouth winner, there was little applause. Only thousands of sullen faces are drawn to the exits.
Tottenham Hotspur vs Bournemouth squads 2022-23
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