What Postecoglou did to Lucas Bergvall and how Spurs coaches helped Bissouma score wonder goal
Here are our Tottenham talking points following their 2-0 victory against QPR at Loftus Road on Saturday afternoon
For Ange Postecoglou these pre-season friendlies are simply extensions of his tough training sessions as he continues to imprint his ideas and philosophy into the very being of these Tottenham players.
The Australian and his extended coaching staff have been working the players hard since their return to Hotspur Way around the behind-closed-doors game against Cambridge United and the trip to play Hearts in Edinburgh on Wednesday evening, which brought a 2am landing back home from Scotland.
After last season’s mess of a pre-season with cancelling opponents, postponed games and the Harry kane saga, this time around things have started smoothly enough for Postecoglou. The three games so far have brought 14 goals for Tottenham with three conceded.
This latest friendly affair across the capital featured some tired Spurs legs, but also moments of eye-catching attacking play with the Spurs head coach again utilising two different starting XIs in both halves as he shares out the minutes to get as many players fit and sharp as possible.
This game was decided by two moments of quality from the visitors before the end of each half. The first was an Yves Bissouma dribble, punctuated by a one-two with Dejan Kulusevski, before the Mail international rounded the goalkeeper and tapped the ball into the empty net.
The second goal arrived late in the game when 16-year-old Mikey Moore ran into the left-hand side of the box and hit a superb low cross with the outside of this right foot across the six-yard box to the sliding Dane Scarlett.
Spurs had 63% of the possession on the day with 429 passes to the hosts’ 206, but managed less shots at goal than QPR with 10 to their 14, albeit with six on target compared to the home side’s three.
QPR had their chances as they likely would against a backline that once again contained two young midfielders in central defence in 18-year-old new signing Archie Gray and 23-year-old Oliver Skipp with 19-year-old midfielder Jamie Donley at left-back.
All three, with Pedro Porro as the experienced defender, had to deal with plenty of set pieces, with the home side having 16 corners alone, but they managed to come away with a clean sheet for their efforts, with Matt Wells’ intensive warm-up drills with the back four paying dividends.
Postecoglou was reasonably happy with the performance, acknowledging that his players were not at their optimum energy levels.
“It was ok. They’ve had a hard week training and game travel so I felt for the boys really. We knew we’d bit a little bit leggy today. I still thought we played some good stuff. Probably weren’t as clinical in front of goal as we were in midweek,” he said in his club interview.
“That’s probably because like I said we’ve had a hard week. We created some good chances, but overall not too bad and again everyone got through it so that’s the main thing.”
On the aim of these games, he said: “Just keep progressing our game, keep improving and trying to implement our principles. To be fair to the boys, they’ve come back in good condition and it’s more about pushing on from last year and the foundation that we’ve created hopefully that springboards us to something better.”
Postecoglou is getting players fitter and sharper, regardless of where they play, knowing that over the next couple of weeks he will get more and more of his squad back and the team will have a better shape to it with players able to play in the right positions.
For now, it’s about those early steps of pre-season and if the players thought it was tough at this stage, just wait for the heat and humidity of Asia.
belief that he will adapt relatively quickly.
Brommapojkarna’s head of youth and recruiting Tommy Soderstrom knows a thing or two about uncovering talent, having worked for years as a scout for Manchester United after being asked personally by Sir Alex Ferguson before recently starting a similar role for Ajax.
“Anders Limpar is the best player we’ve produced. The highest level in Europe is very difficult. Dejan Kulusevski is a very good player, but Lucas Bergvall is much better than Limpar and Kulusevski were at that age. They are very good but I think Lucas in the future can be very, very good,” he said.
“He is a hard-working player but a very good technician. When we were in the youth tournaments against clubs like Bayern and Barcelona, he was always named the best player in the competition.
“Now Tottenham must take care of him. He will play with the seniors straight away and they must give him a chance. You must take care of the boy. He can be a top, top player in Europe.”
He added: “He is good up here (points to his head). Don’t worry about that. They must give him a chance. With the ball he will adapt very quickly. He’s also very good with his head. He scores goals with his head. He’s quite tall. Both he and Dejan are very good players, but Lucas is better at this age.”
The signs so far are promising for Bergvall and stepping up to a higher level should increase his development exponentially with every passing day. He needs to be back out on the pitches with Postecoglou and his coaching staff as quickly as possible.
Bissouma’s challenge
Yves Bissouma’s first season under Ange Postecoglou was one of unfulfilled promise.
For the first quarter of the campaign, the Mali international was a force of nature, dominating the midfield, sweeping up at the back and drifting past tackles at the other end of the pitch at will.
It felt like his new manager had unlocked everything that appeared so buried under Antonio Conte. The player who became one of the best midfielders outside the Premier League’s top six at Brighton was back.
Then came that red card at Kenilworth Road and suddenly Bissouma withdrew back within himself. The bravado. dancing and laughter was there off the pitch but on it he was inconsistency personified.
More suspensions came, a fifth yellow card at Wolves and then a second red card at Nottingham Forest. Combined with his unsuccessful time at the Africa Cup of Nations, before which he suffered from a bout of malaria, Bissouma missed 12 matches for Tottenham, including a knee injury late in the season.
He failed to find any rhythm after those eye-catching early months under Postecoglou, who he labelled his uncle after their early relationship bloomed.
If you want an insight into what managing Bissouma can be like, you need only look at his first week of training under Postecoglou.
The Australian took him aside in the early days from the young group of players who were back before the international stars returned and he told the midfielder that he needed to become a leader to these youngsters who looked up to him.
Bissouma appeared to take it on board, leading them all through the ensuing session. The next morning though he turned up late. That brought a Postecoglou lecture about leadership meaning becoming a role model and eager to be the first in the building and the last out of it.
Inconsistency has dogged Bissouma. He will turn 28 next month and is approaching what should be his prime as a central midfielder.
The talent is all there and when he’s full of confidence and in full flow he’s a terrifying prospect for the opposition.
His goal at Loftus Road showed everything he can be. Sarr whipped the ball quickly across the pitch and Bissouma controlled it perfectly before easing it past his man nonchalantly. He passed it to Kulusevski and ran on to take the Swede’s return ball into his path expertly, not even breaking stride. The midfielder wasn’t finished yet, he dazzled the goalkeeper Paul Nardi with his footwork, jinked around him and tapped the ball into the unguarded net.
It was his first goal for Tottenham yet it was everything Bissouma should be doing week in, week out. He can beat anyone at will with the ball at his feet and he’s got the skill to score far more goals than he does. His ability is better than simply being limited to sitting deep.
Bissouma was understandably full of beans after his display and that goal, even if he tried to sound as professional as possible.
“It was fantastic. I’m really happy because we’ve worked really hard to prepare. We’re still in pre-season and I’m really happy to score my first goal for the club, but I hope more to come. We continue to focus and work because it’s still pre-season and then we’ll see.”
Postecoglou was having none of it. During the midfielder’s interview, he walked by and interrupted it to say over his shoulder ‘it’s only a friendly game Biss’ with a smile and he continued that theme in his own interview.
“Yeah [it will give him confidence] but it is only a friendly. I want to see him do it in a game. He’s capable of it. That’s our challenge for all our guys. We know the capabilities are there. We’ve got to produce it when it counts,” he said. “He was good today, he’s been good through pre-season and we’ve just got to keep pushing him.”
Bissouma needs to be pushed and Postecoglou has a group of disciplined, tough coaches who will do that, including newcomers Nick Montgomery and Sergio Raimundo.
Before the game, Montgomery and Mile Jedinak were working Bissouma hard with an individual drill during the warm-up. Both men were hurling balls at him quickly at difficult heights and angle to get him to control it instantly, while the other rushed at him, and then doing the same with quick low passed balls.
It was all to prepare Bissouma to receive the ball from the defenders in tight spots and be able to quickly take it under control and turn under the pressure.
It worked even better than expected because that close control was fully on display for his wonderful goal from start to finish.
Bissouma is at least feeling in a good place physically and mentally after that difficult end to the last campaign.
“Yeah I feel very good, I feel very, very good, much better. My mind is good,” he said. “I’m just focused on what I need to do right now because that’s just the most important thing. I’m trying to prepare myself very well and be ready to start the season very strongly and finish strongly as well because I think that’s important for me.”
He added: “We’ve got a lot of young players. I think I’m one of the older ones now. Life is changing. So I’m trying to give an example to them too because I think this is really important.
“We’re working very hard. We’re very happy to have them, the new players, the old players, everyone trying to be like the coach wants us to be. You can see in the two games how we’re playing, following our process and we’re very happy but need to continue to do more.”
Nobody’s place in Postecoglou’s starting XI is guaranteed and Bissouma knows that he cannot have another season like his last. He has to find his consistency because if he plays well then so do Tottenham.
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