Tottenham Match Report: Points dropped vs Burnley
By Ryan Wrenn
Tottenham proved unable to hold onto a narrow lead in Sunday’s match against Burnley, with the visitors scoring the equalizing goal in stoppage time.
Dele Alli opened Tottenham’s account on the day at the start of half-time, and looked the most likely to score again before Burnley took advantage of the glaring hole in their host’s usually reliable defense.
The first half more or less began as predicted. Burnley’s five man midfield played advanced guard to their backline, and Spurs attempts to play through traffic frequently came to nothing.
Given the tools at Burnley’s disposal, this was a fair set of tactics against such a top heavy team as Totteham. Any team unable to play on Spurs’ level is much better off waiting for the rare mistake or successfully competed goalkick for their chance.
Burnley did find ways forward in the opening 45 minutes, but their own tactics invited Spurs into their half and encouraged them to stay there.
Thankfully for the visitors, Spurs couldn’t make the most of that advantageous position on the pitch before the interval. Bodies were put on the line to block shots and dangerous passes, and the hosts were forced to content themselves with oodles of possession just outside of Burnley’s third.
It was a frustrating state to take into the dressing room, but whatever happened in there reinflated their spirits for the second half.
Within the opening minutes, Spurs had won a corner that was expertly deflected into the scrum by a Eric Dier header. Dele Alli got on the end of it, saw his first shot deflected but sent home his second attempt.
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The lead concede, Burnley were forced to make changes that might improve their chances at finding an equalizer.
Those changes came in the form of Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes, a striker pair that deprived Burnley an extra man in midfield but gave them an extra target for long punts up field.
To Spurs’ concern, this stretched play and forced Eric Dier back into defense from midfield, where he started the match. That change allowed Spurs to be equal to Burnley’s changes, while still finding ways forward.
Unfortunately more chances did not come. Though Spurs caught Burnley on the break on at least two occasions, more shot choices by Harry Kane and Dele prevented them from scoring a second and seeing out the match.
Though Spurs appeared ready to coast to a 1-0 victory by the 75th minute, Burnley clearly weren’t on the same page. They continually tested Tottenham’s backline — a task made significantly easier by the perplexing inability of Kieran Trippier to stay goalside of literally any Burnley attacker in his area of the pitch.
The Spurs right-back continually got caught out, allowing Burnley to create several chances via crosses as Trippier looked on from ten yards higher up the pitch than he had any right to be.
As the match entered stoppage time, it was clear that Burnley were keyed into Tottenham’s glaring weakness even if Pochettino wasn’t. A well placed ball from Robbie Brady found Wood, who slotted past Hugo Lloris for the equalizer two minutes after the 90 minutes were up.
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The match would end 1-1, a dispiriting but deserved scoreline for a Tottenham team that looked short on ideas and predictably vulnerable thanks to Trippier.