Ange Postecoglou’s side went off to a dream start, away at Molineux, after taking the lead less than three minutes in. Tottenham dominated most of the play in the first half.
However, in the second half Gary O’Neil’s team were able to pick up the pace and keep possession - leading to an added time volley for Pablo Sarabia which gave Wolves the equaliser.
In the final minute of stoppage time, Mario Lemina was able to score the winning goal with the lightest touch to beat Guglielmo Vicario.
Ange Postecoglou’s Post-Match Thoughts
Thoughts on the Player’s Performance
Tottenham seemed to lose their spark towards the end of the second half, riddled with fatigue, they left themselves open to the Wolves front line.
Their boss expressed his disappointment in the result: ”Obviously it’s a hard one to take, right at the end there, yeah the lads gave everything they could. We probably ran out of legs towards the end there and Wolves are always going to come at us. They scored a couple good goals to be fair to them, so disappointing run for us to concede so late.”
The dangers that Wolves posed
Wolves had 17 shots, to Tottenham’s 6, showing the challenges that they posed to Vicario.
The Spurs manager said: “Yeah, no we started well in terms of scoring the goal but I just felt first half we could have been a little bit more sort of positive in our play. I just felt we just played within ourselves a little bit and maybe because of the scoreline, winning 1-0, and we just need to be a little bit more positive. I thought the second half was a bit better, we created some chances but obviously in the end, Wolves got what they needed.”
The disappointment of those substituted off
Pape Matar Sarr was substituted at 63 minutes, Yves Bissouma at 76 and Brennan Johnson at 75 minutes. None of these players made significant mistakes, apart from Bissouma who had already been booked, so it can be assumed that Postecoglou substituted them to avoid a second yellow for Bissouma and preserve the fitness of Sarr and Johnson.
Postecoglou said: “Yeah, I’ve had a chat to them and like I said, it’s not a question of effort and commitment, like I say, obviously a lot of them haven’t played for quite a while so it’s a big shift playing here - away from home with the kind of team they are. Can’t fault that but at the same time, we’ll take the pain of this to go back and work harder and come back stronger.”
A lack of fitness being the reason for conceding the two goals
With Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie on a match ban and Micky Van de Ven and James Maddison out injured - Postecoglou was left with fewer options for player selection.
“Not a lack of fitness, a lack of match conditioning but not just that, but I think that obviously played a part but at the same time Wolves - like I said at home - are tough to beat. They came at us and scored a couple of goals.”
Brennan Johnson’s first Tottenham goal
Postecoglou expressed his gratitude for the Spurs players who shone today, despite their loss.
“I think for all the guys, I think the more they play - Brennan and guys like Eric and Benny and, you know, even Rodrigo getting some match minutes today, Gio. They haven’t had a consistent run out so I think it will help them.”
Pressure on attacking players with Maddison injured
With Maddison injured, questions are arisen as to who will temporarily replace the midfielder until his return - which is expected to be in the new year.
The Spurs boss said: “No, the game is the same - it’s 11v11 and you know, like I said, just keep playing our football and you know the chance will come from that.”
Is Rodrigo Bentancur ready to start a match?
After being substituted on for Spurs against Crystal Palace on 27th October following his injury recovery, today was Bentancur’s third match back for Tottenham.
Ange Postecoglou said: “We’ll see, there’s two weeks of international games, let’s see what the fall out from that is.”
