Leeds deserved to take at least a draw from this lively encounter, where the stormy weather was frequently matched by some angry stand-offs on the pitch, but in the end Tottenham Hotspur’s better finishing proved decisive, and they took all three points from a hard-fought game.
Daniel Farke named an unchanged team for our second successive home game against a team riding high in the table, and Leeds made a good start, though Stach’s fierce volley from a corner lacked any direction. Then Rodon was close to scoring for the second week running when he rose to meet a deep free kick from, but unfortunately the Welshman could only hit the post.
But after Spurs had survived the opening onslaught they managed start to create some good chances of their own with some quick breaks of their own, with Palhinha shooting over and Gudmumsson needing to make a vital interception. And on a day of deflections one proved all-important as the visitors took the lead in the 23rd minute.
After Longstaff was dispossessed the ball was played to Tel just inside our half, and after he cut inside on the edge of the box to get his shot in, it took a heavy touch off Struijk to loop over Darlow’s outstretched arm. At the other end we could have equalised straight away when Calvert-Lewin had an excellent chance after a careless ball out of defence was intercepted, but snatched at it and sent the ball well over the bar.
And soon after I thought Spurs were about to extend their lead as a long ball down the Spurs left found Udogie in plenty of space. But when his cross found the unmarked Kudus on the edge of the area, the Ghanaian’s shot flew high and wide as he tried to place it in the top corner. After this let-off it was Leeds who scored the next goal, with the equaliser in the 34th minute.
Calvert-Lewin met Bogle’s cross and knocked it into Aaronson’s path, and Vicario saw his deflected shot too late to be able to push the ball into a safe area after making the save. Okafor was in the right place at the right time to knock it over the line, while thankfully a beach ball arrived just too late to be deemed to be interfering with play.
As the chances continued at both ends Longstaff shot over the bar, before a good passing move from Tottenham down their left included a neat flick over the top from Simons to Odobert, before Tel’s header came crashing back off the bar. So half-time arrived with the scores still level, and Leeds could be very pleased with the first half performance.
The heavens really opened up at the start of the second half, but there was no drop in the intensity on the pitch. Okafor’s run down the left created another opportunity for Calvert-Lewin, but his shot on the turn was deflected, and Vicario reacted quickly enough to keep the ball out with his legs.
Then a dangerous ball across the face of goal by Stach eluded everyone, but it was Spurs who managed to take the lead on 57 minutes. Gudmundsson failed to deal with a long ball down the right and as the ball bounced off him it fell kindly for Kudus. The Spurs man then took the ball inside, and unfortunately for the second time a deflection off Struijk led to a goal as the Dutchman tried to make a block.
Quite bizarrely Kudus celebrated by going off to sit on a ballboys stool right in front of the south stand. He later told the BBC "It's my roots. Where I come from, the chiefs and the kings, they sit on stools," but I bet Kings in Ghana don’t’ have an angry crowd behind trying to throw things at them, while a steward has to get in the way to stop them.
Ten minutes later Farke made the first changes, removing Aaronson and Stach, who at times had struggled to get into the game. Harrison and Tanaka were the replacements. And while these were like-for-like changes, his next set of subs in the 79th minute revived his previous tactics of going for broke when we need a goal as time is starting to run out.
This time he took off Okafor who was starting to run out of puff, and also Gudmundsson, with Piroe and Nmecha coming on. So we had three strikers on the field and also went to three at the back, with Bogle and Harrison as the only wide players, needing to get up and down the flanks with both offensive and defensive duties.
Our best chance in the time that remained came when Calvert-Lewin got up well to knock the ball down to Piroe, who cleverly controlled the ball with his first touch and got the shot in with his second, but only for Vicario to make another fine save. If we can sacrifice a midfield player to accommodate both of these two they would be our best attacking option, with Calvert-Lewin as the focal point and his flick-ons feeding the best natural finisher at the club.
Justin came on for Bogle just before we went into six minutes of injury time, but although Struijk had a header deflected just wide from a corner, Spurs managed to get through to the end with no further alarms. Thomas Frank was a thorn in our side during his Brentford days (apart from the famous game when they finished with nine men) and this was a game they may well have lost last season before he arrived to give them a lot more structure to their play.
So in the end we shouldn’t have too much cause for concern despite the disappointment of our first home defeat in over a year. We could do with a result at Burnley in the first match after the international break, but performances like this will be good enough to beat a lot of the teams in the Premier League.