‘Tottenham’ and ‘boring’ are two words that have rarely appeared in the same sentence during the Ange Postecoglou era.
The goalless draw that this game appeared to be meandering towards, then, would’ve been a welcome relief from the usual madness.
But then the inevitable happened. Of course it did.
After watching Postecoglou bring Son Heung-min, Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison off the bench to great effect, Fulham boss Marco Silva rolled the dice too. His proved to be the decisive tactical tweak of the afternoon.
Rodrigo Muniz replaced Raul Jimenez and a quarter of an hour later, Muniz finally broke the deadlock. He took advantage of some powder-puff defending and nonchalantly stroked the ball past Guglielmo Vicario from inside the box 12 minutes from time.
‘It’s been the story of the season so far, the impact of the changes and substitutions. It was again the same story,’ explained Silva, whose side closed the gap to fourth-place Chelsea to just four points.
Tottenham slumped to another Premier League defeat after Fulham’s late show on Sunday
Rodrigo Muniz broke the deadlock on 78 minutes after tucking beyond Guglielmo Vicario
The result leaves Spurs 10 points adrift of the top half and piles pressure on Ange Postecoglou
‘This is the reason we change. We’re always looking to improve something and give different things to the team and that was the reason again.’
It still managed to turn even worse from there for Postecoglou. Substitute Ryan Sessegnon, who only rejoined Fulham last summer following an injury-ravaged spell at Tottenham, emphatically out-muscled Ben Davies before bending the ball delightfully past Vicario.
With that, Tottenham were brought crashing back down to earth with a bump following their crucial win over AZ Alkmaar in the Europa League on Thursday night.
‘I said to the players I’m obviously not going to allow anyone just to think about the Europa (League) and nothing else, I think we can’t let this league season go the way it has,’ said Postecoglou, whose team have taken just 44 points from their last 114 available.
‘We’ve lost way too many games, it’s unacceptable and today was another day where it’s not like the opposition has blown us off the park. We should have got something out of the game. I don’t want there to be an acceptance of us just losing games.
‘I get their (the fans’) disappointment. It’s unacceptable. 15 (league) defeats is nowhere near good enough or near where we need to be.’
The Tottenham boss had made seven changes from Thursday night and the recalled Mathys Tel created the first opening to break the game free from its leisurely tempo.
The Frenchman jinked his way into the box, evading the Fulham legs flung in his direction, as Dominic Solanke lurked in the middle. Tel’s cross, though, had too much on it for Solanke.
Ryan Sessegnon bent home Fulham’s second goal just minutes after being brought on
Spurs are languishing in 13th despite a brief rally in the second half at Craven Cottage
Dominic Solanke was unable to divert an effort on target as Spurs looked for a breakthrough
Jimenez and Silva demanded a penalty moments later when Djed Spence stuck his hands into the back of the Mexican as he leapt to meet a cross. But there wasn’t enough contact in the eyes of referee Andy Madley, nor VAR Paul Tierney.
By this point Tottenham were struggling to string passes together to get out of their own half. Yves Bissouma’s ball straight out of play under little pressure marked a particular low point. It was no surprise that he was hooked at half-time for the third time in his last five starts shortly after.
Another mistake led to Fulham’s best chance of the half. But when Davies’ dreadful clearance fell to Fulham defender Timothy Castagne, he curled a tame effort straight at Vicario.
Postecoglou turned to Son and Bergvall at the break and the Swede got his side going in midfield, adding some much-needed impetus. Bergvall saw his pinpoint cross nodded narrowly wide by Solanke.
Fellow substitute Maddison almost registered an assist with his first touch. Maddison did the hard part, using his chest to deftly knock Leno’s clearance into the path of Solanke. But the forward was unable to take advantage and volleyed horribly high and wide from only a few yards out.
That miss, with Tottenham in control and chances scarce for the hosts, proved pivotal.
Willian, the former Arsenal and Chelsea winger, received a chorus of boos from the away end with his every touch but fired a warning shot at the end of a rare second-half attack for the hosts. His vicious dipper from the edge of the box curled inches wide.
But with 12 minutes to play, it was Silva’s sub that came up trumps. Tottenham failed to clear their lines from an Antonee Robinson cross, allowing Adama Traore and Andreas Pereira to exchange passes before the ball dropped to Muniz.
Ben Davies also nodded off target on another afternoon to forget for the visitors
Willian came inches away from scoring with his curling strike whistling just wide of the target
There was no time for a backswing – but that proved no problem for the Brazilian striker. He stroked the ball with Samba swagger into the far corner and beyond Vicario.
And two minutes before the end, Davies got in an almighty tangle under Leno’s long ball.
Sessegnon proved too determined in his pursuit of possession, leaving the Welshman on his backside before curling the ball past Vicario to seal the win in style.
