Kinsky the hero for Tottenham as Tel plays long enough to become the villain | OneFootball

A BBC Sport mishap which saw the headline of their minute-by-minute coverage at half-time read ‘Spurs frustrated as they bid for crucial win against Spurs’ acted as a fitting summary not just for a season in which they’ve repeatedly shot themselves in the foot, in a club history featuring similar acts of self-flagellation, but in this very game when Mathys Tel got to his own byline and delivered a tantalising cross for Leeds’ James Justin.

It was a mad moment deserving rather more than the palms to the floor ‘calm down’ motion from manager Roberto De Zerbi. A ‘what the f*** were you thinking’ action of some sort would have been more fitting. Perhaps he should have forced his tongue under his bottom lip and groaned “uhhhhhhh” like a primary school bully in a playground to expose Tel as a fool.

Watch it back and it genuinely looks as though Tel is finding a yard to deliver a cross against a very stretched Leeds defence, but he was in fact looking to clear his lines with a lofted pass, for some reason unbeknownst to anyone but him, across his own box which Kevin Danso did well to get a touch on to stop Justin scoring with a header.

Anyone watching that moment in isolation, given Tottenham’s relegation strife, would have assumed it was a clear sign of nerves. Anyone watching this game as a whole would instead declare it as evidence Tel’s peaking confidence as a Spurs player manifesting as a failure to think clearly when near his own box, or indeed within it.

He was outstanding in the final third for Tottenham. Most of their most dangerous openings, in the first half in particular, came when the Frenchman cut in on his right foot and delivered crosses at pace towards the back post.

He very nearly scored after driving into the area and body-feinting to squeeze through two Leeds defenders, and then did find the back of the net with a delightful effort from the edge of the box.

We dispute the commentary claim that “his first touch gives him the chance”. It was decent but left the ball too close to him, making the strike all the more impressive as he had to half dig, half clip the ball out from under his body and into the top corner via the fingertips of Karl Darlow. The power he got on the shot with such a small backlift was astonishing.

Tottenham will wish now that they hadn’t taken the foot off the gas. Leeds didn’t look like scoring but neither did they before Tel’s audacity came at the cost of a penalty and swung the momentum in the visitors’ favour.

He should have headed it clear or at the very least chosen a method which didn’t involve a famously difficult and risk-ridden skill in the overhead kick. The reward of getting the ball a bit further away from danger in no way merits the risk of conceding a penalty. He saw Ethan Ampadu coming, too.

Spurs suddenly looked unsure of themselves. They had made all the running in the game before the equaliser, which then saw Leeds look the more likely side to claim victory. Spurs owe their point to Antonin Kinsky. What a save.

Substitute Sean Longstaff ran far too easily off the back of the Spurs midfield and leathered the ball from the corner of the six-yard line box. Kinsky had no right to get his right hand up in time, nor to have the wrist strength to divert the ball onto the bar. Jordan Pickford has a rival for save of the season even before you consider just how important a save that could be.

It means that Tottenham – barring West Ham smashing in 10+ goals in their two remaining games against Newcastle (A) and Leeds (H) – will need four points from their remaining two games against Chelsea (A) and Everton (H) rather than six to be sure of a place in the Premier League next season.

It was a huge moment; one Spurs fans will labour over should they retain their Premier League status. And there should be no doubt as to who Spurs’ No.1 goalkeeper is when Guglielmo Vicario returns from injury in quite the reversal of fortunes for Kinsky two months on from his Madrid nightmare.

Just as there should be no doubt as to who should be rampaging down the left flank for Spurs, so long as De Zerbi spends the next week before a battle at Stamford Bridge reminding Tel that the freedom to express himself doesn’t extend to the confines of his own penalty box.