Bale Steals it against Brighton

Gareth Bale`s header proved to be decisive as we move up to second in the Premier League table as we beat Brighton 2-1 in seventh game week of the season.

It was Harry Kane who opened the scoring from spot after being fouled by Adam Lallana inside the first fifteen minutes of the game. For Brighton Tariq Lamptey scored to level the game but it was Gareth Bale who scored the winning goal and it was his first goal since re-joining Tottenham Hotspur after seven long years.

Kane breaks into all-time top 10 – the stats
 Harry Kane has moved into the top-10 all-time Premier League goals list, notching his 149th strike to move level with Les Ferdinand.
 Only the bottom three sides have lost more games in the Premier League this season than Brighton (four).
 Tottenham (14 points) end the day as high as second in the Premier League table for the first time since February 2019 under Mauricio Pochettino.
 Of the 12 players to have taken at least 25 Premier League penalties, only Matt Le Tissier (96%) and Thierry Henry (92%) have a higher penalty conversion rate than Harry Kane (88%, 22/25).

We had a bright start to the game as expected till that opening goal but after that goal it was Brighton who were comfortable and were trying to create problems. We lost aggression and energy which gave them opportunity to enjoy the play and were looking to trouble us with the pace of Tariq Lamptey.

Lamptey was impressive throughout the game and was rewarded with a goal later on. But the introduction of Giovani Lo Celso and Gareth Bale proved to be masterstroke as we controlled the game, it was Toby Alderwerield´s trademark long diagonal ball which Sergio Reguilon perfectly served Bale to head it past behind the debutant Robert Sanchez.

No more goals in the game and we secure all three points to move second in the table just two points behind Liverpool.

Son having an off day
Looking at his current form it was a rare day for Heung Min Son as he was silent throughout the whole game. He was running here and there, controlling the balls and trying to thread the pass for his teammates but it was not his day as nothing went his way. When you keep on giving those top performance regularly then you will certainly get noticed when you fail to put on the similar performance.

Its been a long time since we saw this type of lacklustre performance form the energetic South Korean but he is also a human being and its okay to have this type of off days sometimes.

Not only Son, Tanguy Ndombele had also a silent game as it was not his regular performance.

Jose told: Pierre was again a very important man in there, gave us that strength and stability. Moussa worked hard for him, Tanguy to get a yellow card early then you play with fear. To play with fear like Tanguy is hard, he goes for dribbling, he attacks people, he loses the ball, he needs to recover, a second yellow card could arrive, from that moment Tanguy was in trouble.

Like Jose told early yellow card in the game may have affected his performance but along with Son he also had a rare off day this season.

Dreadful Refereeing
Not only the players but the match referee Graham Scott also had an off day as he kept on giving wrong decisions time and again. He was on fault regarding the spot kick provided to us, at first he awarded free kick to that foul by Lallana on Kane but he had to reverse his decision after the VAR interaction. Later he failed to give Brighton a clear penalty as Matt Doherty clearly pulled his man while defending corner.

If that was not Gareth Bale´s header his decisions would have cost us all three points as Brighton levelled up from his poor refereeing. Pierre Emile Hojbjerg was marching with ball from his own penalty box and in the edge of the box he was fouled by Solly March and that situation led to Brighton´s goal.

The referee denied the clear foul on Hojbjerg and awarded the goal for Brighton even after looking at the side screen after he was suggested to use that side screen by VAR officials after his original decision to give that goal.

Apart from him everyone can clearly see that Hojbjerg was fouled as he was caught on his boots from back but thanks to Bale who came on to rescue his team.

Gareth Bale to rescue
The heading goal from Gareth Bale saved us the day at last after series of dreadful decisions from the match referee. He scored the goal for Tottenham Hotspur after 7 years and 166 days and that joy was clearly seen in his celebration. After seven years he returned to the club with injury and his match fitness was below average, he had to wait for weeks to play again and when he played his physical strength didn’t supported his mental strength.

Jose and his team carefully handled his situation as they directly didn’t threw him in the game, they kept on giving him some minutes regularly to boost up his fitness and against Brighton also he was substituted after seventy minutes.
After the game Jose clearly mentioned that Bale will start Thursday in the Europa League.

Mourinho On Gareth Bale’s winner: “We were in need of a goal and I’ve been telling you for a couple of weeks that Bale is improving. I know he doesn’t have 90 minutes of Premier League in his legs.
“The good thing with him is he is very intelligent, very experienced and very Tottenham. He understands.
“We are using the Europa League matches to improve his condition and today he scored a winning goal, which is a great feeling for the team. It’s also a great feeling for the fans because Tottenham fans love Gareth.”

Jose Mourinho, speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “It wasn’t a surprise because I knew Brighton were a very good team with a very good coach. They created lots of difficulties but we had a very good reaction after they equalised.”
On Brighton’s controversial equaliser: “I have to try and stay away from this. I don’t know what to say.”

What’s next?
We are off to Bulgaria to face Ludogorets in the Europa League on Thursday