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Tottenham Hotspur hosted their first friendly of the preseason today, crossing through London to join Leyton Orient in Ligue 2 in a match that was essentially a charitable fundraiser for the Justin Edinburgh Foundation. It was a truly friendly game – with internationals from Tottenham’s first team to Euro still getting a well-deserved rest, and a few other first-team members omitted for unknown reasons (Serge Aurier, Tanguy Ndombele, Erik Lamela , Ryan Sessegnon and Matt Doherty was nowhere to be found), Spurs played with what was mostly an U23 team with a handful of first-team regulars.
17-year-old starlet Dane Scarlett scored a first-half goal for Spurs but Ruel Sotiriou equalized in the second half with a one-goal cracker after Tottenham made 10 subs in the second half time. Tottenham ended up sharing the first JE3 trophy, with a final score of 1-1.
Thoughts on the match
- It’s a pre-season friendly. It’s not about winning, it’s not even really about tactics. It was a runabout, and a chance for some of the young players to really have a chance to impress Nuno Espirito Santo. Anyone who collapses because of this is ridiculous. Enjoy soccer.
- Of all the young players we saw today, Nile John was clearly the most impressive. He is very calm with the ball at his feet, he walks smoothly and has a nice long ball on him. Had a few good shots and put up another chance. I know it’s preseason, but based on the evidence, I think he’s better than Harry Winks, right now.
- Dane Scarlett struggled at the start but put up a few chances at the end and his goal was a very nice effort on his weaker foot. I don’t quite drive the Scarlett 2021-22 Hype Train yet, but it has proven why so many people are so high on its potential.
- Dele was playing a much deeper role than we’re used to; it kinda reminded me of where he was in Pochettino’s last year. I’m not convinced by his position, but he was … good? Got a lot clogged. I hope we won’t see him too often at CM based on this evidence.
- Overall, I thought the youngsters impressed more than the veterans in the first half. Lucas looked sharp, and Dier was … okay, but Bergwijn came out a bit flat and unfit, and Winks had a few good forward passes (!!) but was dispossessed a ton at the midfielder and didn’t really impress the whole thing against a fairly mediocre opposition.
- Orient were playing their third friendly today and you could tell they looked fitter and more together which makes sense. They put a lot of pressure on a very young defense (Eyoma-Emole), and took advantage of a few mistakes from Malachi Fagan-Walcott.
- The second-half subs struggled to make an impact, but Clarke showed some glimpses of good play. Jamie Bowden looked pretty alert. Troy Parrott hasn’t done much but hasn’t received much service either. I wanted to see more of Alfie Devine.
- If this was a European Conference League try, I would say Scarlett, John, Clarke, Devine and Paskotsi (playing out of position) probably did each other the most service today.
Spurs’ next friendly is next Wednesday at Colchester United, kicking off at 2:45 p.m. ET / 7:45 p.m. in the UK.
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