Graham Potter is giving his thoughts, looking, as ever, like a novelist who teaches creative writing on the side. “Probably wasn’t one of our better performances,” he says, “but credit to Spurs, they deserved the win. They’re a good, well-organised side with some fantastic players. We gave the ball away, a little bit unlike us. The first goal was quite cheap from our perspective, the second one’s a deflection that goes in. We responded well after half-time, got the goal, but then their third goal, yeah, it’s not a great one from our perspective. So that took the wind out of our sails, but the boys gave everything.”
And that’s me done after an absorbing day that didn’t quite deliver the shocks it promised. Thanks for your company, your correspondence and your outrage when I mentioned Jose Mourinho.
We have a match report! It’s by Sam Dalling at the Tottenham stadium and it’s here.
Antonio Conte, so noisy in the technical area, is very quiet in interviews. “Harry Kane played a fantastic game for us,” he whispers. “It was good, good for Harry, good for Sonny to come back.”
The draw for the next round, as usual, feels as if it was scheduled by an administrator who was having a laugh. It seems to be at 11.40am tomorrow, before Liverpool’s game against Cardiff. And these are the teams that are definitely in it: Middlesbrough, Chelsea, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Everton, Huddersfield, Man City, Peterborough, Southampton, Stoke, Norwich, Luton and Spurs. Plus the six that play tomorrow – Liverpool-Cardiff (noon), Forest-Leicester (4pm) and Bournemouth-Boreham Wood (6.30pm).
Harry Kane now has 15 goals this season, only five of them in the league, and he’s giving an interview. “Yeah no,” he says with a big smirk on his face, “obviously delighted with the result. Brighton are a good side, having a great season.” He’s very pleased with the first goal and suitably grateful to “Sonny” for the second.
Can he dare to dream? “Still a long way to go. Plenty of games to go in the league and now in the cup.”
And Conte? “He’s been brilliant, as a coach and as a person. He’s changed the mindset of the players and that’s all you can ask for.”
Full time! Spurs 3-1 Brighton
And that’s it. Spurs were far too good from the 13th minute, when Harry Kane scored that very characteristic goal, curling a long shot precisely past Sanchez. Brighton did a lot of things right, and the admirable Bissouma dragged them back into it, but their finishing let them down. Kane was one difference between the sides; purposefulness was the other.
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95 min: Welbeck registers a shot on target with a flicked header. The cross just wasn’t rapid enough.
94 min: a corner for Brighton. Can they convert it? They can’t even head it.
92 min: Kane gets his chance! And fluffs it, scooping a left-foot shot into the crowd. The pass, from Kulusevski on the right, was crisp and confident.
90 min: there will be five added minutes. Not sure even that will be enough for Brighton.
89 min: Lee Dixon’s man of the match is Harry Kane, which is fair enough.
88 min: Reguilon has time and space for a shot but hits it straight at Sanchez.
“When we lived in Deepdale in the 60s,” says Mike Boulton, “I managed to get into the game when we [Preston, I presume] beat Spurs 2-1 in the FA Cup 5th round. They had Greaves, Mullery, Mackay and Pat Jennings in goal - needless to say it was a surprise - and me at 16 successful in getting into the pub afterwards.” Those were the days.
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86 min: Bentancur gets too close to Bissouma and marks his debut in English football with a well-earned booking. Yet another Spurs sub: Matt Doherty for Emerson Royal.
83 min: what a miss! Bergwijn gets a gift from Kulusevski, after a cock-up at the back from Brighton, but he leans back and lofts it.
80 min: Bentancur and Kulusevski are combining so well in midfield that you wonder why clubs don’t sign players in pairs more often. Nothing comes of it, but Kane can smell a hat-trick.
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79 min: a glimmer for Welbeck, peeling off shrewdly at the back post as a long ball comes in from Gross, but he can’t control it.
76 min: another sub for Spurs – Cristian Romero walks off, after going down with cramp, and Joe Rodon comes on. And another: Rodrigo Bentancur, the second of the new signings from Juventus, for Harry Winks.
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74 min: Dunk, at left centre-back, aims a long high ball over to the right wing. It would be a good ball if there was anyone there.
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72 min: Brighton have to do to Spurs what Spurs did to Leicester. And although they’ve been better in this half, there still hasn’t been much cutting edge.
70 min: here is Danny Welbeck, replacing Lamptey. He’s greeted by the crowd with all the affection they reserve for former Arsenal players.
68 min: Antonio Conte makes some changes. Son trots off, along with Lucas Moura; on come Steven Bergwijn and the new signing, Dejan Kulusevski.
67 min: Brighton chance! Maupay is clean through with only Lloris to beat, but his shot is so tame, a failed dink. Get Welbeck on!
GOAL! Spurs 3-1 Brighton (Kane 66)
An instant riposte, and it’s Kane and Son! Son goes on a terrific run, shoving defenders out of his way, and Kane slides in to make sure. Game off again.
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GOAL! Spurs 2-1 Brighton (Bissouma 63)
He’s been the best player in this half and he’s got his team back in it! Yves Bissouma runs sideways, shoots from the edge of the box and picks up a big deflection, off Hojbjerg I suspect. Game on!
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62 min: another sub for Brighton – March off, Moises Caicedo on.
60 min: Brighton’s bright start to this half is fading. The Spurs fans sense it and go big on “When the Spurs go marching in”.
59 min: Kane and Son – the old firm – are almost back in business. Kane slips it to his left, Son takes the shot, and if he hadn’t had four games off he would surely not have hit it straight at Sanchez.
57 min: it’s been a good-natured encounter so far, but Veltman brings some bite. He crashes into Son and goes into the book.
55 min: Lamptey is getting some joy down the right. His opposite number, Reguilon, is a lovely player but not very interested in defending.
53 min: it’s not hard to work out what Graham Potter had to say at half-time. “Move it faster! Be more direct!”
51 min: Brighton waste a free kick but then come back strongly as Bissouma drives into the box and draws a fine save from Lloris.
“Tottenham’s purple patch in the FA Cup?” says Stewart Bowling. “I’m fortunate to have spanned that period of FA Cup wins from 1981-1991. Here’s hoping for another Ricky Villa moment in the final this year! COYS!”
48 min: Moder finds the ball at his feet just outside the D, but he skies his shot.
46 min: Graham Potter makes a substitution, taking off a midfielder and sending on Joel Veltman, so it looks as if Brighton are switching to a back three. The man sacrificed is Lallana, who may not be 100pc fit.
“Yep,” says Yash Gupta, “it’s been a tiny bit like Mourinho-esque, except there is a clear plan as to how to progress well into final third and staying there for more than five seconds. Not meant as a dig to Jose but most of defence and midfield personnel is same and still there is a clear difference.” True.
“No Tim! No!!!!” says Peter Crosby in the Catskills. “Hey – nice work so far but also this couldn’t be further than the bleak Mourinho days. We’re snappy and more confident and more energetic and more interested and less filled with fear. And we’re more clinical and more interesting and a far cry from the mess he turned us into. Please don’t compare us to that!!!”
Truth be told, part of me was hoping to get a reaction.
Half-time reading from my colleague Nick Ames in Minawao: “We play to forget what happened”.
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Half-time! Spurs still 2-0 up
The players go off with Brighton wondering how they are 2-0 down. They’ve had half the shots (five-all) and more than half the ball (53 per cent), yet Spurs have been a cut above. Whisper it, but it’s been a Mourinho-esque performance: sitting back in numbers, then roaring forward on the counter. As Brighton always score one, they could soon be back in it – but where will a second come from?
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45 min: there will be one more minute of this half.
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44 min: better from Brighton as Maupay lays it off to Moder, who leans back too far and lifts his shot over the bar.
43 min: a rare spell of possession for Spurs, but nothing comes of it. When Brighton finally get hold of the ball, their build-up is too slow.
39 min: Brighton are getting players forward. Bissouma plays it square to Maupay, who spins and hits over the bar. There’s a ripple of warm applause for a late lamented Spurs fan, Ashley Savage, who died aged 39 after suffering from cancer. His team nearly mark the moment with a goal as Kane hovers in the box.
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38 min: a lovely perpendicular ball finds Lallana in the box, but he can’t get it out from under his feet. He’s been the one Brighton player who might make the Combined XI.
36 min: March gets a cross in from the left but Lallana, at the near post, can only deflect it into the arms of Lloris.
34 min: Reguilon, on the touchline, gets a blatant shove in the back from Webster and loses a boot. Hard to work out what that meant: maybe just frustration that Brighton have had half the possession and none of the good chances.
32 min: Kane chips through to Son, who cuts back and starts a game of pinball. Anything could happen, but it doesn’t.
The second goal is an og
That deflection, from Solly March, is reckoned to have been so vital that Emerson Royal is off the scoresheet.
29 min: end to end! March has a shot at one end, safely held by Lloris. Spurs sprint up the other end and Kane misses with a dink, but he’s offside anyway.
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27 min: Spurs break at speed, Reguilon whips in a cross, and Brighton are grateful that the chance goes to Winks, who targets Row W.
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26 min: so bang goes Brighton’s run of 1-1s. They’re still passing the ball nicely, but where’s the threat? They may need to get Danny Welbeck on sooner than planned.
Ah, there was a deflection. Royal had raced from the halfway line but he didn’t have anyone to cross to. Turned out, he didn’t need anyone to cross to.
GOAL! Spurs 2-0 Brighton (Royal 24)
What the hell? A cross from Emerson Royal ends up looping over Sanchez.
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22 min: never mind Harry Kane, Harry Winks is having a go from distance. He had time and space to do a 360-degree spin, and the shot was good enough to stretch Sanchez.
20 min: after performing one of his party tricks, Kane produces another by dropping deep and playing a lofted through ball, but Lucas Moura can’t get on the end of it.
18 min: Spurs are knocking it around confidently now, but Brighton still get into their box through the outstanding Lamptey. The ball stays up Spurs’ end, only for Bissouma to slip as he takes a shot.
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That came from our old friend, playing out from the back. Brighton got away with one cock-up and immediately committed another. Hojbjerg pounced and teed up Kane, who cashed in on his first appearance in the FA Cup for four years.
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GOAL! Spurs 1-0 Brighton (Kane 13)
A beauty from Harry Kane! Right foot, curled into the corner from just beyond the D.
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10 min: if you were told that one of these teams was down to ten men, you’d assume it was Spurs. Brighton’s midfielders are hunting as a pack.
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8 min: Brighton are in some bother but Adam Lallana eases them out of it with a slalom through the traffic. They’re playing a back four in possession, Lee Dixon reckons, and a back five the rest of the time.
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5 min: Brighton have a free kick on the left, but it’s right in the bread basket for Hugo Lloris.
4 min: Spurs attack, not on the counter, and Son’s backheel almost finds Ben Davies. Good defending by Pascal Gross.
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3 min: Brighton have had more of the ball, playing it around nicely, and Adam Lallana had something that may even be classified as a shot. But Spurs are looking purposeful on the break.
The players take the knee, and Brighton get the ball rolling.
Prediction time for the ITV4 pundits.
“Tottenham win,” says Robbie Keane.
“One-one and penalties,” says Glenn Murray.
If you didn’t already know which of these sides they used to play for, you might just be able to work it out.
Meanwhile, in the Premier League, there’s a result, of sorts: Burnley 0-0 Watford. “Well,” says The Guardian’s Scott Murray, “that was a hard watch.”
Brighton team: Bissouma is back
Is this a 4-5-1? Hard to say. On the team sheet Maupay is in the middle, so maybe it’s a 4-6-0. The main thing is that Yves Bissouma, probably Brighton’s best player, is back from playing for Mali in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Sanchez; Lamptey, Cucurella, Webster, Dunk; Bissouma, Gross, Lallana, Moder, March; Maupay.
Subs: Steele, McGill, Alzate, Duffy, Calcedo, Veltman, Offiah, Ferguson, Welbeck.
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Spurs team: Son is back
It looks like a 3-4-3. Heung-Min Son is back after four games out with injury, and both the new recruits from Juventus, the winger Dejan Kulusevski and midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur, are on the bench.
Lloris; Romero, Sanchez, Davies; Royal, Winks, Hojbjerg, Reguilon; Lucas, Kane, Son.
Subs: Gollini, Doherty, Sessegnon, Rodon, White, Bentancur, Kulusevski, Bergwijn, Scarlett.
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Preamble
Evening everyone and welcome to the FA Cup fourth-round tie that struck ITV’s bosses as Saturday prime-time material. But only for their fourth channel.Whether they were right, time will tell, but it does look like an entertaining game. And it must have a good chance of going to penalties, given Brighton’s ability to grab a draw from the jaws of almost anything.
Are you old enough to remember when Spurs were a cup team? In the 11 years up to 1991, they reached four FA Cup finals and won three of them. It was as if the song Chas and Dave wrote for them in 1981 – Ossie’s going to Wembley, his knees have gone all trembly – worked its magic for a whole decade. Then they turned into Tim Henman: in the 30 full seasons since that last triumph, they’ve made eight semi-finals and lost the lot of them. For the past three years they haven’t even reached the quarters, and these days they’re capable of going out of a tournament on a technicality.
Still, that should add fuel to the fire of Antonio Conte’s intensity tonight. Kick-off is at 8pm, so I’ll be back soon after 7 with the teams.
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