Match Report (Bournemouth) & Preview (Fulham/Cup)

 

Match Report (Bournemouth) & Preview (Fulham/Cup)

One draw, two wins and third place, but equal on points with West Ham (and guess who is on top? No surprise there; Arab backing can work wonders with no extra sweat! Anyway…). It was not a bad start for Ange Postecoglou. However, we mustn't forget Conte's start in his first seven games of last season; he was undefeated, and then it was downhill after that… but I don't expect that of Postecoglou. With him, you feel everything is falling into place. He generates confidence, not only in the fans but the players as well. Every whisper seems positive, which you never got with Conte or his predecessors. Hopefully, mistakes have been learnt.

 Interestingly, we used to get other people's leftovers (George Graham, Mourinho, Conte, etc.); now Chelski are taking our leftovers (Pochettino).

We left Janette's house at 6.30 (Mel had to leave a half hour earlier to get to me). Once in Bournemouth, we met up with Janet and went for breakfast and then the three of us made our way to the stadium by car. There is good parking next to the stadium.

We decided to hang around where the team coaches arrived and watch the players disembark. Where the Bournemouth players were happy to sign autographs, ours kept their heads down, ignored the fans, and went straight into the building.

Once that excitement was over, we made our way around to the way entrance and in. As always, we met away friends, whom we don't normally see at the Tottenham stadium, purchased a drink and then went to our seats. Very rarely do Mel and I sit together because of the seat allegation; however, in this instance, we did.

As the players came out, they got a good reception. At roughly the same time, the heavens opened, and thunder and rain battered the stadium. Luckily, we were in the dry, which was not so good for those at the front. But rain or shine, winter or summer, the weather never dampens our spirits.

Then the kick-off…

James Maddison scored his first goal for us and delivered an outstanding performance as we continued our fine start to life under Ange Postecoglou.

When Maddison scored, we let rip, jumped, clapped, and hugged (but nothing Spanish; nothing inappropriate… like kissing on the cheek… besides, nobody was pending over to be able to do that! Not that the Spanish kiss on the cheek… their leaders set a lower standard… if you get my drift!

Maddison's opener came at the end of a flowing move involving Yves Bissouma and Pape Sarr. It arrived moments after our opponent's keeper, Neto, had kept out another effort from the 26-year-old.

We carved out the better opportunities before half-time. Still, Richarlison, who endured a frustrating afternoon, could not open his count for the season despite finding himself in some excellent positions.

As for the Cherries, they made a bright start to the second half, and Antoine Semenyo nearly followed with a superb second-half equaliser, but his curling effort from the edge of the box flew narrowly wide of the top corner. Any top team challenging for trophies or top positions will need a dollop of luck; over the years, we've been lacking that.

Destiny Udogie was the architect of our second goal, playing an excellent one-two with Son before cutting the ball back for Dejan Kulusevski, who found the far corner for his first of the campaign. Again, the applause, hugging, fist clenching at the home crowd, piss-taking was ecstatic.

We now have seven points from our opening three league games, while Bournemouth are waiting for their first win of the season.

My thoughts on Maddison…

Postecoglou, the fans, we all praised Maddison after such a brilliant performance and, of course, his excellent goal to start the ball rolling (no pun intended)

To say Maddison has hit the ground running would be doing him a great disservice. He followed up his two assists in the opening-day draw at Brentford with another influential display in the victory over Manchester United, and he was superb once again on the south coast as we continued our unbeaten start. Often dropping deep to collect possession, Maddison was at the heart of our game. His attacking moves could have seen other goals without their goalkeeper doing some wonderful work to save his teammate's blushes.

As for Richarlison, he spurned two good chances to double our lead, both from superb Maddison balls, however, the Brazilian dallied long enough to give Bournemouth time to clear before sending a close-range header into the side-netting. It was a very disappointing day for the Brazilian, who lost the ball cheaply on several occasions before being replaced by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

Then there is Udogie, a £15m summer signing, who took a leaf out of Maddison's book for our second goal, linking up wonderfully with Son before darting to the byline and pulling the ball back for Kulusevski.

Maddison missed a late chance to add a third for us… but never mind, as we did what we came to do… take all three points for the second weekend running.

The fans were singing "We've got our Tottenham back" moments before the full-time whistle, and we had… and more to come.

After the game, we returned to the car and dropped Janet off at her hotel; she kindly invited us to come in and have a drink. Then we hit the road and back to Cheltenham, where Janette was waiting. In the evening, we stayed up to watch MOTD. However, I fell asleep and had to watch the Spurs game the next day. I was knackered.

Now to my match preview of the Fulham Cup game (Tuesday)…

Prediction, team news, etc...

Fulham will enter this match off the back of a 2-2 draw with Arsenal in the league on Saturday, while we had a 2-0 victory over Bournemouth on the same day. Both were game results we celebrated with excitement.

Match preview

As I said, we made it back-to-back wins in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon by recording a two-goal success at Bournemouth courtesy of goals from James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski.

We were impressive at Bournemouth on Saturday, and we will now be aiming to progress to the third round of the EFL Cup ahead of our next Premier League match at Burnley this weekend.

We have won the League Cup on four separate occasions, with our last success in the competition coming in 2008, overcoming Chelsea in the final. This was the only time – under Levy's stewardship –we managed to win a trophy.

We have won eight of their last nine matches against Fulham in all competitions, while the Cottagers are unbeaten at Craven Cottage since an FA Cup clash in January 2011.

Fulham form (all competitions):

WLD

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

DWW

Team news…

We will again be without Tanguy Ndombele, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ryan Sessegnon, Bryan Gil and Alfie Whiteman through injury; Destiny Udogie is also doubtful due to a knock.

I do not doubt that Postecoglou will also shuffle his pack for this match, with Ivan Perisic, Oliver Skipp, Ben Davies, Emerson Royal, and Davinson Sanchez set to come into the side.

Fraser Forster could get the nod for the goalkeeper gloves, while there could be starts for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Giovani Lo Celso.

My possible starting lineup:

Forster; Emerson, Sanchez, Van de Ven, Davies; Hojbjerg, Skipp, Lo Celso; Perisic, Richarlison, Solomon

My prediction…

I think it will be tight.…, and probably a goal in it.

1-2 to us…

Both managers will make changes, I have no doubt. But it should still be an entertaining game. I feel we will shade the match to progress to the next round of the competition. Am I ever wrong? Ok… point taken!!!!

Up the Spurs!

COYS!