In a match that had far more technical difficulties than goals, Tottenham Hotspur lost 1-0 to Middlesbrough in the fifth round of the FA Cup. The score was tied until the second period of extra time, when Josh Coburn of Borough struck past Hugo Loris to put the hosts ahead. Tottenham struggled to equalize to score penalties, but could not find a way past goalkeeper Joe Lumley. It was the second consecutive Premier League team Boro to win this race after expelling Manchester United on penalties a few weeks ago.
Rotate? no. Tottenham presented exactly the same team against Boro from the Championship, as they did when visiting Leeds United last weekend, hoping for a similar result. Most of all, Matt Doherty and Ryan Sessegnon kept their place as full-backs, while Son Hyung-Min, Harry Kane and Dejan Kulusevski also remained in the top three. The only change was on the bench, as Pierluigi Golini replaced Brandon Austin.
Here are my notes from this match.
Reactions
- The downside to the lack of player rotation is that when you end up playing an extra time match in a cup race, you end up looking dead on your feet. The Spurs had nothing left in overtime and, to be honest, the goal had been coming for some time.
- Tottenham didn’t look very great in that game and that’s bad enough. The bigger problem was that they were watching boring until the last 10 minutes of regular time and then no gas for the rest.
- Doherty had the best chance in the first half and did VERY WELL to take the ball and go around the goalkeeper and with a goal, yawning in front of him and Son with an easy square ball away from goal, he hit it and shook it wide. Amazing things. A few minutes later, he pulled another blow to the side.
- This is a bit unfair to Doherty, who actually played quite well (apart from finishing). Cesegnon also did well in the first half.
- There was a lot of chatter about the “missed” penalty calls from official Darren English, but for my money he got it right, especially the epic Jones flop when Sess had his hand on his back.
- Kane’s goal had to stand. He was not only on the sidelines when the ball was headed in, but he also received a foul from it, so even if he was offside, it had to be a penalty. Disgusting call.
- Honestly, the home screen for “technical difficulties” may have been the highlight of this second half.
- Conte’s tactical change was to remove both wings and move to four backs, bringing in Royal and Bergwine. The Spurs immediately looked better, with Stevie approaching almost instantly. The Spurs had a bunch of other chances (Son, Kane, Steve again), but they couldn’t finish.
- I’m sorry to inform you that Harry Winx is bad again.
- I would like to be upset about that. I probably should be. I just … I’m not. This Tottenham team is everywhere. They will win some, they will lose some, funny. This is Tottenham Hotspur for this season. Now I wonder if we will see another “emotional strategy” by Antonio Conte.