Tottenham see off Brentford 2-1 in closed-door friendly

Hey look, another preseason friendly that nobody could watch! Tottenham got a first half goal from Victor Wanyama, and George-Kevin N’Koudou struck late in the second half as Spurs defeated Brentford 2-1 on Saturday in the second closed-door friendly of the preseason.

It’s always difficult to judge a preseason match, which is almost always more about fitness than it is about tactics, and it’s even tougher when you’re not invited to watch the squad play. Brentford’s match report makes it sound as though the Bees more than held their own against what they called a “strong” Tottenham side, albeit one that was without most of Spurs’ World Cup stars who are still on vacation.

Spurs’ first goal came courtesy of a lofted Victor Wanyama ball that may or may not have hit the shoulder of Fernando Llorente. Wanyama may have got the goal, but apparently Llorente took the credit. (Nope, no Harry Kane jokes here.)

Neal Maupay leveled the score just after halftime, but GKN got the winning strike with very nearly the last kick of the game.

This is the last opportunity for Mauricio Pochettino to evaluate his side before he packs up and heads to USA for the International Champions Cup. I expect that we’ll be getting word soon about who Poch will be taking on the plane to San Diego; Spurs are expected to travel on Sunday.

Based on the match reports, the following Spurs players saw action in today’s friendly win: Victor Wanyama, Fernando Llorente, GK N’Koudou, Paulo Gazzaniga, Michel Vorm, Serge Aurier, Son Heung-Min, Anthony Georgiou, Ben Davies, Erik Lamela, Kyle Walker-Peters, Juan Foyth, Lucas Moura, Tashan Oakley-Boothe, Luke Amos, George Marsh and Oliver Skipp.