Tim Sherwood seemingly questioned the impact of Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski during Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat to Southampton on Wednesday night, as he told Premier League Productions.
The former Spurs boss claimed ‘as soon as they came on, Tottenham lost’, as he was also critical of the lack of control shown by Antonio Conte’s side.
After 70 minutes, those in Spurs colours would have felt that they were heading to three points when Heung-Min scored a controversial goal.
But that’s when Southampton mounted a fightback, and heading into the final ten minutes, they were leading 3-2, before they secured a deserved three points.
Even though sections of Spurs fans felt that Bentancur and Kulusevski were rare shining lights yesterday, especially their new midfielder.
Sherwood bizarrely suggested that the duo coming onto the pitch changed the game for the wrong reasons, despite the away team being the better side for most parts.
“In the end, the best team beat the best players,” said Sherwood. “Southampton were quality. They knew, in possession and out-of-possession.
“They had a game plan. I thought their game plan was a lot better than Tottenham’s. You look at the attempts. 23 attempts to Tottenham’s eight? I thought they deserved the game.
“It’s not about holding on. Antonio needs to get better control of the football match. Then you don’t have to hold on. You can’t just rely on holding on and gamesmanship just to preserve your three points.
“I think he has done a brilliant job since he has been in there. He is still learning about the players. He brings on Kulusevski and Bentancur. And they change the game, as soon as they come on, Tottenham lost.”
Bentancur was the first one introduced into the action by Conte when he replaced Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg after the hour mark.
That’s when Kulusevski joined the party because he replaced Lucas Moura in the 76th minute, with Spurs still leading 2-1.
That’s when the game changed on its head, with Mohamed Elyounoussi starting the comeback and Che Adams wrapping up the points with his own pin-point bullet header.
Whilst Kulusevski didn’t do much wrong during his time on the pitch, the vibe from Spurs fans is that Bentancur was a lot better and got himself about.
Perhaps a start is in the offing for the defensive-minded midfielder, with Spurs set to host Wolves in the Premier League at the weekend.
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