A "controversial" post
Short-handed Spurs score a signature result for Ange in the League Cup
Photo credit: @hallenbeck.thelastboyscout.uk on Bluesky
SPURS 1-0 LIVARPOOL|
Carabao Cup Semifinal 1st Leg
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
January 8, 2025
Spurs (4-3-3): Kinsky, Pedro Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence, Bissouma, Bentancur (Johnson 15), Bergvall, Kulusevski, Solanke, Son (c) (Werner 72).
Unused substitutes: Austin, Dorrington, Reguilon, Olusesi, Moore, Min-Hyeok, Lankshear.
Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson, Bradley (Alexander-Arnold 60), Quansah (Endo 30), van Dijk (c), Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Jones, Mac Allister (Konate 80), Salah, Jota (Nunez 60), Gakpo (Diaz 60).
Unused substitutes: Kelleher, Chiesa, Elliott, Robertson.
Scoring: Bergvall 86’
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Our road in the Carabao has seen us past Coventry City, Man City, and Man U, so naturally our reward was to draw two matches with this season’s best team in the world.
Given Liverpool’s season, our form and fitness, and how they sliced and diced us three days before Christmas, I bet lots of neutrals and Liverpool fans (and some of us) thought we were up against it.
Our task didn’t get any easier for us when Rodrigo Bentancur went to turf during a corner at the 6’ mark. While the club would later confirm he suffered a concussion on the play, the manner in which he went down at the time made it seem even scarier than that (and I can confirm concussions are scary enough). The site of Bentancur falling to the turf and later being carted off wearing an oxygen mask recalled Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest during national team duty in 2020. Use of an O2 mask makes one think something worse than a concussion was suspected on site, though I’m guessing the more we learn about concussions, this may become standard protocol for suspected concussions, if it isn’t already. (I’m not a doctor, at least not the medical kind, but I’ve taking a mandatory coaching course on head injuries, when, sadly, I’ve found makes me more knowledgeful on the subject than are some medical doctors, even neurologists.) I hope Lolo gets well soon and, even more importantly, is given sufficient time away from action to fully recover.
The match went to the break, and perhaps my view was colored by low expectations, but I thought we looked the better team. It was a proper cup match, and we’d come out to press and attack. Honestly, I thought we gave Liverpool a jab to the jaw.
But we knew we’d have our work cut out for us after the break. In our press-oriented system, we tend to fade around the 60’ mark, and while they had the likes of Diaz, Nunez, and Alexander-Arnold to bring off the bench, we came into the day with one of our thinnest benches in a while as a result of our rash of long-term injuries and short-term illness that has sidelined Destiny Udogie, Mickey van de Ven, Christian Romero, and James Maddison. And with Bentancur leaving the match so soon, we had to burn one of our our two experienced attacking options on the bench in Brennan Johnson (pushing Dejan Kulusevski from the wing to a central midfield position) with more than 80 minutes to play.
SPURS OF THE MOMENT
But we hung on, and there was a lot of credit to go around for that. I thought Yves Bissouma had one of his best matches in a Spurs shirt. He was vital in breaking any thought Arne Slot’s side might’ve had about pressing our “reckless” playing out from the back, and he was a force in our transitional play.
And next time Djed Spence has to empty his pockets at the airport, he may well drop Mo Salah into the tray before the x-ray machine. I may be overstating his case, but I don’t care because it wasn’t so long ago we were wondering if he’d ever be serviceable cover to Pedro Porro on the right, and there he was on Thursday hanging right with the leading scorer on the world’s best team this season. I knew Spence had something to offer on the attacking end—especially in Ange’s system—but he’s showing himself to be a capable and versatile defender. I especially like how he uses his frame, both offensively and defensively, to own his space. After not seeing any real minutes for Spurs for so long following his arrival as a “club signing” under Conte, Spence’s ascent has been so rapid that it seems he’s beyond the “redemption arc” narrative and has established himself as an asset going forward.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t recognize Radu Dragusin for a quick-footed deflection on goal of a ball from Son in the first half…and an invaluable goal-line clearance in the second!
And welcome, Antonin Kinsky! What has happened to this club?? One match after Brandon Austin was a respectable debutant against form-feverish Newcastle, we suddenly bring in a promising 21-year-old keeper from Slavia Prague who may well project as our #1 of the near future. Yes, he’s only played one match for us, but Kinky Toni comes with the three things we seek in a goalkeeper: shot stopping, box command, and distribution. Kinsky showed surprising composure in his area, and his second-half stonewalling of Nunez seemed to announce his arrival. My wife’s name is Toni, so we’ll be having fun with Kinsky’s name for a while…so, too, apparently, will my auto spellcheck.
USMOTM
I try not to do the obvious when I pick MOTM, and sure, picking the goal scorer in a 1-0 match seems obvious. But Bergvall would’ve merited consideration even without his tally. Playing in a more advanced midfield role in this match, the 18-year-old Swedish sensation was a relentless pest. His press was energetic, and he undressed Allisson at the 56’ mark and fed Pedro Porro for what should’ve been the first goal. Instead of putting his boot through it—and we’ve seen Porro has the boot to put through it (see video below)—but the fullback tried to chip the keeper in a disappointing manner than recalled the time Gio Lo Celso squandered a last-minute chance to score the winner at Stamford Bridge.
At the 86’ mark, just minutes after Dom Solanke had a goal disallowed for being offside by a toe, Big Dom showed one of the multiple ways in which he is a Problem for defenders. He simply outran/outmuscled his way onto a speculative Porro ball into the box and smartly spotted Bergvall’s runner. As Lucas took off for the box, he was akin to a high school senior stepping onto the platform at graduation. When he received Solanke’s pass, he took his diploma in hand, showing maturity beyond his years by calmly, cleanly curving one inside the right post—a brilliant strike. I’d gone out of the room momentarily and heard the goal on SXM. I have to see if I can find the audio of that call somewhere, as it was fittingly euphoric to the moment. Meanwhile, here’s an analysis from the Zekko Football account of Bergvall’s sparkling performance.
Now, let me have a word with the footballing media who oh-so-predictably have dubbed it a “controversial” goal:
You can all go f*** yourselves royally.
I find it so tiresome to have to break this down, so let me link to my compatriot Caroline Stefko, who sufficiently explains why, no, Bergvall was not “lucky” to have still been on the pitch.
In fact, let me point out how Virgil van Dijk put a cleat onto Solanke’s calf in the first match and did not even draw a yellow card when he arguably could’ve been sent off with a straight red. As if that wasn’t enough Tall Man’s Privilege for VVD, he seemed to be the loudest one on the pitch complaining to Stuart Attwell that the 18-year-old blond kid had just done them.
But let’s get real: The real reason the goal is being called “controversial” is because Liverpool’s manager said it was. That’s it. That’s the reason. In the rampant classism of English footballing culture, if not European football at large, if one of the “brand” teams say something, it is so. This privilege is granted to a manager even in his first season with a “name” club. I’ve alluded to this dynamic before, and I have to imagine this attitude has roots in British social class dynamics. (To my British supporters: I’ll be the first to admit we have some issues over here, too.) It’s why Slot could write his own headlines by deeming a goal scored by a player WHO WAS CORRECTLY NOT SENT OFF “controversial”…yet when Ange remained consistent in his dislike of VAR while talking about Solanke’s disallowed goal, he was described as angry and weird. The double-standard of this soccer caste system is enraging…yet it makes Wednesday’s result all the sweeter.
Bottom line: We’re now one match from the League Cup final and will carry a one-goal advantage into Anfield next month. (By the way, why do people refer to a first leg result as a “win” or “loss”? The only thing you truly win is the two-match tie, yes?) I still think we won’t go through, to be honest. Even holding Liverpool on their pitch seems a titanic ask, and I think that’s what it’d take, as I don’t fancy our chances in a shootout against a team with a (usually) polished shot stopper—they won’t let Bergvall press him on PKs—and waves of shooters for Slot to call upon.
Even so, none of that changes the import of the first leg. In this season of trials and tribulations for Tottenham, this felt like a statement win for Ange. I think it’s not enough to simply say he hasn’t lost the players; nay, I think it’s safe to say his players have bought into him and his system—everyone from Son to Reguilon to our newest signing from Prague, who seems to have brought in with him a gust of fresh air.
Next up: Away to Tamworth tomorrow morning in the third round of the FA Cup. One word, Benjamin…plastics.