The strange Brennan Johnson moment that summed up his game and unfortunate Lucas Bergvall impact.
Here are our Tottenham Hotspur talking points following their 1-1 draw at Leicester City to open their Premier League season.
As the unmarked Richarlison ballooned a header from inside the six yard box over the crossbar in the final seconds, Ange Postecoglou put his hands on his knees, bent over and looked at the ground.
His mood pretty much reflected that of the Tottenham supporters as the new Premier League campaign began in the way that too many of their games last season had gone – looking dominant, creating chances but not enough cutting edge in the final third.
Spurs did have a new £65million striker up front at the King Power Stadium in Dominic Solanke but he looked, in terms of his finishing, what he is – a player who hadn’t played a game of football in almost a month.
The stats told the usual tale. Postecoglou’s men had 15 shots at goal to Leicester’s seven, with Mads Hermansen forced into five saves from their seven efforts on target. Guglielmo Vicario had to make three saves, although you could argue that the Italian’s stops were more difficult as Spurs sent most of their efforts straight at the Foxes’ goalkeeper.
Tottenham had 71% of the possession and registered 601 passes to the hosts’ 211. Leicester had to make 38 clearances and five blocks to the visitors’ 16 clearances and one block. It was the only football cliché. If you don’t take your chances, you get punished.
Spurs started the game well, constantly finding space in behind the Leicester defence but the quality of the balls into Solanke and those in the box were consistently poor, whether from the wingers or the full-backs.
Pedro Porro can be considered exempt from that as he curled in some dangerous crosses and was rewarded with Tottenham’s opening goal of the 2024/25 campaign, flicking on James Maddison’s teasing ball into the net.
Yet Spurs did not build upon that moment. Brennan Johnson, who had earlier volleyed an effort straight at Hermansen, now fired a strike right across the face of goal. Rodrigo Bentancur sent an effort at the keeper after neat build-up play. After the break, Solanke had a shot pushed away following a threaded Pape Matar Sarr through ball.
Football punishes the profligate. With Leicester’s first real chance of the game, Abdul Fatawu picked out Jamie Vardy at the back post to nod home unmarked, with Cristian Romero having left the former England striker all alone.
It was a moment that changed the whole mood within the stadium and Spurs had an awkward 20 minutes or so, with Vicario needing to deny the 37-year-old Vardy during a one-vs-one situation.
Then came a horrible collision for Bentancur, who appeared to be initially knocked out by an aerial clash of heads with Fatawu from a Spurs corner and fell hard to the ground. His team-mates immediately called for medical help.
The King Power Stadium was the scene of the Uruguayan’s cruciate ligament injury 18 months ago and there was plenty of concern around him before he eventually sat up with the physios working on him.
He put himself on to the stretcher while taking on oxygen and was later spotted walking out of the stadium with the team, with two big bumps on his temple.
“I don’t have a lot of information but I know he is up and he’s communicating so he’s fine from that point of view,” Postecoglou told football.london after the game. “But obviously a head injury and I’ll leave it in the hands of medical team now. The key thing is that he’s definitely conscious and communicating.”
The Australian was already set to make sweeping changes from his strong bench, with four players coming on. The visitors wrestled control back from Leicester with their changes somewhat but it needed Richarlison to head home that huge late chance instead of sending it high and wide.
