The red card chaos
Chaos just seems to follow Tottenham Hotspur. On Saturday it happened around the pitch as much as on it.
The narrative of this match was meant to be Roberto De Zerbi coming to Spurs and showing 62,000 people just how good his style of football is. While that still happened to a degree, he instead decided to write a different main plot to the script.
Before the match, Cristian Stellini attempted to shake the Brighton coach's hand and instead found it grabbed while De Zerbi jabbed a finger repeatedly in his direction and spoke in a clearly angry fashion.
READ MORE: Tottenham player ratings vs Brighton: Super Son landmark as Kane hits winner after red card mess
The suggestion appears to be that he was angered after reading Italian versions of reports on Stellini's pre-match press conference at Hotspur Way. The headline on one Gazetta dello Sport piece on the press conference declared "Stellini: 'De Zerbi exploited all of Potter's work at Brighton'".
The problem with that headline is that Stellini could not have been more complimentary of De Zerbi during the press conference.
In fact his only mention of Graham Potter during the broadcast part of his press conference came when the acting Spurs boss said of De Zerbi's Brighton: "They are well prepared when you start to press them, they find a way to overcome your pressure. They are well positioned, they plan a match in the right way, they have many solutions and adapt themselves when you change something because they came from a good job that Potter did with them for a long time.
"Also I think De Zerbi find a good solution to play with his style because that team came with Potter and they know themselves very well. This is a great opportunity because when players play for a long time with each other, it is easier and they plan very well the match."
When asked in a later section of the press conference about the differences between De Zerbi and Potter, Stellini said: "I think De Zerbi is not fluid (tactically) like Potter. De Zerbi is more a manager consistent in the way he wants to hurt the opponent.
"He is more focused with the ball and what they can do with the ball and being aggressive when they lose the ball. Potter was more fluid in the change of system but the players are smart to do it. You have to create intelligent players to do it.
"[De Zerbi] improved a lot. He has a great personality like a manager and he arrive here in a new country and quickly he put his sign on his team. That is not easy for everyone and De Zerbi show also in England, in the Premier League he is a great manager."
It's very difficult to find anything disrespectful among those words. Stellini pointed out that Potter had done a good job - he studied him closely when he first arrived in England - but then said that De Zerbi had built upon those foundations to make them even better.
It's something De Zerbi has said himself in the past so it's odd that he took such offence. In an age when managers are quick to claim their words have been taken out of context, it's strange that the Brighton boss did not read or watch the full press conference to see what was actually said.
Instead he sparked a confrontational atmosphere that began with that handshake and ended with his exit and brought an edge to the match throughout that probably helped the hosts more than his team.
For De Zerbi could not let it go. He was continuously out of his technical area and on the edge of the home one, turning to the Spurs dugout and sending a stream of dialogue their way. When Lewis Dunk scored, he appeared to celebrate in their direction and Ryan Mason in turn made it very clear where he should go.
There was more to come after Danny Welbeck's goal was ruled out by VAR for a handball after a deflection off Alexis Mac Allister.
The dialogue between the benches spilled out into a large melee and from the Spurs side fitness coach Stefano Bruno was particularly incensed and bouncing around, pointing and shouting as were goalkeeping coach Marco Savorani and fitness coach Costantino Coratti.
Stellini and Mason were stood well away from it, the latter only eventually coming across to act as a peacemaker as did some of the players, including unused subs Richarlison and Davinson Sanchez as well as Ivan Perisic.
Referee Stuart Attwell bided his time before he brandished a red card to both De Zerbi and Stellini, with the official reason being that both managers had failed to control their coaching staff.
It's difficult to know exactly what Stellini could have done in that situation to prevent it other than lying in front of his dugout to prevent his staff from stepping out of it.
Law 12 in the FA rulebook states that "where an offence [among team officials] is committed and the offender cannot be identified, the senior team coach present in the technical area will receive the sanction". Plenty of what went on during the melee fell within the list of offences in the sending off category of that law and Stellini paid the price for it.
His red card does not necessarily mean a suspension. The incident will be reviewed thoroughly and it's difficult to see a man standing 20ft away from it being handed a ban when Antonio Conte avoided one earlier in the season for his own handshake saga with Thomas Tuchel.
A fine could be more likely for Stellini for his staff members' indiscretions, although the FA may not be as kind to some others, including Savorani, who appeared to roughly push the back of a Brighton staff member's head during the melee after the visiting coach had pushed him away and turned his back on him in an attempt to guide his colleagues back towards their side.
What comes for De Zerbi is anyone's guess. This red card was his second of the season, on top of four yellow cards. The Italian is a fiery character and he was not backing down after the game in his press conference.
"I am used always to respecting everyone inside of the pitch and outside of the pitch. I don't like when the people don't respect me but there are normal situations in football and stop," he said.
"I always respect everyone, especially the coaches. And I can answer for me, not for him. Yes [Stellini doesn't respect me]. It was a personal situation and I told him what was my opinion, my idea. Not the words, not nothing, only my opinion."
On his disciplinary record, he said: "Yes I am sorry but my career was the first time so many red card. If you [analyse] my career, you can't find so many red cards. I think we played two games with me in stand and we won both games. I think there isn't a problem.
"I don't know, I don't know. Maybe I change league and I have to change habits no? I don't know."
Stellini just looked non-plussed by the whole thing.
"I can say only that what happened on the pitch, stays on the pitch. Sometimes it seems something bad but is not. I want to let everyone understand that this is my second game like head coach for Tottenham and I want to give respect to all the managers in Premier League," he told football.london.
"When I speak about manager, I speak every time like I am a person that has to learn from all the managers who work in Premier League. Managers that work in the past, managers that work now. I want to learn every day, I try to do my best and I want to give respect to everyone, so I don't speak about anything that happen into the pitch."
When asked if De Zerbi was unhappy with something he said, the acting Spurs head coach replied: "I don't know, I don't know and I don't want to change my idea. I want to be respectful to everyone and I continue to do my job the best."
While clearly shocked with his red card at the time, Stellini admitted that he understood the idea of it on reflection, but still felt it was harsh.
"I consider the red card because also if I try to stay calm and to be focused on the game, I have to manage the bench and to keep all of them calm, but in that moment for me I was focused on the players, I wanted to speak to the players and I lose my focus on the bench," he said. "This is the rule. I have to respect the rule but I think also if you look at what happened, I was polite and calm."
Stellini working from afar and the Danjuma decision
For those watching on from the stands and at home on their screens, it must have seemed like a Ryan Mason tactical change brought Arnaut Danjuma on to the pitch and a minute later the winning goal. A Mason masterclass won the day surely?
Not exactly. The truth is that Cristian Stellini, after a bit of a shouting match with De Zerbi in the tunnel, made his way up to sit in the large press box in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
He was not filing a match report for football.london, rather he took up a position alongside the Spurs tactical analysts who constantly speak to the dugout via earpieces during matches. Only now they were feeding his instructions down to the coaching staff below.
Every decision that came from that point on was from Stellini, so he has to earn his share of credit for the Danjuma decision.
"I went upstairs to watch the game and if I could give them suggestions, I had people that could maybe transfer my idea," he later admitted in his press conference. "But [Mason and the coaching staff] did a great job, they finish well the game and we have also energy to finish the game in the right way."
When Richarlison was surprisingly named on the bench, despite Stellini saying he wasn't ready yet, many expected that Danjuma had been knocked back down the pecking order just when he might have thought he was finally going to get his chance.
However, with Richarlison having only trained alone in the week before following his calf injury there was an uncertainty over just how much game time he could handle. Stellini was prepared to only give the Brazilian a handful of minutes at the end of the game if desperately needed. Richarlison had declared himself fit, but so had he after suffering the problem in the warm-up at Southampton only to break down a few minutes into the match.
So in the 78th minute, almost 20 minutes after Stellini's exit to the stands, so word came to make the change - Danjuma for Dejan Kulusevski. The Swede had again been dynamic in his running but poor in his final ball.
Danjuma took his place on the left of the front three and Son Heung-min moved across to the right-hand side.
A minute later and the Netherlands international had made his mark in a move where he did not even touch the ball.
Cristian Romero intercepted the ball from Mitoma's loose flick and played it to Son Heung-min. The South Korean in turn played a pass through the legs of Adam Webster and into the path of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Danjuma set off and sprinted to the left-hand side of the six-yard box and dragged a couple of Brighton defenders with him. That left acres of space for the advancing Harry Kane, spotted well by Hojbjerg who looked up just before he passed it across the box, and the striker's shot deflected off the hip of Joel Veltman and into the far left corner of the net.
So in one fell swoop bringing on Danjuma provided another attacking threat for Brighton to worry about and it transferred Son's quality to the right-hand side.
Just for a moment, Spurs shed the predictability that has dogged them for much of the season, Brighton were suddenly all at sea and it secured an important victory.
After the game, Danjuma posted on Instagram: "Amazing to feel the support from the fans for our win today. Let’s keep pushing!" He ended the caption with a little square blue box with the word 'free' in it.
For 19 minutes he was free again, playing football and making his long-awaited home debut for Spurs - more than two and a half months after signing despite being completely fit throughout that time.
Danjuma's mind must occasionally wander back to that moment at Finch Farm as he was about to complete his move to Everton, when instead he chose to race down the country to Hotspur Way to sign for Tottenham instead.
The lure of Champions League football and a top four side proved too much over a team where he would have got plenty of minutes. He was not to know then that he was signed by Fabio Paratici and Spurs' recruitment team rather than really being wanted by Antonio Conte.
The then Spurs head coach made it clear publicly that Danjuma was a club signing and did not even fit his system. On one side that's a failing of Paratici and his recruitment team, on the other it only highlighted the rigidity of Conte's system and the absence of a plan B.
It also points towards the hierarchy in place within the Spurs squad that makes it very difficult for players to get into the team over star names, regardless of form. Only injuries have handed them a chance this season.
This was a bright moment for Danjuma even if he did little of note with the ball at his feet during his cameo from the bench. It was however his attacking intent, his hunger and the chaos it caused in the opposition that might just have shown Stellini that a Plan B doesn't have to always resemble Plan A.
Inspirational Son
If you wanted to provide a textbook example of a typical Son Heung-min goal then you need only deliver a image of his 100th Premier League goal.
It was absolutely perfect in its execution and a goal we have seen the South Korean star score so many times before as he cuts inside on to his right or left foot - he's trained the latter to be as good as the former - before curling a shot inside the post.
That finish in the 10th minute on Saturday was as good as they come. Teed up by Ivan Perisic, Son then did all the hard work, motoring past Veltman and placing a delicious curling strike inside the right-hand post.
That brought not only wild celebrations from his team-mates but a trademark Romero wind-up one. Having made one of his own wanderings up the pitch and finding himself in the Brighton box, the Argentine reacted to Son's strike by celebrating with a roar at Brighton defender Lewis Dunk with his fists pumping outwards before turning to the goalkeeper Jason Steele and the fans behind him.
Dunk would end up getting his own back when despite being the biggest man on the pitch, he was bizarrely left without a marker assigned to him from Solly March's corner and headed home at the back post with Hugo Lloris clumsily running into a cluster of players and bouncing back behind his goal line.
However, the 10th minute was all about Son's magic moment and a goal that was a special one as he not only entered the Premier League's 100 club but in doing so became the first Asian player to achieve the feat.
"That is incredible. That makes me really, really happy. I think it's a big responsibility. All the Asian players, especially the South Korean players, they can believe that they can also achieve the big things if they work hard," he said afterwards.
"If they keep working and they keep dreaming, I hope they can also achieve the big things. For me it's very special. Always to be first is something special. It was a big, big achievement for me but I still want to keep scoring a lot of goals for the people and for me and to make people happy, and make them believe they can do something also."
The goal also marked a continuation of an increased goal involvement in recent matches for Son. He has three goal contributions in his past four matches, scoring two and providing one assist. His part in Kane's goal was also clinical and full of quality with his movement and nutmeg pass.
After the game, in his club interview, Son came as close as he has thus far to suggesting that the tactics being used this season do not place him in his best positions to score.
When describing his goal and the ability to run inside from the flank, he said: "I try to always be in this position but sometimes it's difficult because they [the opposition] don't want me to shoot in this position, but it's also that we're sometimes crossing the ball more so I have to be in the box so I can leave the wing-backs in a one vs one situation.
"It's all about different situations and I have to read the game better. If I'm in this position I'm really, really confident about scoring those goals. Look at last season and you can see how many goals I scored in this position. If I have these chances I can score more goals.
"It was a very special goal because scoring 100 goals in this position where I love to shoot is just incredible. It's a really special moment."
Son is not wrong. He scores so many goals from drifting inside from the flanks that it's odd to use any Spurs tactic that makes that move more difficult for him. It's also worth pointing out, for the sake of balance, that he did have his best ever campaign, winning the Golden Boot, within the parameters of Conte's wing-back system last season.
Of course the partnership with Perisic has not been a perfect one, although it is notable that it was the Croatian who sent Son on his way for his goal on this occasion.
Son is the first to admit that he has struggled at times this season and that he must adapt to changing tactics to make himself unpredictable.
Ahead of the game, he was asked what he would tell Conte if he could speak to him now and his answer, while fittingly classy and humble as always from Son, also showcased his own disappointment with his form during this campaign.
"First of all I'd say all the best and secondly, I feel sorry for what happened. I take a big responsibility because the expectation of me is to do much, much better than I have done," he said.
Also in on the interview, his team-mate Eric Dier told him that he was wrong and that it was the team's collective responsibility for what happened to the Italian.
Son was given a hero's reception when he entered the dressing room after Saturday's match, congratulated by everyone and he shared a long hug with Stellini, who said something in his ear that made him smile.
The acting head coach told football.london of his speech to the dressing room afterwards.
"We celebrated in the dressing room. What I said was this week we celebrate 70 years of Gianni Vio, we celebrate a new birth in Ryan Mason's family, he has a new son and this type of human thing you have to celebrate every time," he said.
"So we also had 100 goals from Sonny. It's amazing to have this, it's normal that in football that when you win this type of match there are individual targets, but that target can create energy if our best players play for the team and for the win."
Kane is also edging closer to more landmarks. His second-half strike was the 76th game-winning goal he has scored in a Tottenham shirt in all competitions, showing just how crucial he has been to the club over the years.
He is now on 206 Premier League goals, just two behind second-placed Wayne Rooney in the all-time top scorers list in the competition.
Stellini and Spurs now need both Son and Kane to continue on the goal trail in the weeks ahead. They are the team's star players and when they turn on their magic so they drag their team-mates and a system that doesn't always result in chances out of a hole. They've done it before, they did it on Saturday and they are going to need to do it at least eight more times this season.
The frustrated Tottenham fans
There was another awkward moment for Spurs chairman Daniel Levy in the moments after Cristian Stellini was sent off.
A chant of "Mauricio Pochettino, he's magic you know" began to rise from the south stand and it slowly spread in growing pockets around the stadium until it was loud. It was swiftly followed by some additional chants of "We want Levy out".
The Pochettino chant came twice during the game and said everything about what is going on at the club right now.
Outsiders will look at the table and see that after this unconvincing but important victory Tottenham are just three points off third place with six points now separating them from those behind them and those outsiders will wonder how this is a club where the head coach has left and the fans are so frustrated they are calling for a former manager.
Yet the beleaguered supporters are reaching a point where many are either bored of Spurs, completely apathetic or angry about the club's direction, to a point where the under-fire hierarchy had to halt any thoughts of increasing season ticket prices.
There's little point in having one of the best stadiums in the world if the past four years have brought mostly counter-attacking football there and a team that subsequently often plays like they are the visitors rather than the hosts.
While Roberto De Zerbi did not enamour himself to the Spurs fans with his off the pitch antics, the football his side played was exactly of the style promised and not delivered by Levy. It was only a flying Hugo Lloris save, the woodwork and a couple of harsh VAR decisions that prevented Brighton from returning home to the south coast with the victory.
Harry Kane has clearly been impressed with the way the Italian has got the Seagulls playing.
"We were playing against a really good team. They're built well, they play a really good style of football," said the striker after the game. "At times we knew they were going to have possession but we had to defend well, defend crosses, and then we created our chances as well. We had two or three in the first half and two or three in the second.
"In these games in the Premier League you just have to find a way to grind it out and I'm really delighted after last week and being disappointed after that result and now we can look forward to another home game next Saturday."
The Spurs fans and Kane have had to watch their team hope to grind out a win rather than dare to triumph in style too many times in recent seasons, hoping to catch teams on the break rather than take the game to them.
That the fans were pining for Kane's former manager was a loud suggestion that Levy made a mistake by sacking and not backing Pochettino in 2019.
The chairman was asked in that Amazon All or Nothing series, filmed in the 2019/20 season how he felt about the decision to relieve the Argentine of his duties.
"A lot of heartache is the honest answer. It’s never easy when you have to ask someone to leave the club. When you’ve been working with someone for five-and-a-half years, it’s difficult," he said.
"My heart was telling me ‘Don’t do it’ and my brain was telling me ‘You need to do it.’ It’s the most emotional decision I’ve ever had to make. It was more than just an employer-employee relationship. We went away together, we had a lot of fond times outside the club. I’m sure after a little while we’ll continue doing that.
"At the moment things are a little raw, which is understandable. Mixed emotions. It’s not a nice experience for either of us. Everyone is going to have different opinions. That fact is that the results weren’t where they needed to be.
"We have to do what we feel is right for the club and only time will tell if it’s the right decision."
Time has not been kind to Levy's decision with it set to be four managers in four years when the next one walks through the door.
Not one of the men who replaced Pochettino managed to last a full season. Even worse, Spurs have no real identity on or off the pitch - not a good one anyway - and the disgruntled voices are growing.
A small protest against the Spurs chairman and owners ENIC - with 30 to 40 people involved - took place outside the ground on Saturday ahead of the game but an online petition to remove Levy from his position has now had more than 13,000 signatures and will draw more attention as will those chants heard inside the stadium and on screens across the world.
One sign that Levy could be stepping further back from the football decisions within the club came with the appointment on Friday of Scott Munn, in a newly-created role of chief football officer.
The Australian is set to begin work this summer and will essentially become Levy's number two, with the club confirming he will join the board and take charge of all footballing departments.
Munn, who was the CEO of Melbourne City FC before leading the China division within the City Football Group, is taking his first position in European football. It will be a very different task to those he has had before but the expectation is that he will have learned plenty about the inner workings of Manchester City and perhaps its multi-club set-up that can be brought to Tottenham.
As Spurs' recent managers have found, he will discover a club very different to the environment he has worked in before. The hope among the fanbase will be that he will have more ability to change that environment with a position loftier than anyone appointed before him.
Even Fabio Paratici, if he returns to work, will report to Munn. If the Italian's appeal against his global ban is not successful or other ongoing investigations make it impossible for him to return then Spurs will have to decide whether to appoint a new director of football within the structure to aid Munn with some European football experience.
The other option could be to promote both performance director Gretar Steinsson and head of football strategy Andy Scoulding, who have taken on much of Paratici's workload during his leave of absence.
Steinsson was the subject of plenty of social media discussion ahead of Saturday's match. That was after eagle-eyed Twitter users noticed that in a photo posted by Pochettino's long-time assistant manager Jesus Perez, among the internet browser tabs open on the Spaniard's laptop were an article asking why any manager would join Spurs amid what had become the Daniel Levy show and another page on Steinsson.
It could mean something, it could mean nothing at all or it could simply be Perez being mischievous or merely forgetful.
It did show that Tottenham are on his mind but whether Pochettino is on Levy's mind is another thing. The Spurs fans were doing their best on Saturday to plant the Argentine back in there.
However many people he appoints around him - some might suggest as a shield - all eyes will remain on Levy and the decision he takes over Tottenham's next manager and the 13th of his two decades at the helm must deliver someone who can piece together a fractured club.
The fans need to rediscover their love for Spurs. As well as the chants, their frustrations on Saturday also brought groans and jeers, mostly for the side's plan to take short goal kicks before a long kick from Lloris was ironically cheered and Danjuma's introduction brought a similar noise.
The supporters' reactions are entirely understandable during an ever-lengthening period when the club does not always seem to have their best interests at heart and they have every right to voice their disgruntlement, but the atmosphere created does also play its part both negatively and positively.
Players are scared of making mistakes when it is negative and conversely so they thrive when the atmosphere turns the other way, most notably shown in the moments after Danjuma began running around the pitch when the crowd really got behind him.
"It's important sometimes that something like this [red card] happens to switch on the head of players and the crowd. It was amazing the effort the crowd did in that moment," said Stellini. "They felt the team needed energy and they gave us energy. We are happy when we have the crowd with us and I think this is a positive."
Spurs have eight games left that will define how this season ends and what foundations the new manager will have to build upon. Stellini, the players and Levy need to give the supporters a reason to believe in Tottenham Hotspur again, both now and for the foreseeable future.
READ NEXT:
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- Every word Stellini said on Conte's exit, his meeting with the Tottenham players and injury news
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