Brentford (Away) 13.08.2023

With the teams out and ready for kick off, the referee was summoned to the side-line and there was a seven minute delay due to no water coming into ground, so the toilets could not be used and the new ground was insanitary and a public health risk.  With the River Thames a couple of minutes walk away, this was all a bit ironic, but it did get sorted out and the start of our season got underway at seven minutes past two.  The game had only just got underway when there was another stoppage for a clash of heads between Romero and Mbeumo. There were a few dodgy moments early on as Guglielmo Vicario looked to pass the ball out, with one hitting a forward closing him and another only just reached by Bissouma with two men on him.

After taking a little while to settle and starting to find their passes, Spurs were pushing forward, winning a corner that the new Brentford keeper made a hash of and then a free-kick when Jensen bundled over James Maddison. The new signing from Leicester got up and whipped in a free-kick at pace and Romero powered it into the net after ten minutes of play, but the goal was reviewed for a potential offside.  Two minutes later, he was able to celebrate the goal, but that was all he could do, as he had to go off, possibly concussed from the earlier clash of heads.  

Sanchez replaced him and had to defend a corner soon after, which Spurs got away.  Vicario made his first save as Spurs’ number one when he beat away a shot at his near post from the angle by Mbeumo on the left. Brentford were building a bit of pressure and a weak shot deflected off Sanchez and away for a corner, that ended with Wissa performing a bicycle kick effort that went straight into Vicario’s chest.

When a ball was pulled back across goal from the Brentford left, it looked like a good opening, but Destiny Udogie appeared from nowhere to get to it first and then at a home corner just after, the ball got played back in with Norgaard running in on it unmarked, but it bounced up for Vicario to claim. Jensen then went down under challenge from Son, but the referee wasn’t interested until Brentford booted the ball out and then Jones got called over to look at it. It seemed minimal and Jensen was going off balance anyway, but a penalty was awarded.  With Toney serving a ban for betting, Mbeumo was the man entrusted with the responsibility of taking it after Vicario had been booked for delaying the kick, even though there were a lot of people discussing it around the ref.  The Brentford striker took a Jorginho style walk-up and skip to send the Spurs keeper the wrong way.

Ryan Mason and a Brentford coach Claus Norgaard both picked up yellow cards in the aftermath, with Yves Bissouma shooting for goal straight from the restart but it went over the top.  Brentford looked to get beyond the Spurs defence when they sent Wissa away down the inside left channel, but Sanchez showed good pace to block his shot and win a goal-kick off the Bees forward.  The referee was showing a degree of inconsistency with Royal being taken out after the ball had gone and then giving a free-kick against Sanchez that would have been interpreted as fair game last season.  We hadn’t seen too much of Skipp, Royal or Udogie getting forward as they had in the friendlies, with them holding their positions in the side.  After another yellow card for Spurs when Sanchez made a tackle, even though it didn’t really seem to be a bookable one, Maddison was given one for dissent when he was only pointing out the referee’s inconsistency.  When the free-kick was taken, Henry went down the left, just about got past Royal to pull the ball back and Wissa shot low, with Vicario having it covered as he dived to his left.  Unfortunately, Micky van de Ven tried to intercept, getting enough on it to lift it just over Guglielmo and Brentford were ahead.

Dejan Kukusevski was being forced infield when he got the ball, so there wasn’t as much coming in from the right wing as usual, mainly because Brentford packed the middle third and then their defensive third, condensing play. With the time-saving new directives, there was just the eleven minutes to add on at the end of the first half !

Son tried a volley from a very narrow angle on the left, when Maddison’s cross flicked off a defender’s head, but the ball went wide.  To be honest, the majority of that had been played in the Brentford half, so, when Ajer slashed a clearance up into the air, it dropped on the right side of the D and Bissouma got onto it, knocking it short to Maddison.  He was tackled (maybe fouled), but the play went on as the ball fell into the path of Emerson Royal, who leathered a low shot from just outside the box between the keeper’s right hand and the post to level the score-line at 2-2.  It had been a period of play where the midfielders had been pushing on and while it was a goal out of nothing, Royal took it very well, keeping it low to the turf.

A foul as soft of the penalty was then given against Madders when Hickey went down, after getting his own feet tangled up and you couldn’t help think that the ref was slightly leaning Brentford’s way with his decisions.  Rico Henry was causing problems down the left though, with a low ball across to Mbeumo, who only had to put it past Vicario, but managed to shank it over the bar off his calf from five yards out.

Half-time came eventually, with Spurs on the attack, giving the crowd an opportunity to catch their breath.  And that was what Jensen did at the start of the second half, hitting the turf with nobody around him, this time being really injured and having to go off.  Hickey pulled back Udogie, but unlike Skipp in the first half, he didn’t get booked and then Damsgaard got away with a foul on Maddison that was equivalent to some of the Spurs bookings.  Collins moaning about not getting a free-kick seemed OK by Jones compared to Maddison’s that got him a yellow card.  It looks like consistency isn’t something the referees are working on this season (again).

Tottenham’s pressing was making it difficult for Brentford to get the ball away, but when they did Janelt crossed and Vicario flew out to punch it away, but it went straight to Damsgaard and his shot went into the ground and safely into Guglielmo’s hands.  Spurs broke away from that, with Bissouma’s neat footwork leaving two Bees players on the floor just outside our penalty area, but the attack only brought a corner.  From it, the ball was knocked away and Kulusevski’s shot was blocked, with it travelling across the box to the left, where Son got his shot on target, but the keeper saved well at his near post. Maddison followed that up with a shot that was blocked when Bissouma dragged the ball back under his foot to set him up on the hour.

Hickey finally found his way into the book when the ref had no option, having crudely dragged Son down. Maddison slipped a ball through to Richarlison in the box and his right foot shot was beaten out by Flekken as Tottenham kept the ball around the Brentford box.  With the home side looking to break out with a ball down the right wing to Mbeumo, Udogie got back at him quickly and almost got his shirt torn off his back, when he stopped the Brentford man getting past him.  A booking ?  “No way”, said the ref.

Skippy hadn’t had his best game, so with almost fifteen minutes left, he was replaced by Pape Matar Sarr, with Perisic on for Son.  Every time a home player went down they wanted a free-kick and the “letting more go” instruction of last season seems to have been forgotten amongst the focus being on time-wasting.  It was even worse when Schade went down after van de Ven scooped one up in the air and recovered to get to the ball first.  Too bad Schade (as the Germans say) !

Janelt asked for a yellow card when he got fouled (and as it was by Maddison, it would have been a red) and that was something got Arteta booked last week, but that did not happen today.  The pace certainly dropped off as the game got towards the final twenty minutes, with Brentford making a defensive sub with seven minutes left to shore up the back four.  Ironically, it actually sparked a bit of forward play, with a free-kick which was poorly delivered and then Jorgensen’s long throw being hit by Janelt at goal.  It was deflected away to the right where Jorgensen crossed but it swerved away from goal, rather than dipping over Vicario and as it was kept in at the far post, the Brentford players wanted a penalty for handball, when it was played at Royal from point-blank range and hit him in the stomach anyway.  They wanted another one when Schade went through and lifted it over Vicario and the bar before clattering into our keeper.  Nothing doing though.

Spurs had a chance in the last couple of minutes, when Perisic played the ball down the line to Maddison, who played it square to Richi, but his shot was blocked by a defender in front of him. A measly four minutes of added time in this half saw Tottenham in possession for most of it, with Janelt getting away with a handball when he fell on it and then stopping Bissouma taking the dead-ball kick.  at the end of the match a draw was possibly the right result, although Spurs will rue a couple of incidents that went against them.

The tempo and the intensity of Tottenham’s pressing was not like that of pre-season, but it was an afternoon that had been disrupted by a number of events, forcing more changes in addition to the four debutants Ange selected.  They all did well.  Udogie perhaps playing a little within himself in an attacking sense, while van de Ven stood up well to the Brentford attack and was unlucky to steer the ball past Vicario, who did enough to show he is a very good prospect.  James Maddison shone in taking responsibility for making things happen and created both goals, with the first more intentional than perhaps his involvement in the second.

There were more subdued performances from Skipp and Kulusevski, while Sanchez did OK when he came on for Cristian Romero, although his lax spatial awareness allowed Wissa the space to shoot for the second goal.  Emerson Royal had a tough time with the speedy Henry, but stuck at his defending, while he popped up to take his goal very well at the other end of the pitch.  Sonny was a little below par, but kept working away down the left and had a couple of shots on goal, as did Richarlison, but we need to find him more often to provide him with goal-scoring opportunities.  The undoubted star of the show for Spurs was Yves Bissouma.  He worked the pitch between the boxes and showed some great ability on the ball to manoeuvre out of tricky situations and awareness of where his team-mates were to make openings for them.  His career really starts now after his injury problems and issues with Conte last season and this is the sort of display that we bought him for.

A point with a 2-2 draw was all we got on Boxing Day last season at Brentford, so nothing lost and nothing gained in relation to that result, but with Kane now having left the building, it is a new Tottenham in more ways than his transfer, which will be interesting to see how the new style unfolds as the season progresses.  There are still a lot of players to come and go before the end of the transfer window, so it might take a bit of time for the side to bed in, but Ange looks like he is keen to make his mark.

Burton Bradstock

• Cristian Romero makes his 50th Premier League appearance for Tottenham.
• Spurs have not lost an away game at Brentford since 1948.