Burnley 2-5 Tottenham: Clarets remain pointless after Son hat-trick and defensive horror show

Vincent Kompany’s men were put to the sword by Son’s hat-trick, with further goals coming from Christian Romero and James Maddison.

It’s hard to believe the Clarets actually started the game well and on the front foot, deservedly taking the lead through Lyle Foster’s second of the season.

That goal was created by Luca Koleosho, who was Burnley’s only real bright spark before hobbling off with a knock late on.

Once Spurs got back into the game through Son’s first, it was one-way traffic with Ange Postecoglu’s men cutting the Clarets open time and time again.

The hosts continue to look threatening in attack but they’ve been far too easy to get at defensively so far this season, shipping 11 goals in their first three games.

They did at least restore a smidgen of pride when substitute Josh Brownhill netted a late consolation.

Kompany opted to make two changes to his side from Burnley’s last league game, the 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa.

The headline news was that Jordan Beyer made an early return from injury, replacing Hannes Delcroix in the backline.

This came as a major boost for the Clarets given Kompany had previously suggested the defender would be out until after the international break.

Johann Gudmundsson, meanwhile, kept his place in the side after starting against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup in midweek. Manuel Benson was the man to make way.

Anass Zaroury served the third and final game of his three-match ban following the red card he was shown against Manchester CIty on the opening day.

Elsewhere, Hjalmar Ekdal, Vitinho and Aaron Ramsey all missed out after picking up knocks against Forest.

Michael Obafemi is still sidelined with a hamstring injury, while Darko Churlinov remains missing as a result of his summer health scare.

As for Spurs, Richarlison was only fit enough to start on the bench after picking up a slight knock against Fulham in the Carabao Cup.

In both of Burnley’s league games so far this season Kompany’s men have been behind inside the opening 10 minutes.

There was another early goal here too, but thankfully it came Burnley’s way - and it was deserved too for a fast start from the hosts.

Sander Berge and Connor Roberts did well in the build-up to unleash Luca Koleosho down the left. The winger still had plenty to do but he rinsed his marker before pulling the ball back for Lyle Foster to flick home his second goal of the campaign.

It was just reward for a really positive start from the Clarets, who threatened for a second time when Foster had the beating of Micky van de Ven inside the box only to delay his cross, allowing the Spurs man to recover.

As for Tottenham, they briefly threatened when James Maddison raced into the box before throwing himself to the ground as soon as he encountered a Burnley man - but the referee waved away the desperate pleas and rightly awarded a goal kick.

Manor Solomon then got the wrong side of Ameen Al-Dakhil, but thankfully Berge got back to make an important block just as the Spurs winger pulled the trigger.

Unfortunately Burnley’s lead was fairly quickly wiped out when Son levelled for the away side with an exquisite chip over James Trafford.

It was far too easy for Spurs to get in behind Burnley’s backline though, picking out Son with a rudimentary long ball over the top of Jordan Beyer, allowing the South Korean to exchange a quick one-two with Solomon before dispatching with aplomb.

To Burnley’s credit, they responded well to the setback, Koleosho heading wide from a good distance out before Zeki Amdouni drilled just wide after turning smartly 25 yards out from goal.

Such was the intensity of Tottenham’s press, Burnley somehow transpired to concede a corner after trying to play out from the back.

Beyer atoned for his earlier error for the Spurs goal by making an important interception to deny Dejan Kulusevski, who had surged into the Burnley box a little too easily.

Spurs were beginning to have too much joy at this point, with Maddison in particular pulling the strings in the middle of the park.

The former Leicester City man set Solomon free with a lovely sweeping ball down the left flank but Solomon couldn’t pick out a teammate in the centre.

Maddison almost added his side’s second when he was teed up 25 yards out, but Trafford flung himself across goal to push away his powerful effort.

Burnley simply weren’t allowed to work their way up the pitch. As soon as a player received the ball a Spurs man was onto them within a flash, inevitably forcing a mistake.

Kompany’s men did eventually threaten four minutes before the break when Connor Roberts was picked out in space from a Gudmundsson free-kick. Roberts was left unmarked to head the ball back across the face of goal but Spurs were able to get back and clear their lines.

Burnley would have been quite glad to get to the half-time interval still on level terms, but unfortunately those plans were blown into smidgerines when Spurs took the lead deep into stoppage-time.

Christian Romero was the unlikely source of their goal, slamming home in-off the post from outside the area after Maddison’s corner had only been partially cleared.

A VAR check for a possible offside took place afterwards, but the goal stood with Maddison deemed to have been offside when his delivery from the corner came back to him.

Kompany opted to switch things up at the break, introducing Hannes Delcroix and Josh Brownhill for Gudmundsson and Berge respectively.

Despite the changes, the second-half continued in the same vein as the first with Spurs getting in behind too easily. Maddison was able to create some space for himself in the box before seeing his low shot well saved by Trafford at his near post.

At the other end, Brownhill was straight into the action with a powerful, curving effort which dipped just above the Spurs goal.

The game’s next goal was always going to be crucial, but unfortunately - nine minutes into the second 45 - it came for Spurs.

Not only that, it was Maddison, the heartbeat of the Tottenham team, who struck it, smashing home into the far corner of Trafford’s net.

But what was most disappointing from Burnley’s point of view was that Maddison was afforded the freedom of Turf Moor to get his shot off after the ball had ricocheted for him in the centre of the pitch.

There was only one winner from this point onwards, with Spurs playing with freedom and confidence as they hunted down further goals.

They inevitably came, too, with Son adding his second of the afternoon, side footing home from 10 yards out after the Clarets had once again been sliced open far too easily.

Barely a few minutes passed before Son completed his hat-trick, slotting home after racing on another incisive ball through the heart of Burnley’s stationary defence.

Unsurprisingly, that was the cue for many Burnley fans to leave their seats and head for the exits.

To rub salt into the wound, Koleosho - Burnley’s best performer by some margin - was forced to hobble off to be replaced by Jacob Bruun Larsen.

To Burnley’s credit, they did fight until the very end in a bid to reduce the deficit, even though they knew the game was long over and done with.

The home crowd stuck with them too even when it would have been easy to throw in the towel and get on the players’ backs. They got some sort of reward when Brownhill netted a late consolation with a low drive across the keeper.

Nevertheless, there’s a great deal for Kompany and his coaching staff to work on over the international break, with a trip to Nottingham Forest up next in two weeks’ time.

TEAMS

Burnley: Trafford, Roberts, O’Shea, Beyer (Cork), Al-Dakhil, Cullen, Berge (Brownhill), Gudmundsson (Delcroix), Koleosho (Bruun Larsen), Amdouni (Redmond), Foster

Subs not used: Muric, Benson, Odobert, Rodriguez

Spurs: Vicario, Udogie, Porro, van de Ven, Romero, Bissouma, Sarr (Hojbjerg), Maddison (Emerson), Kulusevski (Skipp), Solomon (Perisic), Son (Richarlison)

Subs not used: Foster, Davies, Phillips, Sanchez

Referee: Darren England