Tottenham Hotspur played one of the dirtiest teams in European football, drawing 1-1 to Getafe in their latest preseason fixture. Here were the stars and flops from a tense matchup.
Star: CB Jan Paul van Hecke
No doubt the best player on the pitch for Tottenham, and this performance from Jan Paul van Hecke showed exactly why Roberto De Zerbi wanted him so badly. As one of the biggest clubs in England, Spurs are going to face a lot of low blocks, even in the Premier League, and Van Hecke is even superior to Cristian Romero at breaking them as a center back with marauding runs on the ball and beatiful passes.
Van Hecke put a certain box to box midfielder for Spurs to shame with this performance, and Getafe could not touch him on the ball.
Flop: CM Lucas Bergvall
He flat out stunk. Lucas Bergvall needs to start showing more awareness and playing smarter out of possession with his positioning, because he is going to be a liability. Instead of having his head in the clouds, he needs to get to work and improve his game.
Star: RB Archie Gray
Unlike Bergvall, Archie Gray puts the team first, and the captain proved that again vs. Getafe with an even better display at right back. He is rock solid.
Flop: RW Mikey Moore
Mikey Moore was quite poor against Getafe, and while the La Liga side have a tough defense to crack, they are still the level of opponent that a prospect like Moore should be having some luck against, especially since he is supposed to be the superior athlete. Tottenham Hotspur had better hope that FC Koln didn't watch this game and have second thoughts about taking him on loan, but Moore really does need consistent minutes in a top five league to actaully develop. And as we saw against Getafe, Moore is not at all ready to get significant minutes for a big club like Tottenham. He just doesn't have it in him right now to impact games week to week.
Star: DM Sandro Tonali
So, so good at dictating the tempo of the game, Sandro Tonali looks like he is going to prove his money's worth soon. And imagine how good he will be when he has Xavi Simons to feed in front of him. His technical quality and vision are far superior to anyone who has played for Spurs since Christian Eriksen.
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