Spurs 2-2 Brentford after slow start forces yet another comeback

Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to take a disappointing 2-2 draw on the road at Brentford on Monday, losing momentum minutes into the game despite controlling the majority of the ball.

Tottenham's Son Heung-min, right, and Harry Kane, second from left, challenge for the ball with Brentford's Christian Norgaard during a Premier League match at the Gtech Community Stadium in London on Monday. [AP/YONHAP]

Tottenham Hotspur came from behind to take a disappointing 2-2 draw on the road at Brentford on Monday, losing momentum minutes into the game despite controlling the majority of the ball.

Fielding a slightly stripped back team due to ongoing absences after the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Spurs fell behind early with a goal from Vitaly Janelt in the 15th minute. Ivan Toney extended the Brentford lead in the 54th, before Spurs finally showed some backbone in the final 30 minutes of the game.

With so much attention on how Harry Kane would recover from his tournament-ending penalty mistake in Qatar, it seemed fitting that the England captain was responsible for getting Spurs on the scoreboard. Heading in a Clément Lenglet cross in the 65th minute, Kane took the score to 2-1 and sparked some new life into the Tottenham attacking line.

Pierre Hojbjerg added No. 2 for the visitors six minutes later, picking up a neat Dejan Kulusevski pass and firing it into the top-left corner of the goal.

The 2-2 draw was a disappointing result for a clash between the Premier League’s No. 4 and No. 10 teams, but it did once again reinforce Spurs’ status as London’s comeback kings.

Tottenham have claimed a total of 21 points across all competitions from behind so far this season, proving that while Antonio Conte’s squad appear increasingly unable to seize control of the game early on, they’re never willing to go down without a fight. Indeed, had the Spurs squad of the last half an hour appeared just a few minutes earlier, the result could well have been three points for the north London club.

Late rallies aside, there is a worrying pattern emerging in Tottenham’s recent games. The club’s record over the last five league games is two wins, a draw and two losses, worryingly poor numbers for the fourth-place team.

In every single one of those games, Tottenham conceded first.

On Oct. 24, Spurs went down 2-0 to Newcastle before Kane added a consolation goal for the 2-1 loss. The 3-2 win against Bournemouth on Oct. 29 came from three late goals after Spurs went down 2-0 early on.

The Liverpool loss on Nov. 11 played out exactly the same as the Newcastle one, with Liverpool getting two in the first half and Kane scoring a single goal in the middle of the second half.

During the 4-3 win over Leeds on Nov. 13, Spurs had to come from behind on three separate occasions before Rodrigo Bentancur finally knocked two in to pull ahead. The trend goes back further, stretching to nine straight games with Spurs conceding the first goal.

All of these results suggested that Conte’s squad have a serious problem starting games. They may have the strength of character to come back into the game after falling behind, but that they’re falling behind with such alarming regularity shows something isn’t working in their early set-up.

“To concede for many games the first goal or also two goals, we have to make good reflections and try to find the solution,” Conte said after the game. “For me this is the first time that happened this type of situation, to concede the first goal nine times in a row the first goal to your opponent, but at the same time it’s the first time to have this fantastic reaction of these players.”

Monday’s game also marked Korean midfielder Son Heung-min’s first appearance for Spurs in his iconic Zorro mask, officially marking his return from injury for the club after playing four games at the World Cup for Korea.

Son was kept largely quiet throughout the game, threatening a few times but with little impact.

The quiet game may well be part of Son’s ongoing adjustment to playing in the mask, but for Spurs fans it will be worryingly reminiscent of his performance before the injury. Reigning Premier League Golden Boot winner Son has scored just three goals and picked up two assists so far this season, making it statistically one of the worst of his career.

Son will get another chance on Sunday as Tottenham continue their Premier League campaign against Aston Villa in their first home game following the World Cup break.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]