WOLVERHAMPTON Wanderers did the double over Spurs as the beat them 2-1 at the Tottenham Stadium. The last time Wolves achieved this feat was in the 2009/10 season, reports the Voice of Sport.
Spurs started on the front foot and won a corner straight after kick off. Wolves were not too far behind them though as Nelson Semedo force a save from Guglielmo Vicario and Hee Chan Hwang hit the rebound over the bar from close range.
Rayan Ait-Nouri hit a shot but it was comfortably saved by Vicario. One thing that was certain from the early going was that Wolves had not just come here to defend. They were prepared to fight fire with fire.
With the half coming to an end Wolves struck gold. Pablo Sarabia took a corner and Joao Gomes met it with a powerful header, which flew past Vicario to give Wolves the lead.
From the first attack in the second half Spurs drew level. From a throw in, Richarlison got the ball in the Wolves area and as he was closed down the ball fell to Dejan Kulusevski who prodded it home. Wolves were not quite done though as Vicario had to make a save from Sarabia.
After some neat intricate passing from Heung-Min Son and Pape Sarr, Kulusevski hit a shot, which Jose Sa had to get down low to his left and save. As Spurs continued to probe for a second goal, Wolves went on a fast break as Pedro Neto raced down the right and put a cross into the Spurs area, which Gomes met and swept past Vicario without breaking stride to give Wolves the lead for a second time.
James Maddison fed Son a ball, but the South Korean saw his shot fly over the bar. Ange Postecoglu replaced Richarlison with Timo Werner. Right at the end Kulusevski put a cross into the area but Ben Davies headed wide from close range and with that Spurs last chance to get something from this game disappeared along the motorway to the Midlands.
Postecoglu said: “ The performance was similar to our last couple of games. We did not start well. We were chasing the game and they are a good counter attacking side. We have a lot of injuries but that is not an excuse.
“Our general level of performances was not what it should be. We need to start aggressively and put the opposition on the back foot. We have not done that in our last couple of games. We are not on the level to rely on individuals to win us games of football. We do not have those kind of players.
“I did not think we were great going into this game. We are still trying to build something. I don’t know if the break we have now is a blessing. We have 2 weeks to prepare for our next game. It is what it is. There are no tricks. It is hard work which thees guys have done all year round.”
The victorious Wolves manager Gary O’Neill said: “It was an excellent result. It is not easy to come to Spurs to get a victory. When Tottenham pressed us the lads found a solution and pressed them well. We were near enough perfect today so credit to the group.
‘I knew Joao would be massive for us today. He hit the bottom of someone’s foot in training. I knew he would be key because we would have long spells without the ball. For a 21 year-old to come away to Tottenham and produce that performance was impressive. He was important to our game plan and I was desperate to have him.”
The Brazil manager was at the game to watch Gomes and O’Neill added: “I hope he (Gomes) was just trying to impress me. I missed Mathias Cunha today but coming here without him was impressive. We lost a goal early in the second half which was terrible. It happened against Manchester United as well. We know that is something we have to improve on. We cannot afford to give goals like that away.
“I am delighted the team responded and created four good chances.”
On Pedro Neto’s performance he said: “I am not interested in discussing him. We spent a lot of money on him and we want to keep him.”
https://www.voice-online.co.uk/sport/premier-league/2024/02/18/wolves-show-their-teeth-in-north-london/
