Matthew Chadder

Sat 2 September 2023 7:10, UK

Ange Postecoglou was handed his first competitive defeat as Tottenham manager on Tuesday (29 August) when Fulham eliminated the North London side from the Carabao Cup, albeit via a penalty shoot-out.

The Australian named a heavily rotated side for the trip to Craven Cottage and will now be left regretting his decision not to name the same team that so convincingly defeated Bournemouth away from home during the previous game.

Following Tottenham’s first setback of the season, the 58-year-old will be keen to return to winning ways immediately and pick up some of the momentum they would have lost after being dumped out of a cup competition in August.

With just the FA Cup and Premier League left on the agenda for Spurs, there are no excuses for Postecoglou not to name his strongest available team at every opportunity. And that should begin on Saturday 2 September when they make the trip to Turf Moor to take on Vincent Kompany’s Burnely in the Premier League.

Although Fraser Forster didn’t put much of a foot wrong against the Cottagers, making three strong saves (Sofascore), there is no doubt that Spurs’ number two will make way for Guglielmo Vicario who has made a bright start to life in England, making 13 saves and preventing a total of 1.45 goals throughout his three games so far.

Destiny Udogie is likely to come back in at left-back, displacing Ben Davies who didn’t provide the greatest account of himself against Fulham as he won just three of his nine ground duels and gave possession away 15 times. Micky van de Ven should certainly keep his place in the back four having done well in the cup clash, despite scoring an own goal. The Dutchman made four clearances, one tackle, one interception and completed 96 per cent of his passes.

Cristian Romero will most likely return to partner him after his colossal performance at Bournemouth, where he made five tackles, six clearances, three interceptions and completed 97 per cent of his passes, while also winning 100 per cent of his ground duels. Emerson Royal is likely to make way for Pedro Porro, who seems to have become Postecoglou’s first choice, to complete the defence.

Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma should expect to regain their positions in the middle of the park. Both players were wonderful during the trip to the South Coast and Oliver Skipp and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg did very little during their auditions at Craven Cottage to suggest they should replace them.

The Denmark international gave the ball away 19 times and only completed 80 per cent of his passes while Skipp was equally just as poor, completing 73 per cent of his passes and winning just four of his 14 ground duels. Its is hard to see either of those men having much room for complaint should they be dropped for Sarr and Bissouma.

James Maddison will be expected to take back his place from Giovani Lo Celso, who wasn’t particularly poor against Fulham but just couldn’t impact the game as much as he would have liked to before being hooked at halftime. Maddison has made a wonderful start to life at Tottenham having scored once and provided two assists throughout his opening three games at the club.

Both Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski are likely to come in for Manor Solomon and Ivan Perisic. As club captain Son is unlikely to be dropped and Kulusevski will be looking to build on his goal against the Cherries. Alongside Van de Ven, Richarlison will be the only other player from the trip to West London to keep his place.

Although he was otherwise poor against Fulham, completing just 29 per cent of his passes and losing possession 19 times, he did finally end his goal drought as he headed home Perisic’s cross at the back post during the second half. This will hopefully offer the Brazillian an injection of confidence, which he will look to capitalise on against Burnley.

In other Tottenham news, the early season form of one Premier League star suggests Spurs should make a move for him.