00:00James, looking at Spurs and obviously the sort of state of play after the Manchester
00:07United home win, looking at that game and going into the game was quite a lot of pressure
00:12if you look at the league positions of both sides. Both sides have incredibly struggled
00:16this season. In terms of two up, two down, let's start with the positives. There was
00:22a lot of pressure going into the game, especially with Spurs' terrible home form as well to
00:27make sure that they got a good performance more than anything and then the result came
00:32and that sort of settled it. So, in terms of two positives, what's the sort of something
00:38you can look at and think, yeah, that was something that Spurs fans can take away from
00:42this game?
00:43Yeah, I mean, I think we have to start with the returning players as the sort of first
00:48up of the week. Having Vicario back in goal and Maddison back in that midfield, it made
00:54a huge difference, didn't it? Just having the seniority, a little bit of leadership,
00:58certainly from Vicario, that's been sadly lacking, as I've mentioned on numerous times
01:03this season. We really have lacked that sort of on-field leadership and just having Vicario
01:09back between the sticks on the Manchester United game made a huge difference. I mean,
01:13he made some big, big saves. You could argue Manchester United were the better side for
01:19long spells in that match, actually. They probably created some of the more clear-cut
01:22chances, but he was superb as the sort of last line of defence. There's no slight on
01:27Kinski. I think he's done pretty well since he's been sort of thrown in, but obviously
01:30he's a young player playing his trade. He's only 21 years old coming over to the Premier
01:34League. It was a huge ask for him and, bar the odd mistake, he really did sort of step
01:39up in tough circumstances with a makeshift back four in front of him. But, you know,
01:45you just saw the presence that Vicario brings. It's really good to have him back and then
01:48obviously Matt Maddison. I mean, he's not been away for very long, but the numbers speak
01:53for themselves this year. He rarely finishes a game and he's often not started, but when
01:57he has played, he has made a difference. That was his ninth Premier League goal of the season,
02:03a bit of a purchase finish, and for long spells when spurs were at their best in the game,
02:08he really did dictate that tempo. He dropped deep. He was finding lovely little pockets
02:12of space, a couple of really nice balls over the top to put Son in through on that left-hand
02:17side and just really, really good to have him back. We see he gave a little bit of stick
02:22to Roy Keane at the end with the shush and the dart celebration. He'd had a little bit
02:26of stick in the week. So, nice to sort of hit back at the critics. I mean, no doubt
02:31Matt Maddison's a talented player. As I say, the numbers speak for themselves this year.
02:35He's involved in the most things that spurs do very well. I think what we need now is
02:40a little bit more consistency from him because he's got the ability, he's got the talent
02:44to be right up there with the best playmakers in the league. I do think, again, the base
02:49of that midfield struggled at times and I think Rodrigo Bentancur's having a tough spell.
02:55I do think his performance is a little bit of a negative and a slight worry, as is the
03:01performances at the minute of Dejan Kulesevski. I mean, he's arguably been Spurs' best player
03:06this year, but he's been flogged to death. You can tell he's fatigued. He just looks
03:11a little bit short at the moment. He looks a little bit devoid of pace. He maybe takes
03:16the extra touch. I think that's nine games now without any goals or assists. So, as I
03:22say, lots of mitigating factors. He's played an awful lot of football, but maybe now with
03:27the injured players coming back, it's time to give him a rest and just take him out and
03:30get him recharged because, as I say, he's a crucial player, but he was probably slightly
03:35disappointed in that win over Manchester United.
03:38And here's what Spurs boss Ange-Poste Koglou had to say.
03:41Yes, look, I think the important thing is we did win today. It was an important game
03:47for us, an important week for us. We needed to put on a performance today that gets us
03:55the result and I thought we did that and that coupled with the fact that we got some significant
04:01players back and they got through the game and got through unscathed and actually really
04:05contributed and important for us because, as I said, it sort of signals a little bit
04:13of an opportunity now for us to push on from here. Especially Brennan and Wilson, Vic,
04:20Mattis to a certain extent. It might take them one or two games to get up to speed but
04:25the fact we have them available, yes, it's an enormous boost for us.
Comments