View: Three losers from Tottenham’s pre-season friendly with West Ham
While Tottenham can take many positives from their 3-2 loss to West Ham in Australia, three players didn’t cover themselves in glory.
It was a loss which was overshadowed by a positive performance and many fans will be left feeling optimistic after Ange Postecoglou’s first match in charge of Tottenham.
Spurs dominated David Moyes’ men, taking 32 shots and having 72 per cent of the ball (Sofascore) while showing plenty of promise going forward during the clash between the London rivals.
There are therefore signs that the former Australian national team head coach is getting through to his players and could be successful in implementing his style in North London.
However, having said this, there were still the usual defensive mistakes from some of the same culprits and a few players on the evening perhaps proved that they will not be able to adapt to their new boss’ system.
Japhet Tanganga
Postecoglou changed all eleven players at half-time and the majority of Spurs’ defensive troubles came in the first half, during which Tanganga starred at the heart of defence alongside World Cup winner Cristian Romero.
The Englishman was the lowest-rated Tottenham player on the pitch, being awarded a 6.5 match rating (Sofascore) after a rather underwhelming performance.
After such a positive start to the youngster’s career, it just hasn’t worked out in recent years and the 24-year-old did very little to suggest that he will be able to turn that around this season.
Throughout his time on the pitch, he won just one of the five ground duels and lost the one aerial duel he attempted. He managed to make just one tackle and lost possession five times, as well as giving away three fouls (Sofascore).
For the goal, in particular, he was exceptionally sloppy.
As the ball was crossed into the box he failed to get close to Divin Mubama, who had found space between both himself and Pedro Porro, in order to get his unchallenged header away.
If Tottenham have hopes of pushing on next season it is difficult to imagine that Tanganga will be part of that push and the club desperately need a new centre-back.
Sergio Reguilon
Once again another player that made a bright start to his Tottenham career who failed to impress during the match down under.
The Spaniard was signed by Spurs in the summer of 2020 from Real Madrid and arrived with a lot of expectation. He had a decent first season but was unable to kick on and spent last season out on loan with Atletico Madrid, although he was injured for the majority of it.
Upon his return to North London and the Premier League, some fans will still have hope that he can now flourish under a new manager and unlock his true potential. However, the 26-year-old did little to suggest this could happen against West Ham.
He spent the first 45 minutes of the match at left-back and was dribbled past once, won just 50 per cent of his ground duels, failed to provide an accurate cross from two attempts and lost possession eight times (Sofascore).
For the first goal of the match, as shown in the image above, his defending was woeful. He managed to let Danny Ings get goal side of him to head home the opener and did little to put him off.
More worryingly, he was absolutely tortured defensively throughout the first half by West Ham winger Jarrod Bowen.
When faced one-on-one out wide with the 26-year-old, he allowed him to cut the ball inside and slipped as he attempted to keep up with him.
Of course, it is still pre-season and Reguilon has just returned from a long-term injury, so he does deserve the benefit of the doubt. However, if there are no signs of improvement soon, it is probably best for both parties to go their separate ways.
Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies will both likely be ahead of the full-back in the pecking order and game time could be hard to come by for Reguilon.
Richarlison
It was by no means a strong debut season with Tottenham for the Brazillian international following his £60million switch from Everton.
He managed just one Premier League goal however his inconsistent appearances, alongside him often being played out of position, will leave many fans offering him the benefit of the doubt and a fair second chance.
It was clearly just not the right fit between the number nine and Antonio Conte and many supporters will expect him to perform better under new boss Postecolou.
But based on his first appearance in the 57-year-old’s system, it was not a great start.
Having come on at half-time to replace Harry Kane, the 26-year-old had very little impact. He had just one shot on target while missing the target completely on four occasions and missed one big chance as well as twice being caught off-side (Sofascore).
At times it seemed as if he was rushing to get his shot away and his performance was very rash. If Brazil’s starting striker is going to make an impact next season he will need to show a big improvement.
In other Tottenham news, this striker should be avoided after being linked with the club.