Tottenham have progressed to the Carabao Cup fourth round after Brennan Johnson’s late winner secured a 2-1 victory against Championship side Coventry City.
Brandon Thomas-Asante’s strike in the 63rd minute put the Sky Blues ahead, but late goals from Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson secured Ange Postecoglou his first domestic cup win as Spurs manager.
Here are five things we learnt from the match…
Another injury blow for Tottenham
Only a month into the new season and Tottenham have suffered another injury blow. After the absences of Dominic Solanke and Yves Bissouma, young winger Wilson Odobert became the latest Spurs player to succumb to injury. The 19-year-old Frenchman appeared to go down under his own steam 14 minutes into the game and that was his game done. He was replaced by Brennan Johnson. Far from ideal for Odobert and the start of his Tottenham career.
Coventry battled hard but succumb to defeat
Coventry were by the far the better team in the first half of the match, as Ange Postecoglou’s side failed to deal with Mark Robins’ side’s counterattacking. Spurs’ high line has been an issue ever since the Australian took over at the start of last season, but fortunately for the north Londoners the Championship side failed to capitalise on their chances. The Sky Blues are one of the best attacking sides, but scoring goals has been their downfall this campaign. Despite scoring first, the hosts were pegged back late on to depart the competition.
Shot shy Spurs struggle
Saying Tottenham had a less than productive 45 minutes would be putting it lightly. The first half produced just four shots between the two sides, with all of them coming from the hosts. Spurs had 74 per cent possession in the first period, but their domination of the ball yielded no efforts on goal, which for a team as dominant as Tottenham have been in matches these campaign is a real concern. Solanke, Odobert, Johnson and Timo Werner all struggled in a disappointing night for Spurs’ attacking players.
Heavily changed Spurs fail to repay Postecoglou’s faith
Changes were expected for Tottenham tonight, and the Premier League side delivered with Ange Postecoglou making eight changes to the north London derby defeat on Sunday. However, the Australian’s plan of giving more of his players game time almost back fired, as they barely scrapped past their hosts. Two late goals sent Spurs through to the fourth round but they may well count themselves fortunate.
Substitutes save Spurs’ cup campaign
Tottenham looked hopeless in the first half, and did not look much better in the second. But Postecoglou’s substitutes did the trick as half-time introductions of Djed Spence, Son Heung-Min and Dejan Kulusevski all combined to save the games for the visitors. Spence equalised in the 87th minute before a 92nd winner from first half substitute Brennan Johnson saw Spurs through.
