The myth concerning Tottenham’s status as a one-man team appears to finally be over: they are, in fact, comprised of two men.
Swansea City vs. Tottenham Hotspur: Final score 1-2, Bale and Vertonghen slay Swans
Gareth Bale and Jan Vertonghen were in superb form as Tottenham came away from the Liberty Stadium with a massive win.
Gareth Bale and Jan Vertonghen were in imperious form as Tottenham powered past Swansea, with two excellent first-half goals giving them a victory over the League Cup holders.
Vertonghen's goals have been important for Tottenham whether he's been at centre-back or left-back, but the Belgian scored a supreme goal from open play to open the scoring at the Liberty Stadium. Bringing the ball out of defence with a fine move, he found Gareth Bale, who returned the favour with a flicked ball over the top which found the continued run of the centre-back, and he kept his composure to prod the ball past the advancing Michel Vorm and into the corner of the net.
Swansea almost restored parity shortly afterwards, as Michu used his height to get above the Tottenham defence, but his finishing in the air is not quite of the standard of that on the ground, and he headed a decent cross wide to miss the opportunity. It was to prove costly - shortly afterwards, Swansea were two goals behind.
After Emmanuel Adebayor had missed a golden chance with a diabolical finish after being played through, Tottenham scored again, and their second goal was even better than the first - with the Swansea defence struggling to clear their lines, a loose ball was swept up by the advancing Vertonghen, who advanced into midfield before finding Gareth Bale, who wasted no time in sweeping the ball into the top corner with a glorious finish to double his side's advantage.
Swansea were not at their best, although did have opportunities to get back into the game. Dwight Tiendalli's cross found Nathan Dyer storming into the area, but the winger could only find the woodwork with his header as the Tottenham defence were caught out in the air again.
After half-time, Swansea improved, and although they could still not dominate Tottenham, they did force sporadic chances. Michu had another decent opportunity when Spurs were caught out from a quick free-kick, but Brad Friedel made sure the visitors didn't miss Hugo Lloris' presence by remaining alert to rush out of his goal and deny the chance. Shortly afterwards, yet another Tiendalli cross found yet another Swansea header, but Michu once again failed to hit the target.
Tottenham appeared to have the game under control, but Swansea found a way back into the match via Michu - Spurs had not heeded the multiple warnings they had received, and the Spaniard did not make the same mistake twice, powering a corner in off the post with a fine header.
It was then Spurs’ turn to hit the post, although unfortunately for the visitors it struck the outside of the woodwork. Gareth Bale launched an unstoppable foray from midfield, powering through the centre of the pitch before striking an early shot which caught Vorm off-guard, only for it to strike the post and run free, with Swansea still just in the game.
Spurs were now largely content to sit back, although they almost snatched a breakaway goal through Jermain Defoe, but Michel Vorm made an excellent save to keep his side in with a chance of snatching a point. In the end, however, time simply ran out for the Swans, with Spurs looking comfortable in holding their lead to give themselves a huge victory.
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