Tottenham Hotspur continued their unbeaten run in pre-season with a 1-1 draw against Newcastle United in South Korea today, but it was a match tinged with sadness as Heung-min Son bid farewell and James Maddison was stretchered off injured.
Let’s take a look at the five things we learned from Tottenham 1-1 Newcastle:
Farewell, Heung-min Son, forever Mr Tottenham
You know you’re a special, special player when the entire match just stops when you’re substituted off. Tottenham vs Newcastle was put on pause for a good few minutes as every Spurs player and staff member went to embrace with Heung-min Son on the touchline. It looks like this could well be his final ever Tottenham game.
454 games, 173 goals, 101 assists, one Europa League trophy, and one world-class human being who has etched himself onto the hearts of Spurs fans around the world.
You can check out Heung-min Son’s top ten Tottenham moments here to reminisce on a decade of excellence.
Tottenham’s high-intensity press
We have seen Thomas Frank deploy a high-pressing 4-2-3-1 formation since he took charge of Tottenham, but this is perhaps the most intense example of that we have seen so far. Spurs took the lead in the 4th minute thanks to an aggressive high press from Kevin Danso, which turned over possession and eventually granted Brennan Johnson a good shooting chance. However, we could pick up numerous times in which that could have happened again, with Archie Gray, Pape Sarr, and Rodrigo Bentancur regularly nipping at the heels of their Newcastle counterparts.
The Tottenham squad is well-used to playing aggressively on the front foot from Ange Postecoglou’s time at the club, although Frank’s take on the tactic is a little more structured. Let’s hope the more intense press today is a result of more training and more game time, and is thus a sign of things to come for Spurs.
Thomas Frank really likes Pape Matar Sarr
If we had to name the biggest winner of Tottenham’s pre-season so far, it would have to be Pape Matar Sarr. The Senegal midfielder seems nailed on to start the Super Cup against PSG in Udine, and perhaps even the Premier League opener against Burnley too. Frank seems to love Sarr’s engine because it makes him the perfect first presser in an aggressive high press. The only thing that he needs to work on is his finishing, but it has been a fruitful pre-season for the Spurs starboy in that regard.
All the talk has been about James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski in the number ten role, or whether Spurs will bring in a new big-name player, but Sarr is certainly throwing his hat in the ring as a different kind of option.
Severe shortage at left-back for Tottenham
With the greatest respect to Ben Davies, who has been a fantastic servant to the club, the 32-year-old does not have the pace to keep up with modern-day 20-something Premier League wingers. Newcastle clearly targeted Tottenham’s left side with Anthony Gordon and got in time and time again.
Djed Spence is a fantastic option for Spurs on that side, but we have to remember it is his weaker side. Thomas Frank needs to decide whether he prefers Spence on the left or the right. Whatever the case, a new, young full-back has to be signed on the opposite side, with Destiny Udogie once again struggling for fitness.
James Maddison will be out for a long time
After getting just five minutes or so against Arsenal, James Maddison was handed 15 minutes against Newcastle today. It looked like Thomas Frank and co were making a conscious effort to build up his minutes slowly in pre-season, but there was nothing they could do about his injury today. As Maddison stretched to try and intercept a ball in the dying minutes, he instantly pulled up and put his hands on his head. After dropping to the turf in immense pain, the Spurs creator was stretchered down the tunnel.
It looks like Tottenham will be without both Maddison and Kulusevski for the opening months of the campaign. Spurs have no excuse not to go out and spend big on a new number 10 now. This latest injury makes the Morgan Gibbs-White saga look even more hopeless.
Based on pre-season minutes, the predicted XI for Super Cup vs PSG is:
Guglielmo Vicario; Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky Van de Ven, Djed Spence; Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall; Mohammed Kudus, Pape Sarr, Wilson Odobert; Mathys Tel.
Dominic Solanke is still yet to really get going in pre-season due to a knock, while Destiny Udogie was left at home to recover from a fresh injury. Dejan Kulusevski will not return anytime soon for Spurs.
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