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Honours ended up even at Molineux tonight, as Wolves scored a late goal to deny Tottenham Hotspur a much-needed victory. Tottenham could’ve gone third in the Premier League table had they won, but the draw only moves them into fifth.
Jose Mourinho’s side raced into an early lead through a Tanguy Ndombele goal, but as has become a pattern with Tottenham recently, sat into a defensive shape thereafter.
Wolves were industrious in attack throughout the game, and as time ticked away, they found their equaliser. A corner was nicely headed home by Romain Saiss, and the hosts even missed a clear-cut chance to win the game when Fabio Silva headed directly at Hugo Lloris.
Here are 5 talking points from Wolves’ 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
#1 Tottenham strike early yet again
Many observers were expecting a cagy game tonight, but that idea was blown away when Tanguy Ndombele’s drive flew into the Wolves net after just 57 seconds. Admittedly, it was a goal that Wolves keeper Rui Patricio should’ve done far better with – he appeared to be wrong-footed – but the truth is that fans should be used to this from Tottenham now.
The goal was the eighth time in all competitions during 2020-21 that Tottenham have scored in the first fifteen minutes of a game, and the fifth time that it’s happened in the Premier League. Jose Mourinho might have his side set up primarily as a counter-attacking unit right now, but it’s definitely the case that teams simply can’t afford to sleep on them in the opening minutes of a game.
More interestingly though, the goal was only the fourth scored by Tottenham this season that didn’t involve either Harry Kane or Son Heung-min. If they want to push for a Premier League title challenge, Mourinho’s side definitely need to find goals from more players than just that duo. And this was a positive sign that they are capable of doing that.
#2 Wolves looked largely toothless without Jimenez
Despite going behind so early, Wolves clearly carried more of an attacking threat than Tottenham today. However, despite taking eleven shots on goal – six of them on target – they never really looked like scoring outside of Romain Saiss’ late equaliser.
Essentially, Nuno Espirito Santo’s side were knocking on the door throughout the match, but without Raul Jimenez – who is still out for an indefinite period following his skull fracture – they simply didn’t have the cutting edge to actually score a goal.
Given that his side have also lost Diogo Jota, who was sold to Liverpool in the most recent transfer window, Nuno should probably be concerned with his side’s lack of goals despite claiming a draw tonight.
It should come as no surprise to learn that in their 15 matches this season, Wolves have not scored more than two goals in a game – and have only managed two on four occasions.
Judging by his form in recent games, despite showing promise, it’s clear that they can’t rely on record signing Fabio Silva to replace Jimenez, either. The truth is that without the Mexican hitman, Nuno will probably have to dip into the transfer market next month to solve this problem.
#3 Why did Mourinho take Ndombele off?
It’s been claimed by many observers that Tottenham rely too heavily on Harry Kane and Son Heung-min in terms of their attacks, but tonight’s outstanding player was probably Tanguy Ndombele. Not only did the Frenchman score Tottenham’s goal, but for the majority of the first half, he gave Wolves midfielders Joao Moutinho and Ruben Neves the runaround.
Ndombele only had 45 touches of the ball during the game, but he played two key passes, and his dribbling ability also carved out a couple of chances – including a major one missed by Sergio Reguilon in the first half.
More to the point, his ability on the ball was clearly occupying Wolves’ midfielders, giving both Kane and Son more room to operate.
All of this begs the question, why did Jose Mourinho feel the need to withdraw him after 70 minutes? The likelihood is that the Frenchman still isn’t trusted to complete 90 minutes, but even if that’s the case, why did Mourinho send Moussa Sissoko – a more defensive player – on to replace him?
Tonight’s game was similar to Tottenham’s draw with West Ham earlier in the season in that the tide turned when Ndombele was withdrawn. Spurs fans will be hoping he becomes capable of completing a full match in the near future because simply put, Mourinho needs him just as much as he does Kane, Son or Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
#4 Tottenham can’t keep dropping points late on if they want to challenge for the title
While Jose Mourinho has clearly strengthened Tottenham since he took over at the club last November, his team still have a worrying habit of conceding late, usually avoidable goals.
Tottenham are currently in fifth place in the Premier League with 26 points, but take away the goals they’ve conceded in the final ten minutes of games, and they’d be nine points better off – and would be three points clear of Liverpool at the top.
So what’s the issue? In tonight’s game – as they did against Crystal Palace two weeks ago – they simply failed to show enough ambition when it came to killing the game off. After Tanguy Ndombele’s opener, Spurs had just two more shots on target tonight, the final one coming in the 21st minute of the game.
It’s all well and good to set a team up as a counter-attacking unit, but that only works if you’ve got a side who can kill a match off. Tottenham did that earlier in the season against Arsenal, Manchester City and Southampton, but tonight, they simply dropped far too deep to be effective with that gameplan.
Mourinho once said that his favourite scoreline was 2-0, and it’s becoming painfully clear to Tottenham fans why. In the Premier League, you simply cannot sit on an early 1-0 lead and hope to win your games.
#5 Can Tottenham or Wolves move up the table with a good run?
To tell the truth, neither side will leave Molineux happy with a point tonight. Tottenham missed out on a chance to move into third place in the Premier League table, while Wolves still remain in the bottom half of the table.
However, in the crazy season that is 2020-21, neither side is all that far off making a run at the top three, if not a title challenge. Tottenham are only three points behind second-placed Everton, with 26 points from 15 games.
And while Wolves are behind the likes of West Ham and Southampton, two wins and the right results around them could easily put them into the top four.
So can either team put the kind of strong run together needed to make a real push into the upper reaches of the Premier League table right now? It’s actually very possible.
Tottenham’s next two matches see them face Fulham and Leeds – teams who stylistically, Jose Mourinho would probably fancy his side’s chances against.
Wolves meanwhile face Manchester United, who remain a Jekyll and Hyde team, and then follow that with winnable games against Brighton, Everton and West Bromwich Albion.
However, it’s probably fair to say that both sides are probably equally as likely to go on winless slides and slip down the table, too. Right now when it comes to the Premier League, nothing is for sure – and tonight’s game didn’t really give a lot of concrete evidence either way.
