WHEN it rains, it pours.
Ange Postecoglou, robbed of key men to injury and suspension, looked like he would pull of an impressive victory at Molineux with his patched-up side, thanks to Brennan Johnson’s early strike.
But their bad luck kept on coming as they somehow lost thanks to TWO injury-time goals.
The first was a stunner from supersub Pablo Sarabia, belting into the near post.
Sarabia then turned provider on 90+7 as he crossed for Mario Lemina to turn home.
It sent Molineux potty as the coaching staff ran onto the pitch in celebration as Postecoglou was forced to “cop it”, as the Aussie would say.
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It was certainly rough, given how his injury and suspension-hit side had coped for the majority of the game.
All eyes were on how Wolves might expose the Aussie’s patched-up defence that was considerably slower without the jet-heeled Van de Ven.
But Gary O’Neil’s men barely had the ball in the opening exchanges, and could do little more than watch as Johnson completed a fine team goal for the visitors.
It was the £47.5million summer signing’s first Spurs strike and it was he who began the move when picking it up out wide.
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Eventually the ball came to Dejan Kulusevski who slipped in Pedro Porro with a clever flick round the back of Wolves’ backline.
The Spaniard then picked out Johnson was lurking in the six-yard area to tuck away his first goal since netting for Nottingham Forest in their 1-1 draw with Wolves on April Fool’s Day.
Johnson was the man sacrificed around the half hour when Cristian Romero was sent off in Monday’s catastrophic defeat to Chelsea.
It was a shame for the Welshman who had looked to have justified his place ahead of Richarlison – who is now out for a month at least after groin surgery – with an exciting cameo down the left.
Every time the ball came to Johnson in those early stage against the Blues – before it all went so wrong – you could feel the electricity of expectation among the fans that the 22-year-old might make something happen.
His selection feels like the next progression in this Postecoglou side, though sadly he will have to do it without Maddison for the foreseeable future.
Postecoglou was asked on Friday if he would be tempted to rein in his attacking approach for this game given his lengthy absentee list.
His witty retort was that apart from chocolate, he was pretty good at resisting temptation, and indeed he stuck with his high line despite Dier and Davies’ relative lack of pace.
And really, that pairing was untroubled for most of the first half, barring the odd moment.
Davies put in a good block to deflect an Rayan Ait-Nouri’s shot, while the ever-dependable Guglielmo Vicario pushed wide Mario Lemina’s drive.
Postecoglou’s selection headache was made worse just before half-time as Yves Bissouma was booked for catching Mario Lemina.
You could tell from the Malian’s face that he instantly knew what it meant: a one-game ban for reaching five yellow cards, ruling him out of Aston Villa at home after the international break.
O’Neil’s men pushed for a leveller at the break with Jean-Ricner Bellegarde blazing over and Dier blocking well to deny Matheus Cunha.
Their best chance fell to the in-form Hwang Hee-Chan, who suddenly found himself with a clear sight of goal when Joao Gomes’ deflected shot fell to him, but the South Korean fired wide.
Bissouma was a tad fortunate not to pick up a second yellow with a late tackle and Postecoglou responded by subbing him for Gio Lo Celso.
The Argentine had been the most like-for-like replacement for Maddison but the fact he did not start here does not bode well for his long-term future.
Wolves brought on battering ram Sasa Kalajdzic towards the end and the 6ft7ins Austrian should have done better with a free header.
Jose Sa then pulled off a fine sprawling save to deny Lo Celso from wrapping up the three points.
It proved to be a vital intervention as just into injury time, sub Sarabia took centre-stage.
His goal was a thing of beauty, as he controlled Matheus Cunha’s pass with his right foot and then crashed in a volley with his left in the same movement.
Sarabia was mobbed by his team-mates in the corner of the Stan Cullis Stand – but there was more to come.
The Spaniard fired in a cross deep into injury time and Lemina got the faintest of touches to find the corner – and KO Postecoglou’s walking wounded.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
