Given Ange Postecoglou’s comments about winning a trophy during his second season, it was immensely important that Tottenham Hotspur remained in the EFL Cup.
Coventry City transpired to be tricky opposition for Tottenham, and it felt as if Postecoglou’s side may suffer another blow once they went behind in the second half.
But Spurs’ quality eventually told, and the likes of Dejan Kulusevski made a significant contribution from the bench, a player who hasn’t dropped his own standards this season.
That being said, Tottenham did ring the changes to their starting eleven for the game, handing starts to the likes of Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and Wilson Odobert.
And although the latter suffered an unfortunate injury, both Gray and Bergvall thrived.
Ange Postecoglou praises Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall after Coventry comeback
Speaking after the comeback win via Spurs’ X account, Postecoglou took a moment to praise both Gray and Bergvall – two players who evidently have a very high ceiling.
18-year-old Gray played 90 minutes at right-back, whereas Bergvall was eventually replaced by James Maddison just before Coventry’s goal in the second half.
Praising the duo, Postecoglou said that both will play a ‘big part’ this season, a difficult night that will serve them well.
He said: “They were both very, very good.They are going to play a big part in our season.
“This is their first start and I thought both handled it really well considering it’s not an easy place to come in a cup tie and they will be better for it.
“That was the idea for it, we know with the programme tonight we are going to need a lot of these boys to play a fair bit of football.”
James Maddison needs a big performance vs Brentford
Of course, regardless of winning against Coventry, it’s still clear that there’s room for improvement at Tottenham.
And when Brentford visit N17 on Saturday it certainly feels as if James Maddison needs a big performance.
Paul Merson criticised Maddison after his North London derby showing – and the England midfielder’s game has suddenly become very passive.
Spurs are missing a bit of cutting edge right now, something Maddison would usually provide.
However, the 27-year-old often finds himself very deep in midfield when Tottenham are using a single-pivot, limiting how much influence he can have in attacking areas.
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Archie Gray’s first start for Tottenham proved to be an enthralling Carabao Cup clash that saw Spurs manage to overcome Coventry City in the end, but he showed he’s still Leeds after the match.
The 18-year-old swapped leed for Tottenham at the start of July, costing Spurs a whopping £40m. But a quarter of that fee was immediately returned to Spurs, for the permanent purchase of player Joe Rodon.
But Gray has been made to wait for minutes at Tottenham. He came on in Spurs’ opening two Premier League fixtures against Leicester and Everton, but was unused against Newcastle United and Arsenal.
On Wednesday night though, Ange Postecoglou handed Gray the chance to start and he played the 90 minutes as Spurs came from behind to beat Championship side and FA Cup semi-finalists Coventry.
Gray describes as Elland Road as “our ground” in interview
A brilliant goal from Djed Spence and then an injury-time winner from Brennan Johnson cancelled out Brandon Thomas-Asante’s opener just after the hour mark. Spence’s equaliser came in the 88th minute.
Gray solid but he was outshone by Spence in first Spurs start
Two tackles, passing accuracy above 90% and an interception according to WhoScored is proof that Gray has a solid, steady first start for Spurs in what was a banana skin for Ange Postecoglou’s side last night.
