What can we takeaway from Tottenham Hotspurs’ second friendly?

The different goals showing Spurs flexibility

What was really the best part of the three goals Tottenham scored against Colchester was that each goal was different and showed a different aspect of the Tottenham attack to come this season.

The first goal looked familiar for Tottenham

Clearly, the goalscorer was different – Son vs Colchester and Dane Scarlett against Orient – but the build-up play to the two goals was nearly identical. Against the O’s Harry Winks played a ball into Lucas Moura who played a first-time through ball up to Scarlett. Against Leyton, Scarlett dribbled on and calmly tucked the ball into the corner for the goal.

In a very similar play against the U’s, it was again Winks who played the ball into Lucas in the middle of the pitch. Once again the Brazilian managed to turn and push the ball up-field with a first-time through ball pass. Wednesday it was Steven Bergwijn running onto the ball but he was not alone like Scarlett was. Instead, Stevie played a short pass into the on-running Son to finish the break. Bergwijn was one of several players who looked much better overall in his second match than he did in his first preseason game.

In both instances, the play started with Winks getting the ball to Lucas in the middle of the park. Then the Brazilian showed his keen eye for a pass with two beautiful one-touch balls between the lines and in front of the defenders. I know I like the finishes but love the intentional build-up play even more.

Son returning the love on Spurs second two

For the second goal, Tottenham finally converted on one of their corner attempts, as Moura made a nice near post run, redirecting a Son corner into the net. After Dier had come close on a couple of earlier attempts seeing Tottenham convert was great.

Last season Spurs looked like they were making progress on set-pieces but that progress never really turned into sustained success with free-kicks. Maybe this season will be different, maybe not but for now things are moving in the right direction.

The third and final goal came as again Son managed to get behind the Colchester defense. This time Sonny was in on the right and attacking down the end line. There was not a lot of service for Tottenham last season from the wings and certainly very little from the actual end line with a cutback.

In this play, Son was able to dribble up the end-line toward the near post and eventually knock a cross toward Dele Alli between a few players. There was likely a bit of fortune as Dele basically bungled the ball into the goal off of his shoulder/chest. There was little else Dele really could or needed to do as a ball on the one-foot line just needs to be finished anyway possible.

Tottenham was not perfect but the youngsters held the line in the second half and ran out 0-3 winners. The win means little but the confidence all around the club from a solid performance means a ton. Now it is on to MK Dons at the weekend as the preseason rolls on.