Slaven Bilic given something to smile about as West Ham show fight to beat Spurs

Mauricio Pochettino said that winning the League Cup is not a “life-changing” feat but the question for West Ham United now is whether winning this fourth-round tie against Tottenham Hotspur could be season-changing for the club - and, more pressingly, their manager.

This was the kind of fightback so pronounced and unexpected that it’s hard not to consider whether it could yet prove a turnaround for Slaven Bilic. Having come back from a desperate 2-0 down at half-time to win 3-2, West Ham displayed the kind of resolve and recovery that really should have been beyond a team under a manager meant to be a dead man walking.

Before even getting that far, though, it should have been beyond a team that were this bad in the first half and against a Spurs side on this type of form. Pochettino’s side lost all that momentum, and it means the 2018 League Cup won’t now be the first trophy of his career.

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Whether he actually cares about that only he will know, but he did put out a strong team even without Harry Kane, and then brought on both Mousa Dembele and Christian Eriksen to try and rescue this match. It didn’t matter by then, because it had already mattered more from West Ham.

You could see it in the way Mark Noble and Andy Carroll went around revving up their teammates, in how Andrew Ayew put the extra yards in to reach the ball for his two goals. It was all so different to the first half and most of the season so far, and also someway difficult to understand - especially given the very start to the game.

As tends to be the case in such situations, and with two teams in such starkly different form, it didn’t take long for all it to come together in a fairly conclusive manner. Six minutes in fact.

That was when West Ham stepped up with the kind of abandon that suggested a side without a proper plan, and without the kind of back-up that would have at least shown some kind of structure. Inevitably, they lost the ball, and Spurs showed the kind of ruthlessness that has won them so many games.

The thrillingly in-form Heung-Min Son surged forward, easily feeding the oncoming Moussa Sissoko, who was in an embarrassing amount of space to slide it past Adrian.

Even allowing for how atrocious West Ham were, that very move has become something so common to Spurs’ game and could well have tangible consequences for tougher games - like Saturday at Old Trafford. They have now repeatedly displayed that, if you dare to step out against them, they will brutally exploit the space by rampaging through with their paciest players.

They just again looked so dynamic, West Ham so devoid of ideas.

Pochettino had said before the game that he felt a physical battle against Andy Carroll would be a good experience for 19-year-old Juan Foyth in just his second game for Spurs since joining from Estudiantes, but any type of fight was a long time coming - or perhaps a long time gone. Despite their hulking striker facing a mere 19-year-old, West Ham couldn’t even seem to get any crosses up to Carroll. When they finally did, he somewhat farcically hacked at a loose ball in the area and almost fell over.

That was how bad it was for West Ham, and meant it wasn’t long until the score got worse. On 38 minutes, having already forced a brilliant save from Adrian with a header, Dele Alli got his goal. Son was again involved, as he teed the midfielder up on the edge of the box. Alli’s curling shot then deflected off the back of Declan Rice and in.

Some fight did finally return to West Ham in the second half, although in different ways. First, there was the wrong kind of fight, as Mark Noble got a booking having squared up to Danny Rose.

Then, there was the right kind of response, as West Ham did rally - and score.

On 55 minutes, a corner came out to the edge of the box for Edmilson Fernandes to fire back at goal with a fine rasping shot. Michael Vorm got down to parry it, but only to the feet of Andre Ayew, who hammered it into the net.

Spurs had suddenly lost all momentum and control, while West Ham had fully found a new life - and an equaliser.

Just five minutes after Ayew hit his first, he claimed a second. This was down to the tenacity of substitute Javier Hernandez, but also the sloppiness that seemed to overcome the Spurs defence. The Mexican striker burrowed his way into the box before squaring for Ayew to swerve the ball in.

You would have thought Spurs had been jolted into action with the way Son very quickly forced a save from Adrian, but something bigger seemed to have gone in their game. That was fully displayed on 71 minutes when none of their physically biggest players could get close to Ogbonna in the box, and the Italian was left to thunder a header past Vorm to make it 3-2.

Pochettino looked furious, but not frozen. Mousa Dembele was brought on, as Sissoko also hammered a shot at goal that Adrian beat away.

West Ham were now beating Spurs back in general, imbued by a new fire.

It said much that, even with Dembele and Eriksen on, the best Pochettino’s side could offer in response was Alli going over in the box.

No penalty was given by Mike Dean, just as no quarter had been given any more by West Ham.

There was a new grit through them, to put them through to the next round.

A new momentum? That’s harder to say, but they had done an admirable job of disrupting Spurs.

Their players were kicking the ball away in frustrating once the final whistle went, while West Ham's were punching in the air. Bilic was right in amongst them - and may yet be for some time longer.