As Son Heung-min wheeled away and the Tottenham fans on the South Stand bounced their way into the Carabao Cup semi-finals, it was fitting of this bonkers, breathless tie against Manchester United that the winning goal would come straight from a corner kick.
A huge night for Ange Postecoglou, as Spurs moved a step closer to lifting their first trophy since 2008, came with relief as Son’s corner made sure they rescued themselves from embarrassment. “Are you not entertained?” Postecoglou grinned. Aware that there would be criticism of his side’s near-collapse, he was proud of what he saw, too.
Postecoglou and Ruben Amorim chuckled as they fell into each other’s arms at full-time. How could they not after this? Tottenham are through to the semi-finals, over two legs, but this was a tie that evidenced why these teams are currently 10th and 13th and showed how much work both managers have to do. For Postecoglou, at least, his injury-hit side displayed resilience after spectacularly shooting themselves in the foot – twice. Archie Gray, at 18, was remarkable continuing as a makeshift centre-back.
It was incredible that Son’s goal was needed in the first place. “It was self-inflicted,” sighed Postecoglou. “It should have been more comfortable.” From 3-0 up, Tottenham inexplicably let United back into the quarter-final with their insistence on playing out from the back, despite Fraser Forster’s obvious lack of confidence with the ball at his feet. First, a goal-kick was taken along the byline. Forster was caught by Bruno Fernandes, allowing Joshua Zirkzee to tap in. Still, Tottenham played backwards under no pressure. Forster delayed as Amad Diallo slid in, bundling United within sight with 20 minutes left to play.
Facing a collapse, Spurs found resolve without 10 first-team players. “I just still can’t get away from the fact that this group of players is just doing an unbelievable job at the moment to get us through this,” Postecoglou said. “We made it tighter than the game should have been, but I’m still so proud of the players’ efforts.” Postecoglou picked as strong a side as he could manage given Tottenham’s injuries, while . The heat would have been on Postecoglou again had Spurs messed this up, but his players are fighting for him through a difficult period.
Amorim’s side could not find another comeback. Son’s goal killed their fight. Above all, though, this was a bad night for back-up goalkeepers. Altay Bayindir flapped as Son’s cross sailed over his head, the second goal he had been at fault for. He did not cover himself in glory on his first appearance under Amorim, and may still be appealing to referee John Brookes. That Bayindir’s weak effort to parry set up Dominic Solanke’s opener means four goals of the seven here came down to goalkeeping mistakes. Lisandro Martinez contributed a couple more errors, with woeful defending.
Amorim’s side had started to grow into the contest before half time, yet just 46 seconds after the restart United switched off and then unravelled, conceding another. “We disconnected for eight minutes. It was hard to recover from that,” admitted Amorim. He denied there was wider chaos, believing that United were largely in control. “I think during almost all the game, we were controlling things,” Amorim said. “Playing the same way, trying to find the spaces and I can feel it. I saw a team that knows what it wants to do. I could not see the chaos in my team.”
But within those eight minutes in the second half, Spurs scored twice. Dejan Kulusevski thrashed Tottenham into a two-goal lead in a display of assertiveness that United sorely lacked. The build-up from Spurs was swift, flying out from kick-off as James Maddison raced around the outside and crossed low. Martinez whiffed at the clearance. Kulusevski punished him. Martinez was then exposed again as Solanke danced through, the Argentine vanishing as he backed into the box and the striker found the corner through Jonny Evans’ legs. Solanke was impressive here, amid the wider mayhem.
Right from the start, this was a quarter-final that came down to who was sharp and who was not. Even Amorim, exasperated and crouching on the touchline, was slow in his changes. Diallo, Zirkzee and Kobbie Mainoo were stripped and ready to come on as Solanke scored the third. Bayindir’s first touch was to push Pedro Porro’s shot into danger, in a weak parry from the goalkeeper as Solanke pounced. It was a bad goal to concede for the collective, too. The United defence was caught sleeping on the 18-yard line when Solanke was alert.
United were buried at 3-0. Forster gave them hope. But then Bayindir bailed him out. As Son’s corner swung in, the Turkey international crumbled under the ball and the slightest contact from Lucas Bergvall. Bayindir looked towards Brookes in hope. There was no reprieve, and it was quickly glossed over anyway. Amorim made a vow afterwards to not talk about refereeing decisions. And there was still time for Tottenham to concede another goal from a corner, which came after Pape Matar Saar needlessly ballooned a cross behind. Evans headed the seventh goal in stoppage-time. Entertained? Absolutely. At least Amorim and Postecoglou could laugh it off.
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