Alan Shearer was mightily impressed with three of Tottenham’s stars against Manchester City, lavishing praise on them for the aggression that they showed to suffocate the home side.
While Tottenham sides have gone to the Etihad Stadium and won in the past, in almost all of those games, the Lilywhites have had spells where their goal was peppered and had to defend with their backs to the wall.
However, that was not the case at all on Saturday, with Tottenham looking very comfortable and Guglielmo Vicario not having too many saves to make.
Thomas Frank admitted that he is over the moon with Spurs’ clean sheet, and Shearer believes that Tottenham’s impressive performance was particularly down to three players.
Alan Shearer praises Tottenham’s midfield trio
After starting with two teenagers in Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall against Burnley, Frank went back to the experienced pairing of Rodrigo Bentancur and Joao Palhinha in Manchester.
The pair proved an impassable wall in front of the back four while Pape Sarr suffocated the City midfielders with his energy. Shearer labelled the performance from the Tottenham trio a ‘midfield masterclass’,
The Newcastle legend told BBC Match of the Day: “It was a midfield masterclass from those three, Sarr, Bentancur and Palhinha. They pressed, they were aggressive and they invited the short pass. If they didn’t win the first tackle, they won the second tackle – that was a constant all afternoon from those three.
“Tackles, blocks, look at this block from Palhinha – he could be a fantastic signing for Tottenham Hotspur, so many last-ditch tackles, the timing of them were absolutely perfect. Those numbers there tell you they absolutely dominated that midfield battle today, all three were magnificent, it was great to watch.”
Joao Palhinha has proven to be an inspired signing for Tottenham
There has been a lot of noise over the past week about the players that Spurs have missed out on this summer.
However, two signings that Tottenham have made – Mohammed Kudus and Joao Palhinha – have both been inspired signings, who have significantly improved Spurs’ starting eleven.
After the 2-0 win over Man City, Palhinha admitted that Frank was one of the main reasons he came to Tottenham, and there is no doubt that the Portuguese international’s addition makes the Spurs defence much harder to get at.
- READ MORE: Thomas Frank hits back at Tottenham critics and name drops Jurgen Klopp after Man City win
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