Tottenham stake sale, the need for it and their young star of pre-season nobody is talking about
Here are our Tottenham talking points following the 3-2 win against Vissel Kobe in Tokyo on the club’s pre-season tour to Asia
It was uncomfortable enough simply sitting inside the National Stadium for the 54,255 people who had gathered to watch Tottenham Hotspur take on Vissel Kobe. Imagine sitting in a sauna fully clothed to watch a game of football and you’ll pretty much have an idea of the experience.
Many supporters had fans – the flapping kind – in order to cool themselves, many with faces of players on them and some adorned with Ange Postecoglou’s image complete with cat ears, which was a thoroughly amusing sight.
Even sitting in that heat, it’s difficult to fathom exactly what playing in that game of football must have been like for the players. Many of the young players, like Jamie Donley who played the entire second half, had played in an hour-long match in even higher temperatures just 48 hours before, beating Japan U20s 5-2 at Spurs’ Tokyo training complex.
It’s all about preparing their bodies though and the pace and ferocity of the Premier League will seem like a cool breeze after these two weeks spent working to the limit and beyond in the heat and humidity of Japan and South Korea.
Playing Vissel was all part of that process with the J-League’s reigning champions – sitting in fourth place this year – currently 24 games into their season meaning they are right at their peak in terms of match fitness and sharpness. Not only that but they are used to playing in these conditions.
That provided a test for Tottenham’s ability to control the game and while the Premier League side still had a couple of lapses of concentration in the heat, which led to the Japanese side’s two goals, on the whole they dominated the match.
They had 73% of possession, made 667 passes to Vissel’s 210 and had 19 shots on goal to their eight, with eight on target to Kobe’s four.
The opening goal just nine minutes in was a mess, with Pape Matar Sarr summing up a bit of an off-key first half by sliding in to try to stop a cross that one of his team-mates should have told him to leave as it was heading nowhere. Instead the young Senegal international knocked it back across the six-yard box to a grateful Yuya Osako to smash high into the net.
Seven minutes later and Spurs equalised with a delightful goal. Archie Gray, again in central defence, played a pass into striker for the day Dejan Kulusevski, who pushed it out wide to Brennan Johnson. The Wales international fired it back to the Swede who produced another lovely backheeled assist into the path of Pedro Porro, who showed the presence of mind to cut the ball inside the defender and roll it past the goalkeeper with his left foot.
Within a minute of the second half starting, Spurs were ahead when Johnson was sent away down the right by Porro and the winger produced a perfect low ball across the box for Son Heung-min to fire home. The noise that emerges from a crowd when the hugely popular Tottenham captain scores a goal in Asia is an experience you’ll always remember.
With six changes to Spurs’ starting line-up by the hour mark, Donley hitting the left-hand post and 16-year-old Mikey Moore seeing a shot stopped behind the goalkeeper by a sliding defender’s arm, Vissel found a second goal after Jean Patrick stepped inside Oliver Skipp too easily and his low effort deflected off the sliding Emerson Royal and into the net.
The young Spurs side kept pushing, despite their exertions just 48 hours earlier, and were rewarded for their efforts after further testing the Kobe keeper when in the 87th minute, Manor Solomon played the ball into the run of Donley and the makeshift left-back found Moore in the box with one of those trademark Spurs low balls and the 16-year-old tapped home the winner.
That all three of Tottenham’s goals were from low passes inside the box, the second and third archetypal Postecoglou strikes, shows what all of the training ground work on such moves is all about.
It’s predictable in its ending yet unpredictable in the way it arrives because the team goes over so many different overloads with wingers, midfielders and full-backs, and the player finishing it off varies as do the runs they make.
Postecoglou was happy enough with the game once he had got back inside into the air-conditioned press conference room.
“I thought it was a good game. The conditions did make it difficult for both teams to be fair and we’ve had a hard week of training,” he said. “Credit to the boys. I thought we played some decent football and they put in as much effort as they humanly could out there.
Entertaining game, you want to provide some sort of entertainment for the supporters who made a great turnout tonight, not just Spurs supporters but football supporters in general. It’s always nice to give back in that way and overall I was pleased.”
On the raucous support for the team inside the stadium, which made it feel like a home game across the world, he added: “Absolutely. It’s not lost to us the support we have on this side of the world. As I said, our responsibility when we come here and the players have all been out in the community and we’ve tried to as much as possible reach out to everyone that supports us from this side of the world, which is challenging I know when distance and time zones make it really difficult.
“They created a fantastic atmosphere today and it felt like our home game. That’s why I’m pleased that we won, which is always good, but more importantly we played some good football, gave them something to cheer for. Myself, the players, everyone involved in the football club is very appreciative of the support we get here in Japan and on this side of the world.”
It was another step on the road in a pre-season marked only by victories but Postecoglou will not be concerned by the scorelines, only the manner of the football and the sharpness of his players.
There was also a trophy to be lifted as it was the J League World Challenge, a competition which has been running for seven years with European teams coming to take on the reigning Japanese champions.
The trophy ceremony was a muted affair but it did not stop Richarlison, who wasn’t available to play, enjoying himself with the prize, taking photos with it and being taken on a ride in a security cart with it and a K-Pop band.
Postecoglou will be expecting the real thing by the end of next season – a trophy not a K-Pop band – and more of an open top bus than an electric kart.
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Mikey Moore celebrates scoring during the friendly match between Vissel Kobe and Tottenham Hotspur at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.
Mikey Moore celebrates scoring during the friendly match between Vissel Kobe and Tottenham Hotspur at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.
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It was uncomfortable enough simply sitting inside the National Stadium for the 54,255 people who had gathered to watch Tottenham Hotspur take on Vissel Kobe. Imagine sitting in a sauna fully clothed to watch a game of football and you’ll pretty much have an idea of the experience.
Many supporters had fans – the flapping kind – in order to cool themselves, many with faces of players on them and some adorned with Ange Postecoglou’s image complete with cat ears, which was a thoroughly amusing sight.
Even sitting in that heat, it’s difficult to fathom exactly what playing in that game of football must have been like for the players. Many of the young players, like Jamie Donley who played the entire second half, had played in an hour-long match in even higher temperatures just 48 hours before, beating Japan U20s 5-2 at Spurs’ Tokyo training complex.
It’s all about preparing their bodies though and the pace and ferocity of the Premier League will seem like a cool breeze after these two weeks spent working to the limit and beyond in the heat and humidity of Japan and South Korea.
Playing Vissel was all part of that process with the J-League’s reigning champions – sitting in fourth place this year – currently 24 games into their season meaning they are right at their peak in terms of match fitness and sharpness. Not only that but they are used to playing in these conditions.
That provided a test for Tottenham’s ability to control the game and while the Premier League side still had a couple of lapses of concentration in the heat, which led to the Japanese side’s two goals, on the whole they dominated the match.
READ MORE: What tickled Ange Postecoglou, Federico Chiesa truth and what Tottenham boss meant on transfers
READ MORE: Son given special job after Archie Gray joined as new Tottenham star admits key transfer chat
They had 73% of possession, made 667 passes to Vissel’s 210 and had 19 shots on goal to their eight, with eight on target to Kobe’s four.
The opening goal just nine minutes in was a mess, with Pape Matar Sarr summing up a bit of an off-key first half by sliding in to try to stop a cross that one of his team-mates should have told him to leave as it was heading nowhere. Instead the young Senegal international knocked it back across the six-yard box to a grateful Yuya Osako to smash high into the net.
Seven minutes later and Spurs equalised with a delightful goal. Archie Gray, again in central defence, played a pass into striker for the day Dejan Kulusevski, who pushed it out wide to Brennan Johnson. The Wales international fired it back to the Swede who produced another lovely backheeled assist into the path of Pedro Porro, who showed the presence of mind to cut the ball inside the defender and roll it past the goalkeeper with his left foot.
Within a minute of the second half starting, Spurs were ahead when Johnson was sent away down the right by Porro and the winger produced a perfect low ball across the box for Son Heung-min to fire home. The noise that emerges from a crowd when the hugely popular Tottenham captain scores a goal in Asia is an experience you’ll always remember.
With six changes to Spurs’ starting line-up by the hour mark, Donley hitting the left-hand post and 16-year-old Mikey Moore seeing a shot stopped behind the goalkeeper by a sliding defender’s arm, Vissel found a second goal after Jean Patrick stepped inside Oliver Skipp too easily and his low effort deflected off the sliding Emerson Royal and into the net.
The young Spurs side kept pushing, despite their exertions just 48 hours earlier, and were rewarded for their efforts after further testing the Kobe keeper when in the 87th minute, Manor Solomon played the ball into the run of Donley and the makeshift left-back found Moore in the box with one of those trademark Spurs low balls and the 16-year-old tapped home the winner.
That all three of Tottenham’s goals were from low passes inside the box, the second and third archetypal Postecoglou strikes, shows what all of the training ground work on such moves is all about.
It’s predictable in its ending yet unpredictable in the way it arrives because the team goes over so many different overloads with wingers, midfielders and full-backs, and the player finishing it off varies as do the runs they make.
Postecoglou was happy enough with the game once he had got back inside into the air-conditioned press conference room.
“I thought it was a good game. The conditions did make it difficult for both teams to be fair and we’ve had a hard week of training,” he said. “Credit to the boys. I thought we played some decent football and they put in as much effort as they humanly could out there.
“Entertaining game, you want to provide some sort of entertainment for the supporters who made a great turnout tonight, not just Spurs supporters but football supporters in general. It’s always nice to give back in that way and overall I was pleased.”
On the raucous support for the team inside the stadium, which made it feel like a home game across the world, he added: “Absolutely. It’s not lost to us the support we have on this side of the world. As I said, our responsibility when we come here and the players have all been out in the community and we’ve tried to as much as possible reach out to everyone that supports us from this side of the world, which is challenging I know when distance and time zones make it really difficult.
“They created a fantastic atmosphere today and it felt like our home game. That’s why I’m pleased that we won, which is always good, but more importantly we played some good football, gave them something to cheer for. Myself, the players, everyone involved in the football club is very appreciative of the support we get here in Japan and on this side of the world.”
It was another step on the road in a pre-season marked only by victories but Postecoglou will not be concerned by the scorelines, only the manner of the football and the sharpness of his players.
There was also a trophy to be lifted as it was the J League World Challenge, a competition which has been running for seven years with European teams coming to take on the reigning Japanese champions.
The trophy ceremony was a muted affair but it did not stop Richarlison, who wasn’t available to play, enjoying himself with the prize, taking photos with it and being taken on a ride in a security cart with it and a K-Pop band.
Postecoglou will be expecting the real thing by the end of next season – a trophy not a K-Pop band – and more of an open top bus than an electric kart.
Mikey Moore takes the plaudits after scoring his team’s third goal during the match between Vissel Kobe and Tottenham Hotspur at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan
Mikey Moore takes the plaudits after scoring his team’s third goal during the match between Vissel Kobe and Tottenham Hotspur at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan
Academy pride
This Tottenham pre-season has so far become as much about the exciting group of teenagers at Postecoglou’s disposal as it has the senior stars.
Spurs took a big, young squad on this trip to Asia and the mood around the camp has reflected that close-knit nature with the senior players looking after the younger ones, who had already been forged together themselves by their league-winning season last time out with the U21s.
Their ease at playing alongside each other has meant that late in games when most Premier League side’s friendly teams become ragged and weakened with all of the changes made, instead Tottenham’s remains at a high level because these players all work with each other week in, week out.
Most importantly for the Spurs boss is that regardless of who is on the pitch, they are playing in the Postecoglou way, the Tottenham way.
During last season, Postecoglou was somewhat dismissive of the club’s academy production line despite the U21s being unbeaten at that point and on their way to winning Premier League 2. He pointed to the need to buy in young talent instead, which has happened with £50million of talent in Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall alone.
However, it’s difficult to ignore the quality that was on display on Saturday evening in the Tokyo heat.
All the attention will go to the matchwinner Mikey Moore and understandably so for a 16-year-old who has remarkable potential and the maturity of someone far older.
However, firstly credit must go to Jamie Donley and Alfie Devine who were fantastic during the second half.
Both would have been tired from their midweek exertions but they ran the show, Donley from left-back and Devine from the midfield.
Donley has been the unsung young player of pre-season so far, because he’s had to fit into that unnatural full-back role but he’s impressed in not only his new need to defend but also in making the midfield element of the role his own.
Oliver Skipp was used in the role towards the end of last season to cover the injured Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies, due to his tackling but Donley’s ability as an attacking midfielder introduces an added element. Whether his future lies in being able to play there remains to be seen, but there’s no doubting the work the 19-year-old has put in to making an impression whatever position he can get an opportunity in.
He’s looked good when playing with the senior players, even if he will not always get the ball in that group as much as he would like. When he plays with his U21 team-mates, he’s the one they all look to, even at left-back, and his confidence comes to the fore.
In Tokyo on Saturday, Donley’s fitness following that draining Thursday night match was there for all to see as he constantly pushed up the pitch. He curled one low effort that struck the base of the left-hand post and then forced the goalkeeper into a flying save soon after.
His assist for the goal showed his confidence within that group, pointing to where he wanted the ball from the older Solomon before running on to it and picking out Moore perfectly. Donley was so drained in the heat that he collapsed on to the floor atfer hitting the pass on the run and remained there until he heard the roar of the crowd, spurring him to get up and congratulate his young team-mate.
Donley is one of the best passers at Tottenham, with wonderful vision, but the number of options in those number eight positions means that he hasn’t had the opportunities in the role where he could truly revel.
However, the fact that Postecoglou and the coaching staff have trusted him at left-back shows that he is certainly not out of their thinking and they believe he is tactically intelligent.
The Spurs boss must now make the choice between keeping Donley around the team in order to use him in the Europa League and domestic cup competitions in various roles before a loan move in January, or allow him to go on loan this summer with clubs queuing up for him.
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Mikey Moore celebrates scoring during the friendly match between Vissel Kobe and Tottenham Hotspur at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.
Mikey Moore celebrates scoring during the friendly match between Vissel Kobe and Tottenham Hotspur at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan.
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It was uncomfortable enough simply sitting inside the National Stadium for the 54,255 people who had gathered to watch Tottenham Hotspur take on Vissel Kobe. Imagine sitting in a sauna fully clothed to watch a game of football and you’ll pretty much have an idea of the experience.
Many supporters had fans – the flapping kind – in order to cool themselves, many with faces of players on them and some adorned with Ange Postecoglou’s image complete with cat ears, which was a thoroughly amusing sight.
Even sitting in that heat, it’s difficult to fathom exactly what playing in that game of football must have been like for the players. Many of the young players, like Jamie Donley who played the entire second half, had played in an hour-long match in even higher temperatures just 48 hours before, beating Japan U20s 5-2 at Spurs’ Tokyo training complex.
It’s all about preparing their bodies though and the pace and ferocity of the Premier League will seem like a cool breeze after these two weeks spent working to the limit and beyond in the heat and humidity of Japan and South Korea.
Playing Vissel was all part of that process with the J-League’s reigning champions – sitting in fourth place this year – currently 24 games into their season meaning they are right at their peak in terms of match fitness and sharpness. Not only that but they are used to playing in these conditions.
That provided a test for Tottenham’s ability to control the game and while the Premier League side still had a couple of lapses of concentration in the heat, which led to the Japanese side’s two goals, on the whole they dominated the match.
READ MORE: What tickled Ange Postecoglou, Federico Chiesa truth and what Tottenham boss meant on transfers
READ MORE: Son given special job after Archie Gray joined as new Tottenham star admits key transfer chat
They had 73% of possession, made 667 passes to Vissel’s 210 and had 19 shots on goal to their eight, with eight on target to Kobe’s four.
The opening goal just nine minutes in was a mess, with Pape Matar Sarr summing up a bit of an off-key first half by sliding in to try to stop a cross that one of his team-mates should have told him to leave as it was heading nowhere. Instead the young Senegal international knocked it back across the six-yard box to a grateful Yuya Osako to smash high into the net.
Seven minutes later and Spurs equalised with a delightful goal. Archie Gray, again in central defence, played a pass into striker for the day Dejan Kulusevski, who pushed it out wide to Brennan Johnson. The Wales international fired it back to the Swede who produced another lovely backheeled assist into the path of Pedro Porro, who showed the presence of mind to cut the ball inside the defender and roll it past the goalkeeper with his left foot.
Within a minute of the second half starting, Spurs were ahead when Johnson was sent away down the right by Porro and the winger produced a perfect low ball across the box for Son Heung-min to fire home. The noise that emerges from a crowd when the hugely popular Tottenham captain scores a goal in Asia is an experience you’ll always remember.
With six changes to Spurs’ starting line-up by the hour mark, Donley hitting the left-hand post and 16-year-old Mikey Moore seeing a shot stopped behind the goalkeeper by a sliding defender’s arm, Vissel found a second goal after Jean Patrick stepped inside Oliver Skipp too easily and his low effort deflected off the sliding Emerson Royal and into the net.
The young Spurs side kept pushing, despite their exertions just 48 hours earlier, and were rewarded for their efforts after further testing the Kobe keeper when in the 87th minute, Manor Solomon played the ball into the run of Donley and the makeshift left-back found Moore in the box with one of those trademark Spurs low balls and the 16-year-old tapped home the winner.
That all three of Tottenham’s goals were from low passes inside the box, the second and third archetypal Postecoglou strikes, shows what all of the training ground work on such moves is all about.
It’s predictable in its ending yet unpredictable in the way it arrives because the team goes over so many different overloads with wingers, midfielders and full-backs, and the player finishing it off varies as do the runs they make.
Postecoglou was happy enough with the game once he had got back inside into the air-conditioned press conference room.
“I thought it was a good game. The conditions did make it difficult for both teams to be fair and we’ve had a hard week of training,” he said. “Credit to the boys. I thought we played some decent football and they put in as much effort as they humanly could out there.
“Entertaining game, you want to provide some sort of entertainment for the supporters who made a great turnout tonight, not just Spurs supporters but football supporters in general. It’s always nice to give back in that way and overall I was pleased.”
On the raucous support for the team inside the stadium, which made it feel like a home game across the world, he added: “Absolutely. It’s not lost to us the support we have on this side of the world. As I said, our responsibility when we come here and the players have all been out in the community and we’ve tried to as much as possible reach out to everyone that supports us from this side of the world, which is challenging I know when distance and time zones make it really difficult.
“They created a fantastic atmosphere today and it felt like our home game. That’s why I’m pleased that we won, which is always good, but more importantly we played some good football, gave them something to cheer for. Myself, the players, everyone involved in the football club is very appreciative of the support we get here in Japan and on this side of the world.”
It was another step on the road in a pre-season marked only by victories but Postecoglou will not be concerned by the scorelines, only the manner of the football and the sharpness of his players.
There was also a trophy to be lifted as it was the J League World Challenge, a competition which has been running for seven years with European teams coming to take on the reigning Japanese champions.
The trophy ceremony was a muted affair but it did not stop Richarlison, who wasn’t available to play, enjoying himself with the prize, taking photos with it and being taken on a ride in a security cart with it and a K-Pop band.
Postecoglou will be expecting the real thing by the end of next season – a trophy not a K-Pop band – and more of an open top bus than an electric kart.
Mikey Moore takes the plaudits after scoring his team’s third goal during the match between Vissel Kobe and Tottenham Hotspur at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan
Mikey Moore takes the plaudits after scoring his team’s third goal during the match between Vissel Kobe and Tottenham Hotspur at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan
Academy pride
This Tottenham pre-season has so far become as much about the exciting group of teenagers at Postecoglou’s disposal as it has the senior stars.
Spurs took a big, young squad on this trip to Asia and the mood around the camp has reflected that close-knit nature with the senior players looking after the younger ones, who had already been forged together themselves by their league-winning season last time out with the U21s.
Their ease at playing alongside each other has meant that late in games when most Premier League side’s friendly teams become ragged and weakened with all of the changes made, instead Tottenham’s remains at a high level because these players all work with each other week in, week out.
Most importantly for the Spurs boss is that regardless of who is on the pitch, they are playing in the Postecoglou way, the Tottenham way.
During last season, Postecoglou was somewhat dismissive of the club’s academy production line despite the U21s being unbeaten at that point and on their way to winning Premier League 2. He pointed to the need to buy in young talent instead, which has happened with £50million of talent in Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall alone.
However, it’s difficult to ignore the quality that was on display on Saturday evening in the Tokyo heat.
All the attention will go to the matchwinner Mikey Moore and understandably so for a 16-year-old who has remarkable potential and the maturity of someone far older.
However, firstly credit must go to Jamie Donley and Alfie Devine who were fantastic during the second half.
Both would have been tired from their midweek exertions but they ran the show, Donley from left-back and Devine from the midfield.
Donley has been the unsung young player of pre-season so far, because he’s had to fit into that unnatural full-back role but he’s impressed in not only his new need to defend but also in making the midfield element of the role his own.
Oliver Skipp was used in the role towards the end of last season to cover the injured Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies, due to his tackling but Donley’s ability as an attacking midfielder introduces an added element. Whether his future lies in being able to play there remains to be seen, but there’s no doubting the work the 19-year-old has put in to making an impression whatever position he can get an opportunity in.
He’s looked good when playing with the senior players, even if he will not always get the ball in that group as much as he would like. When he plays with his U21 team-mates, he’s the one they all look to, even at left-back, and his confidence comes to the fore.
In Tokyo on Saturday, Donley’s fitness following that draining Thursday night match was there for all to see as he constantly pushed up the pitch. He curled one low effort that struck the base of the left-hand post and then forced the goalkeeper into a flying save soon after.
His assist for the goal showed his confidence within that group, pointing to where he wanted the ball from the older Solomon before running on to it and picking out Moore perfectly. Donley was so drained in the heat that he collapsed on to the floor atfer hitting the pass on the run and remained there until he heard the roar of the crowd, spurring him to get up and congratulate his young team-mate.
Donley is one of the best passers at Tottenham, with wonderful vision, but the number of options in those number eight positions means that he hasn’t had the opportunities in the role where he could truly revel.
However, the fact that Postecoglou and the coaching staff have trusted him at left-back shows that he is certainly not out of their thinking and they believe he is tactically intelligent.
The Spurs boss must now make the choice between keeping Donley around the team in order to use him in the Europa League and domestic cup competitions in various roles before a loan move in January, or allow him to go on loan this summer with clubs queuing up for him.
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Alfie Devine is a great example of what a loan move or two can do for a young player. Also 19, the midfielder spent time at both Port Vale and Plymouth last season. He had impressed last summer as a young player on tour. A year on and he looks every inch a senior pro among younger players.
In Tokyo he was only on the pitch for 24 minutes or so, but he was a constant threat, forcing the keeper into an acrobatic save from a tight angle, and kept play ticking over with probing, fast passes, dictating the tempo.
Devine has not been helped by the arrival of Bergvall and Gray but he has done everything possible so far in pre-season to remind Postecoglou of his merits.
The rest of the youngsters did all they could to also catch the eye, Will Lankshear sliding in and an inch or two away from scoring another pre-season goal. It says plenty about his efforts that the big 19-year-old got on the pitch while Alejo Veliz and Dane Scarlett did not, despite the latter’s goal at QPR.
However, it’s difficult to ignore Mikey Moore, not that you’d want to because at just 16, what’s he doing is making everyone sit up and take notice. Even the usually reserved Postecoglou admitted to football.london that the teenager is “super-exciting”.
Moore is the youngest player on the tour squad by a long stretch yet nothing seems to faze him. It must be an incredible experience for a child his age to be whisked away to the other side of the world and not only train and play with Premier League stars but also witness a different culture somewhere like Japan, where this week he took part in various traditional activities within the community in Tokyo.
On the pitch, Moore plays without fear and with the tactical intelligence of a far older professional. His movement is instinctive and as Postecoglou would point out, he could have had a hat-trick on the night.
The teenager saw one effort hit the arm of a sliding defender as it was about to cross the goal line before sending an unmarked diving header over the crossbar. His goal was the simplest of the bunch but the reaction from his team-mates as well as the player showed that even pre-season friendlies can bring important moments.
There is a real momentum building behind Moore, both within his own performances but also from the belief in him among his team-mates and the coaching staff. The fans can sense it as well and his name has been sung from Edinburgh to London to Tokyo so far.
Yet he is still just 16-years-old and his age of course states that he is still a child. The current trend of wonderkids on the world stage will only increase the calls for him to be used more and more but Tottenham must also be cautious with someone so young.
“Mikey has been fantastic since we brought him in. He’s earned his spot on the roster at the moment – he did at the end of last year,” Postecoglou told football.london. “He got a run with the first team because we could see in training that he was handling himself really well and that’s followed through into pre-season training.
“He’s been good in all the games – he probably should have had three [goals] tonight, to be fair – but he did take his goal well by being in the right areas. All we can do is keep allowing him to develop. We have to remember that last year he had some injuries and he is only 16, but yes – super exciting.
“I think the future with a lot of our young guys looks pretty promising, but it’s our responsibility to make sure they realise their potential and continue to work hard at their game.”
The need for transfers to bolster Postecoglou’s senior squad is clear, but there will also be a wariness of blocking the pathway for some of these gifted young players who can become the future of the club.
Spurs’ assistant boss Matt Wells said in a recent club interview: “I was just talking to James Maddison and he can’t believe some of the talent of the young players. It is really exciting for us as a coaching staff.”
Mile Jedinak added: “You see the senior players create this environment and guide these young professionals along their way and on their journey. It’s been a real joy to see that, not only in training but you get evidence of that within games as well with how the team is trying to play.”
Captain Son has been one of those guiding figures for the young players.
“I believe they are players with a great future, and they are training really hard,” he told Korean journalist Sungmo Lee after the match in Tokyo. “When I see them, they remind me of when I was at that age. I am trying to help them and give advice to them.
“For sure they have great talents and I think we better not to expect too much from them, enjoying their development while watching their play.”
Postecoglou has made it clear that if believes they are good enough and ready then they will get that chance to play.
“There’s always an opportunity mate. There’s no blockages,” he said. “They’re in front of us every day and it really comes down to them.”
Normally one young talent emerges from a pre-season tour and then it varies in what happens next for them. For once it feels like a group of teenagers could make their name this summer and that could ripple into the season for Tottenham.
Sharp senior players
For the senior Tottenham players the game in Japan was about increasing their game time to help them to get to that 90-plus minute mark.
All but two of the starting XI got around an hour of football. Guglielmo Vicario and Ben Davies, who were playing their first minutes of the summer, got 45 minutes.
On the whole, the team performance was positive. Pape Matar Sarr did have an uncharacteristically shaky game and that likely was a knock-on effect of his early bit of miscommunication in his own box which then led to some later misplaced passes.
Brennan Johnson was quiet apart from when it counted, involved in the build-up to the first goal and then putting in an inch-perfect pass for Son to score Spurs’ second goal early in the second half. Before the break the Wales international had not been able to edge in front of his marker by a matter of millimetres to convert Son’s own fine ball across the box.
The players are looking sharp. Yves Bissouma looks like the player who started last season and the same could be said about James Maddison. Vicario and Davies looked assured on their return to the team, the Welshman producing one trademark last gasp, powerful block in his own box.
Pedro Porro had an excellent night amid the heat. His touch, turn and finish for his goal was sublime, while it was his pass down the line that put Johnson away to set up Son. The Spaniard also contributed defensively with a couple of important interceptions after racing back.
Dejan Kulusevski might just be the sharpest player though of pre-season and he has been a creative force of nature so far this summer, the move to get him playing more through the centre or in a deeper role favouring his ability.
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