Porro keeps Spurs trophy dream alive before Postecoglou slams Dier rumour

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Ange Postecoglou angrily hit back at any suggestion that Eric Dier missed Tottenham Hotspur’s FA Cup third-round victory over Burnley because of a proposed move to Bayern Munich.
Dier was not part of the Tottenham squad, amid reports from Germany that he has agreed in principle to move to the Bundesliga.
Postecoglou insisted that Dier’s absence was because of injury and Spurs said they had not been contacted by Bayern, although Telegraph Sport understands Dier is interested in a switch that would renew his link with his former team-mate Harry Kane.
Dier has only six months remaining on his Tottenham contract and is free to speak to foreign clubs, but Spurs will demand a fee to let him leave during January.
Bayern are thought to be prepared to pay less than £4 million for Dier this month and there is optimism in Germany that a deal can be completed.
“Eric pulled up sore and didn’t train yesterday,” said Postecoglou, before snapping back at another question on a potential move to Bayern.
Asked if the injury was related to Bayern’s interest in Dier, Postecoglou said: “It’s a separate issue, but don’t question my integrity. He was injured, it was nothing to do with anything else. He’s injured, I didn’t make that up. In terms of anything else, not on my radar, nothing I’ve heard of. It’s fair to say in the last 24 hours I’ve been focussing on the game.”
Postecoglou revealed defender Ben Davies suffered a hamstring injury during the Burnley game that could keep him out for some weeks, but when asked if he could still afford to lose Dier this month, he paused and answered: “Yes.”
The victory over Burnley was by no means the free-wheeling joy-ride of a performance that Tottenham fans have already come to love Postecoglou for, but they left having seen a stunning winner from Pedro Porro.
OH MY 🤯A moment of brilliance from @Pedroporro29_ for @SpursOfficial 💥#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/XYtGcPcTf7
Just as it seemed Tottenham would have to settle for a third-round replay, Porro smashed in a brilliant 79th-minute goal that kept alive Postecoglou’s hopes of finishing his first season as head coach with a trophy.
It has been 16 years since Spurs last won silverware, but their FA Cup campaign is still alive thanks to Porro producing the one moment of quality against a plucky Burnley side in a largely uninspiring tie.
Porro’s goal, a 20-yard thunderbolt after he had won back possession, also maintained Tottenham’s record of scoring in all 22 of their games under Postecoglou so far. 
There was a huge scare in the final minute of stoppage time, when Burnley goalkeeper Arjanet Muric, up for a corner, flicked the ball on with his head and Amdouni failed to hit the target.
Crikey, Burnley nearly equalised with this in the 97th minute 🫣#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/fnDrisxBgH
But Postecoglou was happy with having to rely on something out of the ordinary and said: “It looked like that’s what it was going to take. It’s a cup competition and most important is you find a way to win, and we did that. Ultimately, it’s about getting through to the next round because every game it’s going to take something on the day to get it done. Sometimes that can be something special like tonight.”
While Dier was not involved against Burnley, Postecoglou signalled that he was taking the FA Cup seriously by naming his strongest available team.
With Son Heung-min at the Asia Cup with South Korea, Rodrigo Bentancur captained Tottenham and Olivier Skipp deputised for Pape Matar Sarr, who has left for the Africa Cup of Nations.
It was Skipp who set up for Tottenham’s first good chance in the 10th minute. After receiving the ball from Destiny Udogie, the midfielder sent Richarlison through on goal but he shot wide.
Richarlison wasted another good chance after Spurs had capitalised on a mistake by Dara O’Shea. This time, the Brazilian’s shot was weak and Burnley goalkeeper Muric made a comfortable save.
Brennan Johnson also forced Muric into a save, but it was the visitors who should have opened the scoring just shy of the half-an-hour mark.
For all their dominance in possession, Tottenham had appeared vulnerable to the counter-attack and a brilliant pass over the top of their defence by Anass Zaroury seemed certain to end in a goal. Amdouni only had goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario to beat, but he hesitated before lifting the ball over the crossbar.
The visitors had offered no attacking threat in the second half, when Vincent Kompany made a triple change, sending on Nathan Redmond, Ameen Al-Dakhil and Mike Tresor. In the space of one minute, Burnley sent a corner straight into the hands of Vicario and Porro overhit a cross that Muric easily claimed, which just about summed up much of the game.
But, finally, a piece of real quality won the game for Tottenham. Muric tried to throw the ball out to Amdouni and Porro was alert to rob him and smash an unstoppable 20-yard shot into the net.
The home side still had to survive their last-gasp scare, but Spurs fans can dream that 2024 might be the year the club finally end their trophy drought.
But, finally, a piece of real quality won the game for Tottenham. Muric tried to throw the ball out to Amdouni and Porro was alert to rob him and smash an unstoppable 20-yard shot into the net.
We’re disappointed with the result but it’s about key moments. We’ve earned the right to play those kind of games. At the beginning of the season the gap was too great but you’ve seen in recent games we’ve earned the right. But when you concede a goal like that sometimes you have to take your hat of to it. 
It’s a cup competition so the bottom line is, whatever I say, whatever my analysis, we’re through to the next round. That’s the pleasing thing.
We were a little bit wsteful in the final third. You analyse those things and give feedback to players but it’s better to do that when you’re in the next round than out of the Cup. 
Look [Porro] has been outstanding all year. He’s working really hard on his defensive game but we know in an attacking sense he has all those qualities. We were going to need something special the way the game was going. 
[What’s the truth about Eric Dier] He’s injured and didn’t train yesterday. [Do you know anything about the rumours that a deal has been agreed for him with Bayern Munich?] Absolutely zero. 
“He shoots a lot in training – misses a lot but today it came off!” 🤣Get the sound on for a great interview with Brennan Johnson and Pedro Porro 🔊 pic.twitter.com/vKu0rUKKO3
I think it was luck but I’m very happy for the team, very happy to score my first goal of the season. 
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Tottenham are the second club in the fourth-round draw by virtue of a goal that woulkd grace any match but lit up an especially drab one like this. 
The goalkeeper Muric gets up high to win the header at the near post and flicks it to Amdouni who cuffs his right-foot volley from 12 yards miles over. What a chance! But he snatched at it. 
Burnley finally throw everyone forward and Tresor cuts the ball back from the left to Delcroix who hammers his shot straight at Davies and out for a corner. 
Lee Dixon gives the man of the match award to Porro, not only for his goal.
Muric comes up for a corner on the left that Tottenham defend stoutly but Brownhill is deep enough to soak up the clearance and stop Gil running through on an empty goal. 
Vitinho shimmies and then accelerates past Sessegnon but the ball bobbles up and he makes adreadful mess of the cross, swiping out out for a goal-kick. 
Porro is caught by Tresor across the ankle and Spurs’ probable matchwinner tumbles off the pitch and hits the steadycam operator. 
There will be seven minutes of stoppage time in total. 
Porro going for the assist to go with his goal rolls a pass straight to Brownhill 22 yards out and he slices his shot off the rapidly moving and bobbling ball out for a goal-kick.
Scarlett is played down the left of the box by Gil after the corner and his right-foot shot, the umpteenth from that side of the box aiming for the top left, hits O’Shea in the face and goes behind for another ultimately wastyed corner. 
Sessegnon shoots from the left of the box but clips it too close to Muric who turns it round the post. 
Triple Tottenham substitution:
Sessegnon ⇢ Johnson
Donley ⇢ Bentancur
Scarlett ⇢ Richarlison.
Hojbjerg had replaced Skipp a couple of minutes before.
Fabulous goal. Muric’s erratic throwing has come back to bite him. 
Tottenham 1 Burnley 0 (Porro)  A screamer! A gorgeous cherry on the rancid cake of this match. Muric bowls the ball out and Porro pounces to get there ahead of Tresor and takes two strides. He puts his laces through a right-foot shot from 25 yards and the ball wobbles, dips and swerves as it flies into the top-left corner. 
OH MY WORD PEDRO PORRO! 🚀@SpursOfficial | #EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/fTiJSem05p
Tresor jinks and dribbles down the left, latching on to Cullen’s diagonal. He faces up Porro but then slips the pass for Al Dakhil’s run down the left straight out for a goal-kick. You could hear the groan from East Lancs in here. 
Bentancur makes a mess of his control in the centre-circle but bites back to retrieve the ball and hold off Cullen. 
Chance of a break for Richarlison down the inside left but, having sped away from his pursuer, his pass intended for Udogie/Johnson/Kulusevski is too heavy. 
Tresor has a slim fissure of space in the inside left and hamers a shot straight into the covering Porro who celebrates like a proper Ruben Dias. Tresor swings the corner straight to Vicario. 
VAR check for a Spurs penalty when Johnson goes foot-to-foot with O’Shea to try to control a ball and hits the deck. He claims he was hit after he touched the ball but the VAR agrees that it happened at the same time. 
Triple Burnley change:
Al-Dakhil ⇢ Taylor
Redmond ⇢ Zaroury
Tresor ⇢ Ramsey. 
Chance for Johnson with a right-foot volley to the right of the penalty spot. Good connection with a round-house volley but too close to Muric who dives to his left to turn it away. Taylor is still off and Burnlet soldier on with 10. 
Porro cuts a pass from the right touchline into the right of the box and Johnson’s heavy second touch pumps the ball out for a goal-kick. Taylor fell heavily on his shoulder and needs treatment before the game can resume. Rather he fell heavily and put his arm out to break the fall and jarred the socket. 
Bruun Larsen makes a good run up the inside left but Skipp stops him. 
A curious hesitancy is ruining this game.
A change apiece:
Gil ⇢ Lo Celso which means Kulusevski switches to the 10 role.
Brownhill ⇢ Odobert a move which pushes Ramsey further forward. 
Porro crosses deep from the right and the ball arcs to the back post, about six yards out. Johnson meets it on the volley. about 12 inches off the ground but scuffs it closer to the right corner flag than the goals. 
Delcroix looks a good player, reading the intentions of the passer fluently. For the third or fourth time this match he has anticipated a Johnson pass in to either Kulusevski or Richarlison, this time the latter, and picks it off in the penalty area. 
Odabert twice has Porro on toast to cut inside on his right from the left. He loses the ball the firts time before he can shoot on target but sweeps the pass next time to Cullen 22 yards out but the holding midfielder scuds his daisy-cutter shot wide of the left post. 
Richarliso gets away with messing up an elementary pass to Johnosn when the ball hits O’Shea and comes back to him. So he switches it to the right and Kulusevski bends a left-foot shot over the angle of cross-bar and left post. 
Johnson gets away from O’Shea down the left but pulls his centre just behind Richarlison and Delcroix steps in to scramble it away. As the ball comes back towards the Burnley box, Lo Celso lets fly and Muric dives to slap it away. Wouldn’t have counted as there was an offside touch in the build-up. 
Burnley make a change at the start of the second half: Bruun Larsen ⇢ Foster.
Spurs try to inject some urgency from the off with Porro’s dart down the right. When his cross is turned away for a throw he appeals to the crowd to pump up the volume. 
What’s killing the FA Cup? Twenty-five years of top clubs not prioritising it but winning it anyway which has led to a loss of excitement that used to fuel these games. Friday night kick-offs and, Lord help us Thursday night ones, are another contributing factor to its diminishment. Any road … Burnley have generally set up well and are scrapping, carving out a couple of opportunities while Spurs’ brightness in the first 10 minutes has faded. There’s a dearth of class on show so far. 
Foster’s heavy touch spoils a decent chance to break from deep when the ball is played to feet just inside the Spurs’ half. Had he trapped it he could well have caught the Tottenham centre-backs too high. But if my auntie …
Zaroury swipes a 30-yard effort over the bar. Right idea, wrong trajectory. 
Tottenham free-kick on the left, bent in by Johnson … straight down Muric’s throat. 
Not a poor game by any stretch but Burnley are stifling Tottenham with their tactics and Spurs have yet to find the quality to create anything much. Burnley have made a couple of opportunities on the break but again have lacked the finish. 
Skipp fouls Zaroury 30 yards from the Burnley goal and relieves the pressure. 
Skipp tries to play in Richarlison with a pass up the inside right but it lacked precision. as too may of Spurs’ passes in and around the box have. Burnley have done well to narrow the gap between the lines and have sprung their press to perfection so far. 
Lo Celso wants a free-kick when Cullen makes a well-judged but robust tackle just in front of the D but the referee is right to wave play on. Lo Celso had his back to goal and was about to spin and turn Udogie’s pass round the corner when dispossesed. 
Lo Celso is hurt when Ramsey diddles him with a drag back and lands on his knee with his studs as Lo Celso slid in. Complete accident and the referee takes no further action. Seconds later Johnson steals round the back to get on the end of Kulusevski’s looping cross from the right but stabs it straight out for a goal-kick rather than angling it back on goal. Looks like he was offside, too. 
Couple of slick moves from Burnley around the box, with Taylor to the fore up the left. The first ends with a game of ‘After you, Claud’ as both Odabert and Zaroury leave it to each other to shoot but then Zaroury does well to slip Amdouni in with a ball between Emerson Royal and Davies. The flag goes up when Amdouni hooks his shot high and wide from the penalty spot, having waited an age for the ball to come down from the bounce and then spin behind him. He took a heavy touch, too. But he was onside and had he beaten Vicario the goal would have stood.  
A huge chance goes amiss for @BurnleyOfficial 😬What an assist that would’ve been 😮‍💨#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/DQ2ajeWCkY
Muric throws the ball up the left straight to Porro, bowling it 40 yards but still short of his intended target. Porro intercepts then slips a quick pass inside for Richarlison who gets too much on his first-time release intended for Kulusevski, ruining the opportunity and forcing Kulusevski to arrive late and concede a foul on Delcroix. 
Skipp pounces when Muric plays out unreasonably short from the back to Zaroury and Ramsey has to bail him out by whacking the ball behind for a corner … which Muric redeems himself by gobbling up. 
Burnley are well organised and compact but you sense a mistake would open them up. Cullen is booked and the move halted belatedly for a free-kick when he flies into a tackle on Lo Celso and then also scissors him with his trailing leg. 
Lo Celso flashes a shot over the bar from the inside-left channel, forced to snatch at after he was closed down. Emerson Royal, ostensibly a centre-back, was the man doing the probing tenaciously around the 18-yard line to work a sliver of spce for the Argentina attacking midfielder.   
It’s been all Spurs this last five minutes, hounding and winning the ball high up with both full-backs pushed high to make it six up top. Kulusevski uses their numerical advantage to fashion a cross from the right that Johnson steers into Muric’s arms with a weak header after taking up a good position. 
Spurs fans rise to applaud the 16-year-old Tottenham fan Harry Pitman who was murdered in London on New Year’s Eve. 
Delcroix comes across to help out Vitinho and pick off Johnson’s reverse pass down the inside left intended for Kulusevski’s clever run. 
Plenty of jam for Spurs on their left and this time Johnson uses his pace and a shimmy to drive indie past Vitinho to bend a shot towards the far corner which Muric pushes away at full stretch. 
Richarlison beats the offside trap with a run in from the left, heading for the left of the D, but, having done the right thing with his timing, he can’t wrap his instep around his left-foot shot sufficently enough to whip it wide of Muric. 
Johnson sends the corner from the left deep, too deep and Ramsey sees off Kulusevski’s attempt to recycle. Burnley break from the goal-kick which is whacked long by Muric and Odobert cuts in off the left to thump a rasping right-foot shot from 28 yards that Vicario dives to his left to parry away. 
Nice long, diagonal pass from Vicario puts Johnson away down the left andhe beats Vitinho with a trick when he tacked back then bombed to the byline but O’Shea watched the ball and tackled him before he could cross at the price of a corner. 
Before Sam Barrott was told to wait by VAR, Burnley broke up the left with Taylor bombing on and whipping a cross from behind Porro that Foster shanked on the half-volley. 
Burnley are quite happy to let Tottenham have the ball and line up defensively with two banks of four as Spurs’ full backs push up. Udogie and Johnson go down in the box within 10 seconds of each other. The referee waves play on twice. 
VAR pulls the game back to look at one of them, when Zaroury’s foot hit Udogie but ultimately sticks with the ref’s decision. 
Burnley kick off, attacking from left to right and launch it long. The main camera position at the Tottenham Hotspur position is the worst in the top flight with the exception of the London Stadium. 
Both sides in their home kits – Spurs in all white, Burnley in the famous claret and blue they have worn since switching from green in 1910
Eric Dier is not part of the Tottenham squad, amid reports from Germany that he has agreed in principle to move to Bayern Munich.
Spurs described his absence as being injury related and insisted they had not been contacted by the German club.
Dier only has six months left on his Tottenham contract and is free to speak to foreign clubs, but the Tottenham will demand a fee to let him leave during January.
▪️ The FA Cup tradition▪️ Missing Son, Bissouma and Sarr▪️ Bentancur as skipperSpurs boss Ange Postecoglou spoke to @Becky_Ives_ before his side take on Burnley 💬 pic.twitter.com/kpxr7EVi2y
Cue the obnoxious Joey Barton going Garrity. 
A message from ITV Sport. pic.twitter.com/6To8BkNWc1
 
Van de Ven and Sessegnon move closer to first-team returns with a return as substitutes. 
Tottenham Hotspur  Vicario; Porro, Emerson, Davies, Udogie; Skipp, Bentancur; Kulusevski, Lo Celso, Johnson, Richarlison. Substitutes  Forster (g), Hojbjerg, Gil, Sessegnon, Forster, Phillips, Van de Ven, Scarlett, Donley, Dorrington. 
Burnley  Muric; Vitinho, O’Shea, Delcroix, Taylor; Zaroury, Ramsey, Cullen, Odobert; Foster, Amdouni. Substitutes  Vigouroux (g), Cork, Brownhill, Rodriguez, Roberts, Redmond, Al Dakhil, Ndayishimiye, Bruun Larsen.
Referee  Sam Barrott (Huddersfield)
In come Skipp and Kulusevski for Sarr and Son while Burnley call up Muric, Delcroix, Cullen, Ramsey and Zarouri for Trafford, Beyer, Brownhill, Berge and Gudmundsson. 
Tonight’s starting XI 👊 pic.twitter.com/h6G2ylIjGG
Team news is in! 🤍 pic.twitter.com/P1VA6LmWaJ
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Good evening and welcome to live coverage of the FA Cup third-round tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Burnley, a fixture in this competition that brought both sides together for the final in 1962 when Spurs, Double-winners in 1960-61, took on their predecessors as League champions and beat them 3-1. Burnley had battled so hard from 1-0 down to equalise through Jimmy Robson but parity lasted barely a minute before Bobby Smith restored Tottenham’s lead and they went on to win the Cup for the second season in succession, a feat they would repeat in 1981 and 1982. 
By the time Spurs won it for the eighth time in 1991, they could consider themselves true Cup kings but in the 32 barren years that have followed, including eight semi-final defeats, they have been caught by Liverpool and Chelsea and eclipsed by Manchester United (12) and Arsenal who now have 14 even though they had a ‘mere’ five in 1991.
Burnley enjoyed a modicum of revenge in 1963 when they defeated Tottenham 3-0 at the third-round stage during the Big Freeze which meant the third-round proper stretched from Jan 5 to March 11 but Spurs won the subseqent two Cup ties and the Clarets have not beaten them away in any competition for 40 years.
The home side, fifth in the Premier League, 14 places and 28 points better off than the visitors, are missing Son Heung-min, Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr at the Asian Cup and Africa Cup of Nations. Ryan Sessegnon, Micky van de Ven, Christian Romero, Manor Solomon, James Maddison, Ivan Perisic and Alejo Veliz are also absent through injury. Better news comes with the return of Dejan Kulusevski from suspension tonight and Rodrigo Bentancur’s successful comeback on New Year’s Eve.
Luca Koleosho, Jack Cork, Hjalmar Ekdal and Jordan Beyer are all sidelined for Burnley who hope to have Josh Cullen back. Should Vincent Kompany choose to rotate his side as he did on the run to the quarter-finals last year, there could be starting opportunities for Jay Rodriguez, Aaron Ramsey, Connor Roberts and Nathan Redmond.
Join us for the team news and all the build-up from 7pm.