Tottenham Hotspur had a chance to get a statement win at home against a quality opponent when they hosted London City at Brisbane Road on Sunday. Instead, they ran into a buzz-saw. London City, powered by a bevy of newly-signed talent, shocked Spurs with an early goal by Danielle van de Donk, who scored a brace, and pressed Spurs into oblivion on the first half, running out to a 4-0 lead. Spurs pulled a goal back via Victoria Pelova in the second half, but it was definitely not their day. London City were deserved
winners, added late goals from Diani and Cascarino and established themselves as potential title contenders with a statement win over a quality Spurs side.
London City started the match with an extremely high energy and high intensity press, and it paid off almost immediately — an uncharacteristic giveaway from Toko Koga led to a well-saved shot by Kop on Van De Donk, but the rebound fell to Alexia Putellas, who slotted it home for the early lead. Spurs looked rattled with London City not giving Spurs time to breathe on the ball, but they settled more into the match a quarter hour in.
Spurs had a couple of half chances in London City’s box but couldn’t turn them into real chances. And then London capitalized — Spurs’ defense broke down allowing Putellas to put a simple cross across the face of goal for Kadidiatou Diani to tap in unmarked, putting the visitors up 2-0 inside a half hour.
London City made Spurs’ day even worse at 34’ when Alexia fired home a third goal from a simple cutback. Tottenham looked absolutely outclassed in the first half, with London City playing like potential title contenders. Spurs’ best chance came just before halftime; Julie Blakstad forced a fantastic one-handed save from City keeper Elene Lete who tipped the shot off the post and out. London City took a 3-0 lead into halftime.
The second half started much in the same way as the first, with former Arsenal attacker Danielle van de Donk bundling in an early chance, her second of the match, to put Spurs down 0-4. But Victoria Pelova gave Tottenham a bit of hope with an immediate response, firing home a cross from Julie Blakstad to put Spurs on the scoreboard. Matilda Vinberg had a golden chance to cut the lead even further minutes later, but couldn’t direct the Olivia Holt cross on target.
Diani made the score 1-5 after Lize Kop rushed out and had a clearance blocked by Diani, which fell right to her feet and allowed her to tap into an empty net. That was pretty much the end of any chance Spurs had to engineer an admittedly unlikely comeback. Delphine Cascarino piled on the misery with an injury time goal for London City, and Spurs were left to lick their wounds. The final score was 1-6.
Match Reactions
- London City’s early goal was due to an uncharacteristic giveaway from Toko Koga, who’s simple pass went straight to a London City player. The original shot was well saved by Kop, but it fell right to the feet of Van de Donk, and she took advantage of the easy chance.
- London City came out absolutely SWARMING Spurs in the high press, which is usually what Spurs do to other teams. Tottenham looked a little shell-shocked after that goal.
- City’s second goal was simply too easy. I didn’t really see how the defense broke down but there was no excuse for Diani being unmarked that close to Kop in Spurs’ box.
- Spurs misplayed a lot of balls in midfield, which is something I’ve noticed even in their dominant wins. The difference is that many of the bad passes were forced by London City’s intense press, and the visitors also capitalized on nearly all of them to create scoring opportunities, something that Spurs’ earlier opponents didn’t do.
- The weird thing is that Spurs weren’t even necessarily playing poorly in that first half. London City were just ruthless in the press and clinical in front of goal.
- Spurs came out with a spring in their step after halftime; they’re a second half team as we’ve seen so far this season. But it’s hard when you spot your opponent a 4-0 lead.
- The match officials weren’t the reason Spurs lost this match, but it sure felt like Spurs were on the wrong end of a lot of 50/50 decisions in this match. It got pretty annoying, especially City’s fifth goal which seemed to clearly go off the arm of Diani with no call.
- London City spent a lot of money this summer to buy a quality team and they did just that — this was an impressive win by a very, very good side. But it annoys me that Tottenham, or virtually any other WSL club, could’ve easily done the same thing and just… didn’t.
- How in the world did WEST HAM of all clubs beat this London City team?
- It wasn’t pleasant viewing today, obviously, but Spurs now have an international break to lick their wounds before hosting Chelsea in another tough match on October 18.
