Tottenham Hotspur showed some real signs of being a true Antonio Conte team as Spurs made it two wins from three in the league under the Italian in a 2-0 win over Brentford.
Tottenham Hotspur had not played since a disappointing loss to NS Mura a week prior, having been snowed out over the weekend. As such, it was hard to say what Spurs team would show up on Thursday evening at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to face the Bees. In a scrappy affair where the team who wanted it more was going to win, Spurs showed some classic Conte footballing effort and swept Brentford aside for three huge Premier League points.
Success started with team defence for Tottenham
Tottenham showed some real defensive identity and aggression from the start. Within the first minute, there was Heung-Min Son tracking defensively winning the ball back for Spurs. Although Tottenham almost immediately gave it back away, that effort from Son set the tone for what Spurs would do all night long.
Spurs struggled early to connect on second and third passes. Again and again, over the first 10 minutes, Tottenham would get the ball back and then just waste possession almost as quickly as the team looked to break quickly against a fast-breaking team.
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg would win the ball and then Dier’s pass to Kane would be off and possession would be lost. Kane especially had difficulties early as Brentford kept him under enormous pressure, so he tried more lay-offs and touch passes as a result. Even when played in by Son early, Kane’s touch failed him, and he lost the ball to defender Charlie Goode.
Spurs finally score on a corner
Despite the inability to put things all together, it was already the team’s fourth corner of the match, and the game was only 12 minutes old. For the third time in four attempts, Son played the ball short.
This time, Reguilón quickly played it back to the South Korean who immediately looked to attack at the edge. A feign right and a cut back to his left put Son past the defender and gave just enough space for him to whip a left-footed cross into the box.
Son’s cross came in with some real zip and Brentford won the initial header to try and clear the ball. Fortunately for Tottenham that clearance flew straight into the back of Sergi Canos’ head – as Ben Davies fought him for the ball – and deflected backward past Alvaro Fernandez into the net.
Initial Davies was credited with the goal but upon review, Canos’ was awarded the own goal. Davies, effort, and fight for the ball helped as did a magnificent cross from Son, who would later benefit from similar service.
Brentford had plenty of fight and was the aggressive, forward-thinking team that was advertised. The Bees even pushed enough to win the battle for possession with 53% to Spurs 47%. However, Tottenham dominated the categories that really mattered, like shots (11/6 Spurs), shots on target (6/2 Spurs), and of course goals 2-0 Spurs.
Effort more than efficiency won the day for Tottenham
Like almost every team that plays Brentford, Tottenham played at the Bees pace and as a result, were not sharp most of the evening. Rarely did all the parts work together as one for Spurs but it was neither from a lack of effort nor of ideas.
Oliver Skipp tried twice to play through balls. The first one was a bit too hard, and Fernandez came off his line to beat Emerson Royal to the ball. On the second, Skipp’s pass was perfect, but Kane’s shot was saved by Fernandez and the opportunity was lost. Unfortunately for Skipp a third chance never materialized for that through ball, but the idea was clear.
Such was the case most of the night, Kane would play in Royal perfect behind the defence but the cross would be lacking. Ben Davies would push up from left-back and provide a decent cross and no one could get to the end of it.
Fortunately, the effort never waned, and Spurs kept pushing for a second.
A second finally did come and it was the one time everything worked. The ball was played up to Son at midfield, who played a nice one-touch pass back to Kane just inside Spurs’ own half. Kane never hesitated in sending the first-time ball toward the flag for Reguilón behind the defence.
As players scrambled to respond to the ball, Son had already turned and started running up the middle of the pitch, anticipating Kane’s pass out to Reguilón. Sergio got this play right as he rolled the ball past three closing defenders and the goalkeeper to Son in the middle of the box who tucked the ball home for the 2-0 Spurs advantage with 25 minutes to play.
It was a play and movement run exactly as you would draw it up with multiple players running off the ball with some anticipation to create the moment, along with some wonderful passing.
After the goal, the Bees kept pushing and Spurs kept pushing back. Brentford dominated possession for the last 25 minutes, but Tottenham never looked flustered and got a big clean sheet to home a huge three-match homestand.
Spurs climb the table with the win
With the three points, Tottenham moves from 11th place to sixth in the Premier League table, just two points behind West Ham for fourth, and a point behind Arsenal for fifth. Manchester United is right behind Spurs two points back in seventh as the teams all jockey for that final Champions League invitation behind three clear front-runners.
From here Tottenham stays in north London hosting Norwich at the weekend, looking to extend their Premier League unbeaten streak to four and win streak to three.