Premier League 2019/20: 3 reasons why Tottenham Hotspur drew with Sheffield United
Tottenham Hotspur drew 1-1 with Sheffield United in the Premier League today at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in another largely disappointing performance from Mauricio Pochettino’s men.
After being under the cosh for the majority of the first half, Spurs actually took a somewhat undeserved lead through Heung Min Son on 58 minutes after the Korean forward pounced on a defensive error.
Chris Wilder’s Blades thought they’d equalised just minutes later, only for VAR to intervene and chalk off David McGoldrick’s close-range finish. But with just over ten minutes left in the game, George Baldock scored a somewhat fortuitous equaliser, handing Sheffield a well-deserved point.
Here are 3 reasons why Tottenham Hotspur drew with Sheffield United.
#1 VAR saves Tottenham’s bacon
It’s debatable whether Spurs deserved anything from this game; despite the stats suggesting they were the better side – they had 61% of possession and had more shots and more attempts on target too – that was far from the truth. In fact, Mauricio Pochettino’s side literally failed to record a shot on target throughout the first half of the match.
When they did take the lead, it was against the run of play – more on that later – but just minutes later it looked like Sheffield United had secured an equaliser. A quick change of play saw John Lundstram fire the ball across the Spurs box, where Enda Stevens collected it and crossed to David McGoldrick, who poked in from close range.
However, after a VAR check, the goal was disallowed due to Lundstram apparently being offside when the ball was played to him; the replay initially appeared to show Eric Dier had played him on, but when VAR’s controversial lines were added, it was decided that Lundstram’s foot was slightly off.
To be quite frank, this was a ludicrous decision; VAR has come under fire for many things this season but the offside rulings have to be the worst. It’s almost getting to the point now where it’s near impossible for a player to make a perfect run as the system is so picky. How can a player’s toe – as it appeared to be here – be judged to be offside? As it was, the decision saved Spurs today as they surely would’ve lost had the goal been allowed.