Tottenham Women keeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela is a seasoned professional in the art of game management. And on a sunny bank holiday Sunday, it took the Finland international less than 15 minutes to suffer the guttural boos of a deeply rankled Manchester United crowd at Leigh Sports Village for her exorbitant wasting of their precious WSL minutes.
Not that Korpela’s wry smile betrayed much remorse. If Spurs were to take anything from current league leaders United in the former’s ever-growing fight for survival, they'd need to employ all angles.
For half an hour, that blueprint looked dead-on, but as the final whistle blew on a comprehensive 3-0 defeat, those of Spurs' leaning were left to wrestle with the threat threat of relegation, or if a season-defining match against bottom-of-the-table Reading in two weeks' time will see them emerge on the right side of the top-flight margins.
“We’re not down, we’re not out” was the post-match mantra of Vicky Jepsen. And while the Spurs interim manager chirped a positive tune as she assessed her side’s performance, albeit admitting unequivocally that “the better side won”, there looms the worry that Spurs will need to work doubly hard to rise to their manager’s words in the season's final two matches relegation rivals Reading and West Ham.
Against United, Spurs looked like a team physically and mentally battling the drop. United fans were forced to wait a half hour before tasting sweet vindication as Amy Turner’s feeble back pass was pounced on by the ever-dangerous Leah Galton. A back-peddling Korpela failed to come off her line or cut off the angle, and Galton relished the opportunity.
Three minutes later, Ella Toone, who had rung circles through Spurs’ midfield, sailed in a cross from the subsequent corner and Alessia Russo fired a ferocious volley beyond Korpela that had all the vim of a death blow.
Eight minutes after the restart Galton’s sky-high cross into the box comically bamboozled Spurs defenders Kerys Harrop and Shelina Zadorsky, the ball bouncing off the former’s back where Nikita Parris picked up the rebound and thrashed home.
The goals were thematic of the match; Spurs fashioning the painful rods for their own backs and United obliging in the pain gleefully. And while United were seamlessly dominant throughout the match, Spurs conceded objectively cheap goals, finished off brilliantly by a United side deservedly top of the WSL table.
There is a positive to glean there: remove the individual errors and Spurs might have fared differently. They were not totally accommodating to United’s salvos. Bethany England was denied an early goal by a brilliant piece of last-ditch defending by Maya Le Tissier. She saw a glancing header flash just wide in the second half.
Jessica Naz and Celin Bizet Ildhusøy will wonder how their counter through United’s defence did not result in a goal six minutes from half-time as Ildhusøy's header rocketed off the crossbar. Mary Earps was forced to flex her England No. 1 calibre in front of England manager Sarina Wiegman with a brilliant double save in the game’s final moments.
Failing to see one of those efforts come good is technically new territory for Spurs, having managed a goal in every league match since the turn of the year to lift their paltry goal total of 11 in the season's first half to 25, eight of which belong to England.
"These are game-changing moments if they find the back of the net but we just couldn’t find a foothold in the game," Jepsen told BBC post-match.
Nevertheless, the threats Spurs mustered ultimately came at a huffing premium, while individual defensive lapses proved too costly, a combination that at this point of the season come as a death knell.
Jepsen insisted her side knew the challenge Sunday posed. "We knew it was going to be tough, and we have to either rise to that challenge. It’s flight or fight mode," Jepsen said.
But as the second half rolled into its final minutes, it was difficult not to wonder whether the modus operandi had always been consigned to damage limitation, flight mode initiated. An argument can, and should, be made that this was the necessary option: Spurs' goal difference ranks the best of the relegation scrap by some difference at -19 (made all the more salient with Reading's 5-0 capitulation to Aston Villa shortly after Spurs' defeat).
In such a tight contest, it's these margins that could make or break their survival.
But against United there was little sign of Spurs embarking on some remarkable comeback, nor attempting to do so more than a whimpering riposte after the first goal slipped under Korpela's flailing limbs. United dominated more than 75% possession, while rallying seven shots on target to Spurs' three. On a macro level, it's difficult not to point out the gulf steadily widening into a chasm between them and the top echelons of the table, a startling recognition given Spurs' impressive finish last season.
The biggest picture right now, however, is survival. Whether this season is a blip in Spurs' football evolution hinges on their performance against Reading, who sit just three points below Spurs in the league table.
A more bullish performance will be critical. On paper, Jepsen's side cut the top dog, their attacking calibre in England a clear and undeniable advantage if they can provide her the service she so desperately requires. But relegation battles are not played on paper, and this season, Spurs have fallen to successive defeats against the Royals, a 1-0 league loss in December before suffering a FA Cup fifth-round exit on penalties.
Against the backdrop of a double-header at Tottenham Hotspur stadium, the pressure of the occasion will be palpable, and Spurs will need to rise accordingly.
"We’re not down, we’re not out, this is a good run out for players who haven’t played in a while. We have to regroup, recover. We have Reading in two weeks, then West Ham after that so two big games then," Jepsen said to wrap up her assessment, and her positive is admirable, if not necessary.
Spurs sit in an undeniably precarious situation, three points off the drop zone with two fixtures remaining. Jepsen's side face a surmountable but heady litmus test in their fight for survival against Reading, but their calibre will need to tell.
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