Tottenham 4-0 Sheffield United: Match reactions and instant analysis

God, it feels like so long since we’ve had a good old-fashioned Tottenham Hotspur Premier League thumping. Spurs hosted already-relegated Sheffield United and left little to chance against the Blades. Gareth Bale scored three goals, his first Premier League hat trick in eight years, and Son Heung-Min added a fourth late, as Tottenham’s beleaguered defense also earned a clean sheet en route to a comprehensive 4-0 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Spurs are now up to fifth place in the table, pending other results.

We’re doing something different today. The key moments are all in the Live Blog on the match thread article. This post will just be reactions to what we just saw.

Match Reactions

• Sheffield United are historically terrible this season, and they were already going down so maybe this kind of result shouldn’t be a surprise? They were playing for pride and didn’t have much of that either. Even so, this was a pretty comprehensive win for Spurs who looked good from the opening kick.
• Gareth Bale... wow. What a performance. Yeah, his wages are insane, but having that kind of talent available, even if it’s in reserve/rotation, is worth extending his loan for another season. He’s just good, even if he does look like he’s lumbering forward at times.
• Dele is free! Now do Tanguy. Dele looked like a changed man, and not just because he had a new hairstyle. He’s still not at his peak, which shouldn’t be a surprise considering he’s barely played this season, but he still looked like Dele and meshed well with Spurs’ attack over the course of his shift.
• VAR is still garbage (VARbage?). First, I am shocked that Fleck wasn’t sent off for (deliberately?) raking his studs down the face of Gio Lo Celso, but then the armpit-hair-offside call that saw Sonny’s goal called back. Incredible. Thankfully Spurs still won big.
• Spurs press was excellent all match and so much fun to watch.
• What in the world did Tanguy Ndombele do to Ryan Mason that he’s not getting any time? We need an explanation, because you will never convince me that Harry Winks deserves minutes over him, sorry. (And Winks was okay going forward today, although still a sieve in the press)
• Mason isn’t exactly putting on a tactical masterclass, but he’s letting the good players do what they do best — push forward and attack. Even that’s an improvement over what we’ve seen this year under Mourinho. I’m starting to have hope, and that feels weird and scary.
• Boy, does it feel good to just watch Tottenham Hotspur just run another team through the wringer. Let’s do it again.