We finally have some kind of game here. We probably have Antonio Conte to thank for that and a team chat at half-time which one suspects was a lack of abuse and a lack of direction. Tottenham remain undefeated and overwhelming but Harry Kane’s second-half goal gave them all three points and a win that felt like a comeback in tone and toughness.
The parts don’t quite fit. Son Heung-Min looks overcooked and a little short of breath; the midfield is still prone to being outnumbered; The squad as a whole still looks a little more comfortable when it comes to counterattacking than true game control. But there’s spirit and resilience and the quality and depth to make it count. Eric Dier and Ivan Perisic were excellent. Richarlison looked sharp and stark naked as a late replacement.
It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t always nice, especially in the first half when the Wolves were clearly the better team. Bruno Lage’s side are rich in talent and struggle, but most of all you feel they are absolutely awful to play against: a bevy of processed, chiseled midfielders who all bark and berate you in Portuguese.
“We certainly struggled a bit in the first half for many reasons,” said Conte. “We have suffered. In the second half I tried to correct some situations, but we also had to have a lot of energy.
Wolves arrived with a clever plan and a fresh set of legs: £38million midfielder Matheus Nunes, the newest and brightest asset in Jorge Mendes’ portfolio, was signed by Sporting this week and brought straight into his debut.
He’s quite the gamer, too: a big, deadly spider of a man, poised and precise, with flicking legs and eyes on the back of his head. He had a good chance with a short header, the dangerous Rúben Neves had a couple of hits from long-range and as Spurs continued to start aimlessly, the home crowd started to grumble a little, as if caught in a very long and very hot queue at the airport.
Anyway, that was the first half. The second was a very different taste of milk: Tottenham screamed from the blocks and moved the ball with purpose and substance. Kane hit the bar with a header. The clumsy son hit the post. Perisic began to gain influence. The volume went up a few bars. Tottenham won a corner. son took it.
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Almost from the moment the ball left Son’s foot, the corner looked disappointing: short, low and dying towards the near post. Except – surprise – Perisic had been stationed there for that scenario and had flicked the ball at an unmarked Kane who headed in at the far post.
A set piece that felt like a throwback to the days of Mauricio Pochettino and a Premier League milestone for Kane: his 185th goal, surpassing Sergio Aguero’s post-1992 record for most at a club. Dixie Dean’s all-time top record of 308 remains well out of reach for now.
Kane nods past José Sá. Photo: Clive Mason/Getty ImagesSo what had changed? Tactically certainly nothing important. No players were substituted until the 76th minute. The only real change was in ambition, intensity and courage: the courage to play the difficult pass, to endure the crunching challenge of keeping the ball under pressure rather than getting rid of it. Further proof of this came when Kane, stung by a previous challenge from Neves, delivered a small punch to him.
Nathan Collins returned the favor, and quickly the situation had escalated into the kind of mass, finger-wagging, multinational squabbling that everyone loves to see.
Ultimately, Wolves had the best chance of winning in the first half and for all the good spirits surrounding Molineux after a generous transfer window, there remains a small gap between expectation and delivery, between the ability to neuter games and the ability to pack and close them kill them.
“We controlled the game, but in the end we didn’t have any points,” said Lage. “That’s why we’re going home frustrated and confident.”
Which feels like a pretty good summary of Wolves: three games, no wins and yet a certain cautious optimism.