Tottenham Hotspur played 2 friendlies whilst in South Korea, a friendly against a K-League all star 11 with new signing Yang Min-Hyeok starting against us for the all stars. Yang was impressive and spun Emerson Royal a few times as well as getting a few shots away and playing positively. He didn’t look phased with our physicality which is a positive sign ahead of his January move to us. Yang was on the losing team though as Tottenham edged K-League all stars 4-3 with Dejan Kulusevski, a Heung-Min Son double and Will Lankshear scoring. It was a striker’s reactionary finish from the Swedish international and a clinical finish from Sonny for both goals, the first his trademark cutting inside and curling one into the top corner. It was a solid attacking performance from Spurs, but the defensive aspect was lacking. That was partly down to the absences of Cristian Romero, Micky Van De Ven and Destiny Udogie from the squad, and the fact that Radu Dragusin only got his first minutes of pre-season in the closing stages. Hopefully we will see better defensive performances soon.
Tottenham then faced defeat against Bayern Munich days later, as the German outfit ran out 2-1 winners with Vidovic and Goretzka scoring for Bayern and a Porro stunner for us, his second goal of pre-season, although it was only a consolation. Bayern dominated the first half and Tottenham couldn’t get out, but the fact Ange Postecoglou has been giving the players double sessions in the humid heat of South Korea meant our players were knackered. It is all good practice for the intense fixture scheduling though. Bayern were sharper as they had just landed in Seoul and it was the end of our pre-season tour.
The lads are now back and training at Hotspur Way with Bentancur, Lo Celso, Romero and Van De Ven back and training with the group, Udogie training too having come back from injury and Richarlison apparantly only days away from doing the same.