London: Having lost to Arsenal the previous week, Wolverhampton Wanderers lifted their performance most impressively to beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0, with both goals scored within 18 minutes of the start. The win took them within 4 points of the top four in the Premier League while Spurs’ poor run has brought three consecutive defeats, the last two coming within four days, despite playing at home.
Spurs manager, Antonio Conte, said: “The problem is you cannot buy a winning mentality. You can only transfer it day by day. Some players understand more quickly the process, others need more time. A winning mentality, in my opinion, means ‘I am ready to kill you to live’, to show better desire than your opponent. When you understand the defeat has to hurt you a lot, not a little.”
He added: “There are a lot of jobs to do but it is not simple because the environment here is used to playing for the Champions League, Europa League. If you want to try to be competitive and fight for something important, you have to be good on the pitch and many aspects around us. They are working well but commitment itself is not good enough if we want to try to fight for something important.”
While Spurs struggled for long periods, misplacing passes, Wolves quickly took control. Spurs failed in chances to score when openings did come. Heung-Min Son should have done better in the 16th minute when he tried to be too precise in front of goal and Harry Kane was tackled by Romain Saiss in the 39th minute when he was late in taking a shot.
Two errors from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris gifted Wolves both goals. The first, in the 6th minute resulted from a wild punch – instead of attempting to catch – which sent the ball into the path of Raul Jimenez for a powerful volley into the net.
The second goal came 12 minutes later when Lloris miscued a back pass to Ben Davies who failed to clear the ball which went into the 18-yard box. There was poor defending by Rodrigo Bentancur and Davison Sanchez and as the ball went loose, Leander Dendoncker was quick to pounce and score. Thereafter, little chance was given by Wolves for the opposition to score except in the 88th minute when a firm header from Christian Romero was superbly saved.
Wolves manager, Bruno Lage, was asked if he dreams of a top-six finish – which would get his team into Europe – he said: “I will not dream. I will only dream of Leicester (the next game), they are a very strong team, very hard. Every game is a hard game, that is why in the last week I have been talking about character.”
He added: “We controlled the game against Tottenham. When we got three points against a top team and a manager who is one of the best and gets results wherever he goes. The goal is every time to improve and the way we are working, the most important thing is that.”
