Phillips made to wait

Ashley Phillips will have to wait a little while longer to make his full Tottenham Hotspur debut after missing out on Ange Postecoglou's XI to face Wolves. Losing Cristian Romero to suspension and Micky van de Ven to injury in Monday's 4-1 defeat at home to Chelsea, the Australian was always going to need to decide on a new defensive pairing for the game in the West Midlands.

With Eric Dier a certain starter after impressing in his game time against Chelsea, it was Ben Davies, upon his return from injury, who would come into the side to partner the long-serving Tottenham defender. Despite sitting behind Dier in the centre-back pecking order and appearing the perfect fit with no other senior centre-backs available, Phillips was named on the bench despite many tipping him to make his bow.

The ex-Blackburn Rovers man was joined in the dugout by academy ace Alfie Dorrington, who was named in the senior matchday squad for the very first time after an excellent season with Spurs' youngsters.

That Kulusevski and Porro combo

Amid questions over how Tottenham would react after losing four influential players for Saturday's game at Wolves, Postecoglou's men made the perfect start to the contest. Taking the lead through Brennan Johnson's first goal for the club, it was a scintillating move that was finished off by the summer signing.

With Pape Matar Sarr spreading the ball out to the right flank, Pedro Porro totally threw his opponent off with a nice dummy which resulted in Dejan Kulusevski receiving the ball. The Swede then pulled off a lovely drag-back and flick to play in Porro, who in turn put the ball on a plate for Johnson to net from point-blank range.

While Johnson will get the credit for scoring and Kulusevski for his outstanding flick, Porro deserves plenty of plaudits for his dummy and link-up play with the Swede as that was pivotal in the goal. The Spaniard and Kulusevski do appear to be building up a nice partnership with some good play down the right flank at times against Wolves.

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READ MORE: Ange Postecoglou opens up on Eric Dier, Ashley Phillips and how Tottenham will replace Maddison

Angry Ange

Leading 1-0 thanks to Johnson's third-minute goal, Spurs struggled to cause Wolves problems after that as the hosts took the game to them. Tottenham were rather passive at times, with the absence of four key players, especially James Maddison who makes them tick in the final third, certainly disrupting them.

Passing the ball around at the back a number of times and not looking to get it forward, Postecoglou was not happy with what he was watching in front of him. In the 38th minute of the contest, the 58-year-old was screaming at his players to 'get up' as they dallied with the ball at the back.

Getting his point across to his team, they did exactly what he asked as they started to getting it forward a bit more.

Bissouma booking

Yves Bissouma will now be absent for Tottenham's match against Aston Villa after the international break after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season. Walking the disciplinary tightrope for quite some time, the Mal international was cautioned towards the end of the first half for a foul on Mario Lemina.

It was rather a soft yellow card but referee Tim Robinson viewed it as an offense and duly brandished his card. Now set to miss a big game for Tottenham, some fans may perhaps be thankful that his fifth booking of the season came at Molineux and not next time out as that would have ruled him out of the upcoming Man City fixture.

There was one moment midway through the second half where it looked like Bissouma could have seen red for a challenge outside the box but, thankfully for Spurs, he wasn't shown his second yellow of the contest, which would've been a repeat of his red card at Luton Town one month ago. It came as no surprise to see the ex-Brighton & Hove Albion substituted in the closing stages as Giovani Lo Celso replaced him.

Devastating defeat

Heading into Monday's game against Chelsea unbeaten following an excellent start to the campaign, Spurs brought down the curtain on the week with two defeats. Looking good for all three points following Johnson's early strike, Wolves claimed the win at the death after stoppage-time goals from Pablo Sarabia and Mario Lemina.

Wolves had seen plenty of the ball throughout the game but they didn't exactly trouble Guglielmo Vicario in the Spurs goal despite creating a number of openings. Prior to Sarabia's superb equaliser, Tottenham did look on course to do what fellow top-four rivals Man City and Newcastle United had not done at Molineux by claiming all three points.

However, it was not to be following that cruel ending. Coping so well for the vast majority of the game without four of their key men, Postecoglou and Spurs will now break for the international fixtures and go again against Aston Villa later in the month.

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