View: What we learned from Tottenham’s pre-season defeat v West Ham
West Ham beat Tottenham 3-2 in Australia on Tuesday 18 July although the scoreline by no means tells the whole story.
The Ange Postecoglou era is officially underway as Spurs supporters finally got a glimpse of the kind of football which they can expect to see next season.
And although the match ended in defeat, purely based on the performance alone, there is plenty of cause for optimism.
As is often the case with pre-season matches the performance is far more important than the result and on that basis, it was Tottenham who were the winners in Perth.
Postecoglou’s side absolutely dominated David Moyes’ men and if it wasn’t for some sloppy defending and poor individual errors – the club’s Achilles heel for a while now – Spurs would have won the match.
West Ham managed just seven shots and four on target while Tottenham registered 32 shots with 13 coming on target while dominating possession, having 72 per cent of the ball (Sofascore).
It is something we haven’t seen in North London for years and at times the football played was scintillating – a fantastic link-up between Oliver Skipp and Yves Bissouma during the first half which should have finished with a goal stands out in particular.
Considering the Australian has had very limited time with his squad it is exciting to see how quickly he has been able to get his style across to his new players with of course plenty of room for improvement still.
Two different elevens played each half as the former Celtic boss clearly took the opportunity to see the majority of his squad in action for the first time. West Ham won the first half 2-0 while Spurs won the second half 2-1.
One key area of the pitch which changed drastically between both halves was the full-back pairings. Sergio Reguilon and Pedro Porro started the first while Destiny Udogie, who grabbed his first Tottenham goal, and Emerson Royal played the second.
And the pairing of the Brazillian and Italian internationals looked far more comfortable.
Udogie, in particular, was impressive as he made one tackle, 39 touches, registered a 91 per cent passing accuracy and did not get dribbled past once. As well as this he managed two accurate crosses out of three attempts as well as grabbing a goal with a header from a corner (Sofascore).
Yves Bissouma and Manor Solomon were also stand-out performers and going forward there was plenty of encouragement for Tottenham, it was at the back where the issues were.
For West Ham’s first goal, a cross was floated into the box by Jarrod Bowen and full-back Sergio Reguilon allowed Danny Ings to get goalside of him.
As well as this he made little attempt to get in front of the ball which gave Ings a simple header into the back of the net with the Spanaird nowhere near his man.
For the second goal, it was more sloppy defending from Spurs’ first-half back-four with opposing full-back Pedro Porro and Japhet Tanganga at fault this time.
Once again it was a cross that unlocked Tottenham’s back-line. Neither Tanganga nor Porro got tight enough to West Ham striker Divin Mubama who was able to find space in between both defenders and head home his side’s second.
By the time Mubama has got his header away he had almost three yards of space on either side of himself.
While poor defending once again let Spurs down, a theme which has become all too common in recent years, there are still plenty of positives to take away.
Once Postecoglou has had more time with his side and some new defenders have been brought in, there is evidence to suggest that things could get very exciting at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
In other Tottenham news, footage from pre-season suggests Postecoglou could have new plans for one youngster.