Brentford 0 Tottenham 2: Nervy Spurs eventually kill off game for vital win to ease looming relegation fears
THIS was not Ange Ball, but, frankly, who cares?
Certainly not Tottenham fans, who were genuinely starting to worry about being sucked into a relegation battle and were singing “We are staying up” come the end.
https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1886060212215325001And probably not Ange Postecoglou either, whose need for this reviving win was becoming desperate.
The Aussie’s position has been coming under more and more scrutiny after a bleak winter culminating in one win in 11 league games.
He has been able to point to a crippling injury crisis as a mitigating factor and progress in the cups as a reason to believe.
But make no mistake, the 59-year-old needed this victory and will have taken any means necessary to get it.
The unsightly opener that paved the way to the precious three points summed up the game as a whole.
Captain Son Heung-min swung in a corner on 29 minutes which rookie goalkeeper Hakon Valdimarsson got nowhere near and Vitaly Janelt turned into his own net.
In fairness, Spurs’ killer second was a vintage Postecoglou free-flowing move, ended by a clever finish from Pape Matar Sarr.
But it did not mask the fact that, overall, this was a scrappier, far more pragmatic display than the ex-Celtic chief is known for.
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That was likely influenced by the fact Postecoglou’s absentee list was again in double figures, and surprisingly included Micky van de Ven.
The Dutchman had been expected to get more than the 45 minutes he played in his comeback match against Elfsborg on Thursday.
Postecoglou said it was purely down to “managing his minutes” and that hopefully he would be ready for action “by the end of the week”.
Whether that meant the 23-year-old would be fit for Thursday’s Carabao Cup semi-final second leg at Liverpool – Spurs’ biggest game of the season – was anyone’s guess.
With Spurs sweating on the severity of Radu Dragusin’s knee injury – sustained against Elfsborg and keeping him out of this game – at least they had moved quickly to bring a new central defender.
Kevin Danso’s loan switch from RC Lens, which will be turned permanent for £20million in the summer, was confirmed a few hours before the game.
The ex-Southampton loanee, 26, was not in attendance at the Gtech but did post on social media a picture of himself watching the game on the telly.
With neither Van de Ven, Dragusin nor Danso available, Postecoglou was forced to partner Archie Gray and Ben Davies in the middle of his defence.
Neither are natural centre-backs, though both have played largely in that position during the Aussie’s tenure.
Gray had looked set to join Brentford in the summer before Spurs pinched him at the 11th hour, making him the fourth most expensive 18-year-old of all time at £40m.
That hijacking habit of Spurs came in useful again over the last couple of days to snare Danso, who had been due for a medical at Wolves until the North Londoners stepped in.
Brentford fans clearly had not forgotten Gray’s late change-of-heart as he was regularly booed when on the ball.
It did not disturb his focus though as the teenager made a number of solid blocks that snuffed out dangerous attacks at source.
The game was bitty and drifting – until an opening goal arrived, out of nowhere.
With Mark Flekken out through a thigh strain, Icelander Valdimarsson was handed his first Premier League start in nets for Brentford.
But Spurs clearly sensed a vulnerability in the 23-year-old at high balls and when Son swung in a corner just before the half hour, Valdimarsson got nowhere near it with Yves Bissouma blocking his path.
It was left for the unfortunate Janelt to turn into his own net from close range.
The goal put Spurs in with a chance of a first league victory on the road – or in any league game – since the 5-0 spanking of Southampton since mid-December.
Hence the subsequent self-deprecating chants of “How s*** must you be, we’re winning away” from the travelling supporters.
Brentford had been imperious at home this season but looked fairly toothless here.
Yet Spurs knew how dangerous Bryan Mbeumo was, given he had netted four times in his last four games.
And it was only thanks to Richarlison bravely taking a goal-bound Mbeumo blast to his face, knocking him off his feet, that the score remained 1-0 going into the break.
Brentford tried to step it up after the break but Tottenham, playing deeper than usual, were relatively comfortable.
And with a few minutes to go, they suddenly showed just what they CAN do when everything clicks and confidence is flowing under Postecoglou.
Some neat build-up play saw Rodrigo Bentancur ship the ball wide to Son, who played the ball through for Sarr to tuck under the goalkeeper.
There has been so much talk of Dr Tottenham in recent weeks – the mocking moniker for Spurs when they somehow find a way to lose to teams woefully out of form.
But going into their enormous week in the cups, a result like this was just what the doctor ordered for Postecoglou.