09/06/2026
Tottenham Hotspur went to Nottingham Forest and picked up their first point of the season. It wasn’t a pretty match, but the squad showed continued improvement under Roberto De Zerbi. Here are my thoughts on the match.
1. The defense was much improved this week as they kept their first clean sheet of the season. The back line as a whole unit defended very well minus a few small mistakes here and there. Van Hecke got caught flat footed and switched off at one point and the Forest attacker flew past him, but Kinsky made a good save to keep Forest off the score sheet. That would later be ruled offside, but that was probably the worst of the defending.
2. Talking about the good defense, Micky Van De Ven was and absolute beast today. He was all over the place on the back line making crucial tackles. I’m very happy Tottenham gave him an extension this summer as he definitely deserved it. He’s growing into one of the best defenders in the Prem.
3. Sandro Tonali put in a pretty strong shift. He did a lot of good work coming back to help defend. Tonali really uses his physicality to not get bullied off the ball. We used to get pushed around in the midfield. Tonali is now our answer to fight back. He’s not fully 100% at the moment and I look forward to seeing what he can do when he’s 100% fit.
4. That being said, Tonali had a super nervy moment at the back and missed on a goal line clearance that appeared to allow Forest to score. Thankfully VAR somehow found a hand ball to disallow the goal, a decision I’m still a bit baffled by, but will gladly accept. Tonali and Van Hecke needed better communication to escape that disaster. That is something that will improve as the squad continues to gel together.
5. Tottenham will be disappointed by missed opportunities in this one. In the first half Marmoush made a great strong run down the middle to break free for an opportunity only to drag it just wide of the goal. Later in the second half he led another great attacking chance and took the shot that went high over the bar. In this instance he should have laid the ball off to Kudus who was making a great run down the right. Better decision making will come. We just have to be patient.
6. Tel had some good moments in this one, but had hesitation to shoot. He would keep trying to find better windows to shoot when he should have just taking the shot instead of looking for a better spot. I wonder if he is lacking a little confidence after struggling to get shots on target early in this campaign.
7. Kudus was quite impressive when he got on the pitch. Getting 30 minutes today was really good for him to get some more minutes in his legs. I understand why De Zerbi took Savio off as he is working on his fitness, but I really look forward to the day where we have Savio on the left and Kudus on the right. That will be an exciting attack. Hopefully we see it soon.
8. Bentancur was great today. He did a lot to help control the midfield today. There was one play in particular where he lost the ball and then did a great job at tracking back to win the ball back. That type of desire is needed from every player on this squad if we want to have a successful campaign.
9. All in all 1 point and no goals in our first 3 matches is not what we were hoping for, but there are definitely signs of life. I feel like we are getting closer to really getting going every week. Thankfully we have a favorable fixture next week.
Next up: Home match against Everton next Saturday. We beat them on the last day of the season to secure Prem survival, so hopefully we can find our form against them and get our first goal and win of the season. COYS!!!