Positives and Negatives: Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Fulham

Jack Stroudley looks back at our point on the road in North London.

Fulham started December and a tricky run of fixtures with a solid point on the road away at Tottenham. It felt like one of those days until Tom Cairney slotted in the leveller with a little more than 20 minutes to go. That, followed by a resolute defensive performance to see the game out, ensured we’d return to SW6 with a deserved point, but what are the talking points from the game?

Positives

Bounced back well

Following last weekend’s result at home to Wolves, today felt like we needed to make amends going into a tough run and we did just that. Bossing Spurs for periods of the game and having chance after chance which on another day go in. Our transition was magnificent with quick, intricate and precise passing alongside slick and technical dribbling – we had Spurs on the ropes for large portions of the match.

When Brennan Johnson scored it felt like one of those days but we continued to stick to our guns and were rewarded by a scintillating strike. After the red card, we showed magnificent game management to run the clock down, frustrate Spurs and ultimately limit the number of chances they could create. The performance was a reminder of our quality and just how good we can be, last weekend was just a slight bump in the road.

Subs paid off

Now obviously it isn’t ideal that one of said subs got sent off (I’ll get onto that later) but he did also score! The remainder of the subs I thought were fantastic in North London. Harry Wilson was his usual dazzling self with darting run after darting run and caused a disjointed Spurs defence lots of problems. Rodrigo Muniz did exactly what he needed to (even more so when we went down to ten) and held the ball up well, drew fouls and slowed the game down.

Seeing Sess back for Fulham in the Premier League was quite a moment but he and Castagne both did their jobs when coming on late in the day (that moment at the end when Sess tapped the badge and clapped the fans could be hung in the Louvre). Fulham have smartly built a squad over the last few windows and we’re now reaping the rewards of that.

Negatives

Oh captain, my captain

Look, it was obviously accidental, you can see Tom Cairney visibly tell the referee he didn’t mean to do it, but ultimately he did and had to be sent off. A nasty challenge which as a result sees TC suspended leaving us with a big midfield dilemma for Brighton.

Sasa Lukic’s yellow card also means he will be suspended for Thursday nights fixture, add TC, Reed and the exile of Andreas Pereira and we are down to our bare bones. That being said Fulham do have quality in depth and players who can play numerous positions. As a result of this I can see Iwobi dropping into midfield alongside Berge and Smith-Rowe with Wilson getting a much deserved start. A bit of a dampener on an enjoyable trip down the Seven Sisters Road.