Battling Burnley punish wasteful Tottenham to prolong Wembley woes
Wembley was looking resplendent in the August sunshine on the bank holiday weekend as Tottenham welcomed Burnley to the capital in the final game of the schedule before the first international break of the season. The pair have played Chelsea in their opening two games of the campaign and enjoyed contrasting fortunes. Burnley shocked the champions on the opening weekend of the season to secure a 3-2 win at Stamford Bridge, before the Blues made the short trip across London a week later to secure a 2-1 win in the first ever Premier League match at Wembley at Spurs’ expense.
It was a far from perfect performance from Spurs and they were made to pay for their inability to see out the game as they were dealt a sucker punch late on to share the spoils with Burnley.
Spurs huffed and puffed in the opening half, only to be denied by Burnley’s formidable wall. A long afternoon looked possible, only for the effective Ben Mee to disappointingly fail to clear a corner. The ball fell to Dele Alli, whose first effort was blocked. He made no mistake with his second. After that, the hosts looked in control, but struggled to make their dominance count and were made to pay as Chris Wood, Burnley’s summer signing, scored in injury time having come off the bench to make his debut for the Clarets.
Tottenham, though, were made to rue their lack of killer touch to settle the result, allowing Burnley to grow in confidence as the minutes ticked towards the 90. The hosts mustered 28 shots in the match, but just five on target. By comparison, Burnley mustered 13 shots with three on target, but what was crucial here was that seven of those 13 came from the hour mark onwards. With Spurs in the ascendancy, they struggled to score the goal required to guarantee the three points, which in turn saw the Clarets grow in confidence. The decision to switch to a back-three once Ashley Barnes and Wood were introduced was a logical one by Mauricio Pochettino, with Eric Dier dropping into the centre of defence to help counter the aerial threat, but with no Victor Wanyama to help shield the backline, there was a clear lack of solidity to repel the attacking threat.
The hosts were also made to rue the decision to continue with the high defensive line as they were carved open for Wood’s equaliser. The New Zealand international was picked out brilliantly by Robbie Brady, yet allowing such a wide gap between the defence and Hugo Lloris in the Spurs goal meant Burnley found ample space in behind the hosts’ backline. The choice to push towards the halfway line when defending a one goal lead against a side pressing forward was a catastrophic one for Spurs.
However, if the draw proved anything, it’s that Spurs still need reinforcements before the close of the transfer window. Pochettino has made it clear that signings will be made in the coming days and the stalemate proved they are required. Kieran Trippier, as good as he may be pushing forward, was at fault for Wood’s late strike, with the England international losing his man allowing for the striker a clear run at goal. He and Ben Davies lack the required pace to trouble opponents and Spurs are all the weaker for it, with the north London side unable to stretch opponents in the same way they managed with Danny Rose and Kyle Walker on the left and right flank, respectively, last season.
The decision to name youngster Tashan Oakley-Boothe, be it a message to chairman Daniel Levy or if he was forced to due to injuries, merely highlighted the lack of strength in depth for Spurs. It’s likely, then, that Hotspur Way will be busy over the coming days. For all of Spurs’ weakness, though, Burnley played to their impressive strengths and, with their Premier League counterparts unable to break forward at pace, knew they could frustrate the hosts by remaining compact and forcing Spurs out wide, where Trippier and Davies failed to make an impact. It was a similar approach adopted by Chelsea last week and that paid dividends, with Burnley carrying out their gameplan to perfection - they were a botched Mee clearance away from all three points after all.
