Spurs Clear the Air with Emphatic Win over Alkmaar | OneFootball

You might remember our cheesy article about the first fixture last week. Well, we had to shelve our dairy jokes after this match, because Tottenham actually bothered to show up in front of their home crowd and play a proper game.

Spurs Ascendant

Alkmaar’s lackadaisical defense gifted Spurs the first goal. Heung-Min Son closed down Wouter Goes and forced a deflection right to Dominic Solanke, who unselfishly fed an unmarked Wilson Odobert for the net-rippling finish.

Yet another giveaway from Alkmaar in the midfield led to a counterattack that was capped by James Maddison’s collected finish early in the second half. You had the feeling this just might be their night, a pure bullseye. Spurs were playing fluid soccer, moving with ease and by all appearances having (gasp) fun.

Spursiness Returns

But Spursiness is real. And it’s a beeyatch. In the 63rd minute a knob headed mistake from Lucas Bergvall put the ball right into the left foot of Peer Koopmeiners, who did not miss. The resulting 2 – 2 scoreline would force injury time. Ange looked ill. The commentators described the stadium’s demeanor as “angsty.” Then came a moment of pure magic.

Sublime Soccer

The sequence that gave Spurs the victory is worth analysing, as it was a brilliant bit of possession mixed with heart-in-mouth tension. It started at 73:17 when Odabert dispossessed Mees de Wit of the ball. Three backpasses followed (to Porro, Romero, Vicario) before Archie Gray started the forward movement. Here the sequence went: Gray, Spence, Maddison (lovely feint to create space and a long run into the Alkmaar half), Spence, Son, Spence, Solanke and finally Odabert again who tapped in at 73:44. Yeah, this is Tottenham I’m writing about.

The remaining 20+ minutes were cracker jack, with Tottenham coming close once more, but Alkmaar ratcheting up the pressure and forcing Spurs defenders and Vicario into heroics. When the final whistle blew you could feel the tension exploding out of the stadium and into the north London sky.

Well played, lads. I daresay you deserved this one.