As Mike Tyson once observed: ‘Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.’
Take Nottingham Forest. They would have spent the week studying how to get into Tottenham’s faces, hassle their defenders passing out from the back and trouble them with pace and directness.
They then conceded to a Harry Kane goal after just five minutes. No wonder Steve Cooper looked crestfallen in his technical area. It was all too simple for Spurs.
So it was to Forest’s immense credit that they didn’t fold.