Fulham advanced into the third round of the Carabao Cup after beating Tottenham 5-3 on penalties at Craven Cottage. Marco Silva’s side were superior for long spells and should have won the tie during normal time. They missed chances and let Spurs back into the game in the second half, Richarlison equalising, but Fulham would not be denied.
Marek Rodak saved Davinson Sánchez’s tame penalty during the shootout and Kenny Tete finished Spurs off by sending Fraser Forster the wrong way from the spot. Ange Postecoglou, who had looked at his fringe players, could have no complaints.
The initial problem for Spurs was that they began the game with the demeanour of a team anticipating a leisurely stroll by the river. They were slow to everything, kept botching simple passes and could not deal with the aggression of Fulham’s pressing, Kenny Tete summing up the difference between the sides early on when he responded to Ben Davies attempting to make inroads down the left by muscling the Spurs defender off the ball and forcing him to concede a free-kick.
There was impressive urgency to Fulham’s play, Bobby De CordovaReid dispossessing Manor Solomon before shooting over, and the longer it went on the more it seemed the only positive for Postecoglou was that he was seeing which members of his squad are unsuited to his football.
Spurs were overwhelmed after making nine changes to the team that beat Bournemouth last weekend and were fortunate not to be behind after seven minutes. The mistake came from Davinson Sánchez presenting the ball to Antonee Robinson and inviting the left-back to drive forward. Robinson drove past Sánchez, who was already looking uncomfortable at centre-back, and his cross to the far post deserved better than Rodrigo Muniz heading wide.
Spurs were taking too many risks with their attempts to play out from the back. Harrison Reed charged down a pass from Fraser Forster at one point and it was not a surprise when Fulham broke the deadlock. The build-up was deft, De Cordova-Reid slipping a pass to Tom Cairney, who made space for himself with a clever feint. Spurs invited the midfielder to dribble into the area and Cairney, twisting inside and out again, had time to fizz a low ball towards the near post. Reed had made the run and, while he could not connect with the ball, the midfielder’s presence was enough to force Micky van der Ven to turn the ball into his own net.
There was no response from Spurs, who were being overwhelmed in midfield by Reed and João Palhinha. Richarlison was isolated up front and Fulham could have led by more than one at half-time. Muniz, a livewire up front, kept causing problems for Van der Ven and twice had efforts saved by Forster.
Spurs were offering nothing as an attacking force. Ivan Perisic was getting nothing out of Tete, Issa Diop and Tim Read were keeping Richarlison quiet and Solomon, who spent last season on loan at Fulham, was making little impact against Robinson. Postecoglou, glaring on the touchline, had seen enough. He replaced the ineffective Giovani Lo Celso with Dane Scarlett during the break and there was a different feel to the visitors at the start of the second half: more zip to the passing, better angles, more determination to win the loose balls.
The threat soon grew, Marek Rodak tipping a deflected shot from Richarlison over, and Fulham began to retreat. Gaps appeared for the first time and Spurs should have levelled when a last-ditch challenge from Tete broke to Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. The Danish midfielder, a target for Manchester United, was furious with himself for shooting wide.
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Nonetheless the mood had changed and Fulham were under even more pressure when De Cordova-Reid was forced to fill in as a makeshift right-back after Tete was forced to leave the pitch to get a new boot. It left Fulham open on the right and Spurs soon capitalised on the disarray, Perisic cutting in and crossing for Richarlison to head the equaliser past Rodak.
Fulham were stung by the goal. They responded by replacing the disappointing Adama Traore with Harry Wilson, who soon carved Spurs open, releasing De Cordova Reid to skew a shot wide with only Forster to beat.
It was anyone’s game now. Fulham pressed again, Wilson weaving through before being denied by Sánchez, and Spurs sent on Son Heung-min, James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski in an attempt to find a winner. It had almost arrived when Solomon swerved inside from the left and aimed for the far corner, only for Rodak to thwart the winger with a superb save.
Back came Fulham, Wilson dipping past Davies, Forster saving again with his feet. Raúl Jiménez, on as a substitute, would also head over. Spurs had been fortunate. Their luck would run out during the shootout.