Opinion: Player ratings from Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Brentford

Tottenham Hotspur have their first point on the board under Ange Postecoglou, securing a 2-2 draw away to Brentford on the opening day of the season.  Let’s take a look at how the Spurs players got on: Guglielmo Vicario – 5 – Lived life on the edge from minute one. Took a little too long […]

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Tottenham Hotspur have their first point on the board under Ange Postecoglou, securing a 2-2 draw away to Brentford on the opening day of the season. 

Let’s take a look at how the Spurs players got on:

(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Guglielmo Vicario – 5 – Lived life on the edge from minute one. Took a little too long on a couple of clearances, some passes were astray, and he came charging out when he perhaps didn’t need to. A big occasion for him and I’m sure he will settle in after a few games. Just needs to calm down a touch.

Emerson Royal – 7 – Seemed to take up the inverted full-back role a lot more than Udogie on the other side. It remains to be seen whether he has consistent enough playmaking skills for that, but he took his goal extremely well and added a lot of value at both ends of the pitch. Beaten too easily for Wissa’s goal down his defensive side.

Cristian Romero – 7 – Hard to rate him as he only played 10 minutes, but he was looking very comfortable and scored Tottenham’s season opener. Never take chances on a head injury, so the substitution was correct.

Micky Van de Ven – 7.5 – Unfortunate with Brentford’s second goal as he tried to block/divert the ball away, only to flick it beyond his own keeper. Apart from that, he looked really composed on the ball. What a shame he was denied a full game with his new partner in Romero.

Destiny Udogie – 8 – Really impressive performance. Stayed wide a lot more than Emerson on the other side and overlapped nicely beyond Sonny to give Spurs an attacking edge. Very comfortable on the ball and showed good recovery pace at the back too. A real battler.

Oliver Skipp – 6 – Wasn’t able to get much of a foothold on the game, on or off the ball. Struggle to find progressive passes against a low block and the game passed him by at times. Interesting to see what happens with him and Sarr until Bentancur is back.

Yves Bissouma – 8.5 – Gave the ball away a few times early on, but that was mainly because he was really trying to get things moving, taking chances to make chances. Really grew into the game in the pivot role and made Spurs tick. So impressive to be at that kind of level in game one of the season.

James Maddison – 8 – Has already shown what he can do from a dead ball situation, putting it on a plate for Romero. Technically got the assist for Emerson’s goal too. Maddison was constantly looking to make things happen, which was very much needed against a back-five low block.

Dejan Kulusevski – 6 – Saw a decent amount of the ball but struggled to influence things significantly in the final third. Neat and tidy, but often running sideways infield or passing back rather than beating his man and delivering crosses.

Richarlison – 6 – Barely touched the ball, unfortunately. Most of Tottenham’s attacks seemed to pass him by, and he isn’t like Harry Kane in terms of coming short and looking for the ball. You suspect that as Spurs improve in their build-up play, Richarlison will improve too. Slightly better in the second half as he got a little more involved.

Heung-min Son – 6 – His debut as captain, but Sonny had a nightmare start when he gave away a penalty, albeit a soft one. Had a couple of half chances, including a volley wide and a blocked shot that could have led to a goal had his first touch been better. Not had much of a pre-season, to be fair.

Substitutes: 

Davinson Sanchez – 6 – One bad moment for every good. A fantastic last-ditch block to keep Spurs in the game, but he also switched off for Wissa’s goal. Got lucky earlier on when he let the ball bounce in his own box and Brentford almost pounced. Tricky coming into the game so early off the bench.

Pape Matar Sarr – 6 – Came on for Oliver Skipp and looked a little more comfortable on the ball.

Ivan Perisic – 6 – Gave the ball away more often than Spurs would have liked, but created a couple of attacking openings too.

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