QPR (Away) 20.07.2024

The game started quite open with Sarr bursting through the middle, only to be denied by a fine tackle just outside the box by former Bournemouth defender Steve Cook, but QPR countered with a break led by Paul Smyth, but the final ball into the box by Andersen was lofted in, so that allowed Brandon Austin to claim it easily.  Rangers looked as though they might create something when Jamie Donley, playing at left-back, passed the ball straight to Frey, but Porro got a foot in the way of the striker’s pass intended for Rayan Kolli.  

Tottenham were finding good space on the flanks, but when presented with the opportunity to cross the ball, they tried to fizz the ball across the goal but only managed to put it way beyond the far post.  It may have been precautionary, but when Bergvall went down in the Spurs box, he received some treatment before walking off to bring Dejan Kulusevski into the match.  Soon after Pape Matar Sarr suffered a rough challenge that left him limping and Pedro Porro also took a knock.  What you don’t need from these pre-season friendlies is a number of injuries to start the campaign.

27 minutes in and it looked like the lead would go to Tottenham, but it wasn’t to be.  Brennan Johnson put the ball one side of Clarke-Salter and went the other way before sliding a square ball across the middle of the box for Heung-Min Son, who looked odds on to score, until Nardi produced a very good close range block to deny the Tottenham skipper.  A couple of minutes later, it was Brandon Austin who was pulling off a fine save, reaching up to touch Kolli’s dipping shot onto the bar and over.  QPR did have the ball in the net after 32 minutes, when Frey volleyed in from close range but the player who crossed the ball, Paal, in was offside.

Five minutes before half-time, Spurs scored the opening goal of the match.  25 yards from goal, Yves Bissouma shifted the ball past Andersen, played the ball to Kulusevski, just to his left and took the return ball, bursting between two defenders in the area.  Faced by the keeper coming out to close him down, he kept his cool to take the ball to the keeper’s right and then side-foot to in from a narrow angle.  You could see how much his first Spurs goal meant to him, with his exuberant celebration in kicking the corner flag.  It is the type of move that we hoped we would see from Biss when he first signed, but a difficult couple of years might be behind him and some confidence boosting appearances.

There could have been another couple of goals before half-time, with Son at the near post flicking Johnson’s low ball from the right just wide of the far post.  A better chance fell for Werner, which started at the back with Tottenham playing some neat first time passes within their own crowded penalty area before passing the ball forward to Kulusevski on the right flank.  Looking up, he played a sublime pass forward with the outside of his left foot that sent Timo beyond the last defender, but the keeper did well to force him to go wide and then to block the German striker’s shot.

The restart featured a completely changed Spurs XI and it was Tottenham on the attack for the first fifteen minutes of the half, without creating too many clear scoring chances.  The best came with a cute pass into the area by James Maddison for Will Lankshear and the keeper forced him wide and the Spurs forward could only put the ball into the side-netting.  In fact, it was QPR who had a good chance in the 58th minute, when Frey found some space in the box and lined up a shot that Emerson Royal did well to get across to block out for a corner.  But it was Tottenham’s fluid passing that started to create chances.  Playing the ball back to front through the midfield, only Nardi was keeping the score down.  A diagonal pass into the box cut through the home defence to pick out Mikey Moore in space in the middle of the box, but the keeper spread himself and stuck out a left foot to keep the Spurs youngster’s effort out and then he caught a Maddison curler from outside the D that didn’t quite have enough bend on it to take it around the keeper.

With 20 minutes to go, Andersen did well to find a way past Hall and Abbott, putting the ball across the face of goal, where Lyndon Dykes steered it wide of the far post.  With the Scotland international striker coming on, there were plenty of crosses into the box, which Luca Gunter did well to deal with under pressure and another sub Alfie Lloyd went close with a shot that deflected off Spence to squirt just wide of Gunter’s left-hand post. 

The referee was more than a little tolerant of some of the QPR players’ challenges, with Royal being pushed over by Lloyd and then having a set of studs planted in the top of his calf, but no foul was given.  The studs might have been an accident, but the push was a clear foul.  The QPR sub then managed to put the ball wide from a corner, as he missed it with his head and could only get it off his shoulder.  Lloyd is a big lump of a forward, so will probably do well in the Championship, while Larkeche looks a more technical forward and when he found space in the box, his shot looked goal-bound until Royal got in another important block.  

Just after Gunter had made a stretching save from a Dykes header from a corner to push the ball wide, Tottenham again worked the ball forward through Moore and Maddison and his ball to the left was into the path of Moore,.  Looking up, he played a low pass across the face of the goal with the outside of his right foot for substitute Dane Scarlett to tuck away at the far post, much like Spence had done at Hearts on Wednesday.  

It was another useful run-out for the players and Ange said afterwards that Bergvall was a bit sore, but nothing too much to worry about.  The performance was made tougher by a determined QPR team, who had a 20-25 minute spell where they won a few corners and forced Tottenham into some rear-guard action, which they did well, restricting the home team to only a few opportunities.  At the other end, some good goalkeeping and some loose finishing meant that the game wasn’t put to bed, as it had been at Hearts, but the squad move on to Japan and Korea for the next stage of their preparations.

Stanford Rivers

• Yves Bissouma scored his first goal in Spurs colours.
• The Tottenham players did not have their names on their shirts.