Fulham looked like the sum of their parts.
Which is to say a Championship side with lots of new faces, everyone still learning the drill.
Hence the fact the looked far more comfortable on the ball than off it.
On the ball there a fair bit of autopilot, there were no genuine novices out there, off thebasl and we saw a good number of them trying to remember their lines.
Spurs are of course still finding their groove.
Long gone are the days of preseasons being vaguely meaningful, it’s all about trying to flog merchandise to billion dollar markets.
Poch opened up throwing the kitchen sink at them.
We saw Eric Dier (29) in the holding role with the wingbacks of Davies (33) and Tripps (2) pushed up.
After the Moura goal, Poch shifted Dier to the right and brought in Mousa.
Simultaneously dropping the wing backs into a 4.
This was allowed primarily because Alderweireld (4) and Vertonghen (5) were sold and the addition of Trippier (2) and Davies (33) made them whole against a game but ultimately unremarkable Fulham.
Next change was the introduction of Lamela who immediately witnesses the Tripps goal, before then creating the Kane one; that finally kills the Whites off.
There was some poor finishing, but generally the shooting accuracy wasn’t too bad at nearly 46% which is about right for the win.
The crucial business of passing accuracy was also there or thereabouts on nearly 88% which was up about 5% on the Newcastle game.
An area of note was Tottenham recovering the ball.
This was strong point – with Eriksen and Moura winning the ball back more than anyone else, although Sanchez, Toby and Verts weren’t far behind them.
Crucially it’s worth mentioning that Eriksen and Moura were both positionally strong in making these recoveries.
I’ve ridden Moura like a rented mule, but that was a very good game for him.
Lucas also made the most successful number of challenges; 32 in all.
Nor could I have predicted that Dele Alli would be a close second in this discipline with 23.
Accuracy of passing, winning the ball back, taking the ball back.
3 cornerstones of any game and Lucas Moura was pretty exceptional.
I owe him an apology.
With the caveats that he was rubbish previously – he’ll also need to play at this level against someone good – oh, and I don’t do belief.
Despite all that, I’m sorry and thank you.
More please.
