Furious Mauricio Pochettino confronts Mike Dean after Burnley dent Tottenham's fading title hopes
At the end, it was all too much for Mauricio Pochettino. The Tottenham manager, furious at seeing his team beaten at Turf Moor, confronted Mike Dean in the centre of the pitch.
The conversation was heated, with a number of the club’s coaching staff becoming involved too. Yet while he took out his anger on the referee, Pochettino’s real frustration was caused by the sight of a Premier League title challenge slipping away.
Still, there may be consequences beyond the disappointment of defeat. There was no physical contact during the incident, but there may still be a Football Association charge to follow for the Argentinian.
Pochettino said afterwards he was prepared to apologise to Dean, having said his behaviour towards the official was out of character.
“It was weird and strange and something that had not happened before in 10 years,” Pochettino said. “Some stupid things happen and you react.
“I was never out of control but what happened there, happened there. We lost the game because of us, not because of excuses.
“We need to find someone to blame, it is myself and us because we have in our hands the capacity to win the game and we didn’t.
“I will accept everything that can happen from the FA but I think the things that happened on the pitch, I hope they won’t go any further.”
Make no mistake, this defeat hurt for Pochettino. Had Tottenham won at Turf Moor, they would have moved to within a point of Manchester City and Liverpool at the top, albeit having played more games than both, and the talk of a title challenge would only have increased.
It had all looked set up for them to win when, 20 minutes into the second half, Harry Kane marked his return from ankle ligament damage by striding through to score his 21st goal of the season and equalise Chris Wood’s opener.
It came about from a dubious decision in the visitors’ favour; Danny Rose had taken a quick throw-in down the left, five yards further forward from where the ball went out of play, allowing him to clear Burnley centre-back Ben Mee’s head.
The coolness of the finish impressed England manager Gareth Southgate, watching from the stands, but he was not the only international head coach who left with something to think about. Austria’s Franco Foda saw Ashley Barnes touch in Johann Berg Gudmundsson’s cross seven minutes from the end to win the game. Bath-born Barnes, who scored for the fourth match in a row, qualifies for Austria through his grandmother. His goal may be as significant for his international career as it was damaging for Pochettino, who indicated his belief Tottenham’s title challenge is over.
“I said for me this game is going to be key to put pressure on our opponents,” Pochettino said. “If we didn’t win, we could not put pressure on, and we could not think now of being a real contender. It is a massive opportunity lost for us.”
As he fumed, Southgate left with a squad taking a little more shape for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Montenegro next month.
Kane’s goalscoring return pleased him but he would have been impressed too by Tom Heaton, who made a flying save early in the second half to tip away the England captain’s fierce, bending 25-yard shot. Heaton, who has been outstanding since displacing Joe Hart at the end of December, must fancy his chances of a call-up.
It proved a crucial save. Seven minutes later, Burnley opened the scoring, courtesy of one of the decisions that perhaps riled Tottenham’s manager. It came from a corner the visitors felt should not have been awarded, with the officials having judged Jeff Hendrick’s attempted cross had touched Jan Vertonghen last before going out of play.
With that argument still bubbling, Dwight McNeil delivered the set-piece and Wood rose above Juan Foyth to head in off the underside of the bar.
Up until that point, the spotlight had been on Kane’s comeback, which showed promise in the opening 20 minutes when he darted across the face of the penalty area, past three flailing Burnley defenders, before driving a shot just wide.
Yet Burnley have built a seven-match unbeaten run to pull themselves clear of relegation trouble. As Tottenham probed, Sean Dyche’s side stood up to the challenge, sometimes going up to the boundary of legitimate force.
Barnes was involved in an early tangle that left Foyth with a torn shirt and, puzzlingly, a free-kick awarded against him while Rose was left crumpled by a robust tackle by Hendrick.
Yet Burnley offered an attacking threat as well as stamina and sturdiness and almost fashioned a superb opening goal just after the half-hour mark as Barnes swept a dipping shot just over the bar with a clever first-time effort from Hendrick’s cross.
To Burnley’s credit, they did not falter after losing their lead and continued to make chances. Hendrick and McNeil went close before Barnes provided the twist.
Burnley, in the bottom three at Christmas, are now within sight of the top half. “That is the Premier League,” Dyche said. “The top six are way in front, and that is why it is such a big day when you beat them.
“The key focus since Christmas has been getting back to focusing on ourselves and the players are now performing very, very well.”
Pochettino talks, but refuses to bite on any questions about his meltdown
"What happened on the pitch, happened on the pitch. We made a few mistakes. I have nothing to say. Congratulations to Burnley, they fought a lot.
"We don't deserve the defeat but that is football. It was an important game for us. I believed before the game this game could be decisive, so emotions boiled over.
"It wasn't normal how I behaved. We are very disappointed, the gap can open to eight points, in my mind we had to win today. We didn't do that and can only blame ourselves.
"The first goal was a situation where everyone on the touchline complains. We complain, they complain. Nothing more to say."
Vintage dodging from Pochettino there.
Burnley's goal-scorers talk
Ashley Barnes:
"It's a massive result, the boys dug deep. We gave away a sloppy goal when we switched off but to go on and get the result was massive.
"We targeted Foyth a little bit but we had to focus on ourselves."
Chris Wood:
"We knew we could give them a game and we've got confidence because of the run we're on.
"We enjoy playing together, and as along as the team are doing well we have the easy job of tapping the ball in."
Pochettino confronts Dean at the final whistle
Full time
Burnley have held on for a huge three points and Spurs' title challenge takes a huge, and probably fatal hit. There can't have been many who expected that, least of all Mauricio Pochettino, who is on the pitch letting Mike Dean know how unhappy he is - presumably with the decision to give Burnley a corner in the lead up to the first goal. There's no changing the result now, though, Poch.
90 mins +4 - Burnley 2 Tottenham 1
Spurs finally have the ball and are looking long for Llorente. Crosses are coming in but Burnley stand strong. The final ball in is from Rose and finds Lamela unmarked and five yards from goal, but his header is so tame and Heaton saves.
90 mins +2 - Burnley 2 Tottenham 1
Burnley have it up the right end and are dictating the game. Spurs can't get it forwards...
90 mins - Burnley 2 Tottenham 1
Four minutes to be added on.
90 mins - Burnley 2 Tottenham 1
Spurs are going way more direct and a ball forward falls to Eriksen perfectly central right on the edge of the box, but he leans back and fires high over the bar. Big chance.
89 mins - Burnley 2 Tottenham 1
Burnley have the ball up the right end of the pitch and are doing a great job of keeping it there. Three throw-ins in quick succession followed by a corner and they are eating up a huge chunk of Spurs' valuable time.
87 mins - Burnley 2 Tottenham 1
Lamela is booked for dissent.
GOOOOOOOAAALL!!!! Burnley 2 Tottenham 1 (Barnes)
Spurs are the makers of their own downfall here. Aurier makes a hash of his clearance and Hendrick's awful, miscued shot from the edge of the box goes through three defenders and trickles to the back post, where Barnes is arriving to tap in to the net.
83 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 1
Spurs do themselves no favours but Burnley waste their chances: Rose misjudges Brady's corner and sends his clearance out for another corner, before Eriksen lets the ball bounce off him and back to Brady to keep the move alive for the hosts.
81 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 1
Gudmundsson wins a free-kick just insie the Spurs half and Burnley do what Burnley do best: load the box and lump it. Alderweireld struggles underneath it and it comes off him for a corner. More danger for Spurs.
79 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 1
Two changes for Burnley: Gudmundsson and Brady replace McNeil and Hendrick.
77 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 1
Wood springs the offside trap and crosses low into the box where there is chaos in the Spurs defence. They can't scramble it clear properly and it opens up for the arriving McNeil, but his low shot is turned away by Lloris.
75 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 1
15 minutes remain for Spurs to avoid their first draw of the season.
Erik Lamela comes on for Juan Foyth. Spurs go to four at the back.
72 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 1
Phil Bardsley goes into the book for a terrible, high lunge on Rose. That could have been a red on another day.
71 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 1
Burnley come again as Heaton lumps the ball back into the Spurs area. Wood gets it down and finds Hendrick on the right. He drills in a shot which flashes across the face of goal. A let off for Spurs.
70 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 1
Westwood fires it straight into the wall.
69 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 1
Foyth two wrong decisions very quickly with a poor defensive header before he lunges in on Wood wildly. He gets a deservedly yellow card and Burnley have a free-kick on the edge of the box.
GOOOOOOOALL! Burnley 1 Tottenham 1 (Kane)
Danny Rose launches a huuuuuuuuuuge throw down the line and Kane brings it down really well, running at pace down the left and under pressure from two chasing defenders. With the ball bobbling all over the place he manages to poke it past Heaton, off the post and into the net! We have a game on our hands!
65 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 0
Llorente collides with Mee under a high ball and it looks pretty innocuous but Mike Dean thinks it purposeful, and books the Spaniard.
No stopping him
6 - Chris Wood has scored six goals in his last eight Premier League appearances, including netting four in his last four. Form. #BURTOTpic.twitter.com/0hBBB4RQKK
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 23, 2019
61 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 0
Spurs make their first move from the bench: big Fernando Llorente replaces, erm, little Harry Winks.
59 mins - Burnley 1 Tottenham 0
Mauricio Pochettino isn't happy at all - replays show that shouldn't have been a corner in the first place. The last touch came off Jeff Hendrick.
GOOOOOOAALL!!!! Burnley 1 Tottenham 0 (Wood)
Burnley win a corner, it's put right in on the six-yard box and Wood rises highest to turn a header towards goal. It's a really good header and cannons off the underside of the bar and into the net.
53 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Eriksen crosses, Foyth heads over.
52 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Spurs have raised their game in the last few minutes. Foyth wins a free-kick 25 yards from goal and out to the right. It's too wide for a shot, I think. Eriksen stands over it.
50 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Kane unleashes a piledriver from all of 30 yards and he has Heaton worried for a split second. The keeper scrambles across to his right to turn it around the post. What a goal that would have been.
48 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Spurs start on the front foot. Danny Rose whips a ball in and it's turned away for a corner by Tarkowski.
Eriksen takes it short to Son, and he pulls it back Rose but his shot is blocked.
Second half
Spurs get the second half under way. Here's to hoping for some kind of entertainment. No changes by the way.
Second half improvement?
Spurs' last four games
First half goals: 1
Second half goals: 8
Burnley's last three games
First half goals: 1
Second half goals: 5
The first half in one image
Half time
That is the final action of a pretty dreary first half. Burnley have been - you guessed it - organised and well-drilled, and have given Spurs little in the way of an opportunity, but you'd probably think that Pochettino will demand a little more intensity from his team in the second half. Burnley will certainly be the happier of the sides, having created a couple of half-decent openings of their own.
44 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
A surging run from Aurier breathes some life into the game as it drifts towards half-time, but he is crowded out just as he gets into the box.
39 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Spurs Sissoko's cross has no pace on it for Kane to work with and his header is easily saved by Heaton.
Then Rose puts another ball in and his opposite wing-back Aurier meets it but with a tame effort that, again, Heaton saves with ease.
37 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Eriksen plays a long straight ball for Kane, but the striker just can't get it under control.. Would a match-sharp Kane have brought that down?
35 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Son drives into the Burnley box and does well to keep it from going out... but nobody is waiting in the six-yard box with the goal gaping.
33 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Hendrick does well down the right to get a ball into the middle when under pressure from two Spurs players, and he finds Barnes, whose first time shot grazes the top of Lloris' bar - though he probably had it covered.
32 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Son gets a first chance to run at a defender, he throws a step over and heads for the byline. His cross is into a dangerous area but Mee clears.
Eriksen follows up moments later with a shot from the edge of the box but Heaton saves easily.
30 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Half-hour 12-word round-up:
Low quality game, basically nothing has happened, Burnley the better side. Snore.
28 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Spurs win their first corner of the game and take it short with Burnley napping. The ball ends up with Winks on the edge of the box, but his left-footed effort is into a crowd and Burnley scramble it clear,
27 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Danny Rose isn't happy after he is caught late by Hendrick. Mike Dean isn't interested.
23 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
22 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Barnes drills a low ball across the face of Lloris' goal but Wood had pulled away from goal and nobody is there to tap home.
21 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Son has a couple of chances to get on the end of balls into the box but he snatches at both - the second time with a pretty ludicrous overhead kick attempt.
20 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
The TV mic picks up a clear shout of "GET INTO THEM" from the home crowd as Eriksen, Rose and Kane play some nice one-touch football to get out of trouble. Glorious stuff.
16 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Kane gets his first sight of goal as Spurs play it well from right to left. He gathers the ball on the edge of the box, moves it onto his left and shoots low and wide of the post with Heaton untroubled. Rose was in a far better position and Kane should definitely have passed it. Chance wasted.
15 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
It's been really bitty so far. Fouls have disrupted the flow of the game and the crowd are pretty subdued as a result. Spurs enjoying a bit more possession now...
10 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Foyth gets caught in possession and then pulls Barnes back to concede free-kick out on the left when it looked like the Spurs defender was having his shirt pulled. He jogs away with a severely ripped shirt pretty clear evidence he was in the right... The cross is well cleared by Aurier but Burnley come again.
A high cross has Lloris in a bit of trouble right underneath his own bar, but he is saved by Mike Dean's whistle for a slight nudge by Wood.
Spurs are yet to get going here.
8 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Rose blasts the ball at Bardsley from about three yards and then tries to claim handball - and a penalty - but obviously gets nothing.
7 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Spurs get forward for the first time today and Rose puts in a decent cross but Heaton claims it well.
5 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
A fair few stoppages in play so far, and the latest, for Burnley deep in their own territory, gives us an indication of how they might approach this game. Tom Heaton comes out and lumps it forward towards Wood, but Alderweireld does enough to put him off and Lloris sweeps up.
2 mins - Burnley 0 Tottenham 0
Wood runs into the left channel and holds play up before McNeil joins him and he wins a corner off Alderweireld. A big cheer greets the referee's signal, but the wind takes the cross straight out of play...
Kick-off
Burnley get things started, Turf Moor bathed in glorious spring-like sunshine.
We're all set
This guy is ready:
and kick-off is just a few minutes away.
Burnley are one of the Premier League's form teams
Unbeaten in seven with four wins, Burnley have worked their way out of the relegation zone but they are by no means out of trouble. Just three points separate them and 18th-placed Southampton, so things could quickly turn for them if they weren't to keep their unbeaten run going today.
The managers' thoughts on Kane's inclusion:
Mauricio Pochettino:
I think we always play a bit of poker with our players. On Thursday, we planned to assess Kane and there was a small doubt but after two training session there is no doubt anymore.
He is one of the best strikers in the world and he will have a massive impact for everyone. We can't put too much pressure on him but it's good to have him back.
Sean Dyche:
Kane is very good striker but they're not a one-man team by any stretch and they've shown that in recent week. We have to focus on ourselves.
Harry Kane hits the ground running after a lengthy layoff
Kane's last three serious injuries have all been ankle injuries. His goal-scoring after returning from significant time off is incredible. Following his first start after those three injuries, Kane has scored:
6 goals in 8 games
11 goals in 8 games, and
8 goals in 7 games
Watch out, Burnley.
Another absentee
Still no sign of Eric Dier for Tottenham... He has barely played since having appendicitis in January, and for the third game running he has failed to make the squad. Hopefully we'll hear from Mauricio Pochettino about his squad soon enough.
Burnley are unchanged
It's as-you-were for Sean Dyche: he goes with the same XI that won at Brighton last time out.
TEAM NEWS: Here's how the Clarets line-up for today's @premierleague game v @SpursOfficialpic.twitter.com/KZjGlvPGBC
— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) February 23, 2019
Harry Kane starts!
Back into training after injury only last week, Kane goes straight back into the Tottenham starting lineup. Danny Rose is also fit to play, while Juan Foyth comes in for Davison Sanchez, who doesn't even make the bench. Kieran Trippier also misses out against his former club...
#THFC: Lloris (C), Aurier, Alderweireld, Foyth, Vertonghen, Rose, Winks, Sissoko, Eriksen, Son, Kane.@WilliamHill odds (18+) - https://t.co/kw0Sqerhez#COYSpic.twitter.com/rFwnjT323x
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 23, 2019
On we go
Hello and welcome to our coverage of today's Premier League action as we find ourselves in the weird position of being bang in the middle of the weekend's football on Saturday lunchtime.
Last night saw West Ham beat Fulham and Watford thrash Cardiff in two Friday night games that produced a whopping 10 goals between them.
Everyone tends to think early kick-offs have a sleepy feel to them and goals are harder to come by (the stats do not back this up at all, by the way), but we'll be hoping for more of the same as Tottenham travel to Burnley for the 12.30pm game.
Spurs have Harry Kane back in the squad, and we'll find out shortly whether he goes straight back into the starting lineup. Team news will be on the way any minute now...
