Premier League 2019/20: Tottenham 2-1 Southampton - 5 Talking Points

#5 Crisis? What crisis?

Harry Kane's goal today was his 6th of the season in all competitions

For reasons largely unknown to this writer, it seems like the media are always ready to jump on any slight loss of form for Tottenham and label it a “crisis”. Spurs have undoubtedly had a bad week – losing to Leicester City a week ago and crashing out of the EFL Cup at the hands of unfancied Colchester on Tuesday – but was it really fair to label it a crisis, given just two weeks ago, Mauricio Pochettino’s side dismembered Crystal Palace, scoring 4 times in the first half alone?

It is true that Pochettino himself hasn’t always been positive thus far in 2019/20, complaining about issues in his squad that most likely surround the contract status of midfielder Christian Eriksen, but it’s also unfair to claim that Tottenham have been woeful.

They came from behind to beat Aston Villa on the opening day of the season, collected valuable points in away games against ‘big six’ rivals Manchester City and Arsenal, and had VAR not reared its head last week, they likely would’ve beaten Leicester too.

As for today’s showing? Thanks to the mistakes from Lloris and Aurier it wasn’t perfect, but Spurs showed tremendous heart and desire to hold off Southampton in the second half – something that some observers have claimed they’ve lacked in recent games – and their defence looked rock-solid throughout the game.

And of course, Harry Kane once again showed why he’s the most feared striker in the Premier League by making the most of a swift counter-attack to fire the ball into the net after a slick first touch. The England captain now has 6 goals and one assist in all competitions this season – hardly a disappointing return.

It’s easy to forget things like this, but in 2016/17 – when Tottenham finished as Premier League runners-up – Pochettino’s side went through a run of 8 games with just 2 wins, and in fact only picked up 6 victories before December.

That season didn’t turn into disaster, and on today’s evidence it isn’t likely that 2019/20 is going to turn into a disaster either. Today’s lesson was a simple one in the end; write off Pochettino and his men at your peril.