Mauricio Pochettino might want to look up that old saying about houses built on sand. It might just ring a Christmas bell or two regarding a side who are reasonably capable of scoring but need some pointers on how to defend.
That much was obvious here in a performance of numerous back-line errors that had to be redeemed by goals 85 minutes apart.
Leading after four minutes through Harry Kane, Tottenham spent large swathes of what remained hanging on. Had Wilfried Bony made more of the space he was repeatedly afforded by Federico Fazio, this might have been a different result altogether.
Instead, Bony scored only once and Tottenham rode a Swansea storm until Christian Eriksen picked their pocket at the other end. As Swansea manager Garry Monk put it: ‘It would have been stopped in the second half if it was a boxing match.’
Pochettino, meanwhile, was asked if there was a Spanish phrase for ‘smash and grab’, but he didn’t understand the question.
Instead he focused on the ‘positives’, which in this case meant a first win in three league games and a tribute to the team’s spirit.
Certainly, there was no shortage of application from Tottenham’s players when the going got tough and that has not always been the case in this strange season.
(dailymail.co.uk)
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