wondergoal

The reminiscence of a soccer fan is brief, however fortunately for , the hole between matches is even shorter.

Simply three days after being booed off after an insipid efficiency within the loss to Chelsea, Spurs had the Stadium bouncing with a 4-0 win over , with a wondergoal from Micky van de Ven and a controversial pink card for summing up the most effective and worst of a Spurs facet that is still essentially the most unpredictable in England.

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Simply as final season provided up probably the most contradictory seasons of soccer on report – with a Seventeenth-placed end within the Premier League accompanied by a Europa League win that introduced their first trophy since 2008 – Tottenham stay an enigma this time period, sitting simply two factors off second within the league however concurrently able to producing performances that supply up simply 0.05 xG.

And only a few days after that loss to Chelsea, Spurs produced 3.31 xG towards an admittedly poor Copenhagen facet, with Xavi Simons, Johnson and Van de Ven amongst these to impress in north London.

Brennan Johnson scored the opening objective for Tottenham (AP)

The hosts loved loads of the ball early on and have been rewarded inside 20 minutes when Johnson latched onto Simons’s via ball to take it previous the goalkeeper and slot in a relaxed end to open the scoring,

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They continued to dominate possession and although the guests have been in a position to get ahead every now and then, stable defensive shows from the dependable duo of Van de Ven and Cristian Romero meant that Spurs have been not often troubled earlier than half-time.

The second half started in an analogous vein and Spurs had doubled the lead inside six minutes of the restart as Randal Kolo Muani charged down a clearance earlier than gathering the unfastened ball and shedding for Wilson Odobert to fit dwelling.

All of it felt that the sport might be wrapped up already on the proof of Copenhagen’s show, although there was nonetheless time for controversy as Johnson obtained a straight pink card for a problem on Marcos Lopez. Whereas the Welshman had made contact with the again of the ankle, it was a weird choice from the referee, who modified a yellow to straight pink after a VAR evaluate.

Whereas not essentially Johnson’s fault, the entire state of affairs summed up Spurs’ penchant for the ridiculous, whether or not that be moments of insanity, incidents of rashness or whole performances of insipidness.

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No one is aware of Tottenham’s means to make it tough for themselves greater than the house followers, and there have been murmurs and arguably even nerves across the stadium with their facet all the way down to 10-men. Apparently, these had been seen all through, with groans and shouts at moments of indecision or poor attacking, notably when Kolo Muani declined to try a volley into an open internet seconds earlier than establishing Odobert for the second.

This all reveals the place the minds of the followers and the gamers are at, the feelings of the house devoted on a knife-edge relying on the standard of a shot or the timing of a choice. It clearly impacts the gamers too, with Kolo Muani noticeably lacking a few golden probabilities and maybe being responsible of being too hesitant at instances.

Nonetheless, much more miraculously, these nerves have been gone inside seven minutes of the pink card courtesy of a wondergoal from Van de Ven. The Dutchman choosing the ball up in his personal half and driving all the way in which to the Copenhagen field, evading a few half-hearted challenges earlier than sliding an achieved end previous the goalkeeper from simply contained in the field.

There was nonetheless time for extra too, Joao Palhinha ending the sport with a tap-in from an awesome Romero cross earlier than Richarlison rattled the bar with a penalty, maybe displaying that the nerves remained even when the end result was secured.

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The win implies that Spurs rise to seventh within the league part desk – with a number of sides nonetheless to play on Wednesday – forward of a visit to defending champions Paris Saint-Germain. Their last three matches of the marketing campaign consisting of a visit to Slavia Prague and a German double header towards Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt.

It was maybe unlikely that Spurs would end within the prime eight given the standard contained inside Europe’s prime sides – with 5 golf equipment coming into this week with a 100 per cent report – although with the fixtures talked about above, Frank’s facet may nicely do precisely that.

Tottenham supervisor Thomas Frank on the sideline (PA)

Whether or not that constitutes success for the brand new boss is unclear. How do you measure success after final season?

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However, the boos final weekend present that one factor the Dane actually has to take care of is unrealistic expectations. He’s only a few months into his new function and should even be a sufferer of his personal success at Brentford, with followers anticipating an prompt enchancment due to the next price range and higher gamers.

Nonetheless it is a Spurs squad who’re six months off one in all their worst league seasons on report, and whereas some may argue that the Europa League win offers the membership a platform to construct off, the truth is that 2025-26 is a rebuild season. The Ange Postecoglou venture must be torn down and rebuilt bit-by-bit, not stored and delicately added to within the hopes of bringing success.

In Frank, Spurs have a person with the pragmatism, realism and expertise to execute this rebuild efficiently if they provide him the possibility – he needs to be judged by outcomes and performances like some other supervisor, however he also needs to be afforded a level extra time and sympathy.