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clinical of finishes – and Alli gave the scoreline an emphatic feel with his second two minutes later.
The penalty/red-card double whammy, served up after considerable deliberation by the referee, Mike
Dean, was the major talking point. It was a slick Tottenham counter-attack featuring Eriksen and
Moussa Sissoko that had got Alli away and the chasing Redmond pulled at him from behind before
they entered the area.
The Southampton winger then stumbled into Alli inside the box to make further, less obvious contact
but it was still enough to knock the Tottenham player from his stride. Alli sent his shot wide as he
went to ground. There was a dramatic pause as Dean considered his options, followed by a flourish
when he flashed the red card.
Claude Puel, the Southampton manager, said the decision was “a little hard” and difficult to accept as
it was simply “two players fighting for the ball” and he insisted that it had killed his team’s chances.
On the other hand Pochettino was entitled to point out that Tottenham had not only been 2-1 up at the
time but were well in control. And there was little doubt that Redmond had committed a last-man foul
on Alli at some point.
The penalty carried shades of David Beckham’s decisive miss at Euro 2004 for England against
Portugal. When Kane planted his standing foot next to the spot he inadvertently created a divot
beneath the ball and, in turn, he got horribly underneath the shot.
Kane said he had noticed before the game there was a relaid patch of grass just on the penalty spot
while he also tweeted that “if there’s any NFL teams looking for a kicker in the future, have a look at
my game tonight”.
He could afford to joke. Alli talked of Tottenham having made a big statement and nobody could
disagree.
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The only disappointment for Pochettino was in the yellow cards that Kyle Walker and Jan Vertonghen
collected which will mean they are suspended for the trip to Watford on New Year’s Day. The
manager is hopeful Toby Alderweireld – absent here because of a virus – will be available to return.
Pochettino saluted the character of his team and it was notable in what was a comeback win. Van Dijk
had got in between Vertonghen and Rose to head home from James Ward-Prowse’s free-kick and for
the first 15 minutes or so Southampton called the tune.
It was a sign of Tottenham’s irritation that Vertonghen left his hand across Jay Rodriguez’s face as if
he meant it after making a clearance; the Southampton striker made no fuss and Dean took no action.
Southampton pressed hard at the outset and Redmond fizzed one low shot inches past Hugo Lloris’s