Tottenham’s pre-season preparations are quietly intensifying on their Asian tour.
A 3-2 win over Japanese side Vissel Kobe in Tokyo saw Ange Postecoglou take 3 from 3 after his past outings against Hearts and Queens Park Rangers.
But what did they tell us about today’s game? We analyze the main topics of discussion.
Mikey Moore, the 16-year-old winger, scored Tottenham’s winner in the Tokyo National Stadium, tapping in from close range after a low cross from Jamie Donley.
It’s high praise for an excellent second-half performance as a substitute, playing with a lushness that thrilled the crowd and proved once back how talented he is.
2-3 // #SpursInJapan pic. twitter. com/zHPl878UcJ
– Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 27, 2024
Postecoglou later praised Moore’s performance and said he continues to take advantage of first-team opportunities on merit since joining the senior team at the end of last season.
“Mikey has been since we hired him,” he said. “He has earned his place on the list right now; he did it late last year. They gave him a chance with the first team because in education you can see that he was acting very well and that continued in the preseason.
“To be honest, he probably scored three tonight, but he scored his health goal in the right areas. The only thing we can do is continue to allow it to grow. We must not forget that last year he suffered some injuries and he is only 16 years old, but, yes, it is very exciting.
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First the old news: Lucas Bergvall looks exactly as advertised: a highly talented technical player who glides with the ball and adjusts speed and direction with genuine grace. He arrived in the second half in Tokyo and the crowd temporarily cooed in appreciation of him.
But he’s also a physicist. Both in terms of his stature and his mentality. Sometimes, the young players in his profile are soft and even apologize for his skills. He is not one of them and made a few tackles after coming in, shaking up some opponents.
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When his move to Spurs was announced, it sparked a backlash among the players he faced in Swedish national football, who stepped up the brutal remedy in matches. According to him, and based on how he behaved here, this could have been a smart thing to do because it forced him to give an upward push, preparing him well for the attritional nature of the Premier League in the months leading up to his arrival.
Yes, it’s his skill that will make him popular and will likely make him one of the Spurs players who lure others to White Hart Lane on opening nights of the Europa League. But he will not be intimidated. Now it turns out that it is just as likely to leave an imprint on its conflicting parties as it does on itself.
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Archie Gray has made a strong impression in pre-season since moving from Leeds. When asked about his role as a center back in the two games leading up to tonight, he did what humble young players do and thankfully said that he would play for his team. new equipment.
It’s all clever so far, and it’s not an act because Gray is, in fact, a delight in person.
Currently, he believes that midfield is his most productive position and this is his first chance to play that role. After spending some time at central defence, he briefly moved to the Spurs’ midfield base after half-time (before being substituted).
It wasn’t the match to assess his overall talents (his one-on-one defence, for example, or his positioning), but it’s Gray’s ease with the ball and his confidence in his first touch that has made him so convincing lately. . .
Defensively, it shows in the way possession progresses. In midfield, that’s how he won the ball with his back to goal and under pressure, playing with that confidence of touch that makes it easy to believe that he fits into a true asset within a team that has the quality of his ball. movement.
He will no doubt be pressured to find out where his future lies and that’s understandable given how much Tottenham have spent to sign him, but for now, it’s just a laughing matter to watch his talent.
What the Tottenham forward looks like at the start of the season will depend on the deals they can make between now and the end of the transfer window.
Dejan Kulusevski played a retired No. 9 role in Tokyo, as he did towards the end of last season, and that was an incentive to think about his role in the future.
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Kulusevski prefers midfield and enjoys the involvement that comes with it. The highlight of their performance tonight was Pedro Porro’s languid heel for the equalizer. He’s had some equally decadent, but effective, touches this preseason and his ability to read and react to that kind of run (vertical, penetrating) is a known strength in his game.
1-1 // #SpursAuJapon
– Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 27, 2024
Kulusevski is enjoying the pre-season. He admits to enjoying the heat (temperatures were still around 30°C despite the start of the night in Tokyo) and the physical challenge of preparing in this type of weather. It’s no surprise that he’s been a risk on the counterattack, even against warring sides midway through his domestic season.
But there was subtlety and intuition in his work. Kulusevski is not a natural striker and that is shown here in the delivery of some of his plays with his back to goal, however he cleverly cuts through defenders in the penalty area and that suits Spurs’ attack. style.
Tottenham probably want to invest in this area, however, with James Maddison recovering and Kulusevski sidelined in the game, it is a reminder of some of the usefulness (and diversity) he is capable of providing when there are gaps to fill in attack.
Wednesday, July 31: K-League XI (Seoul, South Korea), 12 p. m. BST, 7 a. m. Eastern Time