In what has been a familiar situation for Tottenham Hotspur fans this preseason, Spurs started their match against Bayern Munich without a recognized striker. There’s a good reason for it, of course — returning striker Richarlison has only returned to training this week after recovering from surgery this past spring, and their newest player, record signing Dominic Solanke, only joined the club yesterday and was introduced to fans before the match. That left Dejan Kulusevski to play in the No. 9 position (something he did very well, it should be mentioned) with Will Lankshear coming on for the second half.
So there is hope ahead of Tottenham’s first Premier League match at Leicester City a week from Monday. But Richarlison still coming back to fitness, will Solanke actually be ready to start with just a week’s training? Ange Postecoglu doesn’t see any reason why not. Asked about his newest signing in the post-match press conference following Bayern’s 3-2 Visit Malta Cup victory of Spurs in London, Ange said he thinks Big Dom will have every opportunity to start and play at the first chance.
“Yeah, I don’t see any reason why he shouldn’t be [ready to start]. He’s played most of the preseason [for Bournemouth]. Slight knock in the last game Bournemouth played, but, of course, we’ll have a look at him during, during the week. But I think that considering he’s done most of the pre-season, I see no reason why he wouldn’t be available.
“We identified him because he has the attributes we are looking for in terms of our position. He gives us some things we probably have been missing in the last 12 months, particularly when Richarlison was out last year. When Richy played he was very effective for us, it was quite evident when he was out we didn’t really have a player who can make the impact Dom can in the final third and just with his general play. So I think he will be a good fit for us.
“We have got him at a really good time in his career. He has had to work his way back up which I always think is a good thing. Sometimes when careers go smoothly you wonder how people will handle setbacks but he had setbacks earlier in his career. He has fought his way back and has become a really good Premier League striker now. He is really keen to push on. He wants to improve and make an impact. I think it’s a great time for us to bring him in.”
Kulusevski has done well playing either as an out-and-out striker or a false nine absent Richarlison in preseason and had an excellent performance today, scoring inside 30 seconds to put Spurs ahead early and following it up with a lovely second goal to cut Bayern’s lead to 3-2 in the second half. But Ange said, now that Solanke is here and Richy is on the mend, that fans should not expect to see much of Dejan Strikersevski from now on.
“No, I don’t think so. The good thing about Deki is that he can play that attacking midfield. I think the reason for us why we signed Dom, and hopefully Richy should be ready as well, is that we want to have a player through that area who is a bit more accustomed to that role. Deki has done a great job for us but I think his strengths and attributes are more in that attacking midfield or wide role. I think he is really developing and has had a really good pre-season for us and hopefully it gives us some more flexibility and potency through the middle when he is playing because he can get into those scoring areas.”
One of the scariest moments of the match came in the second half when Lucas Bergvall needed treatment and was seen holding and gesturing his throat. It wasn’t clear what happened — he didn’t appear to have been hit in the leadup. Incidentally, my partner, a registered nurse, saw Lucas in distress and openly wondered if he’d swallowed a bee. Turns out, according to Ange, she might not have been far wrong.
“Yeah, I’m not really sure [what happened]. He said he was struggling to breathe or we had to sort of find out whether he swallowed something. But yeah, so I think it was nothing serious. He was alright.”
Tottenham’s three conceded goals were again conceded from dead ball and set pieces, continuing a troubling trend from the end of last season when Spurs looked particularly vulnerable in those situations. Ange was asked about the goals, and admitted they weren’t good ones to concede, but alluded to the rotated defense of Pedro Porro, Radu Dragusin, Ben Davies, and Djed Spence, and that Spurs coped better against a very good team with Cuti Romero and Micky van de Ven in the side.
“Yeah, [the goals] weren’t great. They were pretty ordinary, pretty similar to what we sort of conceded over there [in Korea]. But at the same time we’re kind of not at that stage yet, of integrating people in, with a back four that’s never played together before. I always kind of bear those things in mind. The key for us is to be ready come Monday week.”
Spurs now have nine days before their 2024-25 Premier League season opener at Leicester City on Monday, August 19. The match will be televised on Sky Sports in the UK and on USA Network in the United States.