Tottenham Hotspur were dismantled by Bayern Munich as the German side scored four goals at a jubilant Allianz Arena in a performance that will have provided more questions than answers for both Spurs fans and management.
Harry Kane, as is his wont, opened the scoring for Bayern with a classic touch-then-finish goal. Though he was offside, the flag wasn’t raised, and from there Spurs were on the back foot. Kingsley Coman added to the tally, cutting inside on his left and unleashing a brilliant curling finish from the top of the box, before teenager Lennart Karl scored a third in a similar manner, instead striking first time as he was teed up. Jonah Kusi-Asare finished things off, the ball falling to him following a bit of a melee in the penalty area, before he finished from an almost impossible angle wide on the left.
Here are my top ten talking points from Spurs’ loss against Bayern Munich.
Thomas Frank started a very strong side against Bayern, in an indication of what we might see at the start of the Premier League season (and possibly in the UEFA Super Cup). Despite a strong preseason from Wilson Odobert, and encouraging signs from the likes of Mathys Tel and Lucas Bergvall, Brennan Johnson was preferred on the wing (though once more on the left, opposite Mohamed Kudus) with a midfield trio of Joao Palhinha, Pape Matar Sarr, and Rodrigo Bentancur. The remaining members of the XI largely picked themselves, but it will be interesting to see if Franks makes any changes for PSG.
Spurs have struggled for creativity around the attacking third this preseason, but against Bayern they struggled to even progress into the middle third. Frank seemed to set the side up initially with a single pivot in the middle, held by new signing Joao Palhinha, with Rodrigo Bentancur slightly more advanced and Sarr at the “#10”. Palhinha struggled in this role, finding space to receive the ball from the center backs and Guglielmo Vicario on only a handful of occasions, before Frank resorted to pulling him from that role and switching him with Bentancur. Things improved slightly from there, but Spurs’ best route out was still to ping a long ball at Kudus and hope it stuck. Palhinha was pulled at half-time, struggling with the pace of the match following a limited preseason in Germany.
If that is the standard of refereeing in the Bundesliga, it’s no wonder Bayern Munich cruise to titles so often. You don’t really like to complain about refereeing too much in preseason, but the officiating was so poor, numerous members of the Spurs XI approached the referees at half-time, remonstrating and questioning. Kane was clearly offside on the first goal, and Luis Diaz clearly dived under the attention of Palhinha to win a penalty - and those were only the most high-profile calls the referees got wrong. Say what you like about VAR, but it ensures those kinds of calls generally do not stand.
You could summarize the prior two points like so. Any time Spurs looked to break or were semi-dangerous in build-up, a Bayern player would cynically foul to prevent further play. It clearly rattled Spurs, and though you don’t generally see cautions for that type of play in preseason, it would’ve been nice just for the flow of the game to nip that in the bud. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, and Spurs continued to battle to move the ball up the pitch.
Look, his goal was offside, but did anybody else have flashbacks when the England captain hit the back of the net? The former Spurs striker turned a hopeful chipped ball into a scoring opportunity with a classy first touch that sent Micky van de Ven the wrong way, before sweeping home with his second. It was a moment of quality that Spurs have missed in front of goal as of late.
Speaking of strikers, is anybody else getting more and more worried about Dominic Solanke? The forward has now missed the majority of preseason with what was supposed to be a brief absence, and I am starting to worry that his injury is worse than first thought. Frank has said on a number of occasions that Solanke is close, but that was also the narrative three matches ago; so is the striker position also a depth problem now for Spurs?
The scoreline doesn’t reflect how well Vicario played, making a number of key saves. With his place arguably under some threat from Antonin Kinsky, Vicario put his shot-stopping skill on display, with several last-ditch interventions, not least a brilliant kick save on Harry Kane with the striker through on goal. Vicario embraced Kane after the attempt, but Kane could only shake his head in disbelief.
The thing is, Spurs weren’t that bad defensively. Even though Bayern had control, in the first half especially Spurs looked reasonably solid and composed. Unfortunately, quality players can score quality goals, and it was these moments of quality that undid Spurs. Kane’s goal aside, each of Bayern’s goals were phenomenal strikes that on any other day could have gone wide or deflected away; but sometimes ball just go goal. Even the teenagers got in on the act.
The lack of youth team involvement has been notable in the second half of preseason. Though Thomas Frank is known for working with young players, he clearly doesn’t think the majority of Spurs’ young players coming through the ranks are quite ready, with new center back Luka Vuskovic a similar story. That’s disappointing, as I had hoped a couple of players would be able to make the jump this season; but at least most of the players in the frame have managed to secure loans.
It’s worrying how quiet things have become in the transfer market for Tottenham Hotspur. Though the summer started with a hiss and a roar, creativity has been a known need for some time, only exacerbated by the loss of James Maddison to an ACL injury. That lack of creativity (and quality) was on display for all to see today, with Spurs completely at sea against a strong opponent. Johan Lange needs to move, and move quickly for Spurs to have any chance of competing in the four competitions they will be involved in this season.
I dunno guys, I’m not sure I can declare we are winning the league after this performance.