Spurs Only Need 10 Men to Stop Saints

Go figure.

During the midweek, a full Tottenham Hotspur squad couldn't put anything past League Two Colchester in the Carabao Cup and then go down on penalties.

Now, back up against a Premiership foe in Southampton, dudes played a man down for a hour and carried the day with a 2-1 triumph.

For whatever reason, North London sides are defense-optional, and if Arsenal hadn't already made that point last week, Spurs underscored it this week.

 

Tottenham got the ball rolling -- literally and figuratively -- in the 24th minute when they still had eleven dudes on the pitch.

South Korean international Heung-Min Son was the architect, zipping down the left side and dishing to Tanguy Ndombele, who slotted a left-footed effort past Angus Gunn:

 

So far, so good.

 

How about anyone can win with a full team out there, unless of course, they're playing Colchester United.

So, why not have one of the crew go brain-dead and pick up a pair of yellows in five minutes?

That'd be Serge Aurier.

 

Fullbacks in North London. Can't live with 'em. Can't kill 'em.

Going into WTF mode must've been contagious. Eight minutes after the sending off, Spurs 'keeper Hugo Lloris thought he was Lionel Messi 2.0 or something and tried to get nimble around Danny Ings inside the six-yard box.

No go. Talk about conceding a silly goal:

 

 

However, just three minutes later, Harry Kane restored the hosts' lead.

A damn fine build-up involving Son, Christian Eriksen, and Kane ended up with a clinical finish from the English striker:

 

After the interval, Southampton pushed hard for an equalizer, but a resilient Spurs attack kept them from testing what left of their defense.

Tottenham -- and Arsenal -- may have just found a novel way to cut payroll. As long as neither plays Colchester.