All the goals as Tottenham sweep past Auckland FC
There will be some who will be cooing over the win down under. I might humbly suggest that they dispense with the idea of hiding behind ‘you can only play who’s in front of you’ and start thinking about how insufficient Spurs have been in the Premier League for the past two seasons.
Dane Scarlett’s goal was great to see, but few, if any, chances like that will be gifted to us back in Blighty. Third-form defending at best delivered an opportunity few would miss.
The positive there was the cross from Archie Gray - more please.
I see praise being heaped on Tel for his role in the Brazilian’s tap-in, and I wonder whether anyone who is praising him has ever watched top-flight football. We’ve just sat through a World Cup, for goodness‘ sake.
Auckland created chances in both halves but failed to convert; Spurs’ goalkeeper Brandon Austin made important saves, including a point-blank stop. Spurs controlled much of the game with good possession and build-up play, though it was a typical early pre-season affair with rotation and academy involvement.
De Zerbi rotated heavily (as expected in pre-season), giving opportunities to new and fringe players. At the same time, several senior stars were absent due to World Cup recovery and injury, such as Kudus, Kulusevski, Odobert, etc.
Given the soft squad that the Italian has taken, it’s perhaps helpful that our opponents were of this quality, but do not get excited.
Still proof that we are dealing with the consequences of Levy and will do for quite some time.
Both the goals were very poor, and chances like that won’t be created in the premier league.
I thought my Scarlett’s movement and poacher instinct was good for the first goal, something that we missed last season. I still do not understand the decision to send him out on loan and spend £12m on Muani. Even from this evidence he offers more.
Richarlison only scores if he doesn’t have to move. The ball has to be at his feet. He gets more immobile every year. Asking £25m for him means we will be stuck with him. We need to be more realistic with the fee. I suspect we will eventually have to release him. I’d take 10m now and free up the wage bill.
Realistically we should be winning this by 4 or 5. The fact we didn’t tells me we have absolutely nothing upfront.
Why coo?
De Zerbi held back the better players for Chelsea.
Yawn.