Son spurs Tottenham to victory in third preseason friendly
By Aaron Coe
The same stars who propelled Tottenham Hotspur to victory in the second preseason match against Colchester again lifted Spurs to victory over MK Dons.
Tottenham Hotspur almost paid the price for getting off to a lethargic start defensively. However, the Spurs stars came out just enough to push Tottenham past League One MK Dons in the club’s third preseason game. Heung-Min Son again scored and assisted, while Lucas Moura continues to look bright under new Head Coach Nuno Espirito Santo. Ultimately the Lilywhites were too much for the Dons and left Milton Keynes with a 1-3 victory. So here is what transpired.
Spurs start slow and sloppy
Tottenham Hotspur started their third preseason match virtually sleepwalking against a game MK Dons team. The Dons were in front of fans for the first time since December and wanted to give them something to cheer about. This almost happened immediately.
Just as we had anticipated, Sergio Reguilón was back in the lineup for Tottenham at left-back. However, the Spaniard had an inauspicious start to the match when just under two minutes in, he misjudged the situation.
The Don’s had played a long ball down their right and Reguilón basically gave up on the play, assuming the ball would go out of bounds. He was wrong, the Dons got to the ball and earned a corner off of the cross. As if that play was not enough to wake up the team, minutes later disaster struck.
Seemingly out of nothing, with one simple ball chipped up the middle Scott Twine was in behind Cameron Carter-Vickers and the Spurs defense. Whiteman came out quickly but recklessly and fouled Twine. In a real match, he would have likely received at least a yellow as well, in a friendly, it was just a penalty.
The good news for Whiteman and Tottenham was that the academy product managed to save Matt O’Riley‘s subsequent penalty kick with a strong hand and a bit of fortune on the bounce of the rebound. After that big save, the Spurs seemed to start to settle in and slowly grabbed hold of possession and the match.
Tottenham ramped it up after the penalty save
Following the big save, momentum swung in favor of Tottenham and they began peppering shots toward Franco Ravizzoli and MK Don’s goal. Son was in from a nice Bergwijn chip at the back post, after settling the ball, the South Korean blasted over. Bergwijn cut in from the left and shot wide.
Reguilón gets behind the defense only to see his attempt saved by the boot of Ravizzoli and a hustling defense. As the pressure mounted it looked like Tottenham had broken the deadline when Dele played a nice little touch pass to Son making a short diagonal run behind the defense. Son t the ball in the net but the linesman had flagged Son for offsides.
Eventually, Lucas Moura had a nice pass to play in Heung-Min Son – who was flashing behind the defense. As Ravizzoli came rushing out, Son dinked a little chip over the keeper and into the net for a 0-1 Tottenham lead.
The first half ended without any more real action other than a couple of nice tackles from Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga. Skipp showed his stuff in the middle of the park and Tanganga made a nifty block in the box.