Tottenham: Bright spots from Spurs Carabao Cup win at Burnley

Tottenham Hotspur managed a 0-1 victory over Burnley to advance to the Quarterfinals of the Carabao Cup behind a couple of big performances. While a single cup win over a team winless in the Premier League will not quiet all the critics there were a few things Tottenham did very well which Spurs can build on moving forward.

Excellent Tottenham team play lost in early Kane miss

Unlike the match against West Ham and others where Harry Kane has not scored this season, Spurs talisman got a couple of looks at goal on Wednesday. Kane’s miss after being played in by Giovani Lo Celso just three minutes into the match underscores just how off Kane’s performance has been.

However, Kane’s miss aside, what got him in that position was good football from back to front, which we need to see more of.

The play started with a long ball into Matej Vydra, just over the head of Davinson Sanchez. Instead of being in on goal when the ball went over Sanchez’s head, there was Cristian Romero standing up keeping Vydra from moving forward.

This moment of pause from Vydra was all Sanchez needed to recover and nick the ball away from Vydra, collect it, and pass wide to Emerson Royal. Like that the potential opportunity was gone and Spurs were on their way up the pitch.

Royal did well to get his head up and played the ball up the line to the feet of Bryan Gil. Gil’s touch was just good enough to control possession and lay the ball back to Pierre Hojbjerg. Simultaneous to the Royal, to Gil, to Hojbjerg combination, Lo Celso was running up the pitch off the ball.

As the layoff came to Hojbjerg he split the lines with a nearly 30-yard first-time pass to Lo Celso who controls and dribbles forward. From there Lo Celso played the perfect through ball in front of Kane splitting the Burnley defence.

Sure Kane fluffed his lines with this opportunity but the opportunity itself was no fluke and represented some of the best team football Spurs played all evening.

Had Kane buried the opportunity who knows where the match would have led, the good news and important point is that the team created that chance with an excellent football move. No, Tottenham did not have similar sequences often enough but clearly, they can make it happen and need to build on that team success, even in Kane’s miss.

Spurs were good defensively

For not the first time and likely not the last time this season, Tottenham managed to win by a 1-nil scoreline. Whatever anyone thinks of Nuno Espirito Santo and his approach in general, the idea of not losing if you do not concede is pretty high on just about every coach’s priority list.

Burnley had only 1 shot on target for the entire match, it was a wishful effort from Ashley Barnes late in the match, which Pierluigi Gollini easily controlled. Gollini was not all that busy but did well with his feet as an option for the defenders and was quick off his line when the time came as well.

Another goal or two from the attack certainly would have made things easier but even during a hectic end to the match, where Burnley was throwing everything forward, Tottenham did not give up any clean looks at the goal.

Burnley is not a good attacking team – the Clarets only have seven goals in nine Premier League matches – so please do not think I’m overhyping the defense here, it was just one good game. However, Tottenham did just about everything right defensively to really not give up any chances, which kept the Clarets’ confidence low and helped to ensure Spurs’ advancement.

We know Tottenham needs to score to win, however, not conceding three goals is a big step toward victories too.