The New York Times

If Manchester United want to know what a well-structured performance looks like, they should rewatch Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-0 victory at Old Trafford. Against a lifeless press and non-existent cover on the transition, Spurs ripped Erik ten Hag’s side to shreds.

The rotations in Ange Postecoglou’s midfield proved too much for United’s organisation without the ball, while a focus on attacking the wide areas cut through United repeatedly.

In possession, the rotations between Tottenham’s midfielders and full-backs stretched United’s 4-4-2…

… and created gaps in the midfield line that were exploited by the dropping Dominic Solanke or the other central players.

Here, Dejan Kulusevski and Pedro Porro’s switch creates a gap between Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo as they exchange their markers, and Solanke drops to offer Cristian Romero a passing option through that space.

As Romero plays the pass to Solanke, Kulusevski starts moving forward…

… to offer a progressive option to his striker, with Brennan Johnson pinning United’s left-back, Diogo Dalot.

Solanke flicks the ball towards Johnson…

… and Kulusevski’s third-man run is found by the right-winger. Tottenham’s attack down the right side attracts Manuel Ugarte, which means that James Maddison is free on the other side because United’s right-back, Noussair Mazraoui, has Timo Werner (out of shot) to worry about.

As a result, Kulusevski switches the play to Maddison, with Ugarte dragged to the other side.

In another example, Kulusevski and Solanke are initially marked by Mainoo and Lisandro Martinez. The Tottenham centre-forward drops to offer himself as a passing option…

… and Kulusevski dashes forward, forcing Martinez and Mainoo to switch markers as Destiny Udogie is occupying Ugarte.

Again, the moment Tottenham progress the ball is when they switch their positions, so they can catch out United while exchanging their markers. However, Solanke returns the ball to Romero because there is no passing option.

As Romero plays the ball wide to Porro, Solanke attacks the space behind Mainoo. Meanwhile, Kulusevski drags Martinez deeper and Ugarte has to mark Udogie…

… which means United can’t cover the space behind Mainoo when Porro’s pass finds Solanke. The centre-forward then plays the ball to Johnson down the right wing…

… and by the time Ugarte moves across to support, the Wales forward plays it back to Rodrigo Bentancur, who finds Maddison in space.

Maddison then switches the ball to the other side, before combining with Kulusevski to nearly double Tottenham’s lead.

Tottenham’s movement in the central zones kept stretching United’s out-of-possession structure. Here, Mainoo and Ugarte are initially marking Kulusevski and Maddison…

… but when Spurs move the ball towards their right side, the Uruguay midfielder moves across to cover for Mainoo. Ugarte’s shift means Alejandro Garnacho cannot commit to closing down Micky van de Ven because of the narrow positioning of Maddison and Udogie (out of shot).

Romero plays the ball back to Guglielmo Vicario…

… and when the goalkeeper passes it to Van de Ven, Garnacho is late to the press.

With Ugarte moving up to mark Maddison and Mazraoui pinned by Werner down the left wing, Van de Ven comfortably finds Udogie in space.

The dominoes then fall with the right side of United’s defence late to press Udogie and Werner, which allows them to combine down the left wing, before the left-back finds Kulusevski in front of the penalty area and Johnson hits the post.

Furthermore, Tottenham’s full-backs and Bentancur positioned themselves smartly to defend the transition in case United won the ball back.

Here, Udogie finds Werner down the left wing after Tottenham play through United’s block, and Bentancur moves towards that side to cover.

Bentancur’s positioning offers a safety net for Tottenham’s left side. When Werner’s cutback doesn’t find Udogie’s run inside the penalty area and United start their attacking transition…

… Van de Ven and Romero can aggressively defend the central space and the right side because Bentancur is tracking Garnacho’s movement.

In another example, Porro and Bentancur drop deeper while Tottenham are still attacking in the aftermath of a set piece.

When the attack fails and United are looking to strike on the counter-attack, Postecoglou’s side are in a position to defend three different lanes with Bentancur’s positioning enabling Udogie to defend the central space.

Tottenham’s ability to defend United’s transitions also allowed them to create their own in the other direction. Due to United’s gung-ho approach when counter-attacking, they are always vulnerable when it is reversed.

In this example, Udogie’s narrow positioning allows him to recover when United win the ball in midfield and attack the vacated space.

Van de Ven moves across to defend Udogie’s position and the left-back complements that by dropping into the central space…

… which allows him to intercept Garnacho’s pass toward Joshua Zirkzee and reverse the transition.

Tottenham’s transition in the other direction finds Kulusevski, who puts Werner through on goal…

… but Werner shoots straight at Andre Onana.

In the build-up to Tottenham’s first goal, Udogie is in position to track Garnacho in case the ball is lost.

When United win the ball back and start the attacking transition…

… the left-back is in position to defend against Garnacho while Van de Ven and Romero are defending the other spaces. Fernandes tries to find Garnacho’s run…

… but Udogie’s presence forces the right-winger to play it backwards towards Rashford. Meanwhile, Bentancur is dropping to support the defence…

… which allows Van de Ven to sprint and beat Rashford to the ball — in case Van de Ven is late, Bentancur is already dropping to cover for him.

Tottenham reverse the transition in the other direction and Van de Ven surges through an unorganised United defence, before finding Johnson towards the far post…

… and the Wales forward scores into an empty net.

“We knew that the main threat that Manchester United have is on the transition — they are pretty lethal with the front guys they have got,” said Postecoglou after the game.

“We wanted to make sure we kind of locked them in today and that was the full-backs, and particularly Maddison and Kulusevski to be really disciplined in their football.”

On the ball, Tottenham’s rotations in midfield allowed them to play through United’s block, while their positioning protected them on the defensive transition, from which they could counter in the other direction.

A well-constructed plan and perfect execution from Tottenham — something that can’t be said of Ten Hag’s side in the last year.

“That’s how we need to play — our season starts now.”

Dejan Kulusevski perfectly summed up how the mood has been transformed among Tottenham Hotspur’s players, staff and supporters after they beat Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford.

Two weeks ago, fans were restless after Spurs lost at home to Arsenal in the north London derby. They had won only one of their first four games of the season and it looked like the problems that plagued them towards the end of the 2023-24 campaign had not been addressed. Tottenham were dominating the ball but struggling to create quality chances.

When they were losing 1-0 to Coventry City in the 87th minute of their third-round Carabao Cup tie, things threatened to become toxic. Djed Spence and Brennan Johnson led a remarkable comeback and since then, this team has looked in sync.

Sunday’s victory against Erik ten Hag’s side was the first time Tottenham have beaten a member of the Premier League’s traditional ‘Big Six’ away from home under Postecoglou and the result should kick their season into gear. The performance has to be the benchmark going forward.

GO DEEPER

The Briefing: Man United 0 Spurs 3 - What now for Ten Hag? And breaking down Van de Ven's incredible assist

Spurs were magnificent in the first half. Postecoglou’s philosophy is about bravely playing out from the back and relentlessly pressing opponents high up the pitch. There was evidence throughout this game that Tottenham’s squad are becoming more comfortable with their head coach’s demands and are unafraid to persist when things go wrong.

In the 19th minute, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven baited United’s press. Van de Ven passed the ball around Alejandro Garnacho, Timo Werner nudged it past Matthijs de Ligt and Destiny Udogie had acres of space to drive into. Udogie found Kulusevski in the box and the move ended with Johnson striking the post.

Manuel Ugarte was making his first top-flight start for United and was never allowed to settle on the ball. Dominic Solanke pressed him from behind while James Maddison and Kulusevski charged at him from the front. Noussair Mazraoui was being overwhelmed by Werner and Udogie on the left wing. Tottenham suffocated their opponents and left them feeling dizzy.

They recorded an expected goals (xG, which measures the quality of a team’s chances) figure of 4.7. Tottenham were tearing United apart even before Bruno Fernandes’ red card for a foul on Maddison in the 42nd minute. Fernandes’ dismissal was not the catalyst for their implosion but just another symptom of it.

Van de Ven is an exceptional defender and his ability to drive up the pitch gives Postecoglou an extra weapon. Fernandes, Ugarte and Mazraoui looked scared to challenge the Netherlands international as he bulldozed his way into the box and set up Johnson to open the scoring.

The star of the show was Kulusevski. It is bizarre to think the Sweden international had spent the majority of his time on the right wing at Tottenham since he joined them on an initial 18-month loan deal from Juventus in January 2022. Postecoglou used him in central midfield last year and has continued with it this season. Kulusevski’s relationship with Maddison is blossoming and they possess the talent to carve teams apart.

“They are both really good intelligent footballers,” Postecoglou said in his post-match press conference. “The way we play suits their characteristics because Maddison does so much damage with the ball and Kulusevski does so much damage with his running. It’s a good balance for us in that attacking third.

“They also had to show good discipline today because we knew that the main threat Manchester United have is in the transition. They’re pretty lethal with the front guys they’ve got so we really wanted to make sure we locked them in today and that was the full-backs and for Maddison and Kulusevski to be really disciplined in their football. They’re both going really well and working really hard and improving.”

Kulusevski created nine chances, more than any other visiting player in a top-flight game at Old Trafford since Opta’s records began in 2003. He should have recorded at least two assists for perfectly timed through balls that sent Werner through on goal but his team-mate shot straight at Andre Onana on both occasions. Kulusevski called it a “dream to play at Old Trafford like this”.

“I’m growing as a player and I can play to my strengths,” he told The Athletic. “I’m the best in the middle, I can score goals, I can find good passes, then I play with Maddison, who’s unbelievable with the ball. We have Rodrigo Bentancur, who is an unbelievable player when he plays like this. It looks offensive on paper but it’s working really well.

“Our pressure in the first half was unbelievable. They couldn’t get the ball out. We won it every time. We won 3-0 but if we were clinical we would have won by more.”

What makes this result more impressive is that Tottenham found a way to cope without their captain Son Heung-min. The South Korea international felt fatigue in his hamstring during Thursday’s 3-0 win against Qarabag in the Europa League. It is the first time Son has missed a game through injury since November 2022 when he suffered a fractured eye socket. There are doubts about the finishing ability of Werner, who replaced Son in the starting line-up, but he kept running past Mazraoui and one clever pass in the first half created a good opportunity for Udogie.

There were lots of other positives, including Johnson scoring for the fourth game in a row. Lucas Bergvall, who looked heartbroken when he was substituted against Qarabag following Radu Dragusin’s red card, played a major role in Solanke’s goal with a crisp corner delivery. Dragusin replaced Van de Ven for the final few minutes and had the opportunity to quickly move on from his reckless moment on Thursday. Spence came on for Udogie, who felt pain in his right quad, at half-time and performed well in and out of possession.

Postecoglou has been repeatedly saying since the opening weekend that this team is improving and on Sunday, the signs were there for all to see.

(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Tottenham Hotspur have condemned supporters who sang homophobic chants during their Premier League game against Manchester United on Sunday.

One such chant was heard from the Tottenham fans’ section at Old Trafford towards the end of the first half of the game, when former Chelsea player Mason Mount was introduced for the injured Kobbie Mainoo.

The “Chelsea rent boy” chant, a homophobic slur aimed at the west London club’s current and former players and fans, has been heard regularly at Premier League games but its use has seen clubs fined and police take action in recent years.

GO DEEPER

Why do opposition fans aim homophobic chants at Chelsea and what is being done to stop it?

In January 2023, the FA added homophobic chanting to its list of rule breaches and said it can pursue action against clubs whose supporters use them at matches. In 2022, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed that it considered the term a homophobic slur and therefore a hate crime.

Another chant, relating to striker Dominic Solanke and Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, was also heard.

“The club is aware of abhorrent homophobic chanting from sections of our away support at Old Trafford today,” a Tottenham statement read.

“This is simply unacceptable, hugely offensive and no way to show support for the team.

“The club will be working closely with the police and stewards to identify anyone instigating or joining in with the chanting — we shall take the strongest possible action in accordance with our sanctions and banning policy.”

Tottenham won the match 3-0 thanks to goals from Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke.

GO DEEPER

The Briefing: Man United 0 Spurs 3 - What now for Ten Hag? And breaking down Van de Ven's incredible assist

(Carl Recine/Getty Images)

Not only do Tottenham miss goals as a result of the injury to Son Heung-min.

They also miss having one of the best creators in the Premier League. Heading into this weekend, Son had created more chances from open play (13) than any other player in the division.

Ange Postecoglou’s side will have to find that creativity from elsewhere in his absence. Over to you, Timo...

Here are how the two benches look at Old Trafford ahead of kick-off:

Man Utd: Bayindir (GK), Evans, Lindelof, Casemiro, Eriksen, Mount, Amad, Antony, Hojlund.

Tottenham: Forster (GK), Spence, Dragusin, Gray, Bissouma, Bergvall, Sarr, Moore, Lankshear.

So, Man United are pretty much as I expected. Meanwhile, it’s Timo Werner who gets the nod for the injured Son Heung-min, while Rodrigo Bentancur starts ahead of Yves Bissouma.

What do you make of these two benches and the starting XIs? Let us know in either the Discuss tab or with an email: livebloguk@theathletic.com

We are just minutes away from the team sheets being confirmed at Old Trafford, including how Ange Postecoglou has opted to fill the hole left by Son Heung-min’s injury absence this afternoon.

We’ll bring you those official XIs — and further analysis of them — as soon as we get them.

Stay turned.

Son Heung-Min’s absence is a huge blow for Tottenham. The South Korea international has not reached top form yet this season but he is their captain and an excellent finisher who can be relied upon in tight games.

With Wilson Odobert and Richarlison unavailable too, this could be an opportunity for Timo Werner to kick start his season. The 28-year-old has looked low on confidence but he could cause Manchester United’s defence with problems with his pace running in behind.

Son’s injury will also increase the pressure to perform on Spurs’ £65m club-record signing Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson, who both scored in last week’s 3-1 victory over Brentford.

Both Manchester United and Tottenham will be keeping an eye on how Aston Villa do this season — no doubt hoping to finish above them come the shake-up in May.

Well, Villa’s promising start to the season looks like continuing as things stand.

They lead 2-1 at Ipswich Town despite Liam Delap giving the hosts a surprise eighth-minute lead.

Morgan Rogers had equalised seven minutes later after some botched defending, before Ollie Watkins followed that assist by heading Villa into the lead on the half-hour mark.

Villa look comfortable, with the second half starting shortly. We’ll keep you up to date with the major developments as this one plays out at Portman Road.

Welcome to The Preview on the award-winning The Athletic FC Podcast, where each week we go deep on the biggest game of the weekend.

On this week’s episode, host Adam Leventhal is with guests Tim Spiers and Jon Mackenzie to focus on our game today as Manchester United host Tottenham at Old Trafford.

With the sides of Ange Postecoglou and Erik ten Hag sitting 10th and 11th respectively in the Premier League, today presents a huge opportunity for one to grab a jump on the other.

Listen in via your preferred podcast platform here

Son Heung-min will miss today’s trip to Manchester United.

The Tottenham captain was an injury doubt heading into the game after suffering with a hamstring problem during Thursday’s Europa League win over Qarabag and subsequently has not travelled with the rest of the squad.

Son was withdrawn 71 minutes into the 3-0 victory and head coach Ange Postecoglou confirmed on Friday that a decision would be made on the 32-year-old’s availability after training yesterday.

Son last missed a Spurs game through injury in November 2022, when he was sidelined with a fractured eye socket.

While we will have our correspondents at Old Trafford for today’s action, we very much want to hear from you too.

As usual, we have our matchday discussion open for subscribers. Simply click on the Discuss tab at the top of this feed or even easier, you can click here.

And if you’re not a subscriber, you can get involved too. Simply email us your thoughts — whether it’s a question you’ve always wanted answering, your tip for where things will be won or lost at the Theatre of Dreams, or which player you’re backing to make the difference…

Get in touch — just send your thoughts to: livebloguk@theathletic.com

I will be keeping an eye on the inbox and we will pick out the best of your thoughts to add in here too.

So, happy commenting and questioning. Liberal and creative use of emojis always encouraged.

Hello all and welcome again to our live coverage of the big Premier League fixture of the day, as Manchester United host Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.

Your guess is as good as mine over what we’ll get from this pair today — but that is also half the fun of it!

We’ll have our correspondents at the ground and observers from further afield taking in and assessing all the action.

There is much more on the way before that too, as we build up to kick-off and cast an eye over the team news as soon as it breaks.

So in short, don’t go anywhere because we’ve got you covered from here.

On the latest episode of The Athletic's Manchester United podcast, Ian Irving, fresh from the stands at Old Trafford, holds court with Carl Anka, Laurie Whitwell, and Mr Andy Mitten as we cast judgement over another disappointing performance in Europe.

FC Twente, despite a rich history (one which features Erik ten Hag in three spells), have the lowest UEFA coefficient of any of United's opponent's in this season's Europa League. That didn't stop them fighting back to earn a point, though.

Christian Eriksen was robbed of possession for the Dutch side's goal; a shame as the night had been going pretty well for him. Next up for Manchester United, Eriksen's old club Tottenham.

Listen here!

The first of the two Premier League matches today is just about to get underway at Portman Road.

Newly promoted Ipswich Town are hosting Aston Villa, who have the small matter of a Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich coming up on Wednesday!

Victory for Unai Emery's side would move them level on points with league leaders Liverpool while Kieran McKenna is still looking for his first top-flight win.

Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada, pictured, has told club staff that the aim is to win the Premier League title in 2028, for the 150th anniversary of the club being formed.

Berrada, who officially joined from rivals Manchester City in June, addressed employees during a meeting at Old Trafford last Wednesday and mapped out the ambitions shared by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the football hierarchy.

Berrada informed staff of “Project 150” — so called because it coincides with the major milestone of United’s existence. The club was founded, as Newton Heath, in 1878, before changing its name to Manchester United in 1902.

That defined goal puts into context the work required on the team, with United currently 11th in the Premier League after two wins, one draw and two defeats. United also drew 1-1 in their opening game in the Europa League against FC Twente, the lowest-ranked side they will face at Old Trafford in the competition.

Read more below.

In his pre-match press conference, Ten Hag was asked whether he considers Manchester United and Tottenham as rivals for the European places.

"Definitely rivals," he said. "I think this is good because it is [going to be] a very attacking game, a very open game, a very intense game. I think it has big history, United against Tottenham.

"Both teams will be [thinking] about attacking and therefore there are always spaces which you leave then. That counts for both teams but of course we want to take control of the game and we will do everything to get this done.

"Of course this is a big challenge against Tottenham with their philosophy of the game. We are looking forward to finding the right solutions."

The concept of a full-back drifting into central midfield positions still seems relatively novel.

Yet it’s now over a decade since Pep Guardiola started doing it at Bayern Munich, taking advantage of the fact that his full-backs were Philipp Lahm and David Alaba, two outstanding technicians who both had experience of playing in the engine room for Bayern’s youth sides.

So how do Manchester United and Tottenham (and others) use their full-backs in midfield? Find out below.

The Arsenal centre-back Gabriel’s winner in September’s north London derby triggered an all-too-familiar sense of frustration for Tottenham Hotspur fans.

In 2023-24, their first season under Ange Postecoglou, they conceded 16 times from set pieces, nine of which were from corners, the sixth-worst figure in the league.

They also generated just 6.6 expected goals from their own corners across the entire season, ranking 15th.

Follow live coverage of Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League today

That, along with Arsenal’s massive improvement from similar scenarios, meant Postecoglou was questioned repeatedly about his side’s fragility from dead-ball situations, much to his frustration. After a 3-2 defeat to Arsenal in April, where his team conceded twice from corners, Postecoglou stated he did not “see it (Spurs’ set-piece defending) as an issue”.

Gabriel’s goal, which came from a Bukayo Saka corner after Cristian Romero’s lapse in concentration, brought those questions back.

Postecoglou’s response in the post-match press conference was similar: “I know for some reason people think I don’t care about set pieces, and it’s a narrative that you can keep going on for ages and ages… Like I said, we work on them all the time, like we do with every other team.”

Importantly, Postecoglou added that “for the most part, we handled them really well today”, which was true and provides reason to believe Spurs will be better at defending set pieces — specifically corners — this season.

What caused Spurs’ struggles while defending corners last season?

Spurs’ problems from defensive corners were threefold.

The first issue was their organisation. Far too often, Spurs packed the six-yard box, possibly to counter inswinging corners — understandably so as they faced a league-high 143 inswingers across the 2023-24 season.

However, this left them vulnerable to runs from the penalty spot and further behind. Spurs also largely used zonal marking, which meant their players were focused on the ball far too often. The players struggled to escape blockers and were often unaware of runs made behind them. All of these are evident in the goals below that they conceded against Arsenal, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Everton, and Newcastle United last season.

In the case of Arsenal, Everton and Newcastle, a Spurs player lost his assigned opponent and allowed them to get into a great position while failing to recover. Due to Spurs’ insistence on defending the six-yard box and their on-the-ball focus, the other defenders were unable to alter their positioning to defend the threat behind them.

In the Wolves example, Maximilian Kilman holds on to two Spurs players (Romero and Son Heung-min) to ensure Joao Gomes has the freedom to leap and place a header past Guglielmo Vicario with ease.

Vicario also contributed to Spurs’ struggles. An excellent shot-stopper from open play, the Italian looked flappable and indecisive from corners and set pieces last season. He often stayed rooted to his spot or mistimed his punches, further exacerbating Spurs’ problems.

The second reason for Spurs’ struggles was directly related to their frequent inability to track a player running behind them. Given their preference to play high up the pitch, their midfielders were slow to track back to help when teams overloaded the wings with underlaps or overlaps.

As neither Pedro Porro nor Destiny Udogie are particularly great defenders of space, this meant Spurs were vulnerable to cutbacks, which, while low in volume due to Spurs’ average possession of around 62 per cent per game, were frequently of high quality. Tottenham conceded eight goals from cutbacks last season, with only Sheffield United (12), Burnley and Crystal Palace (both 10) letting in more.

It meant situations like the ones below occurred more often than Postecoglou would have liked. Spurs’ unsettled defence were forced to clear the ball out in a hurry, often resulting in them giving away a corner.

The third and final aspect was Spurs’ tendency to give the ball away in dangerous areas.

Using data from Footovision, we can see that Spurs conceded possession in build-up more than any other team in the league last season — which led to dangerous opposition transitions.

Additionally, their opponents won possession in Spurs’ defensive third 6.5 times per match, the second-highest figure in the league.

Many of these were in wide areas, as the graph below shows, and a sizeable proportion resulted in shots or goals.

Spurs also conceded 25 shots from fast breaks last season, the joint third-worst figure in the league.

When Spurs spread out in build-up to help the team escape the opposition’s press, they can often be left scrambling to get back into position when they lose the ball — particularly in wide areas when they are defending transitions. When they are forced to close down space in these transitions, it can often result in rushed clearances that drift behind for a corner.

Where have they improved early on in 2024-25?

It is far too early to definitively determine if Spurs’ issues in transition have reduced, but Postecoglou’s second seasons usually bring improvement. If Spurs can be smarter with the ball in their own defensive third while still leaving space between their players in build-up, they will reduce opportunities for opponents to sting them.

Their defensive work in wide areas, however, has improved. Having allowed 10.3 open-play crosses per match last season, they have let in just 7.6 per game in their first five games in 2024-25. This has contributed to marginally improved numbers in most set piece and corner-related metrics as well, albeit in an extremely small sample size.

Prevention is better than cure and conceding fewer corners is the first step Spurs have taken towards improvement. For instance, Fabian Schar’s goal for Newcastle last season came from their 16th corner of the game. Tottenham also conceded eight or more corners in 10 other matches.

Spurs have also improved in defending the few they have given away as well. Nick Montgomery, who joined Postecoglou’s coaching staff this summer after leaving Hibernian, is playing a part in their set-piece organisation and the early returns are promising.

In the sequences below, including one against Arsenal, we notice more players instructed to stay tighter to the players they are marking, while multiple Spurs players are also focused on an opponent, monitoring their movement, rather than the ball.

Spurs’ physicality and communication from these situations has improved and they seem less prone to falling prey to the blocking tactic Kilman used while at Wolves in one of the examples above. Additionally, Vicario has been more proactive in stepping out and punching the ball. He has seven crosses claimed and five crosses punched away after five matches, having managed 33 and 15 respectively in 38 league games last season, though he has had a few unconvincing moments as well.

However, that is not to say they are completely invulnerable from these situations.

As Gabriel’s goal for Arsenal showed, they are still prone to the occasional lapse in concentration. Though Spurs dealt better with Everton’s set pieces during their meeting in August this season compared with their 2023-24 clashes, James Tarkowski’s runs to the far post enabled him to nod the ball back across goal on three occasions (including the two you can see below).

Spurs’ improvement, though, cannot be understated and has reflected on the offensive end as well. They are among the top five teams in the league in multiple set-piece metrics after recording middle-of-the-pack figures last season.

While it is too early to say Spurs have put their set-piece woes behind them, the seeds for improvement seem to have been sown and there are reasons for optimism.

(Alex Dodd – CameraSport via Getty Images)

Ange Postecoglou says Tottenham Hotspur will make a late call on the availability of captain Son Heung-min ahead of Sunday’s Premier League fixture against Manchester United.

Son was substituted after 71 minutes during Thursday’s Europa League victory over Qarabag at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after feeling fatigue in his hamstring. He received medical attention on the pitch shortly after Dominic Solanke had scored Tottenham’s third goal, before being replaced by Timo Werner.

“Still early days from last night,” Postecoglou said on Friday. “The boys are fairly tired, the ones who put in a shift.

“Apart from Sonny, everyone’s OK. And Sonny I don’t think’s too bad. He wants to train tomorrow so we’ll see how it goes at training tomorrow and make a decision from there. We have another day up our sleeve to give him every chance.”

GO DEEPER

Tottenham briefing: Dragusin's missed chance, Johnson fires again and Vicario shines

Son last missed a Spurs game through injury in November 2022, when he was sidelined with a fractured eye socket.

The 32-year-old has made seven appearances in all competitions this season, providing two goals and two assists. He was the club’s top scorer last season with 17 goals in all competitions.

Son spoke to the media ahead of Thursday’s Europa League opener and said he and the club were yet to talk about his contract, with his existing deal set to expire in 2025.

On the forward’s contract, Postecoglou added: “I don’t always have the final say but certainly I like to think my input is significant on it. Look, I think it is part of a broader discussion around Sonny but the way he is performing and leading the club at the moment, I certainly want him to stick around for a while.”

When asked if Son’s workload needs to be managed going forward, Postecoglou said: “No. I would have wanted to ease his workload in this early part of the year but we lost Wilson (Odobert), Richy (Richarlison), and Dominic (Solanke). Invariably in football sometimes it is not the amount of injuries but the kind of injuries.

“He has played more than I certainly want him to. The idea of signing Dom and bringing in Wilson, extending Timo’s loan was so that we can manage his load, because he has international football as well, a little bit better. It’s something I am mindful of, it is just the circumstances so far. Sonny always wants to play. That is his attitude But we have to be sensible.

“I don’t think it has too much to do with his age because I haven’t seen that affect him. It’s more I don’t think that the workload in the modern game is sustainable. We have spoken a lot about fixture overload and I think I said last week that part of that responsibility lies with us to protect our players, while the calendar is like this, and certainly with Sonny we are going to have to be mindful of that.”

Spurs were 3-0 winners over Qarabag on Thursday despite Radu Dragusin’s early red card.

Postecoglou’s side are 10th in the Premier League after taking seven points from their opening five matches. United, meanwhile, are 11th with the same record as the north London side. They were also in Europa League action this week, drawing 1-1 at home with FC Twente.

(Warren Little/Getty Images)

Liverpool have been drawn against Brighton & Hove Albion in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup after thrashing West Ham United on Wednesday evening.

West Ham took the lead after Jarell Quansah put through his own net but two goals either side of half-time from Diogo Jota put the hosts in command. Mohamed Salah scored off the bench before Cody Gakpo netted a quickfire brace of his own to complete a resounding 5-1 victory for the holders.

Newcastle United’s third-round match against AFC Wimbledon was postponed on Tuesday due to flooding and will now take place at St James’ Park on October 1. The winner of that tie will play host to Chelsea, who routed League Two leaders Barrow courtesy of a Christopher Nkunku hat-trick, Pedro Neto’s first goal for the club and a Paul Farman own goal.

Elsewhere, Manchester City — six-time winners of the competition in the past 10 years — travel to Tottenham Hotspur while Manchester United take on Leicester City.

Championship outfit Preston North End’s reward for their penalty shootout win over Fulham is a visit from Arsenal, who progressed with a 5-1 win over Bolton Wanderers.

Carabao Cup fourth-round draw in full

Ties will be played across Tuesday, October 29 and Wednesday, October 30.

Brentford vs Sheffield Wednesday

Southampton vs Stoke

Tottenham vs Man City

AFC Wimbledon or Newcastle vs Chelsea

Manchester United vs Leicester City

Brighton vs Liverpool

Preston vs Arsenal

Aston Villa vs Crystal Palace

Carabao Cup 2024-25 dates

Quarter-finals: Week starting December 16

Semi-finals: Weeks starting January 6 and February 3

Final: Sunday, March 16

(Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Ange Postecoglou faces a new challenge with Tottenham Hotspur this season. By guiding them to a fifth-placed finish in the Premier League during his first year in charge, they earned a spot in the expanded version of the Europa League.

They will face eight different teams in its league phase between now and the end of January, with games equally split between home and away. The opening fixture is on Thursday, at home against Azerbaijani champions Qarabag.

Tottenham have made it to the quarter-finals only once in their past seven appearances in this competition, which they won in its former guise as the UEFA Cup in 1972 and 1984, and were also finalists in 1974, under Andre Villas-Boas in 2012-13. They should have a genuine chance of winning it again and fulfilling Postecoglou’s statement that he “always wins trophies” in his second year. They are one of the top-ranked teams, alongside Roma, Porto, Ajax and Manchester United.

One of the other changes with the new format is that third-placed teams from the Champions League no longer drop into the knockout stage of this competition. So if Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan or Borussia Dortmund go out of the Champions League after its league phase, they will not suddenly emerge, like an overpowered boss in a video game, to block Tottenham’s path to the trophy. In four of the past five seasons, a club that started off in the Champions League group stage has ended up contesting the Europa League final.

Postecoglou needs to strike the right balance between giving minutes to players who will not feature regularly for him in the Premier League with putting out teams capable of winning enough games to finish in the top eight of the Europa League’s revamped opening stage. If Spurs finish between ninth and 24th, they will face a two-legged tie in February to try to qualify for the last 16 that way. Any lower and they will be eliminated from Europe for the season.

Tottenham were able to pick only a 23-man squad for the league stage (academy prospects such as Will Lankshear and Mikey Moore are not included in this number but can still play in the matches) while other clubs were allowed up to 25. This is because UEFA rules stipulate each team must have eight locally-trained senior players and Spurs have fallen short of that figure in their current squad. It is why they have named four goalkeepers, including academy graduates Alfie Whiteman and Brandon Austin.

The shortage of homegrown players since the likes of Harry Kane, Harry Winks and Oliver Skipp left the club in the past year or so meant Spurs had to name that reduced squad, which led to Postecoglou leaving out Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon. It is a particularly jarring scenario for Spence, who has played twice for them in the Premier League this season already and was instrumental in the comeback to beat Coventry City last week in the Carabao Cup.

“It was always going to be a difficult decision. With the make-up of our squad currently and the lack of club-trained players, we were always going to have to leave someone out,” Postecoglou said after the squad had been confirmed. “Djed was the unfortunate one but at the same time, Djed has already played in the Premier League. If you’d ask him at the start of the season where he sees himself, the fact he is part of our squad and will obviously play a huge part of the year as he has already, I don’t think he should take too much disappointment.

“Obviously he wants to play, but in the end it was about team balance for us. We just feel with the squad we’ve got, we’ve got some cover on the right, players who can cover on the left, and I always tend to go for more attacking players in those scenarios.”

Fraser Forster is the second-choice goalkeeper behind Guglielmo Vicario. The 36-year-old’s discomfort with playing out from the back was evident in that tie against Championship side Coventry. In the game’s opening minute, he misplaced a pass towards Lucas Bergvall on the edge of the box that nearly led to Jack Rudoni scoring. Vicario will surely be needed against stronger opposition but he cannot be expected to play twice every week until February.

There are only seven defenders in the Europa League squad and they will need to be managed carefully to ensure nobody is handed too heavy a workload. Archie Gray will provide cover for Pedro Porro at right-back while Radu Dragusin can rotate with Cristian Romero. Ben Davies could fill in for Destiny Udogie or Micky van de Ven.

Postecoglou has a dilemma in attack, with Wilson Odobert and Richarlison currently recovering from injuries. They were working in the gym on Wednesday while the rest of the squad took part in training outside. Richarlison’s absence will place a greater strain on £65million ($86.6m) club-record signing Dominic Solanke, but it might present 19-year-old fellow striker Lankshear with an opportunity.

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Lankshear impressed during this summer’s pre-season tour to Japan and South Korea and is back in first-team training following a hamstring injury. Playing competitive football in the Europa League would be the perfect opportunity for him and winger Moore, 17, to develop. Don’t forget that Kane’s first goal for the club came as an 18-year-old in a 4-0 win over Irish side Shamrock Rovers in the Europa League in December 2011.

The alternative option is to play Son Heung-min or Dejan Kulusevski up front, but they need as much rest as Solanke. Kulusevski has been Tottenham’s brightest player in the first month or so of the season operating in a central attacking midfield role and it would be a shame to move him around when he is building momentum. And Son might be too busy playing out wide twice a week, along with Brennan Johnson, because of Odobert’s hamstring injury and Timo Werner’s lack of form.

The one area of the pitch that is not a cause for concern is central midfield.

Even if Rodrigo Bentancur receives a lengthy domestic ban for his comments about Son, he will still be allowed to play in European matches. Postecoglou could select the Uruguay international in all of the Europa League fixtures, keeping Yves Bissouma fresh for the Premier League. Bergvall has shown flashes of creativity and brilliance in his cameo appearances so far in his debut season and it will be exciting to see what he can offer from the start while Pape Sarr rounds out a talented midfield.

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Postecoglou did point out before facing Qarabag that, during his first 12 months in charge, the squad has been evolved to contain more players “robust enough to play our kind of football”. That will be put to the test in the next four months when plenty of them will be playing twice a week.

The other factor that is important to consider is that this is a young squad with limited experience of playing in the European competitions. Udogie, Van de Ven and Johnson headline a group of players who have never appeared at this level before. Postecoglou, who managed previous club Celtic in all three UEFA competitions, believes facing teams with “eight different styles” will be an “interesting challenge”.

The overall message was that this tournament should be embraced, despite the gruelling schedule and travel associated with a schedule that features games in Hungary (Ferencvaros), Turkey (Galatasaray), Scotland (Rangers) and Germany (Hoffenheim).

“Whenever you can expose individuals or the group to different environments, there’s greater opportunity for growth,” Postecoglou said in his press conference on Wednesday. “Whether it’s playing an opponent you’ve never played before, or in a country or a stadium with a different kind of atmosphere. All those things present opportunities for growth and that’s what European competition enables you to do.

“I kept saying last year, if we had been in Europe we would have been able to evolve a bit quicker in terms of what we expose our players to, especially with a young group. For a lot them, it will be their first time in European competition. For us as a group, it will be the first time. The squad has changed a lot in the last 12 months. For all those reasons I see it as a fantastic opportunity to evolve as a team in a footballing sense and hopefully gets us closer to our goal.”

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Bentancur 'almost cried' when apologising for comments - Son

(Top photo: Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)

Son Heung-min has said that Rodrigo Bentancur “almost cried” when he apologised for his comments about the Tottenham Hotspur captain.

Bentancur, 27, said South Korean international Son and his cousins “all look the same” on the television programme Por la Camiseta, which is broadcast in his native Uruguay.

Bentancur apologised to Son, 32, on social media and called it “a joke in bad taste.” Tottenham later released a statement saying that Son wanted to “draw a line under the incident.”

Earlier this month Bentancur was charged by the Football Association (FA) for an alleged aggravated breach of their rules over the remarks. If he is found guilty or does not contest the charge, he could receive a six-to-12 game ban.

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Son was asked about his relationship with Bentancur before Tottenham’s Europa League game against Qarabag on Thursday.

“The process is with the FA and that’s why I can’t say much about it, but I love Rodrigo,” Son said. “I repeat: I love him, I love him.

“We had a lot of good memories, we started playing together when he joined. He apologised straight afterwards, you know, when we had a holiday.

“I was at home and I didn’t even realise what was going on. He just sent me a long text message that you could feel was coming from his heart. Afterwards, when he came back to the training ground for pre season, he just like felt really sorry and almost like cried when he apologised publicly and also personally as well. It felt like he feels really sorry.”

Son added: “We’re all human and make mistakes, and we learn from it. But I love Rodrigo. I love him, I love him. You know, he made a mistake. But I have no problem at all. At all. We just move on as team-mates and friends and brothers, move on together. I hope.

“We just have to wait for the FA’s process. I can’t say much. But one thing I can say is that I love Rodrigo. There is nothing more to say.”

Bentancur has made five appearances in all competitions for Spurs this season and has started their last two Premier League games against Arsenal and Brentford.

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Son, meanwhile, also weighed in on the growing concerns about player welfare, echoing the sentiments of Manchester City’s Rodri, who recently stated that players are “close” to going on strike due to the overloaded football calendar.

Reflecting on the issue, Son said: “A lot of players came out and said the right things. It was very important for someone to say the right things. Sometimes players are the main guys to have to say something. There’s definitely a lot of games and as a football fan who loves football you want to see quality games not as many as possible.

“You don’t want to see players struggling with injuries. No one wants to see it. A lot of games, a lot of travelling. We have to look after ourselves, which sometimes it’s very hard. We’re not robots. We have to look after that and reduce the games definitely — better quality definitely should be the aim.”

Son’s comments follow a recent FIFPro report which concluded that the 2024-25 season is set to be the worst in terms of player workload.

(Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)

James Maddison lifted his arms in the air, acting as the conductor for Tottenham Hotspur’s supporters as he urged them to create more noise.

Ange Postecoglou’s side had just taken a 2-1 lead against Brentford on Saturday after they recovered from the shock of conceding inside 25 seconds. It was a significant moment as they wrestled back control of the game and took a huge step towards winning for only the second time in the league this season.

Following back-to-back defeats to Newcastle United and Arsenal, plus an unconvincing last-gasp Carabao Cup victory over Championship side Coventry City in midweek, this was the tonic everybody needed to lift their spirits, but the identity of the goalscorer at that particular moment was crucial to the feeling of goodwill which enveloped the fans.

Last week, Brennan Johnson deactivated his Instagram account due to the abuse he received after Spurs lost that north London derby at home. The 23-year-old forward then started on the bench against Coventry, before scoring the winner in second-half stoppage time. His muted celebration suggested what happened off the pitch had taken its toll.

That is why, when Johnson burst past Nathan Collins and drilled a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Mark Flekken in the 28th minute, the crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium erupted.

Johnson shushed the Brentford fans, still bitter that their club made multiple offers to sign him from Nottingham Forest but failed to complete a deal, and was then surrounded by his team-mates as chants of ‘There’s only one Brennan Johnson’ rang out loudly.

The Wales international had scored in consecutive matches for the first time since he joined Spurs from Forest last August for £47.5million ($63.2m at the current exchange rate). The last time he found the net in back-to-back club games was in May 2022, when Forest were on their way to promotion from the Championship.

Maddison wanted him to enjoy the moment, which he deserved.

“He works so hard for the team and made so many runs in behind to stretch Brentford,” Maddison told The Athletic. “How many times did he come short and Pedro (Porro, Spurs’ right-back) clipped a ball for him to chase? It creates more space in the middle for me and (Dejan) Kulusevski. Unselfish stuff like that people don’t always see.

“So when he does score, and they can shout his name, I was just getting them going. That will mean a lot to him and his family here. That is back-to-back goals. He is a great kid and I love him so I was just trying to give him confidence.”

Head coach Postecoglou admitted the forward had endured a “tough period” but has not spoken to him directly to offer further support. Johnson has, unfairly, become a scapegoat for sections of the fanbase but his performances are symbolic of the long-term project Postecoglou is overseeing.

This is a young squad with vast potential, who are growing together as a group and learning to become more consistent. Mistakes are going to happen. Tottenham spent a lot of money on Johnson because he could both contribute immediately and potentially develop into an elite winger. That is still a work in progress.

Last season, Johnson scored five times from a figure for expected goals (xG) — a metric that measures the quality of chances a team creates — of 10.6. As such, he was the biggest underperformer in front of goal in the Premier League behind Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

If he continues to work hard on the training pitch, you would expect the quality of his finishing to improve — it was certainly a crisp strike that beat Flekken.

Johnson created the fourth-most chances from open play (45) for Tottenham in the Premier League last season, behind Maddison (47), Kulusevski (66) and Son Heung-min (67) but started fewer games than all of them. He was joint-top with Son for league assists (10).

Postecoglou used Son, Richarlison and, on rare occasions, Kulusevski at centre-forward last season. Now he has £65million club-record signing Dominic Solanke to play off, do not be surprised if Johnson benefits from having a consistent presence up front and registers even more assists than that.

Johnson’s overall performance against Brentford demonstrated how much of a devastating attacker he can be.

Thomas Frank’s visitors lined up in a 3-5-2 formation, with Collins as the left centre-back and Keane Lewis-Potter as an aggressive left wing-back who pushed high up the pitch. That meant Johnson had large pockets of space to drive directly at Collins in.

Kulusevski created a good opportunity for the Welshman in the 10th minute but his shot flashed past the post. In the second half, Cristian Romero launched a counter-attack which ended with Johnson dragging another attempt wide, before lifting his shirt up over his head in frustration while Postecoglou dropped his hands to his knees.

These are the moments where Johnson needs to become more clinical, which Postecoglou acknowledged before the game, while not every opposing team will afford him as much space as Brentford did.

“With Brennan, it is just the consistency in his game, which we are constantly working on with him,” Postecoglou said on Friday. “He is always getting into good areas, it’s about decision-making at certain times in that front third but it is a difficult position to play as a young player; once he unlocks in his head the stuff he is really good at and adjusts his game to get the most out of that aspect of it, he will become a very important player.

“He works hard on that every day and sometimes people just look at goals and assists, which is the obvious measure for attacking players. He gives us a lot of other things, particularly working hard defensively. When he first came to us it wasn’t something natural to him, but he has got a lot better at that. Now it’s putting layers on his game.”

At the end of a week which has been a rollercoaster of emotions, Johnson will be hoping his latest match-winning contributions can be a springboard for an exciting second year with Spurs.

(Top photo: Johnson shushed booing Brentford fans – and his critics; Alex Pantling/Getty Images)