FROM THE TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – Tottenham picked up just their second win of the new Premier League season with a 3-1 home win over Brentford on Saturday.
The Bees took an early lead again after going ahead in similar circumstances last week at Manchester City, but once again they couldn’t hold on and were put to the sword by a confident Spurs.
Bryan Mbeumo opened the scoring for the visitors, before strikes from Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson and James Maddison turned the game on its head.
How the game developed
For the second week in a row, Brentford it was advanced by 25 seconds. Keane Lewis-Potter’s cross found Mbeumo, who deflected off Micky van de Ven and struck home with a superb volley.
Tottenham He quickly tried to make amends and went close when a loose touch from Sepp van den Berg saw Solanke slot into the channel. His ball for Son Heung-min was cut back to Maddison but his shot from close range was blocked.
But with their next attack, Spurs were level. Ethan Pinnock’s loose pass was pounced on by Maddison, and although his shot was saved by Mark Flekken, Solanke was on hand to turn in the rebound, grabbing his first goal for the club.
It wasn’t even ten minutes yet but the home side were starting to purr, with Son forcing Flekken into another save soon after with a shot from the edge of the box. Moments later, Johnson fired a shot wide of the far post.
Another chance came and went for Johnson when he clipped a pass from Mikkel Damsgaard, only for Nathan Collins to get back and make the block.
Spurs should have taken the lead when Son broke clear and opted to try and round Flekken, but the Dutchman held on well and the chance fell to pieces.
Just before the half hour, Tottenham got the goal they deserved. The Lilywhites again flew forward in numbers and Johnson had the confidence to beat Collins before finding the far corner.
Solanke almost grabbed his second of the day when Maddison drove a low cross to his feet from a few yards out, only for the Bees to pounce on the loose ball.
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was dislodged when caught in possession but recovered to make a long save to keep out Mbeumo.
After the break, Kulusevski was next to be thwarted by Flekken after finding a clever pass behind Maddison on the turn.
Tottenham wanted a penalty when Rodrigo Bentancur appeared to be brought down by Collins, but their appeals were dismissed. Similarly, Brentford were furious when Vicario sent a high ball on the edge of his own area and was not penalized for handball.
Brentford were beginning to threaten and went close again when Kristoffer Ajer’s pass from behind found Mbeumo, with Vicario coming to Spurs’ rescue.
Straight down the other end, Maddison picked out Son and switched the game to Johnson, but his shot this time went wide.
Thomas Frank teed up the speedy Kevin Schade in pursuit of an equaliser, and almost headed home a cross from a corner, but Vicario stretched at the back post to push the ball to safety .
With five minutes to go, Tottenham wrapped up the points. Romero’s tremendous through ball found Son, and he was able to lift his head to find Maddison, who ate up Flekken and eased the nerves around the stadium cup.
GK: Guglielmo Vicario – 6/10 – A strange old time for the goalkeeper under fire. He started well claiming a number of crosses, then was caught in possession as his decision-making seemed out of control. He made a couple of really good saves throughout.
RB: Pedro Porro – 6/10 – He allowed Lewis-Potter the freedom to run in behind a little too often, while he was more sloppy than usual when in possession.
CB: Cristian Romero – 6/10 – Brentford failed to capitalize on the few occasions when Romero would sprint into midfield and leave space. The World Cup winner was otherwise solid.
CB: Micky van de Ven – 6/10 – Should he have been tighter on Mbeumo for the first goal? It’s hard to blame such an incredible strike at their door. Like Romero, he played a good game in central defense.
LB: Destiny Udogie – 7/10 – An all-powerful, if sometimes thankless, move up and down Udogie’s left flank, adding an extra body in attack and digging in defensively.
DM: Rodrigo Bentancur – 8/10 – One of the Uruguayan’s best games as a lone pivot, sweeping up loose balls and quickly progressing through the game.
CM: Dejan Kulusevski – 6/10 – For the most part he has been one of Tottenham’s best players this season when he has started centrally, but that extra spark was missing today.
CM: James Maddison – 9/10 – He ran the show in midfield. He demanded possession and took it through thirds trying to speed up the game. Creator of several chances with which his team should have done better before taking matters into his own hands late on.
RW: Brennan Johnson – 8/10 – A goal and a performance that he would have longed for. Brentford tried to sign him in his younger years and he made them pay with his runs in the starting line.
CF: Dominic Solanke – 8/10 – The fittest and freshest the £65m man has looked since signing from Bournemouth. Woven together they attack very well as Postecoglou idealized.
LW: Son Heung-min – 6/10 – A day off for the Tottenham captain. He should have pulled the trigger when trying to round Flekken in the first half and looked lacking in confidence afterwards. Even so, he still managed two assists.
Substitutes
SUB: Yves Bissouma (63′ for Bentancur) – 6/10
SUB: Pape Matar Sarr (70′ for Johnson) – 6/10
SUB: Mikey Moore (88′ for Solanke) – N/A
SUB: Archie Gray (88′ for Porro) – N/A
SUB: Lucas Bergvall (88′ for Maddison) – N/A
Subs not used: Fraser Forster (GK), Djed Spence, Radu Dragusin, Timo Werner
manager
Ange Postecoglou – 8/10 – From the second minute Tottenham were absolutely dominant and should have won by a wider margin.
GK: Mark Flekken – 7/10 – He kept Brentford in the game with a series of outstanding saves. Unfortunately, that didn’t count for much in the end.
CB: Sepp van den Berg – 5/10 – Put to work by Son, although he was supported in these battles by the throwback Ajer.
CB: Ethan Pinnock – 3/10 – Tottenham got back into the contest when the Jamaican international was sloppy in possession. The visitors could never quite get back on track.
CB: Nathan Collins – 4/10 – He can’t do much to be slower than Johnson, but it was still casual.
RM: Kristoffer Ajer – 5/10 – He was deployed a little higher up the pitch as Brentford looked to capitalize on his excellent crossing and whipping pass. However, this only got Spurs open on one occasion.
CM: Mikkel Damsgaard – 5/10 – Tossed around a bit in the midfield battle, although at times he ran off his marker with his quick thinking.
CM: Vitaly Janelt – 5/10 – He was captain for the day in the absence of Christian Norgaard, but he didn’t bring the necessary seniority and grit to the center of the park.
CM: Yehor Yarmolyuk – 5/10 – Victim of Brentford’s unproven midfield trio, often chasing shadows.
LM: Keane Lewis-Potter – 6/10 – He had the beating of Porro although he rarely took that route as the match progressed.
CF: Bryan Mbeumo – 7/10 – We’ve had Brentford’s day off to get off to the perfect start. A good volley, but that mattered little at 5pm.
FC: Fabio Carvalho – 5/10 – Like Damsgaard he was only a brief source of ingenuity when Brentford needed something a little more substantial.
Substitutes
SUB: Kevin Schade (63′ for Yarmolyuk) – 6/10
SUB: Mads Roerslev (79′ for Ajer) – 5/10
SUB: Yunus Emre Konak (79′ for Damsgaard) – 5/10
SUB: Ryan Trevitt (88′ for Carvalho) – N/A
Subs not used: Hakon Valdimarsson (GK), Ben Mee, Ji-soo Kim, Jayden Meghoma, Tony Yogane
manager
Thomas Frank – 5/10 – Brentford were torn apart for long parts of the day and failed to take advantage of Tottenham’s faltering set pieces.
