Tottenham Hotspur rescued a point at home to Wolves on Saturday evening, drawing 1-1 with the Premier League’s bottom side thanks to a 94th minute goal from Joao Palhinha.
Spurs, with Pedro Porro rested and Djed Spence switched to right-back, struggled to get a foothold during the first half as the visitors defended impressively. And it was winless Wolves who took the lead, Santiago Bueno poking the ball home from close range after a defensive scramble following a set-piece caused goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario some problems. Any hopes this setback would spur the hosts into action were misplaced, with the visitors from the Midlands continuing to look the more dangerous side.
Thomas Frank introduced Porro, Brennan Johnson, Pape Sarr, Wilson Odobert and Mathys Tel to try to turn the game in his team’s favour, but it was holding midfielder Palhinha who rescued a point with a neat finish from the edge of the box. The goal was Spurs’ first shot on target in the second half, which tells its own story.
Jay Harris and Jack Pitt-Brooke break down the key moments from a frustrating evening for Tottenham fans.
Was this a missed opportunity on a chaotic day in the Premier League?
It was shaping up to be the perfect weekend for Spurs. Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool all lost earlier on Saturday, while either Newcastle United or Arsenal will drop points when they face each other on Sunday at St James’ Park.
Wolves had lost all five of their games in the top-flight this season and conceded 12 goals in the process. If Spurs had inflicted a sixth defeat, they would have moved up to second in the table. We might be little more than a month into the new season, but another victory would have maintained their early momentum under new head coach Frank.
Instead, Spurs failed to beat Wolves yet again, having dropped four points against Vitor Pereira’s side under Ange Postecoglou last season.
Frank tried every trick possible to reverse their fortunes, including sending on Porro, who had been rested, along with Odobert, Tel and Johnson. When striker Tel replaced full-back Destiny Udogie in the 83rd minute, Tottenham even switched to an aggressive 3-4-3 formation.
Few of these tweaks had the desired effect, however.
Spurs threatened on a couple of occasions in the first half through Mohammed Kudus and Lukas Bergvall but were toothless after half-time. As they became more desperate, Palhinha and centre-back Cristian Romero tried to score from long distance but fired their shots over the bar, before the former finally made an effort count deep into added time.
A draw is clearly better than a defeat, but this was an insipid performance at home when a victory would have given these players real confidence they can achieve something special this season.
Jay Harris
Can Frank deal with injuries better than Postecoglou did?
The fundamental problem Tottenham struggled with last season was how to manage their limited resources through the twin demands of domestic and European competition. They simply did not have a sufficiently deep or robust squad to cope, and while their Europa League campaign ended in triumph, it clearly came at the cost of domestic matters as they finished 17th.
Frank needs to find a way to manage his squad through the Premier League and Champions League campaigns, and tonight felt like a reminder of how difficult that will be.
Spurs are not dealing with a severe injury crisis yet, but are missing enough players to limit their options in games like this. With strikers Dominic Solanke and Randal Kolo Muani both out, Richarlison has had to carry the attack, and if he is not at his best it blunts the whole team. With James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski both recovering from knee surgeries, there is not a lot of creative quality in midfield either. Much is riding on new signing Xavi Simons but he was not in top form here either. Bergvall cannot do it all himself.
This is still a squad that should be good enough to beat Wolves at home, but this match was also a reminder that it does not take much for Spurs to look a bit flat, predictable and thin on the ground.
Maddison and Kulusevski will not be back any time soon, but they certainly need Solanke and Kolo Muani to return as quickly as possible.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Why were Spurs so flat-footed?
Palhinha, Rodrigo Bentancur and Sarr started together in the 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth here last month. It was a disciplined and hard-working midfield combination that lacked creativity. Bergvall started instead of Sarr against Wolves, but Tottenham experienced a similar issue.
With Simons shunted out onto the left wing, Bergvall seemed to be the only player in the home side capable of progressing the ball in central areas.
Bergvall is quickly forging an excellent relationship with newcomer Kudus and they combined delightfully for a ‘goal’ which was unfortunately ruled out for a fairly clear offside. However, they were the only players to inject any spark into Tottenham’s attack.
Simons underperformed. He whipped in one fantastic cross for Kudus, whose header was tipped onto the bar by Sam Johnstone but apart from that moment, the Netherlands international kept losing the ball. He would either dribble for too long and get crowded out or overhit simple passes. A reckless tackle on Marshall Munetsi, which led to a yellow card, summed up his evening — everything was completely off the pace. Simons moved into the No 10 role in the second half but still struggled to make an impact.
Spurs need to become much better at creating chances from open play. Udogie looked threatening on the overlap but his crosses were ineffective. Richarlison lacks Solanke’s abilities to link the play up and offer a threat when running in behind the opposition. Even when Bueno scored for Wolves early in the second half, there was a lack of urgency.
After improving the defence so quickly following his off-season switch from Brentford, Frank still has a lot of work to do to make this team look slick going forward.
Jay Harris
What did Thomas Frank say?
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, the Spurs boss was in a reflective mood. “I think we played a good first half. Without having enough clear cut chances we got into dangerous situations, some good situations we didn’t get enough out of.
“The second half I think we started ok, and then after the (Wolves) goal I felt we lost a little bit of of control. We didn’t keep the structure enough, we were rushing too much in my opinion. The effort and the mentality of the players was fantastic, staying in the game and keep on pushing and I think we got a well-deserved equaliser in the end.”
Speaking to The Athletic post-match, Frank pointed out that Spurs have had a poor record against Wolves recently. “I think if you look before the game, you would say there was a good chance for us to win. But I said this before the game, we haven’t beaten Wolves the last five times and now it is six times in a row. A team that has lost the first five (games) there is a time where they will get something.
I also said before the game they played very even games so it is never easy. That said, I hoped and believed if we hit a top performance we would win. We didn’t hit a top performance. I think we hit an average performance but you do that some times. We got a point where not everything worked and we move forward.”
What next for Spurs?
Tuesday, September 30: Bodo/Glimt (away), Champions League, 8pm UK, 3pm ET
(Top photo: Ian Kington/AFP via Getty Images)