Late Show
Spurs beat Sunderland 2-1 with a dramatic Christian Eriksen late goal and at the final whistle I was seething over a monumentally impossible offside decision that left me scratching my head as to why the officials deemed our 'third' goal, null and void.
Sunderland were stubborn and yet somehow their bland, shapeless presence caused congestion for our lot when we pushed forward. We didn't help ourselves thanks to our lack of width. We could have done with stretching the game long before Andros Townsend was introduced.
Harry Kane just behind Roberto Soldado didn't quite work and the Spaniard was subbed for the returning Emmanuel Adebayor on the hour mark. Soldado didn't deliver end product and compared to Kane can't seem to muster up self-made opportunities on goal. Harry unlucky with a shot off the post.
We piled on the pressure, especially during the second half. In the first we took the lead from the boots of Jan Vertonghen and a hefty deflection. Only to then concede when Jan gave away a needless free-kick which Sebastian Larsson expertly placing it beyond Hugo Lloris. Ex-Spur Jermain Defoe lacked match fitness, so was kept fairly quiet. There was a penalty incident where he was too quick for Jan but over dramatised his fall.
Our tempo was relentless but in amongst all the forward play we have Lloris to thank for some solid defending, saving from Adam Johnson's long range shot and then Danny Graham opting to shot straight into the keepers hand on the rebound.
Eriksen delivered the match winner once more - testament to Mauricio Pochettino's fitness regime making it ten points from goals scored in the 88th minute or later. Townsend direct and precise in the build up, our great Dane firing it in off the post. Woof. Down the other end Lloris saved brilliantly again from Graham again.
Then came the impossible offside decision.
Into injury time, Costel Pantilimon (Sunderland keeper) comes up for a corner in desperation to aid an equaliser. We counter.
The ball is passed to Vertonghen, inside his own half.
There is one defender ahead of him.
He runs onto the pass and then runs into the opposing half of the field.
He then plays the ball forward into an empty net.
Up goes the flag. Offside?
You what?
The rule states you can be offside if you are behind a keeper and there are less than two defenders in front of you. But in this case the keeper is in our half along with Vertonghen. Chris Foy, perfectly placed at the time of the pass backed the linesman.
There is no conundrum here. Just one brutally poor error from the officials. The rule they adhered to was the only thing that should have been declared null and void thanks to the small detail of Vertonghen being in his own half. Foy really should have questioned the flag and clarified the reasoning before disallowing the goal. It's a fairly comical misinterpretation.
Thankfully Spurs were more professional than the officials. Home win. Three points.
