Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 Bournemouth

Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 Bournemouth
Premier League
Saturday 30th November 2019

A trip to Tottenham Hotspur's new stadium is a MUST for anyone who's been to a decent number of grounds and the spontaneous chance to go was too good to resist.

Due to other plans, I was in London for the weekend anyway and there was a good array of games available to watch at venues where I wanted to go.

As well as this fixture, there was Brentford vs Luton at Griffin Park; a ground where I want to visit before it closes its doors for the final time later in the season. In the National League, Boreham Wood hosted Woking (which was attractive as it's less than half-hour from Kings Cross/St Pancras) whilst another option was Aldershot vs Chesterfield - attractive as I haven't been to the Shots' ground in well over a decade.

But with tickets available to get 'the big one' off the 'to do' list, it was difficult to resist temptation and head to the new version of White Hart Lane.

Surprisingly, despite some myths which exist, getting tickets to see a Premier League fixture at Spurs' new stadium (against opponents such as Bournemouth anyway) isn't that difficult.

This season, a few days before the majority of home league games, Spurs have opened up the ticket resales process to the general public and there's always been a couple of thousand tickets available in all parts of the stadium.

My ticket in the upper section of the North Stand was £39.50 and 'cheap' compared to other areas. It wasn't the cheapest ticket available - that was at £34.50 in Block 110 and only a couple of rows back from the pitch. In my opinion, it was worth paying a fiver more to enjoy the elevated view.

If you're looking for a ticket along the side, then you might need to remortgage your house, take out a bank loan or get someone else to pay the premium as they ranged from £50+ in the higher sections to £150+ for a centrally-positioned seat closer to the pitch.

One nice aspect about the ground is that the East, North and West stands have an interconnecting concourse which you can stroll around it at your leisure - something which the club actually actively encourages fans to do because there are different features in different areas.

One concourse feature is a photo-section which has various images showing the construction of the new stadium and the demolition of White Hart Lane. Intriguingly, the rubble from the old ground has been recycled and some of it is used in the concourse flooring. Then there are various bars and food outlets situated everywhere and you can purchase a pint that fills from the bottom upwards.

Being inside the stadium early enough, it meant I had loads of time to stroll around and it would have been rude not to sample some food. The pie which I consumed (purchased in a 'Meal Deal' with a bottle of Diet Coke at £4 which I thought was exceptional value for inside the ground) was one of the best pies I've ever tasted. It was rich in texture, contained some carrot pieces, cooked well and had really good moisture. It was delicious and far better than the usual, bog-standard over-priced 'Pukka Pies' that get sold in 90% of other stadiums across the country.

If you're reading this and are still to visit the new stadium, I encourage anyone to part with four quid and give it a go!

Despite the interconnecting concourse, however, there was a distinct lack of seating available within it. I couldn't find any seats or benches anywhere - so at least the Keepmoat Stadium is ahead of Spurs in that respect!

Inside the bowl, the stadium is absolutely fantastic and you can evidently see that everything has been considered during both the design and subsequent construction process.

There didn't look to be a bad seat anywhere that had any 'dodgy' views of the pitch. Even from my seat, high up in the heavens, you could see everything that you needed to and the steep incline in the stand only makes the place feel bigger and better.

Spurs fans will no doubt have reservations about Jose Mourinho's recent appointment given both his Chelsea connections and the fact his teams have hardly played entertaining, exciting or high-energy football throughout his managerial career.

That said, in my view, the appointment seems like a good fit for a progressive club who desperately need to win a trophy, because Mourinho has a proven track-record of success and winning trophies. It just probably needs to happen before the inevitable chaos which will come in his third season.

All things considered, it was a refreshingly surprising open and entertaining game. Bournemouth more than played their part and on another day would have perhaps sneaked back to the South Coast with an unlikely point.

The Cherries had already forced Hugo Lloris into a couple of early saves, before Spurs opened the scoring at the opposite end when Son latched onto a long ball over the top and knocked it into the path of Dele Alli for a simple finish.

Despite instinctive celebrations from Spurs fans, because VAR is now firmly entrenched in the Premier League, in my mind (as the goal happened) there was a nagging doubt that the goal would be reviewed and possibly disallowed.

Nevertheless, the officials found no reason to do so, it stood, nobody was to look red-faced or stupid by celebrating too early and, importantly, Spurs were 1-0 up!

Tottenham seemed to raise their game after this goal and created a few more chances with Harry Kane heading narrowly wide in one attack. There was also a penalty appeal for a possible hand ball against Steve Cook which looked 'nailed on' - even though it would have been controversial had it been given as play continued for a good 30-45 seconds afterwards.

After the half-time interval, Alli, who proved to be a quick-thinking attacking menace throughout, wasted little time in turning on the style to double the hosts' lead.

In another 'direct' move, quite similar to the opener, the frontman latched onto Toby Alderweild's long ball from the middle, chested it down, stretched his legs, sprinted away in order to get goal-side and finished with aplomb. It was simple yet superb!

Alli should have then perhaps had a hat-trick when he curled an effort narrowly over the upright, but it wasn't long before Spurs did make it 3-0. In another free, fast-flowing move which was simply too much for the visitors defence, Alli and Son Heung-Min combined before a teasing ball was delivered towards the back-post area and Moussa Sissoko volleyed it home.

By this stage, the result seemed beyond doubt. Spurs were in cruise control, even if their fans couldn't quite bring themselves to chant Jose Mourinho's name.

Although Bournemouth hadn't disgraced themselves; they actually played okay in parts and if they'd scored first then who knows how things would have panned out, there wasn't much hope of a comeback even when Harry Wilson curled a free-kick into the top corner with around a quarter-of-an-hour remaining.

Whilst that didn't change things too much, it gave the Cherries momentum and they pulled another goal back deep into six minutes of injury-time when Wilson squeezed the ball home, via a deflection, following a move down the left flank.

Incredibly, despite there only being something like 30 seconds left after the re-start, Tottenham nearly completed a cataclysmic f**k up. Poor play in midfield allowed the opposition to hook a ball towards an advancing Wilson who, somehow, was in a one-on-one with Lloris. However, he took too much time in waiting for the ball to drop perfectly for him to strike it which allowed Jan Vertonghen to come in with a last ditch challenge before Serge Aurier cleared the danger.

Had Wilson scored (which he surely would have done had it not been for Vertonghen's interception), the inquest would have been far-reaching and this game would have been regarded as a mini-Premier League classic.

But he didn't, that's life, and Tottenham deserved their three points on the balance of play! The fact they made such hard work of it, in the end, is a reflection of where they are at present.

Regarding VAR, it was used a few times; sometimes strangely, sometimes not, and it still felt like there were some wrong decisions over the course of the game anyway. Though there weren't any major lengthy delays, the message about a check definitely isn't being relayed very well to spectators so f**k knows how it would work at Old Trafford, for example, which doesn't have a giant TV screen.

Sadly, the technology is something which will stay in the long-term.

The Premier League doesn't give a toss about paying spectators - that much became obvious many years ago. What they care about is money and, as everyone knows, the vast majority of it comes from selling TV rights deals which subsequently attract global audiences.

If the TV companies and their customers are happy, that's what matters to them.

Only if there's a significant global decrease in customer subscriptions that's directly because of VAR - something which, in turn, would lead to a drop in value for what the TV rights are worth, will those running the PL even begin to reconsider using this crap technology.