After 45 minutes in North London, Tottenham Hotspur supporters must have thought ‘no more’. Manager Ange Postecoglou probably thought the same.
The Lilywhites were a goal down for Aston Villa courtesy of Morgan Rogers slotting home from, you guessed it, a corner and they were second best against what looked to be a well-drilled Unai Emery side.
But Villa have an unhealthy habit of capitulating under pressure, unless they are playing Champions Leaguein this case everything is scattered, while Spurs have a much healthier habit to turn, without a doubt, Postecoglou’s scathing half-time words into something quite positive.
On this particular occasion, Tottenham not only did it show why Emery was right to say they are favorites to qualify for next season’s Champions League against Villathey showed grit, steel and quality from the bench to turn the game around – captain Son Heung-min’s withdrawal after 55 minutes oddly enough was the catalyst for Spurs’ performance level to go up a notch.
The challenge for Spurs is not to put themselves in such a difficult position, that is to fail to concede the first goal at home, but a prosperous season awaits if their three best players of the day continue to shine.
Rating: 8/10
Dejan Kulusevski may feel a bit aggrieved at not being named as one of Spurs’ best players, but let’s be honest, the Swede won’t be reading that.
If by some miraculous reason he does, he will no doubt be full of appreciation for the relentless running machine that is Brennan Johnson. The Welshman’s contribution often goes under the radar, but he offers a lot to Spurs’ attacking play under Postecoglou.
Also, Johnson has those all-important natural instincts when it comes to getting on the end of a cross. Son did the hard work, flicking a tremendous ball into Emi Martinez’s six-yard box, but the 23-year-old still needed to get past Lucas Digne to head home.
That he did, sparking a huge turnaround for the Spurs.
Rating: 8/10
This website has previously written about Postecoglou delivering Pape Matar Sarr the keys to drive your Tottenham car 100 miles per hour.
The very loose translation of this is that Sarr is a player capable of taking a game by the scruff of the neck, affecting its outcome by being able to do basically everything. Run, pass, retrieve the ball, repeat.
Here, Sarr did just that, speeding up the game at a pace that Villa couldn’t handle, and his perfect reading of Pau Torres’ sloppy pass set the attack in motion that would lead to Spurs’ third goal.
Rating: 9/10
Unless you have the scoring power of Erling Haaland, Cole Palmer or Mohamed Salah, chances are someone will tell you that you’re wasting money because you’re not delivering every week.
This is certainly a stamp that has been put in the way of Dominic Solanke, a potential club record signing from Spurs for a total fee of £65m. Of course, the 27-year-old would like to have shown more in his last seven Premier League blanks, but he is another player who has the ability to influence the game in different ways.
Turning it on when it really matters is what Spurs fans will love most and that’s exactly what Solanke did here. First, he got in behind the Villa defense with a tremendously timed diagonal, before slotting the ball past Martinez with a delicately skilful finish.
Then, four minutes later, Solanke conceded he had to fall ever so slightly behind to head home Richarlison’s cross four minutes later. To say it was Harry Kane-esque may be a step too far, but it was a top-class game nonetheless.
