Football
Dan Kilpatrick, Tottenham Correspondent 7y

Tottenham stumble, but Son's late strike spares Pochettino blushes

LONDON -- Three points on Tottenham 4-3 Wycombe at White Hart Lane in the FA Cup fourth round on Saturday.

Son strike seals dramatic win but questions over Spurs' squad

Try telling Tottenham and Wycombe the FA Cup has lost its magic. The pair played out one of competition's classic matches at White Hart Lane, won 4-3 at the death thanks to Son Heung-Min's 97th-minute clincher.

For Mauricio Pochettino, the overriding emotion will be relief at avoiding defeat or a replay. But not for the first time this season, the Tottenham manager will be left facing questions about the quality of his squad. There is no doubting Spurs' first XI, but just as in the third round against Aston Villa, it took the introduction of Dele Alli to turn the tide.

The Alli rescue act started after substitute Garry Thompson's fine header seven minutes from time put Wycombe on course for a shock victory. But Alli scored an 89th-minute equaliser after Son's first goal and a Vincent Janssen penalty had cancelled out Paul Hayes' double, the second from the penalty spot. 

Before the game, Pochettino warned that his fringe players were playing for their futures. "If you want to be long-term at Tottenham and deserve to wear the shirt, it's a great opportunity to show it on Saturday," he said.

They did not heed his warning, and ruthless Pochettino may have made up his mind about some of them.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, 18, was bullied by Adebayo Akinfenwa and gave away a penalty for a rash lunge on Sam Wood. Spurs are two more injuries away from needing the youngster in the Premier League. His partner at centre-back, Kevin Wimmer, was hauled off at half-time in last week's 2-2 draw at Manchester City, and he lasted an hour here.

Ben Davies and Kieran Trippier are capable Premier League players, but they are light-years behind Kyle Walker and Danny Rose. Georges-Kevin Nkoudou cost £13 million, and he was replaced at half-time after 45 minutes of both losing the ball and sprinting away from it very quickly. Josh Onomah seems to have regressed this season, and his wasteful performance lasted an hour.

Moussa Sissoko was signed for £30m to sprint past opponents in the final third, but 16-stone (101 kg) Akinfenwa's last act was to track the Frenchman and tackle him. Son was lively and scored twice, but his wasteful finishing was further confirmation he is not a natural striker. Janssen, a striker who cost £17m, was not trusted to start the game but scored the equaliser from the penalty spot. It was his fourth goal for the club, and all have come from the spot. He didn't look like scoring from open play, aside from a stoppage time header saved by goalkeeper Jamal Blackman.

After Spurs exited the Champions League at the group stage, Pochettino admitted the club needed to "add more quality" to seriously compete on more than one front. This match did little to suggest he was mistaken.

Pochettino approach needs a rethink

On the plus side, Tottenham are in Monday's draw for the FA Cup fifth round, and they proved for the second consecutive match they will not lie down easily, after the 2-2 draw at City last weekend. But Spurs got away with it against League Two Wycombe, and this may prove a wake-up for Pochettino, who treats all cup competitions as secondary to the Premier League.

Brian Clough claimed the most important factor in Nottingham Forest's remarkable back-to-back European Cups was their 1977 triumph in the Anglo-Scottish Cup, a long-forgotten competition that only ran for six years. Clough said the triumph for then-second tier Forest taught his players what winning felt like, and Jose Mourinho has taken a similar approach to the League Cup with Chelsea and Manchester United.

Pochettino made nine changes here -- only Dier and Wimmer remained from the draw at City -- but if he wants his team to be Premier League champions, he should consider taking the FA Cup more seriously. His decision to rest players in the 2-1 League Cup defeat at Liverpool was perhaps understandable but he even rested players in the Champions League group stage. He is a league manager, first and foremost.

With Liverpool out of the FA Cup, Spurs are now one of favourites for the competition and their manager would do well to take it more seriously after this scare.

Tottenham tormented by positive Wycombe

Aston Villa came to White Hart Lane in the third round and played unadventurous football, with 10 men behind the ball and a lone striker. Steve Bruce's side frustrated Spurs for an hour but never looked likely to cause an upset. How refreshing, then, to see Gareth Ainsworth line up with two strikers in Akinfenwa and Hayes and play direct, attacking football.

Wycombe were positive from the off and inside a minute, Hayes had headed against Michel Vorm's crossbar after Akinfenwa won the ball in the air. Spurs should have heeded that warning, but Wycombe, buoyed by their raucous travelling fans, grew in confidence and they were good value for their 2-0 lead at half-time.

Before the match, Pochettino described it as "one of the biggest games" in Wycombe's history and their "World Cup final."

For lower league clubs, this is surely the way to approach cup ties against the Premier League's biggest and best.

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