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Obviously, I can't label this post as a match report. I was not able to watch the game because I am not in the United Kingdom and there was no video of the game, but that doesn't mean I don't have things to say. Not about the team performance as a whole or tactics, but there's still some stuff worth thinking about heading into the United States tour that we can take from what we do know.
If you don't know yet, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Stevenage 2-0 at Lamex Stadium on Wednesday evening, with goals coming via Gylfi Sigurdsson and Iago Falque. Both players were second half substitutes. Sigurdsson's came in the 55th minute and was assisted by Andros Townsend. Falque's came late, in the 88th minute on a great individual effort, with Adam Smith springing him down the right for the goal.
- First of all, if you haven't seen the highlights of the two goals (and a bad miss by Harry Kane), you can find video of those things right here. Any information I have from beyond that video comes from @BenPearceSpurs, @SpursOfficial, and Ben Pearce's match report for London 24.
- Kane did have that one miss, but had plenty of decent chances in his time on the pitch, and tweeted that he was happy about the performance. Souleymane Coulibaly came on in the second half and was said to look very lively as well.
- Tom Huddlestone, Jermaine Jenas, Michael Dawson, Younes Kaboul and William Gallas, who were all injured as of May, were able to play. I did not see that Cameron Lancaster was injured earlier in the day when I posted the preview, and because he's injured, he obviously did not play. Benoit Assou-Ekotto sat out due to a shoulder injury.
- Jan Vertonghen and Gylfi Sigurdsson both made their debuts. I haven't seen a specific account of Vertonghen's performance, but this was mostly about fitness and gelling with the team for him anyway. We'll get a good look at him in the American tour matches. Sigurdsson scored a goal on his debut.
- Tom Carroll played a few nice passes from deep, by all accounts, and did well as the link-up, two-way player in the midfield three. Modric replacement!
- It sounds like Andros Townsend was the man of the match, playing as a left winger who cut inside quite a bit. I think he can be very useful in this role this season and I feel like he will be a very solid backup for the team. I like him to be more than just a reserve or loan player this year.
- Tottenham didn't play 4-3-3, but more like a 4-2-3-1 by all accounts. Steven Pienaar made a surprise start and David Bentley more surprisingly played in the center to start the match. I don't expect to see either of those things continue to happen in the United States. No one at the game indicated if Lennon was a right or left winger.
- Oh my god I can't wait until I actually have video of full games to watch.
