40 min Raphinha’s cross is headed away to Alioski on the edge of the area. His volley goes out for a throw-in.
39 min “How many world-class strikers of Kane’s quality would agree to fall back and become more of a feeder to Son and the other Spurs attackers?” says Mary Waltz. “Kane’s self-sacrificing buy-in to Jose’s tactics is admirable to say the least.”
Whatever happened to Gary Cooper? He’s right there, up top for Spurs.
38 min Alioski’s low cross towards the near post finds Bamford, whose first-time poke is blocked by Dier. Bamford’s movement in front of Dier was excellent but he didn’t connect with the shot as well as he would have liked.
37 min Kane and Son are both down. Kane is holding his right knee, which is a particular concern; he landed awkwardly after a struggle for possession with Ayling. Both are going to continue for now.
35 min: Bergwijn misses an excellent chance! A poor header from Raphinha went to Davies on the left wing. He lost the recovering Raphinha and picked out Bergwijn with a good low cross. Bergwijn turned beautifully but then spanked his shot into orbit from 10 yards.
35 min More good play from Leeds. Raphinha’s pass infield is flicked behind his standing leg by Klich on the edge of the area. Rodrigo runs onto it but slices a tame shot through to Lloris with the outside of the right foot.
34 min “Bergwijn creates the contract by jumping into Alioski,” says Drew Lundgren.
In VAR football, almost any contact - however it comes about - is a penalty. It’s a mess.
33 min Klich pokes a short pass towards Rodrigo on the edge of the area. He lets it run through his legs towards Bamford, and Davies comes across to make a vital tackle.
32 min Almost a second goal for Spurs. Alderweireld, still up from an earlier set piece, has a shot blocked. Kane, on the half turn, curls the rebound well wide of the far post. That was a surprisingly tame effort.
Kane puts the penalty straight down the middle. That’s his 205th goal for Tottenham!
Penalty given!
VAR check It’s a soft penalty but I doubt it will be overturned.
27 min: PENALTY TO SPURS! Alioski has been penalised for a clumsy challenge on Bergwijn. It came from a loose pass out by the keeper Meslier, which was intercepted by Winks and fed forward to Bergwijn. Alioski made a needless challenge from the wrong side, right on the edge of the area, and Bergwijn went over.
26 min At the other end Phillips plays in the overlapping Dallas, whose dangerous cross is kicked away at the near post by Hojbjerg. Good defending.
25 min Kane wriggles away from Klich and Dallas in the area before cutting the ball back sharply towards the near post. Alioski heads it clear.
It’s still 0-0 in the Old Firm derby - but Celtic are battering the leaders Rangers.
22 min: Chance for Bamford! Raphinha cuts inside from the right and curls an inswinging cross towards Bamford, who gets under the ball and heads over from six yards. At first I thought it was a bad miss but on reflection the ball was a fraction too high.
22 min “I am feeling old today,” says Ruth Purdue, referring to the below.
FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup)
💥 Maxi Rodriguez had his countrymen celebrating wildly when his unbelievable winner sent @Argentina into the #WorldCup quarter-finals. They'll be raising a toast to the Newell's Old Boys winger as he turns 40 today 🙌
🎁 #HBD | @MR11ok | @CANOBoficialpic.twitter.com/JxFkEEnSfk
January 2, 2021
21 min Son’s free-kick from the left is kept alive by Spurs. Eventually Hojbjerg hits a crisp first-time shot from 15 yards that goes straight at Meslier.
19 min It’s been an enjoyable game, even if there haven’t been any clear chances yet.
18 min “You know who would look good in this Leeds team, who needs a bit of footballing fun and who can afford to play for a much reduced wage?” says Gary Naylor. “Gareth Bale, that’s who.”
As I rode the crescendo of that first sentence, I honestly thought you were going to say yourself.
17 min A loose ball falls nicely for Kane, who bullets it over the bar with his left foot. That was a chance, even though he was at a fairly tight angle on the left side of the area.
13 min Leeds break three on two, with Klich finding Bamford on the edge of the area. He cushions a nice pass into Rodrigo, who can’t make room for a shot as the Spurs defenders get back. Instead he plays it back to Bamford, whose tame shot from the edge of the area is easily saved by Lloris. Rodrigo’s return pass wasn’t great, hit with too much pace and onto Bamford’s weaker foot.
12 min Davies’s corner is claimed confidently by Meslier.
12 min Son tries a one-two with Bergwijn, and Dallas comes across to make an important interception on the edge of the area. Corner to Spurs...
10 min Alioski surges forward and slides a lovely ball through to Harrison in the area. Doherty does well to block his cross-shot but Harrison picks up the loose ball and lobs it into Klich, who smacks it over the bar on the bounce. The ball didn’t come down quickly enough for him.
9 min Harrison’s dangerous cross just evades the leaping Raphinha at the near post and flashes across the face of goal.
8 min The game has started exactly as we expected, with Spurs sitting deep and watching Leeds play the ball around. No counter-attacking yet for Son and Kane, but they will surely come.
6 min Lots of early possession for Leeds, who look busy and relaxed.
5 min “Don’t forget the Cockerels v the Peacock on your movie poster,” says Justin Kavanagh. “Not exactly two birds of a feather but both with preening pretensions to reaching the heights of former glories.”
4 min A half chance for Leeds. Harrison fires a pass into Leeds, who controls it well on the edge of the area and plays in the marauding Alioski. He rattles a shot into the side netting from a tight angle.
3 min A quiet start. Leeds were 2-0 down at this stage of their last big away game.
2 min “Why does a neutral get up at 4am California time to watch this match?” asks Mary Waltz. “Because absolutely anything can happen. Leeds could destroy Jose’s back four or Kane and Son could counter-attack Leeds to death Either way I will not have to watch a match like yesterday’s Everton sleepwalking football.”
1 min Peep peep! Leeds, in their maroon away strip, kick off from left to right.
“Why is Reguilon on the bench,” says Ruth Purdue, “if he’s been ‘strongly condemned’?”
Football and moral principles have a complicated relationship.
Now, Spurs v Leeds should be a cracker, but it’s not the most mouth-watering game this lunchtime. If I were you, I’d bugger off over here.
Here’s more on the Three Unwise Men of Tottenham Hotspur
Pre-match reading
All work and no play makes Jose a dull boy. He’ll love the fact Burnley have just been 24 hours’ notice as well.
“Covid this, Covid that, why don’t you f*****g play for them?!”
Yep, more Covid news I’m afraid: tomorrow’s match between Burnley and Fulham is off after more positive tests at Craven Cottage.
Spurs return to a back four, with Toby Alderweireld and Steven Bergwijn replacing Davinson Sanchez and Sergio Reguilon. Erik Lamela is not even in the squad. He, Reguilon and Giovani Lo Celso were pictured breaking Covid rules with West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini and other less famous people on Christmas Day. Lo Celso is injured so he wouldn’t have been involved anyway.
Leeds are unchanged, but you knew that already.
Rhys James (@rhysjamesy)
Absolutely unacceptable mixing from Lo Celso, Reguilon and Lamela on Christmas Day. I guess they don’t understand the gravity of the situation but you do NOT fraternise with a West Ham player.
January 2, 2021
Tottenham Hotspur (4-2-3-1) Lloris; Doherty, Alderweireld, Dier, Davies; Winks, Hojbjerg; Bergwijn, Ndombele, Son; Kane.
Substitutes: Hart, Reguilon, Rodon, Tanganga, Sissoko, Alli, Fernandes, Lucas Moura, Vinicius.
Leeds United (4-1-4-1) Meslier; Dallas, Ayling, Struijk, Alioski; Phillips; Raphinha, Rodrigo, Klich, Harrison; Bamford.
Substitutes: Casilla, Cresswell, Casey, Hernandez, Shackleton, Jenkins, Poveda-Ocampo, Costa, Huggins.
Referee David Coote.
Hello, happy new year and welcome to one of the first treats of 2021. You could make a movie poster for this game, with taglines plastered from top to bottom in a font that oozes gravitas. Cynicism v optimism; pragmatism v idealism; Kane v Ayling; seventh v eleventh; counter-attack v attack-attack-attack; overt charisma v inscrutable charisma. Mourinho v Bielsa.
Yep, it’s Spurs v Leeds, the first meeting between two of world football’s most iconic coaches since April 2013. Jose Mourinho has a perfect record against Marcelo Bielsa - his Real Madrid won all four matches against Athletic Bilbao between 2011-13 - and he could really do with extending that today.
Spurs have taken only two points from their last four league games, dropping to seventh in the table as a result. The media, traditional and social, love a Mourinho crisis, so he can’t afford many more bad results. Yet if Spurs win this, their game in hand, they will move to within four points of Liverpool and Manchester United. It’s the Hokey Cokey title race.
Leeds will stay 11th unless they win by three goals, but a victory would move them level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea; that’s how tight the league is at 11.29 am on 2 January 2021.
Leeds’ last four games have ended 5-2, 2-6, 1-0 and 5-0, so don’t bother trying to predict what might happen, or understand it when it does. Just pour a nice kombucha - new year, new you, right - swing a boot onto the nearest footstool and enjoy the entertainment.
Kick off 12.30pm.
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