Confident Spurs cruise to 2-0 win over Bournemouth

Football

Published: 27 Aug. 2023, 08:08 Updated: 27 Aug. 2023, 17:54

Confident Spurs cruise to 2-0 win over Bournemouth

Tottenham Hotspur's James Maddison, center, celebrates scoring the opening goal with Son Heung-min, left, and Pape Matar Sarr in a game against Bournemouth at Vitality Stadium in Bournemouth, England on Saturday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Tottenham Hotspur's confident start to the 2023-24 Premier League season continued Saturday with a 2-0 win over Bournemouth to give the north London club seven points over three games.

James Maddison opened the scoring early for Spurs in the 17th minute, with Dejan Kulusevski cementing that lead at the top of the second half.

Captain Son Heung-min was kept largely quiet in front of goal, but effectively led a squad that Ange Postecoglou appears to already have turned into a fairly well-oiled machine.

It was an all-around team effort on Saturday, possibly hinting that the full clean slate — new manager, new captain, new playmaker, new goal scorers — is exactly that Tottenham has needed for years.

Alongside Son, Maddison is at the center of all of that change, proving incredibly efficient as the linchpin in the middle of the midfield. But while Son and Maddison might have been expected, it's the sudden emergence of Pape Matar Sarr, who scored against Manchester United last week and assisted Maddison this week, and the resurgence of Yves Bissouma that suggest there might be something more significant going on with Spurs this season.

"Obviously it's a really positive result but I thought our performance in general was really encouraging," Postecoglou said after the game.

"First half I thought we were really good. We knew from watching Bournemouth in the first couple of games they were going to be really aggressive, especially here at home so we had to be ready for that. I thought we stayed really clear-headed in that early part of the game, and were brave when we needed to be. We kept the game simple and that helped us get control of the game."

But that does not mean the new era has clicked for everybody yet. Richarlison, the Brazilian forward who could quite rightfully expect to step up as a core goal scorer following Harry Kane's exit, seemed to struggle with confidence, sending a few efforts wide and failing to create good opportunities.

"That's part of life, mate, part of your football career," Postecoglou said. "You're going to go through moments. He just needs to work hard, keep contributing to the team and contributing to us being successful and overcoming the challenges we have. There's no time in this game for people to dwell or think introspectively about where they are."

With two wins — 2-0 against Bournemouth on Saturday and against Manchester United last week — and a 2-2 draw with Brentford under their belt so far this season, Spurs now face their first short week of the campaign as they are back in action on Tuesday for their first EFL Cup game against Fulham.

The north London club will then be back to work in the Premier League on Saturday where they take on Burnley in the middle of a run of what could be fairly easy games. Sheffield United follows, before Spurs finally run up against some more serious competition in the form of Arsenal on Sept. 24 and Liverpool on Sept. 30.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]