Tottenham 3-1 Southampton: Saints left to rue poor defending and finishing
By Marc Walker
Southampton were beaten 3-1 by Spurs on Wednesday evening as a familiar tale of poor defending and finishing played out at Wembley.
With new Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl watching on, goals from Harry Kane, Lucas Moura and Son Hueng-min gave Spurs a commanding 3-0 lead with 30 minutes still to play.
Saints replied with a stoppage time strike from Charlie Austin but would be left to rue some poor play in crucial moments despite looking dangerous going forward.
Kelvin Davis was in charge for the game and made four changes with Matt Targett, James Ward-Prowse, Steven Davis and Manolo Gabbiadini all coming in.
An early warning for Saints came via the boot of Son Hueng-min who smashed a wonderful first time volley against the base of the post with Alex McCarthy well beaten.
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However, the home side went ahead through Harry Kane after just eight minutes with the Saints defence sleeping. The England forward drifted across the front post and took advantage to tap home as Maya Yoshida left a low cross.
With new manager Ralph Hasenhuttl watching on from the stands, Saints looked motivated to put in a strong display though and were controlling possession well.
After a neat build-up, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg then went within a whisker of levelling the game up. He curled a powerful strike from range that was destined for the corner of the net, but he was denied by a fantastic save from home keeper Hugo Lloris.
Son was looking bright for Spurs as he drifted in from the wing to join attacks in the centre and he forced McCarthy to tip over when he unleashed a dipping effort from just outside the area.
Just six minutes into the second-half, Mauricio Pochettino’s side made it 2-0. A corner wasn’t cleared by the Saints defence and Lucas Moura fired across goal and in at the second attempt.
Kelvin Davis would have expected a reaction from his side but instead they allowed Spurs to further extend their lead. Matt Targett was guilty of giving the ball away and Son turned in a Harry Kane cross to the result beyond doubt.
Nathan Redmond almost pulled a goal back shortly after as he found space to curl a shot towards the far corner and he was unlucky to see the ball cannon back off the crossbar.
Steven Davis would then have a wonderful opening as he broke through the Spurs defence but perhaps summed up the current need for an urgent change in mentality as he chose to pass instead of shoot himself.
With the game beyond them, Saints seemed to have upped the tempo; albeit far too late.
They would be denied by another superb save from Lloris as James Ward-Prowse followed up a Hojbjerg drive from distance, although it was perhaps harder to hit straight at the French shot-stopper than into the corner.
Late substitute Mohamed Elyounoussi hit the woodwork late on to make it three times during the match that Saints had struck either post or bar, but then fellow substitute Charlie Austin would get the away side a late consolation.
He raced onto a lofted ball over the Spurs defence and finished well to at least add some respectability to the scoreline.
Hasenhuttl will have been alarmed by some of the defending from Saints in this game but will have seen some positive aspects from his new side going forwards.