2 out of 2 for Tottenham in pre-season
By Tom Vinall
Tottenham Hotspur made it 2 wins from as many pre-season games with a 2-0 victory over Championship side Queens Park Rangers in West London.
The first-half XI at Loftus Road was; Austin; Porro, Gray, Skipp, Donley; Sarr, Bissouma; Johnson, Bergvall, Werner; Son. Bergvall had to be replaced after 26 minutes by Dejan Kulusevski, but Ange implied it wasn't much more than a precaution - "Just a bit sore. I don't think it was anything significant."
The first half-score was 1-0, thanks to a lovely Bissouma goal right before the break. The Malian midfielder picked the ball up in the middle of the QPR half, jinked past his man, drove towards the box, and played a neat 1-2 with Kulusevski, before calmly rounding the goalkeeper to tap into an empty net. A superb goal from a man full of confidence at the moment.
The second half XI was; Gunter; Spence, Royal, Phillips, Abbott: Kulusevski, Devine, Maddison, Solomon; Lankshear, Moore.
Alejo Veliz replaced Kulusevski, who of course had played 19 minutes more than the other players playing in the second half, and Tyrese Hall replaced Lankshear in a double substitution after 66 minutes. Dane Scarlett then replaced Hall himself 5 minutes from time.
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Tottenham make it 2 from 2 in pre-season
The 20-year-old striker wasted no time, scoring just two minutes later after a sublime outside-of-the-foot cross from the once again impressive Mikey Moore, who has so many Spurs fans extremely excited about what is to come.
Vyes Bissouma has been singled out for praise by much of the Spurs fanbase, with the old-age cliche "like a new signing" mentioned a couple of times. If Spurs can get the Bissouma that started last season so well back this season then they will be a much better team for it.
It is just about consistency with Bissouma, and Ange even alluded to that himself, when asked by the club about the midfielder's goal: "Yeah [it will give him confidence], but it is only a friendly. I want to see him do it in a game. He's capable of it. That's our challenge for all our guys. We know the capabilities are there. We've got to produce when it counts. He was good today, he's been good through pre-season [including training] and we've just got to keep pushing him."
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Spurs will face Vissel Kobe in Japan next Saturday, KO 11am BST.