Tottenham Hotspur’s Asia tour kicked off with a banger of a match against defending J1 League champions Vissel Kobe. Both sides played with purpose and intensity, as attacking football was the focus of the day.
A late winner from Mikey Moore secured victory for Spurs as the youngster tapped home a Jamie Donley square ball. Earlier, Vissel Kobe struck first, as James Maddison gave the ball away in buildup. From there, an out of position Pape Matar Sarr inadvertently squared to Yuya Osako who smashed the ball past Guglielmo Vicario.
Spurs at times played gorgeous football, and their first goal was an example. Started by Archie Gray, Dejan Kulusevski was heavily involved before Pedro Porro showed great feet to create space for a clinical finish. Spurs then claimed the lead soon after half-time by turning out one of their greatest hits: a ball from Porro down the right to an onrushing Brennan Johnson, who squared for Son to hit home.
A midfield giveaway by Gray was then compounded by poor defensive play by Oliver Skipp, allowing Vissel Kobe back in the game before Spurs claimed victory through Moore and took home the J League World Challenge trophy.
J League World Challenge champions, you’ll never sing that!
Here are my top 10 talking points from the match.
As predicted, Ange Postecoglou used this fixture in large part to start to increase his senior players’ match fitness. With that in mind, he named possibly the strongest starting XI he could with the squad available to him, and gave most extended minutes, making the brunt of his substitutions after the sixty-minute mark (save three half-time changes).
Fitness was definitely put to the test as well, with the temperatures at Japan National Stadium sweltering. Vissel Kobe, however, were halfway through their season and as such were match fit and prepared for the conditions. This allowed them to really pressure Spurs, with a high press and aggressive playstyle that at times caused Tottenham problems.
It’s that aforementioned pressure with Spurs struggled to adapt to initially. With Kobe coming out firing, and some players in unfamiliar roles at the back, the Lilywhites struggled early on to move the ball up the pitch with several dangerous giveaways. Pape Matar Sarr and Emerson Royal especially struggled, with Royal’s lack of passing range heaping pressure on his less-experienced defensive partner Archie Gray to take on the responsibility. James Maddison at times looked out of sync with his teammates as well, with one giveaway leading to the opening goal.
New faces in defense can often cause problems with communication, and Archie Gray and Emerson Royal had yet to play alongside one another in preseason. It was also Vicario’s first match of preseason, and it was perhaps this lack of familiarity that resulted in the comedy of errors that created Vissel Kobe’s goal. Pape Matar Sarr tracked an overhit cross when he really didn’t need to, but it appeared nobody called to let the ball run so the Senegalese midfielder instead stretched to clear and played the ball into the path of Kobe’s striker. Not much changed in the second half, with Spurs’ defense still uncomfortable, perhaps personified by some comical defending by Oliver Skipp as Kobe scored their second.
One of the brightest players for Spurs in preseason has been Archie Gray, and he didn’t disappoint. Starting in an unfamiliar left center back role, he took time to warm into the match before turning in an impressive display, pulling the strings at the back. He was at the core of everything positive Spurs did in the first half, and his passing game was especially impressive: particularly the line-splitting pass to Kulusevski that started the move for Tottenham’s first goal. Unfortunately, he ended up with one black mark on his performance, with a giveaway after he’d shifted to midfield second half leading to Vissel Kobe’s second goal.
Dejan Kulusevski made a couple of cameos at center forward late in the 23/24 season, and for the first time this preseason he resumed that role. It suited him well, with his sharp feet, clever touches, and ability to bring those around him into the play helping Spurs’ attack look dangerous. Honestly, I like him more there than in midfield.
This was a friendly, and often the expectation would be a low-tempo, low quality match. Not the case. Both teams went at each other, and it was an exciting watch. The referee was always going to take a more casual approach, though, and it almost cost Tottenham. Kulusevski was scythed down on a breakaway which could have conceivably been a red card for denial of goal-scoring opportunity, while Spurs could have two penalties in the second half: a blocked Mikey Moore shot really looked like it was handled and Will Lankshear appeared to be pulled back as he stretched to get onto the end of a gorgeous piece of play by Spurs.
Seriously, are Spurs training this? Little layoffs and flicks were seen through the match as Tottenham turned on the style, and it wasn’t just for show: a Kulusevski backheel found Pedro Porro in the box for Spurs’ first goal, before Manor Solomon did similar to find an onrushing Jamie Donley in the build-up to Spurs’ second.
There were some strong performances today for Spurs, but also some square pegs in round holes. I’ll get yelled at for Masthead Groupthink for some of these, but Manor Solomon really struggled. His involvement in the late goal aside, he consistently made the wrong decision and often dribbled into traffic or just passed backwards. The left-side attack second half was consequently mostly a big old nothingburger. Oliver Skipp also seemed to struggle with the tempo of the match at times, turning the ball over on multiple occasions; but it was Sarr who perhaps had the strangest performance of all, looking extremely out-of-sorts and frenetic in his play. Dane Scarlett and Tyrese Hall will have been disappointed not to have seen the pitch as well.
Ange Postecoglou though will have been encouraged by some of the young talent he saw on display today. Jamie Donley was especially impressive, grabbing himself an assist and having a stinging volley tipped over the bar after he hit the post early in the second stanza. Alfie Devine had another quietly influential display in midfield; but the plaudits go to Mikey Moore, who at times made the defense look silly and who made an excellent run to score the winning goal.
Screw it, we’re gonna win the league.
