Tottenham 0 Wolves 2: Spurs' top-four dreams dented after shambolic opening 20 minutes as visitors leapfrog Conte & Co
YOU would have thought the G-word had also been banned – goalkeeping.
In the first game since Tottenham asked their fans to refrain from certain chants, blundering Hugo Lloris ensured they did not have much to shout about.
The Spurs keeper and captain left their supporters open-mouthed as his uncharacteristic gaffes gifted goals to Raul Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker in a nightmare opening 18 minutes.
It condemned the North Londoners to a third straight Prem defeat – the first time Antonio Conte has suffered a hat-trick of League losses since he was in charge of Atalanta back in November 2009.
The wheels have not exactly fallen off completely, but the last thing the Tottenham chief needed from his skipper was an untimely dose of slapstick.
The irony is, Lloris had been enjoying one of his most consistent campaigns for a while.
Having signed a new two-and-a-half year contract last month, he was showing the sort of form which established him one of the world’s best keepers after he moved to N17 from Lyon for a bargain £12m in August 2012.
He showed his mettle after his meltdowns here by producing fine saves to prevent Wolves from piling further misery on the hosts before the break.
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But by then the damage had already been done as Wanderers returned to winning ways after back-to-back defeats in League and cup.
Talking of damage, one can only hope Ryan Sessegnon is not left too mentally scarred after Conte reacted to Tottenham’s shocking start by subbing the 21-year-old wing-back after just 28 minutes.
To make matters worse, he then had to suffer the ignominy of having to walk halfway around the pitch to get back to the dugout, to the sound of sympathetic applause from the home fans.
That was in stark contrast to the chorus of boos which greeted both the half-time and full-time whistles.
Conte sprang a bit of a selection surprise as he made three changes to his starting line-up after their 3-2 home defeat by Southampton on Wednesday.
Midfield stalwart Pierre Emile-Hojberg was dropped for a Prem game for the first time since arriving at the club nearly 18 months ago.
An ever-present in the top flight last season when he played every minute of every game, the only previous League clash he had missed this season was Liverpool due illness.
His place was taken by new signing Rodrigo Bentancur, who was handed his first Prem start since his £25million deadline day switch from Juventus.
Jimenez fired Wolves into a sixth minute lead after Lloris’ first couple of moments of madness.
First, the Tottenham keeper and captain parried Ruben Neves’ speculative low doodlebug straight into the centre of the box instead of catching it or pushing it away for a corner.
Then, Lloris flapped away the Leander Dendoncker’s follow-up – allowing Jimenez the chance to take a touch before lashing home an emphatic volley.
As Lloris held his head in his hands the biggest surprise was he did not drop it.
He probably believed the afternoon could not get worse. He was wrong.
In the 18th minute he nearly sidefooted Matt Doherty’s back-pass out of play for a corner as he attempted to play it across his goal to Ben Davies.
The Wales defender managed to keep the ball in play and clear it only for the visitors to return it with interest.
Nelson Semedo eventually crossed for Daniel Podence whose shot deflected off Spurs defender Davinson Sanchez then his team-mate Bentancur before hitting a post.
But before Lloris or any of his defenders could get to the ball, Dendoncker smashed it into the net to double Wolves’ lead.
Lloris, hardly helped by his colleagues, did well to stop Podence and Jimenez from extending the advantage even further.
At the other end, Son Heung-min scuffed a shot at Jose Sa with the score at 0-1 and Harry Kane headed straight at the Wolves keeper on the stroke of half time.
Lloris dived bravely at the feet of Jimenez as Wolves threatened to score again straight after the break.
Tottenham huffed and puffed were as almost wasteful in attack as they were in defence.
Harry Winks’ deflected shot rattled a post and Dejan Kulusevski dragged a shot wide from inside the area.
Cristian Romero had a late header tipped over by Sa as home fans headed for the exits with the F-word in abundance more than the Y one.
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