Match Report; Burnley 0 Spurs 1 League Cup.

 

Match Report; Burnley 0 Spurs 1 League Cup.

For this match, as last weeks matches, I was picked up by Mel (at 2.30 pm), then we had a long drive to Burnley (a four-hour drive) with a few stops on the way. When we got there, we had to look for a parking space, luckily, there was a car park area for football supporters near the ground. It only cost £5, in London to park near our stadium it would have set you back £30 (on a good day). Then we walked to the stadium, where I purchased the obligatory programme and then into the stadium.

Unusually the bag search was more enthusiastic than it usually is. Chatted to the Tottenham Stewards and in. We got ourselves a pie, a pint, chatted with Rick and Beverley and a few others, then to our seats. I was right behind a large support beam, so I had to look both sides to see the match.

As I said in my match preview, in the Vitesse game I predicted a 4-0 win; however, that depended on the team that turned up. It didn't. We lost o1-0. In this game, I said the same… however, the team/ squad was a lot stronger this time around. Nuno must have learnt some crucial lessons from that Holland game…  nevertheless, I thought we still struggled in places. Not only that, but when we attacked and got near the goal, we lost it (panicked) on occasions.

Lucas Moura headed us into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup in a hard-fought 1-0 win at Turf Moor. We had failed to have a shot in the second half of our defeat at the London Stadium on Sunday, and it took us until the 65^th minute to start to break them down at Turf Moor. Their goalkeeper produced a stunning stop to deny Giovani Lo Celso from a one-on-one. Three minutes later, sub-Moura, who had replaced the injured Bryan Gil, found a way past Pope with a forceful header to give us a much-needed boost.

Burnley failed to record a shot on target until the 85th minute but should have had a penalty when Sanchez pulled Nathan Collins to the floor from a first-half corner. Luckily for us, referee Peter Bankes waved away the appeals, and with no VAR in operation for this competition, we were able to capitalise on our good luck. Nevertheless, there was a late rush from Burnley, but we survived to win the game.

The draw for the Carabao Cup last eight will take place live on Sky Sports' Soccer AM this Saturday from 10.30am.

Player ratings

Tottenham: Gollini (8), Royal (8), Sanchez (7), Romero (6), Davies (6), Hojbjerg (7), Skipp (6), Lo Celso (7), Bergwijn (6), Gil (didn't play enough), Kane (7).

Subs: Lucas Moura (9), Son (7), Ndombele (6), Rodon (didn't play enough)

 

My thoughts

Man of the match: Lucas Moura

Both managers made six changes for this cup tie, and both took a long time to get going, with Harry Kane striking wide of the far post from Lo Celso's pass before Burnley's penalty appeals when Sanchez tackled Collins in the box were dismissed by referee Bankes.

As for Gil, he had muscle injury, which saw him leave the pitch early and was replaced by  Moura, who won a free-kick in a dangerous position soon after, but Lo Celso wastefully fired straight into the Burnley wall.

We started brightly in the second half, with a Lo Celso pass just out of Kane's reach in the box, and Bergwijn having a shot blocked by Connor Roberts, but with the scores still level at the hour mark, Sean Dyche turned to Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes to try to change things.

It was the home sides 'keeper Pope who had the home fans on their feet, producing a brilliant save to deny Lo Celso from a one-on-one chance after Kane had split the defence. But he was picking the ball out of his net moments later. Emerson Royal's cross from the right appeared to take a deflection off Erik Pieters, but it made its way through to Moura, who powered a header into the ground and beyond Pope from 12 yards out.

Despite finally working Pierluigi Gollini with five minutes to play through Ashley Barnes, Burnley couldn't carve out an opening, and we ended up celebrating our progress to the next round.

Nuno Espirito Santo commented after the game: "It was tough, as we expected, but I thought we played a good game. We were in control of the game, we had good possession, we created chances. First half, we should have done better with our movement because we did it in the second half. It was a deserved win. We saw some combinations. There's a lot more to be more accurate with the passing because we have the quality to do it. We are happy to go through. We did our job. And I think we did it in a very nice way, with good football."

Our next match will be against Manchester United this  Saturday Night, kick-off at 5.30pm.

After the game, we made our way to the car, and I finally got home at 2.30 in the morning, Mel got home an hour later.

Be safe, Glenn, COYS!