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Tottenham line up in a 3421 again this week. Harry Winks replaces Moussa Sissoko and Kieran Trippier replaces the suspended Serge Aurier. Last week's review will be uploaded later today. Image credit to @SpursOfficial on Twitter. Coys

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Spurs lineup in a much changed side in what seems like a 433. Aurier appears to be playing in midfield. There opponents for tonight are APOEL of Cyprus. Coys Image credit to @SpursOfficial on Twitter

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Marcus Edwards captains Spurs' under 19 side as they face APOEL this afternoon in the UEFA Youth League. Coys Image credit @SpursOfficial on Twitter.

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The scenes from today's extremely nervy 3-2 win at West Ham. Eriksen and Vertonghen were superb and Aurier did well despite picking up a 2nd yellow. Kane bagged a brace followed by a goal from Eriksen which saw him become the all time Danish top scorer in the premier league. COYS Image credit to @SpursOfficial on Twitter.

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Serge Aurier makes his 1st premier league start in a Tottenham shirt vs West Ham at the Olympic park. Pochettino has lined spurs up in a 3 at the back formation where it looks like its either a 343 or 361. Coys Image credit to @SpursOfficial on Twitter

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This week in Spurs 15th-22nd September

Swansea review

Spurs’ disappointing Premier League form at Wembley continued as Spurs came away from Saturday with a 0-0 draw.  Safe to say that Swansea goalkeeper and ex Arsenal stopper, Lukasz Fabianski had a very good game against the Lilywhites as he produced ten saves in this game.  Pochettino’s woes were furthered by the fact that Spurs took 26 shots at Swansea’s goal with no end result. It was also fairly evident that Swansea were basically playing for a draw as Spurs dominated possession having a total of 74.9%, but as we know possession doesn’t always win games.  Looking at Leicester’s average possession during the 2015/16 season, Ranieri’s side won the league with an average possession % of 47%.  This metric was further supported by Tottenham’s win prior to the game vs Borussia Dortmund, where the Lilywhites won 3-1 with only 32% possession.

A very apparent absentee for the Swansea match was Serge Aurier who was extremely impressive against Dortmund on the prior Wednesday.  Aurier’s impressive defensive contribution and ability to “Serge” up and down the flank is a sight I’m sure we can expect to see more of this season.  It’s apparent that Aurier may not have been up to full fitness after the Dortmund game as he was rotated for Trippier on Saturday as Spurs’ hectic fixture list continued with another four games to play in the next two weeks.  Without procrastinating much more and despite it being very early to make a statement like this, Aurier seems much more suited to the right wing back spot than Kieran Trippier as he is a better player defensively and is still good going forward despite Trippier’s solid crossing ability.  In the coming weeks and month I expect to see Aurier become first choice.

Somewhat bizarrely, Pochettino opted to play Heung Min-Son at the left wing back role for the first time since the 4-2 loss to Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi Final.  There is no doubt that Sonny is an extremely talented player but is extremely inconsistent talent.  Son’s usual position is as a left winger which is where he mostly played at Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen although he was known to play on the right and sometimes as a striker.  Danny Rose is still injured and likely won’t play for Spurs again due to his comments in the summer, Ben Davies was rotated for this game meaning that the other full back at Spurs being, Kyle Walker-Peters was left out.  The young full back proved at the England under 20 World Cup in the summer, that he is very capable of occupying either flank as he played largely on the left side as Everton’s Mason Holgate occupied the right flank and both players put in good performances throughout the tournament and should’ve been a reason to at least include him on the bench vs Swansea.

In typical Premier League pundit style, big talking points were the numerous penalty shouts that went against Spurs that were missed by Mike Dean who again refereed a Spurs game who has been jokingly labeled a Spurs fan.  The first came from a cross which came off of Martin Olsson’s arm which was overlooked by Mike Dean despite not tucking his arm in or flailing it around so this was a hard call to make so Dean could be given the benefit of the doubt.  The 2nd was a clearer push to the back of Serge Aurier deep into the 2nd half and was definitely a penalty with the benefit of replay but seemingly cost Spurs the three point.

Barnsley review

Ultimately not a whole lot of talking points from Tuesday’s 1-0 win vs Barnsley in the Carabao cup as the game was relatively uneventful other than Dele’s goal.  Although, Juan Foyth and Fernando Llorente did make their full senior debuts.  Foyth looks a very confident player on the ball in a similar mould to our own Toby Alderweireld.  Despite having a few shaky moments, the young Argentinian is certainly an exciting prospect for the future.  As most fans expected, Pochettino played a second string team with the exception of Dele, Sonny, Trippier and super Jan, giving most first team players a break before the West Ham derby on Saturday.  Honestly this seems like Spurs are in the best position they’ve been in for a while in terms of squad depth as it only really feels like Spurs are lacking another creative number 10 as a back up to Christian Eriksen.  

The game saw a crowd of roughly 26,000 Spurs fans at Wembley and they only had to celebrate a 2nd half winner scored by Dele tapping in a goal inside the six yard box.  Dele seems to have regained a bit of form despite all the rumours surrounding his agent situation as he currently is without an agent with superagents, Mino Raiola and Jorge Mendes circling the 21 year old to potentially get him a bumper wage deal at Spurs or a potential deal away in the coming years.

The Barnsley match also saw GK N-Koudou made his return from injury, as he made a brief substitute appearance.  The young, French winger really needs a run of games this season as he made very few appearances last season and his pace is something that Spurs do lack late on in the game if Son starts.  Here’s hoping that GK has a better season this year.

Talking tactics

Spurs have been lining up in 343 and 4231 in the past two games as they have done for the past 2 seasons and they are formations that transition between each other very nicely as Eric Dier or Victor Wanyama would typically start as a holding midfielder but were able to transition into a half back/sweeper role.  When Spurs start in 343 this season they typically start with Davinson Sanchez so they typically stay in a 3 at the back system while the midfield can adapt into a diamond formation as of late.  352 is a system that could potentially benefit Spurs as Son would be an extremely useful 2nd striker as he has played at striker at Hamburg and Leverkusen on the odd occasion.  The South-Korean’s skill set would be very beneficial in the second striker role as his lightning fast pace, solid dribbling ability and impressive, if inconsistent, finishing ability.  Spurs wing-back situation is also benefitted in the 3 at the back formations as Kyle Walker-Peters is an extremely useful being able to play on either flank and his pace is an asset that really can benefit when Davies is rotated as Son is wasted whenever he is deployed at Left wing-back.

West Ham preview

West Ham started the season in torrid form but have started to pick up some form after getting a goalless draw vs West Brom at The Hawthorns.  The hammers then went on to batter Premier League new boys, Huddersfield, 3-0 so they are in better home form than Spurs at the moment.  Spurs’ away form this year has started off better than it did last year as Spurs have picked up 6 points out of a possible 6 with a 2-0 win away to Newcastle and a 3-0 thrashing at Goodison park vs Ronald Koeman’s Everton.  This game should be a game that Spurs win but after losing last year it will still be a complicated game.  My prediction is a 2-1 Spurs win.

COYS

Twitter:@hotspur_echo and @GKEnston_

Image credit: Skysports.com

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Spurs ran out 1-0 victors at home vs Barnsley last night with that man Dele scoring the winner. Full writeup on Friday. Image credit to @SpursOfficial on Twitter

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Spurs appear to be reverting to a 4231 formation with Vertonghen at left back in place of Davies and Sissoko comes back for Dembele. COYS Image credit:@SpursOfficial on Twitter.

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This week in Spurs 8th-15th September

Safe to say this week has seen Spurs’ season pick up after a slow start to the season, in which Spurs only picked up four points out of a possible 9.  Last Saturday saw Spurs dominate a weak looking Everton side, winning 3-0.  Harry Kane bagged a brace which meant he scored his 100th goal in a Spurs shirt.  The other goal was scored by Christian Eriksen tapping in a deflected Ben Davies shot from close range saw Christian Eriksen’s excellent form continue for club and country.  Mauricio Pochettino lined Spurs up in an unusual 361 diamond formation.  Lloris captained the side as per usual and was behind a defence of Davinson Sanchez, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld.  Trippier and Davies were once again wing-back partners.  Eric Dier was the main holding midfielder with Moussa Sissoko also playing more centrally.  Christian Eriksen was accompanied by Dele Alli in the attacking midfield positions behind the talisman Harry Kane.  This result has kept up Tottenham’s 100% away record this season.  Despite only being match week 4, it is clear improvement considering that Spurs drew last season at Goodison park.

Spurs and Nike also unveiled their new 3rd/European shirt on Tuesday.  The shirt is primarily purple with a secondary neon yellow.  Despite Nike releasing all of their 3rd shirts at roughly the same time, it’s a dignified number and I’m looking forward to seeing Spurs line up in the kit in later Champions League games this season.  

On Wednesday night Spurs started their UCL campaign off with a win against an admittedly weaker Borussia Dortmund side than Bundesliga fans are used to as key players, Marco Reus, Raphael Guerreiro and Marcel Schmelzer were all ruled out due to injury.  Spurs won the game 3-1 with goals coming from Heung-Min Son, who opened the scoring in the fourth minute with a great near post shot beating Burki on his left foot, and Harry Kane who bagged another brace with two left footed goals with one being a near carbon copy of Sonny’s opener, whereas the other took a slight deflection that got past Burki at his far post.

BVB did make it 1-1 with a fantastic curled effort from debutant Andriy Yarmolenko, beating Lloris from 20-25 yards out and hitting the top corner of Lloris’ far post.  While Dortmund were the dominant team, Spurs were able to defend relatively well despite the away team being denied an obvious equaliser as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s effort was wrongly ruled out for offside from a Mahmoud Dahoud cross.  There has been debate over whether the scoreline flattered Spurs as they were dominated, Spurs took the three chances that won them the game as Sonny and Harry Kane were able to abuse the space that Dortmund centre halves, Sokratis and Omer Toprak, left for them to run into on the counter attack.  While Spurs are a good counter pressing/attacking team, they definitely looked like they were hanging on and the assumption that they got quite lucky is perhaps fair although may not represent how well Pochettino’s tactics worked out.  Davinson Sanchez and Serge Aurier made their Champions League debut for Spurs and both put in equally solid performances and will be featured a lot more over the course of the season if they keep producing performances of such high level.

Moving on to Saturday’s game, Swansea travel to Wembley to face Spurs where 3 three ex yids, Tom Carroll, Kyle Naughton and Wayne Routledge will likely be featured in the team.  Swansea currently sit in 15th place on 4 points and will likely be fired up for the fixture as they look to improve their early form this season.  Paul Clement’s new boys Roque Mesa, Tammy Abraham and Renato Sanches will all likely feature against Spurs.  Spurs will likely be victors after finally picking up a win at Wembley on Wednesday, so I predict that Spurs will win 2-0 with Kane and Eric Dier being the goal scorers.

COYS

Twitter:@hotspur_echo and @GKEnston_

Image credit: standard.co.uk

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Tottenham will look to start their Champions League season with a win tonight against Borussia Dortmund. Serge Aurier makes his debut seemingly in Pochettino's new 361 diamond formation as Son comes in for Dele and Mousa Dembele replaces Moussa Sissoko. Image credit:@SpursOfficial on Twitter.

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Tottenham start with a changed side to the one that drew 1-1 to Burnley. On the face of it, spurs seem to be lined up in a three at the back. New boy, Davinson Sanchez makes his debut start, whereas Llorente and Aurier are on the bench.

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This week in Spurs 1st -8th September

This week Spurs fans, as with the rest of football fans, had to suffer through the dreaded international break.  For English people, like me, we had to watch England admittedly beat Malta and squeeze a win out of Slovakia.  The first match saw our talisman, Harry Kane, grab a brace and an assist.  Kane’s first was assisted by Dele which saw the 20 year old shrug off two defenders to thread a perfect ball to Kane for a tap in.  England’s third came from a beautiful lofted ball from Kane, to set up Arsenal’s, Danny Welbeck.  The final goal came from an equally brilliant lofted through ball by Marcus Rashford, which was finished by Kane thundering the ball home from close range.

Of course, other Spurs players were involved in the international break.  In the England under 20’s game vs the Netherlands, 18 year old starlet, Marcus Edwards scored a peach of a free kick from about 25 yards out with a lovely curled effort into the top right corner to open the scoring.  Tottenham’s number 23 and Denmark national captain, Christian Eriksen had a fantastic international break as he bagged 2 assists and a stunning long range goal versus Poland.  Eriksen then continued his goal scoring form scoring a free kick versus Armenia in a 4-1 victory where he also bagged another assist.  Hugo Lloris captained Les Bleus/the French national team to two clean sheets.  On the surface that sounds standard for France as they put Danny Blind’s Dutch team to the sword in a 4-0 victory.  The other clean sheet came in an embarrassing 0-0 draw to Luxembourg, as the blues struggled to finish any of their 34 shots.  

Tottenham new boy, Serge Aurier, featured for the Cote d’Ivoire national team in both games versus Gabon in which won the first game 3-0 but lost 2-1 in the reverse fixture where Aurier reportedly put in solid performances in both games.  Aurier seems a competent right back who’s speed propels him up and down the right channel and is a very tough tackler.  As a glimpse of what we can expect from the 23 year old, he is a defensively competent right back who is capable of grabbing a goal or assisting from his crosses.  Spurs Belgium trio of Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Dembélé thrashed Gibraltar 9-0 and then scrape a 2-1 win over Greece where we finally saw super Jan score a goal.  Vertonghen’s goal was a hard hit shot from 30 yards out which beat Karnezis at his near post.  

Spurs’ first signing of the summer, Davinson Sanchez featured in one of his first games for the Colombian national side where he displayed physical dominance in a 1-1 draw with Brazil, putting an end to Brazil’s recent winning form under new boss Tite.  Finally, South Korea qualified for the 2018 world cup so Spurs fans can rejoice as we will hopefully be able to see fan favourite, Heung-Min Son in action in Russia next summer.

Moving on to the weekend, or at time of writing/posting, tomorrow.  Spurs travel north to Goodison Park to face Ronald Koeman’s Everton.  The former Southampton manager has overseen a complete reshuffle at Everton after the departure of star striker, Romelu Lukaku for a huge £90 million fee.  It won’t be an easy fixture but I predict that Spurs will walk out 2-1 victors with Kane and Eriksen scoring for the Yids.  Whereas, I could see, Wayne Rooney getting a goal. Edit. As of writing Vincent Janssen has officially joined Turkish outfit, Fenerbache on a season long loan. Good Luck Vince!

COYS

Twitter:@hotspur_echo and @GKEnston_

Image credit to: skysports.com

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Reports coming out of Turkey and Netherlands suggest that Vincent Janssen has agreed to join Fenerbache on loan for the season. The 23 year old lacked game time last year and didn't impress many when he did come on. Good luck to him for this season as the move is set to be announced later today. Image credit to: @brfootball on Twitter

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Serge Aurier's first picture in a Tottenham shirt of sorts. Image credit to Aurier's snapchat "thecrazychild93"

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Loan watch: Cameron Carter Vickers signed for Sheffield United on a season long loan on the 25th of August and will gain much needed first team experience as he only made bit part appearances for Spurs last year in the league cup vs Wycombe despite playing most of the 2016 pre season tour.  Blades’ manager Chris Wilder told sufc.co,uk, “Cameron is young, athletic and highly-rated by Tottenham and we’re delighted we’ve been trusted to continue his development.” Contrarlily to Wilder’s comments, speculation has grown around new THFC signing, 20 year old centre half Juan Foyth, from Argentinian club Estudiantes just a day before deadline day, as possibly being the replacement for the 19 year old USMNT youngster.  Sheffield United face off against Sunderland on Saturday, so expect to see Cameron feature, at the very least on the bench.

Image credits to: sufc.co.uk, sports.vice.com and standard.co.uk

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Congrats to Heung-Min Son (AKA Sonny) and the rest of the South Korean national team for qualifying for next year’s world cup.  Hopefully he’ll be able to put in a solid set of performances next year.

Image credit to: @FIFAWorldCup on Twitter

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Loan watch: Josh Onomah has made a lively start to life at Aston Villa receiving high praise from fans, coaches and teammates having already scored a goal from his favoured central midfield position.  Mauricio Pochettino seemed reluctant to play the 20 year old in central midfield, as he would usually bring him on late in games on the left wing.  Onomah is a diverse player as he originally started as a number 10/attacking midfielder which is still highly valued but with a plethora of central midfield talent at Spurs. This loan move was definitely in Onomah’s best interest to get 1st team football.  You can likely see Onomah start this weekend vs Brentford in the EFL Championship on Saturday.

Image credits to: avfc.com, dailystar.co.uk and topsy.one