It was a good day at the office for Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon as they came from behind to decimate Unai Emery’s Aston Villa in a 4-1 battering.
After Morgan Rogers had put the visitors ahead in the first half, Ange Postecoglou’s words at the break rejuvenated his side who put in a completely different showing after the interval.
Brennan Johnson tapped home the equaliser from close range four minutes after the restart before Dominic Solanke netted a brace and James Maddison delicately curled in his 50th Premier League goal courtesy of a free-kick in stoppage time.
However, a concerning statistic has emerged as in this calendar year Spurs have played 14 matches at home in the Premier League and they have conceded first in 12 of them.
But as long as Spurs keep finding a way to win, Postecoglou and his coaching staff won't mind lulling their opponents into a false sense of security.
This performance showed some resilience and personality in this Tottenham side. Here are four other things we learnt.
Pape Matar Sarr is becoming indispensable
The Senegalese was once again a vital component in the system and he dominated a midfield pairing of Youri Tielemans and Amadou Onana.
In recent weeks, Sarr has been one of the club’s top performers and he earned his place from the start against Villa after a sumptuous strike in their Carabao Cup tie with Manchester City on Wednesday night.
His presence did not go unnoticed on the weekend as he used his lanky frame and long strides to cover every blade of grass, intercept passes and dictate the tempo.
In fact, Tottenham’s third goal was created by Sarr as he cut out Pau Torres’ attempted pass before playing in Richarlison, who set up Solanke.
You would be forgiven if you had forgot that the former Metz man is still only 22, as the box-to-box midfielder is performing with maturity way beyond his years.
The simple truth of the matter is Spurs look way more comfortable when Sarr is on the pitch.
Spurs set piece woes continue
There is a narrative circulating around this team that they are vulnerable from set piece situations. Weak.
Guglielmo Vicario is a fantastic shot-stopper, who uses his quick reflexes and agility to make the most unlikeliest of saves.
But from corners or free-kicks, the Italian looks feeble and seems to get distracted too easily by opposition players.
On Sunday, Villa’s solitary goal stemmed from this exact description as Vicario looked way more interested in tussling with Rogers than commanding his box.
In Vicario’s defence, he reacted well to prevent Rodrigo Bentancur from diverting the ball into his own net, but he could only parry the ball into the path of Rogers who had the simple task of smashing the ball into the empty net.
However, the blame of this issue doesn’t just fall on the goalkeeper's shoulders but rather it is a tactical problem which concerns the whole team.
Too often this season Tottenham players have lost their concentration or have not shown enough physicality or adept positioning to adequately defend crosses.
The frustrating aspect of the loss of the clean sheet for Spurs was the fact that Emery’s team created very little.
To concede a goal that easily is inexcusable at this level, especially for a team aiming for silverware this term.
Not only are Spurs struggling to defend set-pieces, they also can’t seem to score from one.
The Lilywhites have had 90 corners this campaign - 25 more than Nottingham Forest, who have the third most, and only eight away from Manchester City’s tally at the top.
From these 90 corners, Spurs have only scored from two of them, which can be calculated to a percentage of a 2% success rate.
This is even more bizarre when you consider the height amongst the Spurs roster including 6’4 Micky van de Ven, 6’3 Radu Dragusin and 6’2 Solanke.
If you cast your mind back to Antonio Conte’s regime, Gianni Vio was employed as an offensive set-piece coach and corners were a fruitful avenue.
Having someone of Vio’s ilk as part of Postecoglou’s back room staff could be hugely beneficial and give Spurs that edge in pursuit of realising their ambitions of lifting trophies.
Postecoglou’s not afraid to make controversial substitutions
The Australian made a tough decision in the 55th minute as he opted to take off Spurs captain Heung-min Son.
Moments before he was replaced, the South Korean had just manufactured a way back into the contest for the hosts as he swung in an inviting ball into the path of Johnson to level the score.
Son was in a confident mood and he was orchestrating every Spurs attack by demanding the ball off his teammates and driving the team forward with his mazy runs.
So when the fourth official held up the number seven on his board, a sense of bemusement filtered around the stadium and no one was as surprised and angry as Son.
The 32-year-old begrudgingly exited the field of play before taking his seat on the substitutes bench with a frustrated slump and was seen remonstrating with his colleagues about how he disagreed with the alteration.
Ultimately, the change paid off as Son’s replacement Richarlison picked up an assist and the skipper managed to get a sizeable rest after being plagued with injuries over the last month.
In his post-match press conference, Postecoglou admitted that the decision to take Son off was pre-determined as he wanted to protect his star winger.
Still, considering the circumstances it was a brave action by the Australian manager and if the outcome of the match had been different, he would have been subjected to a lot of criticism.
Solanke is proving his value for Spurs
Much was made when Spurs parted ways with a club record £60 million to sign Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke in the summer.
But the Englishman has proved his value so far, with his all-encompassing displays spearheading the best attack in the division.
The former Chelsea and Liverpool striker is a tireless presser who works incredibly hard for the team, and his selfless actions mean he might not always receive the adulation he deserves.
But most importantly, he is a really intelligent footballer.
He has the innate ability to understand when the best time to trigger the press is, he uses his bulky frame adeptly to win fouls and his movement is exemplary.
For his first goal and Tottenham’s second, the striker tracked back roughly 30 yards to help regain possession before beating Villa’s offside trap with a perfectly timed run and having the elegance and composure to delicately dink the ball over the onrushing Martinez.
Solanke’s second was a pure poacher's goal as he used his instinct to evade his marker and tap home.
Postecoglou was very complementary of his striker after the match hailing the forward as "unbelievable" and stating that when Solanke is on the pitch it makes his side a lot better.
If Solanke can consistently deliver these type of displays, the £60 million fee will start to look like a bargain.
