FROM TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM – Tottenham earned only their second win of the new Premier League season with a 3-1 victory at home to Brentford on Saturday.
The Bees took a first-minute lead once again having gone ahead in similar circumstances last week at Manchester City, but once more couldn’t hold on and were put to the sword by a confident Spurs.
Bryan Mbeumo opened the scoring for the visitors, before strikes from Dominic Solanke, Brennan Johnson and James Maddison flipped the game on its head.
How the game unfolded
For the second week running, Brentford went ahead inside 25 seconds. Keane Lewis-Potter’s cross found Mbeumo, who peeled away from Micky van de Ven and lashed home a superb volley.
Tottenham sought quickly to make amends and went close when a loose touch from Sepp van den Berg saw Solanke get in down the channel. His ball for Son Heung-min was cut back towards Maddison, but his shot from close range was blocked.
But with their next attack, Spurs were level. Ethan Pinnock’s loose pass was pounced upon by Maddison, and though his shot was saved by Mark Flekken, Solanke was on hand to turn in the rebound, grabbing his first goal for the club.
Ten minutes hadn’t even passed yet but the hosts were beginning to purr, with Son forcing Flekken into another save soon after with a strike from the edge of the box. Moments later, Johnson flashed a shot wide of the far post.
Another chance came and went for Johnson when he cut out a pass from Mikkel Damsgaard, only for Nathan Collins to retreat and make the block.
Spurs should have taken the lead when Son raced clear and chose to try and round Flekken, but the Dutchman stood his ground well and the chance fell to pieces.
Just before the half-hour mark, Tottenham got the goal they deserved. The Lilywhites flew forward in numbers again and Johnson had the confidence to scamper past Collins before finding the far corner.
Solanke nearly grabbed his second of the day when Maddison drove a low cross towards his feet from a few yards out, only for the Bees to scramble clear the loose ball.
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario was let off the hook when he was caught in possession, but he recovered to make a sprawling save to keep out Mbeumo.
After the break, Kulusevski was next to be thwarted by Flekken after meeting a clever pass in behind from Maddison on the swivel.
Tottenham wanted a penalty when Rodrigo Bentancur appeared to be clipped by Collins, but their appeals were dismissed. Brentford were similarly furious when Vicario flapped at a high ball on the edge of his own box and wasn’t penalised for handball.
Brentford were starting to threaten and went close again when Kristoffer Ajer’s pass round the back found Mbeumo, with Vicario coming to Spurs’ rescue.
Straight down the other end, Maddison picked out Son and shifted play to Johnson, but his strike this time went wide.
Thomas Frank threw on the speedy Kevin Schade in search of an equaliser, and one nearly arrived with his head after a cross from a corner, but Vicario stretched to the back post to push the ball to safety.
With five minutes remaining, Tottenham wrapped up the points. Romero’s tremendous through ball found Son, and he was able to get his head up to find Maddison, who dinked Flekken and eased the nerves around the stadium bowl.
Tottenham player ratings (4-3-3)
GK: Guglielmo Vicario – 6/10 – A strange old day for the under-fire goalkeeper. Started well by claiming several crosses, then was caught in possession which seemed to throw his decision making out of whack. Made a couple of really good saves all the while.
RB: Pedro Porro – 6/10 – Allowed Lewis-Potter the freedom to run in behind a little too often, while he was sloppier than usual when in possession.
CB: Cristian Romero – 6/10 – Brentford failed to capitalise on the odd occasion where Romero would sprint into midfield and leave space. The World Cup winner was otherwise solid.
CB: Micky van de Ven – 6/10 – Should he have been tighter to Mbeumo for the opening goal? It’s harsh to lay blame at his door for such an incredible strike. Like Romero, had a decent game in central defence.
LB: Destiny Udogie – 7/10 – An almighty, if sometimes thankless, shift up and down the left flank from Udogie, adding an extra body in attack and digging in defensively.
DM: Rodrigo Bentancur – 8/10 – One of the Uruguayan’s best games as a lone pivot, sweeping up loose balls and progressing play swiftly.
CM: Dejan Kulusevski – 6/10 – For the most part has been one of Tottenham’s better players this season when starting centrally, but that extra spark was missing today.
CM: James Maddison – 9/10 – Ran the show in midfield. Demanded possession and carried it through the thirds trying to speed play up. Creator of several chances which his side should have done better with before taking matters into his own hands late on.
RW: Brennan Johnson – 8/10 – A goal and performance that he would have been craving. Brentford tried to sign him in his younger years and he made them pay with his runs to the byline.
CF: Dominic Solanke – 8/10 – The fittest and freshest the £65m man has looked since signing from Bournemouth. Knitted together attacks beautifully as Postecoglou idealised.
LW: Son Heung-min – 6/10 – An off day for the Tottenham captain. Should have pulled the trigger when attempting to round Flekken in the first half and looked short of confidence thereafter. And yet he still came up with two assists.
Substitutes
SUB: Yves Bissouma (63′ for Bentancur) – 6/10
SUB: Pape Matar Sarr (70′ for Johnson) – 6/10
SUB: Mikey Moore (88′ for Solanke) – N/A
SUB: Archie Gray (88′ for Porro) – N/A
SUB: Lucas Bergvall (88′ for Maddison) – N/A
Subs not used: Fraser Forster (GK), Djed Spence, Radu Dragusin, Timo Werner
Manager
Ange Postecoglou – 8/10 – From the second minute onwards, Tottenham were utterly dominant and should have won by a greater margin.
Brentford player ratings (3-5-2)
GK: Mark Flekken – 7/10 – Kept Brentford in the game with a series of outstanding saves. Alas, that didn’t count for much in the end.
CB: Sepp van den Berg – 5/10 – Put to work by Son, though was supported in these battles by the backtracking Ajer.
CB: Ethan Pinnock – 3/10 – Tottenham came back into the contest when the Jamaica international was careless in possession. The visitors were never fully able to get a grip again.
CB: Nathan Collins – 4/10 – Not much he can do about being slower than Johnson but he was still haphazard regardless.
RM: Kristoffer Ajer – 5/10 – Deployed slightly higher up the pitch as Brentford looked to take advantage of his excellent crossing and whipped passing. However, this only really opened up Spurs on one occasion.
CM: Mikkel Damsgaard – 5/10 – Thrown too-and-fro a little in the midfield battle, though did sometimes escape his marker with his quick thinking.
CM: Vitaly Janelt – 5/10 – Made captain for the day in Christian Norgaard’s absence, but didn’t bring the seniority and brute needed in the centre of the park.
CM: Yehor Yarmolyuk – 5/10 – A victim of Brentford’s untested midfield trio, often chasing shadows.
LM: Keane Lewis-Potter – 6/10 – Had the beating of Porro though seldom took this path as the game wore on.
CF: Bryan Mbeumo – 7/10 – Got Brentford’s day off to the perfect start. A fine volley, but one that mattered little come 5pm.
CF: Fabio Carvalho – 5/10 – Like Damsgaard was only a brief source of ingenuity when Brentford needed something a little more substantial.
SUB: Kevin Schade (63′ for Yarmolyuk) – 6/10
SUB: Mads Roerslev (79′ for Ajer) – 5/10
SUB: Yunus Emre Konak (79′ for Damsgaard) – 5/10
SUB: Ryan Trevitt (88′ for Carvalho) – N/A
Subs not used: Hakon Valdimarsson (GK), Ben Mee, Ji-soo Kim, Jayden Meghoma, Tony Yogane
Manager
Thomas Frank – 5/10 – Brentford were ripped up for long parts of the day and didn’t take advantage of Tottenham’s wobbliness on set pieces.
