Ryan Mason has won his first game as interim coach of Tottenham Hotspur. Jose Mourinho’s successor, 29 years and 312 days since Wednesday the youngest coach in Premier League history, saw his side turn a 0-1 deficit against Southampton into a 2-1 victory. Gareth Bale and Heung-Min Son turned the game around. Tottenham takes sixth place based on goal difference from Liverpool, which still has a duel credit.
Mason chose to bring Steven Bergwijn into the selection, after he remained outside the squad in the past three matches. The attacker started on the bench and came in seven minutes before time as a replacement for Bale. The interim coach made three changes in his starting eleven compared to the 2-2 draw against Everton, Mourinho’s last game. He had to do without the injured Harry Kane. Defender Joe Rodon and midfielder Moussa Sissoko also disappeared from the starting line-up, prompting Giovani Lo Celso, Bale and Lucas Moura to enter.
Two of the newcomers together provided the first chance for Tottenham: Bale took advantage of a slip from Mohammed Salisu and served Lo Celso, who shot wide from about nine meters. A long shot from the same Lo Celso was then parried by Alex McCarthy. Southampton was certainly not unaffected in terms of goal attempts in the first half. Hugo Lloris had to act several times in the opening phase and Southampton took the lead after half an hour. James Ward-Prowse sent a low, curving cross from a corner. Danny Ings walked over to the ball and nicely placed a backward header into the far corner; the ball landed in the goal via the inside of the post.
In injury time, Lucas missed a good chance of the 1-1. That goal came after an hour via Bale. The attacker got the ball in front of him after a shot from Lucas was blocked. Bale took the ball and curled diagonally in the top left corner. The forward (31 years, 279 days old), involved in eleven goals as a base player in his last eleven matches, became the first Tottenham Hotspur goalscorer to be older than his coach since William Gallas (35 years, 64 days) on 20 October 2012 scored under the direction of André Villas-Boas (35 years, 3 days).
Tottenham seemed to complete the comeback via Son, who suddenly took the ball around the penalty spot on the shoe on a pass from Sergio Reguilón after a smooth attack. After seeing the video images, however, arbitrator David Coote ruled that Lucas, who was in the path of the shot, was annoyingly offside. However, the arbitration reached out a helping hand when a foul by Moussa Djénépo on the first instance resulted in a free kick, but the VAR found that the tackle was committed within the penalty area. That is why Son was allowed to apply for a penalty, which he aimed coldly in the right corner.