Tottenham Hotspur got back to winning ways against West Ham. It has been a flying start for the North Londoners in the new season under Thomas Frank, and that showed with the professional performance that his side enjoyed away in the London derby.
The Lilywhites went into that international hiatus after losing against Bournemouth. And then coming back into a London derby, it was always going to have some sweaty palms. And that showed quite keenly in that first half earlier today, where, while it was a lot of final third to final third, it could still have been put away by Tottenham well early before going into half-time.
While it shows 3-0 to Tottenham on paper, as stated earlier, the goal could have come quite early given how Tottenham had seven corners in that first half. You could argue that the visitors did grab a goal in one of those when Romero headed in, which was wrongly ruled out as a foul. But every time it went in behind, things looked nervy for the Hammers.
Sarr put Tottenham ahead with that far post header
When the players came out in the second half, they got that eighth corner of the game. And Simons was jogging again to the corner flag to swing one in. And the summer marquee signing did exactly that, this time at the far post, where no one was marking Sarr, who headed it in quite brilliantly.
And the former Tottenham goalkeeper on BBC Radio 5 Live at London Stadium spoke about the Hammers’ record from corners. He insisted that the way the game looked, the Lilywhites’ goal was always going to come from a possible corner.
He said:
If Tottenham were going to get on the scoresheet that’s where it was going to come from.
That’s the fifth goal in four games that West Ham have conceded from a set-piece this season.
Pape Matar Sarr on the far post – a simple corner routine. Nobody picks him up
Author Opinion
That goal from Sarr highlights how keenly Thomas Frank would have been working on those routines behind the scenes. Set pieces were a major source of goals during his time with Brentford, and that surely was one thing that he was going to bring in at Hotspur Way. And with a few weeks of work in, you start to see those organisations from players every time the ball is parried behind the lines.
It was only one today, but some other day it could easily have been a few more from the corners.
What do you make of set pieces at N17 under the Dane head coach and that goal from Sarr today? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
