TOTTENHAM’S set-piece pain might be easier to take were their North London arch-rivals not so bloody good at them.
While Arsenal and their dead-ball expert Nicolas Jover cornered another opponent on Wednesday night, Spurs suffered more set-piece pain last night on the rainy South Coast.
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Dean Huijsen became Bournemouth’s youngest ever Premier League scorer as he rose highest to head home a first-half corner.
It was actually only Spurs’ fourth goal shipped from a dead-ball delivery, excluding penalties, this term.
But when you couple it with their woes from those particular situations last time – and how boss Ange Postecoglou seemed to dismiss their importance – along with Arsenal’s ridiculous success from them, it made for an exasperating evening for their fans.
Spurs’ supporters were already frustrated by the wildly inconsistent form of their team under Postecoglou.
Losing to winless Ipswich one week but blitzing Manchester City 4-0 on their own patch the next, it has been one of the most topsy-turvy campaigns in memory.
Fans have long since given up taking anything for granted because you simply have no idea which Spurs team will show up each match.
Literally in the team for this game was Dominic Solanke, the man Spurs paid a whopping £65million to sign in the summer.
The England striker had missed out on Sunday’s 1-1 draw at home to Fulham due to illness, reporting for duty at the stadium only to be sent home a few hours before kick-off.
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Skipper Son Heung-min seemed a bit off-colour in his performance that day and was relegated to the bench here, though “rotation” was Postecoglou’s official reasoning.
Archie Gray, 18, was afforded a first Premier League for Spurs but fired the ball out of play inside the first 20 seconds, summing up what would be a careless display at times from Postecoglou’s side.
Spurs had the best of it in the early stages with Kepa Arrizabalaga saving smartly from Dejan Kulusevski, who was back playing wide right here.
Then Solanke managed to get in behind Huijsen but lifted his shot high above the goal.
From there, Bournemouth began to exert their authority on the rest of the half and were it not for a few top Fraser Forster stops, it could have been much worse for the visitors.
The first of the saves from the 36-year-old came a minute before the opener when the ball somewhere snuck past Radu Dragusin through to Evanlison just a few yards out.
But the Brazilian’s effort was denied by Forster’s 6ft7ins frame and went out for a corner.
It was from that resulting set-piece that the Cherries took the lead via the simplest of routines.
Marcus Tavernier fired his delivery high to the far post, evading Destiny Udogie’s weak effort to head it away and allowing Spain Under-21 international Huijsen to head home.
Aged just 19 years and 235 days, it made him Bournemouth’s youngest player to net in the Premier League.
Spurs have not exactly ripped it up from attacking set pieces either, emphasised by Solanke heading a corner well wide minutes later.
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An unimpressed Postecoglou seemed to be getting annoyed with his team too, at one point bawling ‘Radu!’ in Dragusin’s direction over the Romanian not playing the ball forward.
Little seemed to be working for the Aussie’s side, with Kulusevski ineffective down the right and Brennan Johnson even more so after being switched over to the left.
Bournemouth had the ball in the net again just after the half hour when Tavernier thumped home Evanilson’s pass but the ex-Middlesbrough man was clearly offside.
Forster’s next vital intervention came shortly before the interval as he brilliantly scooped away Tavernier’s downward header from close range.
The veteran stopper is having to be relied upon at the moment with No1 Guglielmo Vicario out for months with a fractured ankle.
But Forster, who has six England caps, has stepped into the breach impressively, denying Justin Kluivert on 53 minutes when the Dutchman should have squared the ball.
Son was finally called for before the hour and thought he had levelled soon after but was well offside, before James Maddison curled agonisingly wide.
The hosts had chance after chance, especially when Ben Davies hobbled off injured, and had yet another goal ruled out for offside to deny Evanilson after Forster’s wayward pass.
It was hard to believe Bournemouth’s attack could be so wasteful.
But then again, Spurs’ was so toothless, it did not matter as Huijsen’s set-piece moment proved enough.
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