Premier League 2019/20: Tottenham 2-1 Southampton - 5 Talking Points

After a testing week for Mauricio Pochettino, his Tottenham side proved today that observers who figured they’d lost their stomach for a fight were very wrong. Spurs were able to defeat Southampton 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a very tricky test made even more difficult midway through the first half.

Tottenham took the lead through a powerful, slightly deflected shot from record signing Tanguy Ndombele on 24 minutes, only to find themselves reduced to 10 men less than 10 minutes later as right-back Serge Aurier was sent off for a second bookable offence.

Southampton then equalised after a howler from Hugo Lloris gifted Danny Ings an easy goal, only for Spurs to hit back two minutes before the break through Harry Kane following a sweeping counter-attack also involving Heung Min Son and Christian Eriksen.

The Saints threw all they had at Spurs in the second half, but simply couldn’t find a breakthrough, meaning that all three valuable points went to Pochettino and his men, who showed serious guts and determination to hold on.

Here are 5 talking points from Tottenham’s 2-0 victory over Southampton.

#1 Can Serge Aurier ever be trusted?

Serge Aurier's needless red card may have lost him the trust of Mauricio Pochettino

After the sale of Kieran Trippier to Atletico Madrid this summer, right-back was identified by many observers as a possible problem position for Tottenham this season, and unfortunately those fears have thus far been proven largely correct.

Youngster Kyle Walker-Peters did well in the spot before picking up an injury, while central defender Davinson Sanchez struggled hugely in the role in the North London derby against Arsenal earlier this month. But when Serge Aurier – who Spurs reportedly attempted and failed to offload in the summer – starred in the 4-0 win over Crystal Palace two weeks ago, it felt like the problem had been solved.

But if Aurier took a step forward in that game, today he took two massive steps back. The Ivorian was booked for a dangerous-looking scissor tackle on Sofiane Boufal, and just minutes later he was shown the red card for a challenge on Boufal that while not malicious, was simply cynical.

The foul showed a distinct lack of both thought and concentration on the behalf of Aurier and it showed in a microcosm why Mauricio Pochettino has been so reluctant to trust him as Tottenham’s first-choice right-back. After today, with Moussa Sissoko covering the slot admirably today and Walker-Peters coming back from injury soon, it’s doubtful that he’ll be given many more chances.

Sure, the red card didn’t end up costing Spurs – but it certainly could’ve, and more to the point it meant Spurs had to work far harder for their win than they might’ve done, which can hardly have pleased Pochettino with a big Champions League fixture against Bayern Munich coming in just 3 days.

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#2 Ndombele is beginning to show why Spurs paid big money for him

Tanguy Ndombele scored Tottenham's opener and was outstanding in the first half

Mauricio Pochettino might’ve suggested back in August that Spurs’ record signing Tanguy Ndombele needs more time to acclimatise himself to the Premier League, but after his performance today it appears that the French midfielder is getting up to speed pretty quickly – and that can only be good news for Tottenham.

Not only did Ndombele open the scoring with a left-footed drive from just inside the box – even if the shot took a slight deflection off a Southampton defender to confuse goalkeeper Angus Gunn – but he was also arguably Tottenham’s best player in the game, particularly during the first half.

He showed an excellent range of passing and was highly accurate, with an 82% success rate, and also completed 4 successful tackles for a 100% record in that area as well. Admittedly, his influence faded in the second half – but Tottenham’s midfield were always going to struggle once Serge Aurier was dismissed and Moussa Sissoko was forced to fill in at right-back.

Pochettino bought Ndombele with the belief that he could be the successor for the departed Moussa Dembele, and on this performance he’s definitely capable of doing so. Given a few more games to really embed himself, he could prove to be something special.

#3 Playing out from the back remains a risky strategy

Hugo Lloris made a ridiculous error to gift Southampton their goal today

Southampton’s goal came from a simply ridiculous mistake from Hugo Lloris – there’s little more that can be said, really. Lloris collected the ball from a back-pass and had plenty of time to clear with his left foot, but instead he attempted an ill-advised pirouette-type move, stumbled and allowed the pressing Danny Ings to steal the ball and roll it into the empty net.

The French goalkeeper largely redeemed himself in the second half with a pair of fantastic saves from James Ward-Prowse and Maya Yoshida, but while anyone can make a mistake, the fact is that not only was this one completely avoidable, it also points to a wider trend in top-level football right now – the trend of playing out from the back going horribly wrong.

We’ve already seen huge mistakes from the likes of Sokratis (Arsenal) and Nicolas Otamendi (Manchester City) that have led to goals this season, and while nobody would deny that a team who play the ball out from the back with short passing rather than booting it up the field is more aesthetically pleasing, something surely has to be said for defenders and goalkeepers simply playing it safe and clearing their lines.

Tottenham fans will be praying their side don’t concede any more goals like the one they let in today, but with the rules of the game even seeming to encourage risky play at the back nowadays – thanks to the change in the goal kick rule – you can bet that Lloris’s howler will just be one of many that we see in 2019/20.

#4 Southampton were all bark, no bite in the second half

Southampton's attackers like Sofiane Boufal were unable to make the most of their possession today

While Southampton utterly bossed the second half of today’s game thanks to their numerical advantage following Serge Aurier’s dismissal, it’s hard to imagine that Saints boss Ralph Hassenhuttl will be happy with their performance. Possession is all well and good – Southampton enjoyed 59% of it through the entire game and that figure was much higher in the second half – but only if you actually do something with it.

That wasn’t the case for the Saints today. Despite having 14 attempts on goal, Southampton only managed 6 shots on target, and the only times that Hugo Lloris was really tested in the second half both came from set-pieces; James Ward-Prowse’s beautiful free-kick, which was tipped over the bar, and Maya Yoshida’s bullet header which was also saved brilliantly by the French keeper.

Too many times, we saw the likes of Nathan Redmond, Sofiane Boufal and Ryan Bertrand waste possession, and while Danny Ings did well to harry Tottenham’s defence, particularly in the early going, outside of his goal – which was presented to him by Lloris – he didn’t really find himself with any gilt-edged chances in front of the net.

Is this something that should worry Hassenhuttl? Perhaps. Southampton have scored 7 goals in their 7 games thus far this season, and only Watford and Newcastle – the bottom two sides – along with Crystal Palace, Everton and Brighton have scored less.

For Saints fans, the return of exciting attacker Moussa Djenepo – who already has two goals and likely would’ve scored Spurs’ defence – probably can’t come soon enough following today’s toothless display.

#5 Crisis? What crisis?

Harry Kane's goal today was his 6th of the season in all competitions

For reasons largely unknown to this writer, it seems like the media are always ready to jump on any slight loss of form for Tottenham and label it a “crisis”. Spurs have undoubtedly had a bad week – losing to Leicester City a week ago and crashing out of the EFL Cup at the hands of unfancied Colchester on Tuesday – but was it really fair to label it a crisis, given just two weeks ago, Mauricio Pochettino’s side dismembered Crystal Palace, scoring 4 times in the first half alone?

It is true that Pochettino himself hasn’t always been positive thus far in 2019/20, complaining about issues in his squad that most likely surround the contract status of midfielder Christian Eriksen, but it’s also unfair to claim that Tottenham have been woeful.

They came from behind to beat Aston Villa on the opening day of the season, collected valuable points in away games against ‘big six’ rivals Manchester City and Arsenal, and had VAR not reared its head last week, they likely would’ve beaten Leicester too.

As for today’s showing? Thanks to the mistakes from Lloris and Aurier it wasn’t perfect, but Spurs showed tremendous heart and desire to hold off Southampton in the second half – something that some observers have claimed they’ve lacked in recent games – and their defence looked rock-solid throughout the game.

And of course, Harry Kane once again showed why he’s the most feared striker in the Premier League by making the most of a swift counter-attack to fire the ball into the net after a slick first touch. The England captain now has 6 goals and one assist in all competitions this season – hardly a disappointing return.

It’s easy to forget things like this, but in 2016/17 – when Tottenham finished as Premier League runners-up – Pochettino’s side went through a run of 8 games with just 2 wins, and in fact only picked up 6 victories before December.

That season didn’t turn into disaster, and on today’s evidence it isn’t likely that 2019/20 is going to turn into a disaster either. Today’s lesson was a simple one in the end; write off Pochettino and his men at your peril.