Takeaways from Tottenham’s final preseason game.
In the final preseason friendly of the year, a rotated Tottenham Hotspur side fell 2-1 to a game Watford team looking to make a statement after relegation.
Tottenham Hotspur did not play particularly well in the 2-1 loss at Watford in the final preseason tune-up for Everton a week from Sunday. However, with a largely rotated side, outside of a few lingering questions, the result is not indicative of the team that will face the Toffees next weekend at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It was a mostly youthful Spurs team that faced Watford FC, who played the match very much to win.
The main storyline of the match was already known before the game began as many of the Tottenham Hotspur players who had garnered minutes thus far in preseason were simply unavailable for the match.
Nailed on starters, like Harry Kane, Toby Alderweireld, Ben Davies, and Hugo Lloris were all not available as they were on international duty. Presumably, new boys Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Matt Doherty will be starters as well and both were also with their national sides. Add in squad players like Steven Bergwijn and Ryan Sessegnon – who both scored for their respective national sides – being away and Tottenham was already starting the match short.
Who featured for Spurs?
While Spurs were short overall, there were still plenty of first-team names in the starting line-up. In fact, the front four were only missing one member, Harry Kane, which makes this is a vastly different side.
For all Heung-Min Son can do as an attacker, he is not really the kind of player who checks into the ball to play hold-up football leading the line. Son can be played in behind, run the channels, and definitely score goals, but he is not your classic target striker and that was clear on this day as Tottenham relied heavily on longer balls and working the channels and flanks.
As has been the case since Fernando Llorente left, Kane is the only true striker in the club and if nothing else was apparent from this match, that should be, again. Without Kane, Lucas Moura, Dele Alli, Erik Lamela, and Son played some nifty passes, had some spots of dribble, but seemed to lack that outlet they could all play around, aka Kane.
Outside of the attack, we saw Tanguy Ndombele and Davinson Sanchez both for the first time this year and while both had a few moments, they clearly showed some rust. Sanchez was on the left side of the center-half pair with Cameron Carter-Vickers and continued to show he is not a left-sided center-half.
Sanchez can do a job on the right, but he just is not as comfortable on the left, which is why we will continue to see a healthy does of Eric Dier or even Ben Davies until a left-sided center-half is brought in.
Ndombele had a few nice passes which really catch the eye, however, whether it is his physical shape or his actual work rate, he struggled getting up and down the pitch.
The rest of the starting XI was a mix of experience and youth as Serge Aurier and Joe Hart started along with Dennis Cirkin and Harvey White. Arguably the two academy products had better matches, although Cirkin did give up a penalty, which maybe VAR would have marked outside the box, but still a mark on an otherwise solid performance.
White on the other hand, may have been Spurs’ best performer on the day putting in an impressive 70-plus minutes.
So, the team was Hart, Aurier, Carter-Vickers, Sanchez, Cirkin, White, Ndombele, Moura, Alli, Lamela, and Son (C).
Bright spots for Spurs
There were some bright spots for Tottenham Hotspur on the day, maybe the brightest being Harvey White. White has seen some extended minutes in the preseason, with even more given the loan of Oliver Skipp. Whether White sticks with the club or goes out on loan for some minutes himself, it is clear the young man can play.
White spent his time as one of the two deep-lying midfielders playing next to Ndombele, and later Dele, doing his best to bring a mix of the passing Harry Winks does, along with some of the toughness of Hojbjerg.
While neither of those two skillsets are at the level yet, it is clear White knows what he is doing, is calm on the ball, and can flat out play football. White he played a nice, direct pass to Lamela to set up the penalty for Spurs’ only goal. I have seen far too many Spurs play that same ball sideways over the last few years, sometimes the directness of youth is a good thing.
Besides White, Dele Alli and Heung-Min Son both played hard for 90 minutes. While neither played particularly well, they both showed the kind of aggression and effort that those watching “All or Nothing” have been hearing Jose Mourinho demand. Two plays demonstrated this commitment.
The first was at 72 minutes when Dele went in hard and probably a bit late on the ball. Originally, it looked like a 50/50, but the more you saw the slow-motion replay, the more you were happy there was no VAR.
Dele was given a yellow and I am in no way condoning any kind of play that may injure another, but to show that kind of aggression to win the ball back 80-plus minutes into a meaningless preseason friendly tells me something about Dele’s attitude going into the season. I recently wrote that Dele is at a crossroads, and while the finished product was not there today, no one can complain about the effort. If that effort continues, Dele is just too good not to produce.
Son did score Spurs’ only goal, burying the penalty White and Lamela had drawn. However, it was literally the last kick of the match that most impressed me about Son today. Spurs had a corner in the final second of injury-time so Paulo Gazzaniga came up field to pitch in. Of course, Spurs did not win the duel off the corner and Watford broke toward goal. It was not until you saw Marc Navarro try and score from quite a distance that it was clear, Spurs had an empty net.
Having already lost the friendly match, everyone could have just put their head down and said that the goal was inevitable. However, Son continued to sprint after the play, having tried to win the header on the attacking end and reached the end line and the ball just in time to clear it off the line and away from the net.
There is no goal difference yet and Spurs were losing either way, but the commitment from Son to chase the ball down and clear it away, preserving the one-goal deficit tells me where his head is and that we will not be seeing him shouted out by Hugo Lloris anytime soon. Well done Sonny!
Other Tottenham takeaways
Carter-Vickers looked better than Sanchez on the day. Neither were great and both were at fault for not stepping up to slow the dribbler on the first goal. CCV did show he can run with forwards and he is a smart player that he stays within himself, not trying to do too much.
Sometimes the simplest play, like a back pass or a clearance is best, if Juan Foyth could remember that it would serve him well as he got pick-pocketed trying to dribble out of trouble instead of playing the easy pass out of danger. Spurs have enough players who take chances and the back is not where they should occur, so Carter-Vickers helped himself on the day across 90 minutes, where Foyth did not have the best 45.
Dennis Cirkin did the job most of the first half before he replaced by Foyth. His pull down to concede the penalty was a sign of some youth and inexperience, but outside of that he played well. Cirkin was able to get forward a bit and did demonstrate some nifty dribbling skills, which I think Foyth was unfortunately trying to match, versus playing smart ball.
Regardless, Ben Davies is the starter at left back and it is hard to say where Cirkin or Foyth might be in a week as they both need minutes and they may be hard to come by in this squad.
Jack Clarke again showed some spark in his half of play. Clarke has the quick feet and attacking mentality that make for an excellent winger. At about three minutes, Clarke showed off some of his excellent footwork, beating two defenders with some quick cutbacks, and then laying a beautiful cross along the three-yard line.
Unfortunately for Spurs, no one could really get on the end of it. Unfortunately for Clarke, like Cirkin, Foyth, and CCV, the question for is where minutes are going to come from. With Son, Lamela, Bergwijn, and Lucas in front of him, Clarke may have a hard time getting the minutes he needs to grow.
Of note, Jamie Bowden did make a late appearance, coming on for the last 15 or so minutes for Harvey White. If nothing else, Bowden had one heck of an open field tackle but did not have enough time to show much else in his brief stint.
In the end this match was what it was, a preseason friendly where Watford wanted it more, at least in the first half, so they won. Not the birthday present Spurs wanted, but Tottenham got much of what they needed, minutes for lots of players and no significant injuries.
Now the question is how many of the players seen today will be on the team, let alone in the squad come next weekend versus Everton as Kane and company return. Also, the question of back-up striker remains, but I guess some things never change.