Tottenham Hotspur pulled off an astounding comeback to beat Sheffield United in North London yesterday, scoring twice deep into added time to claim all three points.
Let’s take a look at five things we learned from the match:
Richarlison Love
It seemed inevitable that Richarlison would enter the game against Sheffield United yesterday and have a significant impact, but few could have anticipated the sheer drama of his cameo.
Richarlison displayed incredible bravery at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after sitting out the previous two games, going through a trying week of international duty with Brazil, and disclosing his difficulties with mental health.
Coming on for 20 minutes, scoring the equaliser, and then assisting the winner. Let’s all hope this is the jump-start his Spurs career needed, and a significant boost to his overall happiness too.
Spurs Breaking Spurs Records
Tottenham managed to turn a losing position with 97 minutes and 33 seconds on the clock to a winning one come full-time – the latest comeback ever recorded in the Premier League. And who did they beat? Tottenham, of course! The previous record stood at 95 minutes when Steven Bergwijn came off the bench to net a brace against Leicester City
This Added Time Is Silly
Spurs were the big winners from there being 15 minutes of added time yesterday, but this new trend is silly and downright dangerous. Turning 90-minute games into 100, even 110-minute matches is ridiculous amidst an already packed footballing calendar. I get that they want to crack down on time wasting, but there are other much better ways of doing that.
By the end of the game, several Sheffield players as well as players like Pedro Porro, James Maddison, and Yves Bissouma appeared to be suffering from cramp. It’s fine to add an extra 10 minutes to every game, but this will result in a lot more injuries. Why not pause the clock if it is wasting time? or begin scheduling guests in advance?
Perfect Postecoglou
Tottenham now go into the North London derby with their unbeaten Premier League record still standing, which is a far cry from what seemed like an inevitable defeat after 97 minutes. Not only is this more points on the board for Spurs, but it keeps heads high going into what many will bill as Postecoglou’s ‘first real test’ as Tottenham manager.
Brennan Johnson Debut
With all the late drama, Brennan Johnson’s debut drifted somewhat under the radar. However, he actually looked very bright after coming on. The youngster finished expertly only for the offside flag to deny him a debut goal, while he also assisted one that was ruled out for a foul.
You just get the feeling he is going to offer a lot to this chaotic Tottenham attack, particularly in the dying minutes of games when legs are tired and defenders don’t want a rapid winger running at them.
