Spurs claimed all three points during their Saturday lunch time kick off against Leeds United at Elland Road.
Mathys Tel will be delighted to Mohammed Kudus have put Spurs in front in the 23rd minute after a lovely weighted pass from Mohammed Kudus. Tel smashed the ball goalwards which took a heavy deflection from Leeds fullback Pascal Struijk, fooling the keeper Darlow and ending up in the top corner.
Noah Okafor then equalised for Leeds when Vicario saved the strike from Dominic Calvert-Lewin but inadvertently cleared the ball into the path of the ex-Milan player who gave Leeds parity with a simple tap-in.
After chances at both ends it was Mohammed Kudus who scored the only goal in the second half and finally sealed the Spurs victory. A masterful individual run enabled by a Pedro Porro ball in behind took Kudus past three Leeds defenders, with Kudus able to slot his effort in Leeds’ bottom right corner (albeit with help from a minor deflection).
Spurs were able to hold on to their lead despite a few late efforts from Leeds requiring good saves from Vicario. Tottenham break their unfortunate record of failing to win the last seven of their matches immediately before an international break.
How Spurs got on...
It wasn’t an easy afternoon for Thomas Frank’s men, who faced both the elements and a combative Leeds side. Elland Road, it’s atmosphere so dearly missed in the Premier League, was as boisterous as ever and the Lilywhites faced immediate pressure from kick off.
Noah Okafor showed his attacking acumen with solid 1v1 abilities as he kept causing Pedro Porro major problems down Spurs’ right flank. It was thanks to a free kick won by Okafor that gave Leeds their first significant sight of goal as a cross from Sean Longstaff found Joe Rodon in the box but the ex-Spurs directed the ball at the post.
Leeds kept testing Spurs with long balls behind their backline but their defence were up to the task, allowing Spurs to gain momentum and settled possession.
The presence of Xavi Simons in his preferred ten position was keenly felt and, with a second facilitator alongside Kudus, Spurs enjoyed much better ball retention and attacking threat.
The two creators playing together in a forward line gave Spurs balance with Xavi frequently drifting into the inside space on the left and Kudus offering attacking threat on the right. It was also good to see Simons drop deeper to pick up the ball and look for passing options or forward carries, a role similar to that of James Maddison.
Simons dropping deep helped alleviate some of the creative pressure on the other two in Tottenham’s midfield, Bentancur and Palhinha who, despite their good defensive contributions, epitomise Spurs’ ball progression struggles this season.
It’s safe to say that Spurs were able to build their win over Leeds today on the foundations of impressive individual performances.
Both Mathys Tel who played as a striker and Wilson Odobert at left wing enjoyed good games. Tel’s contribution was not limited to his goal. He did have a header tipped over onto the bar by the Leeds keeper before the end of first half but probably more importantly for Thomas Frank Tel ran himself ragged pressing the Leeds backline.
Odobert meanwhile managed to create some dangerous situations for Spurs and managed to form a really good relationship with Destiny Udogie who himself created quite a bit offensively, mainly through a few dangerous cutbacks, on top of his defensive work.
Chance creation struggles continue
The worry for Spurs current team, continues to be their problems with creating chances and ball progression. Although the presence of Simons in midfield did facilitate a more attacking Spurs showing, Bentancur and Palhinha again offered very in terms of ball progression, neither of the midfielders making themselves available for progressive passes or being able to make those passes themselves.
While understandable given Joao Palhinha’s role as a roaming destroyer, Bentancur’s limited contributions remain worrying.
Leeds generated nearly triple of Spurs expected goals, 1.5 to 0.5 which suggests that Leeds were quite unlucky not to score more if not win the game outright. The hope for Thomas Frank is that with the eventual return of Randall Kolo Muani, Dominic Solanke and later on Dejan Kulusevski and Jamed Maddison he’ll be able to call on more individual talent to help his Tottenham side win games. Regardless, Thomas Frank’s most pressing issue seems to solving Spurs’ attacking deficiencies before their underlying form catches up to them.
