Harry Kane to the rescue as Tottenham salvage a point against West Brom

Tottenham 1 West Bromwich Albion 1: Kane struck to deny the Baggies all three points as the post-Tony Pulis era started with plenty to build around

Harry Kane earned a share of spoils at Wembley (AFP)

More dropped points from Tottenham, as West Brom spirits are finally lifted. The temptation from this 1-1 draw at Wembley might be to think that the home side ‘crashed against a wall’ - as Mauricio Pochettino himself put it in his pre-game press conference - but this wasn’t completely that. West Brom didn’t just sit deep and stand strong, as they constantly broke in numbers to give Spurs problems at the back, and could even have won it with the last chance of the game as initial goalscorer Salomon Rondon put an effort narrowly wide.

Sure, this game did emphasise Pochettino’s own old argument that Spurs need players like Erik Lamela who have that did bit more individual ingenuity to open such games, but it also reinforced the West Brom fans’ long-running argument that they needed to change manager for the good of the very spirit of the club. An old hero in Gary Megson returned as caretaker, and so did a bit more bite.

There was an illustrative moment in the second half when Gareth Barry played one of the long-range passes of the season, and something that could only be described as David Beckham-esque to hit Matt Phillips, but they lost none of their nous either. They battled and time-wasted and if referee Michael Jones punished them for the latter, Spurs just couldn’t punish them in other ways.

West Brom took an early lead through Salomon Rondon (Getty)

Harry Kane could this time only offer an equaliser rather than an outright winner, but his teammates couldn’t offer much more than blunt force.

It wasn't just in attack they weren’t that attentive, though.

Pochettino had also greatly praised Davinson Sanchez in his pre-game press conference, albeit with many caveats about how much he still could improve, and it was the caveats that were more conspicuous here when Spurs conceded the opening goal.

To be fair, it wasn’t only Sanchez’s fault, and he wasn’t the only home player that seemed so oddly slack. Dele Alli had received the ball in the centre of the pitch, only to have his pocket so easily picked by Jake Livermore, who played Rondon through. Pochettino had been especially effusive about Sanchez’s strength and stability in one-on-ones and there was perhaps an element of complacency or presumptuousness about the young defender when he seemed to think he had got the better of Rondon, only to fail to clear, and then see the Venezuelan turn and get just enough on the ball to divert it past Hugo Lloris. The goalkeeper looked as dumbfounded as Sanchez that West Brom were somehow in the lead from the move, and it was a feeling that appeared to ripple through the Spurs side.

Dele Alli looks to get himself out of a tight situation (Getty)

It was also a feeling that they weren’t used to. Other than in the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea in August, it was the first time they had been behind in a home league game since the 2-1 win over Burnley on 18 December 2016.

Whether they had to get newly accustomed to this situation against a bottom-half side or not, they were not on top form - or anything like it.

It took them a long time to get going in any way, and Harry Winks was the only one looking to make things happen and drive forward. All of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli meanwhile just looked off the pace.

Kane still doesn’t seem fully fit after failing to get to one flashed Heung-Min Son ball in the first half, Alli was wasted so far forward against a deep backline, and Eriksen has just been erratic since his hat-trick against Ireland to qualify Denmark for the World Cup.


 Harry Winks was a bright spot on a trying day for Tottenham 
 (Getty)

Jan Vertonghen and Winks were surprisingly hauled off for Mousa Dembele and Fernando Llorente, the manager went to a 4-1-3-2, and Spurs did go up a level.

There was a slight new life and lightness to their play, as displayed when Alli had the ball on the right on 73 minutes. He didn’t power the ball in he and all of his teammates had been doing up to then but instead at the presence of mind to pick out a more delicate ball that curled around the defence, and Kane was there to put it past Ben Foster.

They were still missing something, though, and thereby didn’t miss many more chances because they struggled to create any.

The wall wouldn’t come down, but then there was more to it than just a few big bricks. There might finally be more to West Brom’s existence.