Pre-season is over, the scouting has been done and loan moves are starting to happen now. This week we’ve gone from having one player out on loan to having five:

Grant Ward – Rotherham United (Championship) – January
Nathan Oduwa – Rangers (Scottish Championship) – season
Dominic Ball – Rangers (Scottish Championship) – season
Shaq Coulthirst – Wigan (League One) – October
Connor Ogilvie – Stevenage (League Two) – 14th September

Grant Ward – Rotherham United (Championship)

Ward has joined Rotherham United and has already made a couple of appearances. He was withdrawn from a central midfield role at half-time on his debut against MK Dons, as Rotherham struggled in general. The Star wrote that Ward had ‘struggled to impose himself’. He then came on to play 17 minutes at on the right against Cambridge United in the League Cup.

Having done so well in League One with Coventry City last season, Ward will be looking to be a mainstay of the Rotherham team in the Championship. Should he do so, he’ll have essentially done what Alex Pritchard did last season, but a year sooner in his development.

Nathan Oduwa & Dominic Ball – Rangers (Scottish Championship)

Mark Warburton has used his relationship with Spurs to acquire two youngsters who are ready to make the next step. As a Spurs fan and co-founder of the NextGen Series (which Spurs participated in) Warburton has a real appreciation of Spurs’ academy, and worked wonders with Pritchard last season.

Oduwa and Ball both played League Two football last year and – whilst the quality of the Scottish Championship might not be substantially better – the experience of playing in front of 51,000 fans every other week will benefit them enormously.

Nathan Oduwa will get Rangers fans off their seats. He is a very tricky customer, possessing terrific close control and dribbling ability. He sometimes appears to not be in full control of the ball, but will then somehow emerge from the tightest of spaces with it still at his feet. His finishing certainly needs some honing, but there are not many 19-year olds that are complete players. Oduwa mostly plays on the left wing, but could do a job as a number 10 or even a number 9 if called upon.

Dominic Ball is a robust centre-back who is competent in possession. He undoubtedly has ability and reads the game well for a 20-year old. My concern is that he can be a little rash when defending – sometimes committing himself too early in an effort to be proactive. He will come across some wily players and if he can play a full season, it’ll do him the world of good.

It’s easy to turn your nose up at our players going to the Scottish Championship, but you must remember that matches are only one part of a loan move – players are training all week, and so the coaches that they are with must be of sufficient quality to have an impact. Mark Warburton is a fantastic coach for our young players to learn from (as we saw with Pritchard last year) and the Spurs hierarchy clearly have enormous faith in him.

Ball revealed in this interview that he trained with Warburton when he played for Watford between the ages of 11 and 15, and that will certainly make the transition easier for him.

Shaq Coulthirst – Wigan (League One)

Coulthirst has clocked up 39 appearances League Two appearances across four clubs, scoring eight goals. He now has an opportunity to progress to League One.

His first loan was actually in League One (for Leyton Orient) and he scored on his debut (having come off the bench). But he was sent back to Spurs at the end of that one-month loan having played just seven minutes. 18 months on, it’s an opportunity for him to test himself again and see whether he now has the physicality and the ability to make an impression.

Coulthirst is a whole-hearted player – a trier, if you will – and if he fails to cut it, it certainly won’t be down to his attitude. He seems to want to make it as a central striker, but I feel that wide left is his best option – I am not sure that his finishing and hold up play are good enough to justify him playing up top.

Connor Ogilvie – Stevenage (League Two)

19-year old Connor Ogilvie has made his first loan move, and will be working under former Spurs great, Teddy Sheringham.

Ogilvie was a real favourite of mine at Under-18 level. He played at both left-back and centre-back, but was most impressive on the left, where he had the opportunity to overlap; he was a genuine creative influence from there. His eye-catching performances in 2013/14 saw him drafted into the first team for Europa League trips to Tromso and Benfica, and he was obviously well liked by the England coaching set-up too – he won 15 caps at U16 and U17 level.

Since stepping up to the U21s, though, he seems to have stagnated a little. He made 16 appearances last season, but in the games that I saw he seemed a lot more reserved than I had become used to. Whether that was a lack of confidence, or a slight struggle against older, stronger players I am unsure. I was, however, very encouraged by Ogilvie’s showing in the Tottenham Hotspur XI’s 2-0 win over Stevenage at The Lamex Stadium, and he obviously caught Sheringham’s eye too.

Tom Glover (17)
Kyle Walker-Peters (18) Dominic Ball (19) Cameron Carter-Vickers (17) (c) Connor Ogilvie (19)
Filip Lesniak (19) Milos Veljkovic (19)
Emmanuel Sonupe (19) Ismail Azzaoui (17) Nathan Oduwa (19)
Shayon Harrison (18)

Subs:
Cy Goddard (18)
Luke Amos (18)
Kenny McEvoy (20)
Anton Walkes (18)

Unused subs:
Harry Voss (18)
Christian Maghoma (17)

It was a dry but cloudy afternoon at the Lamex – the home of Stevenage as well as Spurs’ Under-21 team (or ‘Development Squad’, as the club tends to refer to it).

Spurs’ side was made up mostly of the players that travelled to Ploufragan in France for the recent National Under-21 Tournament, in which we finished fourth (although only lost one match in normal time). As well as the players from that squad we fielded Australian goalkeeper Tom Glover, who was with the first team in Denver. Cameron Carter-Vickers was captain for the day.

Stevenage are now managed by an early hero of mine, Teddy Sheringham, and I was hoping that it would be clear that he is trying to develop an attractive style of football – more on that later.

Stevenage played something between a 4-5-1 and a 4-1-4-1 with a big number 9 (who I think was Brett Williams) up front and ex-Spurs youth players Dean Parrett (8) and Charlie Lee (10) in the centre of midfield behind him. 18-year old Dipo Akinyemi started wide on the left. Lee captained their side.

Spurs started in the typical 4-2-3-1, with two defensive midfielders sitting in front of a strong centre-back pairing. Shayon Harrison led the line, with Ismail Azzaoui in behind him. Nathan Oduwa – who has impressed in pre-season for the first team – played on the left.

As the players started to settle into a rhythm, Milos Veljkovic looked to go long over the top to Harrison, but just over-hit his pass. Cameron Carter-Vickers was confident enough early on to step and play the big Stevenage number 9 offside – leading by example. On 3 minutes, there was a wonderful switch of play from Veljkovic to Connor Ogilvie at left-back, although his cross was blocked.

Stevenage signalled their intentions to play physically when a nudge on Dominic Ball from the number 9 sent him sprawling into the hoardings – Ball had got ahead of him easily and didn’t complain at the unnecessary treatment he received.

The first opening of the game came when Kyle Walker-Peters showed some neat footwork to beat his man, played a pass to Azzaoui who found him again with a lovely return pass into the inside right channel. Walker-Peter’s cross went all the way across the box and Ogilvie fouled his man at the back post in trying to meet it.

With six minutes gone, Ogilvie cleared his second ball of the day straight over the stand and out of the ground!

A minute later it was 1-0 to Spurs. Oduwa made his first serious surge forward – he burst through three players and got a low shot away with his left foot on the angle which bounced up (either off a defender or the goalkeeper) and went in the far post.

Stevenage went immediately up the other end and their strong number 3 overlapped and got a cross in which Tom Glover claimed at the near post in commanding fashion.

Azzaoui took possession in his own half and tried to drop an ambitious diagonal ball over the top for Sonupe, but he put too much on it on this occasion.

Tenacious midfielder Dean Parrett was sticking close to Azzaoui, and frequently nicked the ball away from him – he was clearly targeted as a danger man (rightly). Veljkovic then nearly found the breaking Azzaoui with another nice pass but it was intercepted.

Veljkovic’s cross-field switch to Sonupe was well struck, but the winger failed to take it in his stride with his head and it ran out of play.

Harrison had our second effort on goal – he got a weak shot away after latching onto an Ogilvie pass, but it was never troubling Stevenage.

Stevenage were happy to let our centre-backs have possession but pressed as soon as they stepped into midfield or laid it into a midfielder. Dominic Ball strode out of defence, but was well-chased by the number 9 and was robbed just as he was about to make a pass.

Spurs won a corner as Sonupe laid off to Walker-Peters and tried to run in behind the full-back. The Stevenage player positioned himself well but a poor touch took the ball over the line. Azzaoui’s right foot corner was headed over at the back post by Carter-Vickers.

Veljkovic was adept at dropping into centre-back to allow Ball to push up, and on one occasion Ball did so and found Harrison who was easily robbed – not for the first time. Veljkovic then received a poor pass in midfield but won it back and gave it simple, taking care to maintain possession and continue to frustrate Stevenage.

Oduwa showed good tenacity to block a ball from the full-back and then tore off after it – he stood the same player up but then when another got back to help out he couldn’t beat two, and on this occasion he chose the wrong option in not passing.

Some naive defending from Dominic Ball on the Spurs right led to a Stevenage free-kick, which Glover claimed superbly.

Stevenage had started the game in an overly physical manner, but that didn’t prepare me for what happened next. Charlie Lee absolutely scythed down Oduwa with a tackle that was late and high. Oduwa was left unconscious, and it quickly became clear that there was concern for him, as teammates knelt down close to him as he received treatment. His treatment lasted for 7 minutes before he was stretchered off and replaced by Cy Goddard. Challenges like this are part of the game, and something that our young players will need to get used to – especially lower down the football pyramid and when you have as much ability as Oduwa (which can frustrate opponents). But that sort of challenge in a friendly match – which will have likely been agreed as part of the deal by which they provide a home for our Under-21 side – was totally uncalled for. Lee picked up a yellow card, but it would have been red in any other context. Thankfully Oduwa was fine once he regained consciousness and he was able to watch the second half.

Cy Goddard moved into the number 10 position, with Azzaoui shifting out to the left – the position he mostly played for the Under-18s last season. The young Belgian drew applause with a nice drag back to retain possession – clearly unperturbed by the physical treatment that his teammate had received!

On the other side, Emmanuel Sonupe tried to play a one-two with Ogilvie but played the ball straight into touch.

A really positive burst down the left from Ogilvie (a feature throughout) saw him get onto a Lesniak pass and play a nice ball into Harrison in the box. His clever back-heel nearly found Goddard, but it was cleared for a corner, which the goalkeeper claimed at the second attempt.

On 44 minutes, Sonupe beat his man and got a cross in, but it was hacked away for a corner. Azzaui’s kick was attacked by Ball and fell kindly for the defender to play it back into the penalty area, but the cross was headed clear.

Carter-Vickers showed his calm style with a commanding piece of play at the back, stepping across his man to retain possession and allowing Glover to mop up with a clearance.

Spurs continued their assault down the flanks when Walker-Peters played in Sonupe deep on the right. The winger dug out an excellent cross but it was headed clear from within the six-yard box.

In the 7 minutes of stoppage time, Carter-Vickers displayed another piece of solid defending against Akinyemi – standing his ground and letting his opponent’s poor touch do the work, resulting in a goal kick to Spurs.

Goddard tried to thread a pass through to Azzaoui but it was not quite weighted well enough and the keeper snaffled it.

The final action saw Sonupe produce an up and under cross, but Goddard started his run from deep and couldn’t quite get on the end of it.

Stevenage made five substitutions at half-time, and four of the incoming players were trialists. One of those to leave the field was Charlie Lee – the ex-Spur being the one who injured Oduwa in the first half. 40-year old goalkeeper, Chris Day, another ex-Spur, also went off. Spurs made no further changes.

Stevenage changed their shape at various points, with Akinyemi playing up with the number 9, and this gave Spurs something to think about.

Tom Glover was keen to pass the ball out at every opportunity, and in one such situation he laid a pass to Lesniak in midfield, who retained the ball well under pressure from two opponents and spun 360 degrees in the centre circle to find space.

Ten minutes into the half Connor Ogilvie lost his third ball of the day with another big clearance – this one was later thrown back onto the outfield, though!

Glover claimed another corner and played a quick ball out to Azzaoui, who beat Stevenage’s number 21, made space and got a shot away which was blocked.

Parrett and Dale Gorman were trying to get on top of the physically small Goddard, but he used his low centre of gravity to wriggle into space and won a free kick. The free-kick on this occasion was played square and wasted.

Azzaoui made space in the box again and got another shot away – this time the goalkeeper closed his legs quickly to block.

Stevenage came close to equalising when a deep corner was headed over Glover and Lesniak was needed to head it off the line. Glover then blocked the follow-up before a final shot was fired well wide.

Harrison had a lovely effort on goal which was going in at the near post but the keeper got down well to palm it wide. Azzaoui’s corner was too deep for Carter-Vickers and sailed harmlessly out for a goal kick.

Luke Amos replaced Filip Lesniak on 69 minutes and played just ahead of Veljkovic – a slightly more advanced role than usual.

Spurs had typically tried to play out from Glover whenever possible, but when Stevenage squeezed up on one occasion, Veljkovic made a long run forward to provide a target up front from the goal kick. He didn’t win the ball – mostly as he was clearly held from behind by the centre-back he was jumping with. The referee struggled to spot shirt-pulling and pushes throughout, and let Stevenage play a very physical game.

Carter-Vickers muscled another Stevenage man off the ball and carried the ball out despite challenges coming from all angles, but Spurs lost the ball and committed a foul in trying to win it back. From the resulting free-kick, Akinyemi missed a glorious chance. The number 16 crossed well, Akinyemi lost Sonupe and sent his diving header across goal but wide. Ball was not best pleased with Sonupe’s defending!

Kenny McEvoy replaced Sonupe on 75 minutes, and Spurs reverted to a 4-3-1-2, with McEvoy up top on the right, Harrison left, with Azzaoui in behind them centrally.

Harrison had an opportunity to make it 2-0 when the Stevenage goalkeeper received a back-pass and kicked it straight at Harrison, although it bounced off him to safety and the trialist keeper quickly dived on the loose ball.

A neat Spurs move on the edge of the box showed potential, but Goddard over-hit his pass out for a goal kick.

Walkes replaced Walker-Peters at right-back for the final few minutes, and a minute later Spurs secured the win. Luke Amos sent Harrison through, he rounded the goalkeeper but was upended in doing so. He stepped up to send the keeper the wrong way from the spot.

Veljkovic won a superb tackle in midfield and then spread play well to Walkes – all of which typified his performance – and the final action saw Amos intelligently win a free-kick on edge of box which Azzaoui clipped into the wall and wide.

This was a stern test for a very young Spurs side against a much older, much more physical outfit. Stevenage’s style was surprising given that 1. it was a friendly and 2. they are managed by Sheringham, who was such an elegant player (and not at all dirty). I felt that perhaps a few of the Stevenage players set out to try to intimidate the Spurs boys, and got carried away when it didn’t really pan out for them.

It was notable that Spurs looked to play lots of long diagonals and cross-field passes in this match, much like the first team vs MLS All-Stars in midweek. Perhaps this is a move towards a slightly more direct style, with quick changes of the direction of attacks being a feature.

Glover 8 – a very commanding performance from the young Aussie. Claimed the ball consistently well (perhaps he’d been watching Joe Root in midweek) and distributed it smartly too.
Walker-Peters 7 – very secure defensively, and keen to support Sonupe without ever really going on any of his trademark mazy runs. Perhaps a bit more reserved than he is in Under-18 and Under-21 football due to the standard of the opposition.
Ball 6 – made one error of judgement down on the right when he needlessly committed a foul, but was otherwise sound and used the ball sensibly.
Cater-Vickers 8 – a very dominant showing, as we’ve come to expect.
Ogilvie 7 – it was really nice to see him get back to the sort of form I’d come to see from him in Under-18 football. A willing outlet on the left, willing to bomb forward to support the attack. I hope he has a better year this year as he’s a player I like; I felt he stagnated a bit last term.
Veljkovic 9 – wonderfully composed on the ball with a very useful range of passing; solid in the tackle; intelligent reading of the game. What’s not to like? I am slightly baffled as to why Pochettino doesn’t love him as much as I do, and I can only think that it’s because he doesn’t play with the high intensity that Pochettino demands. I’ve heard murmurings of a Championship loan – he’s better than that at this point and – in my opinion – should be getting outings for us in the Europa League and League Cup.
Lesniak 6 – a neat and a tidy performance, as is the standard from the Slovakian midfielder. I am unclear on his situation – first he was rumoured to have left Spurs, then he started appearing again… and now apparently a Championship club has shown interest in him, although I have no idea if that would be a loan or permanent move.
Sonupe 5 – struggled to have an impact for large periods against a very physical side.
Azzaoui 7 – a prominent figure in most of our attacks, and caused problems for the Stevenage defence with his movement and close control.
Oduwa 8 – was looking a real threat until his afternoon was ended by a crunching challenge. Did so well for the opening goal.
Harrison 5 – came to life just before the end with a great shot, and then did well to win and score the penalty, although he struggled a fair amount against big, strong centre-backs. He had a couple of sloppy touches when receiving the ball with his back to goal, and was easily beaten in the air by the Stevenage defenders, who were so much taller than him. This game will have been a really useful one for him – a bit of an eye-opener.

Goddard 6 – some nice footwork as ever, but his end product was lacking at times.
Amos – very effective cameo in a slightly more advanced position than usual.
McEvoy – ran around a bit.
Walkes – didn’t have enough time to make an impact.

First thing’s first: it was a friendly, so let’s not take too much to heart. We can get an impression of a player or a style, but the intensity of friendlies is so much lower than that of a Premier League match, especially at altitude. It’s easy for players to stand out when there is less pressure on the ball and, conversely, players can sometimes struggle to get motivated for friendly matches. But keeping all that in mind, here are my thoughts in bullet point form. I’ve split this it into halves as the teams were so drastically different in each.

First half

The MLS All-Stars (from here in on referred to as ‘MLSAS’) set up in a 4-1-3-2 (or midfield diamond) which was often more like a 4-3-3:

Rimando
Beltran Besler González Beasley
McCarthy
Zusi Kaka Zardes
Dempsey Villa

Spurs set up in the usual 4-2-3-1:

Vorm
Walker Alderweireld Vertonghen Davies
Bentaleb Dier
Chadli Eriksen Dembélé
Kane

– The first shot of the game came after  a couple of minutes when Jan Vertonghen sold Ben Davies short with a pass, and his clearance came out to Graham Zusi who struck it hard and low but wide. Mistakes leading to chances was a common theme in this half, as both sides gave up opportunities from errors. The opening goal came from a silly mistake from Nacer Chadli, who gave away a penalty when dangling his arm out in loosely challenging for the ball. Likewise, Spurs’ goal came from a wayward pass which Kane latched onto.

– It was notable that Spurs – as we became accustomed to last season – were keen to play out from the back despite high pressing from the front three of the MLSAS. Toby Alderweireld looked comfortable in possession, as did Eric Dier, who was not scared to drop deep (often between the centre-backs) and take the ball under pressure.

– Harry Kane had a few of fantastic chances in the first half and scored with by far the most difficult. First, Mousa Dembélé’s shot looped up off a defender, Kane was typically the first to react but volleyed straight at Rimando. From the resulting corner, Dier made good contact with a header but when the ball landed at Kane’s feet he diverted it wide. At 1-0, Dembélé tackled and then dribbled his way from right to left across the pitch and laid off for Chadli to pick out Kane – he should have made it 1-1 from point-blank range, but Kane hit the keeper again. In fairness to him, he was stretching a little on this occasion. Finally, he had one other good chance from the move of the half: Nabil Bentaleb stabbed an intelligent ball over the top, Christian Eriksen brushed Kane aside to take control, waited for Kane to break in behind his marker and played a firm ball across which Kane couldn’t quite divert towards goal. Kane’s goal was beautiful, though. He picked up on a loose pass, put Omar González on the back-foot before using him as a shield to stop the goalkeeper seeing where he was placing his shot, which rocketed past him. Lovely.

– Eric Dier played in defensive midfield, a position that we’ve not seen him play in previously for Spurs. He had a run of playing in midfield for Sporting in 2013 and has been rumoured to have been playing there in behind-closed-doors friendlies this summer. Where Ryan Mason’s first instinct is to press the ball, Dier’s is to jockey, to hold position, and to screen; two of the times he did commit to trying to win the ball, he gave away fouls resulting in a warning from the referee and, subsequently, a yellow card. Dier was not afraid to take the ball under pressure, and moved it left and right (mostly right) pretty well. He didn’t look like a complete natural in the role, but it might be worth another look.

– The odd thing about Dier playing in midfield is that Mauricio Pochettino has shown no signs so far of wanting to use a sitting player. If he’d wanted a player that could do that he’d surely have used Étienne Capoue or Benji Stambouli, or even our super-talented young Serbian player, Miloš Veljković. That Dier is ahead of Veljković in the midfield pecking order does not bode well for Milos, who seems likely to be farmed out on loan again this season. Stylistically, he doesn’t seem to be a good match for Pochettino – he’s not a high-tempo player, and he’s not a natural presser. Although he can play centre-back equally well, we’re fairly well-stocked in that area just now. We just have to hope he doesn’t end up leaving out of frustration at a lack of chances, as he’s a potential star of the future. That’s a bit of an aside.

– Another player in a slightly unfamiliar role wasMousaDembélé, who played wide on the right. He’s played there before, and played the role relatively well (particularly against Newcastle in February 2014) – I’ve actually previously said that I’m happier for him to play there than in central midfield, where I feel he slows things down too much with his ponderous style and limited range of passing. Dembélé had a hit and miss half. The good was that he was very good at escaping from being boxed in – something we know he can do well. His excellent close control and useful one-touch passing in tight spaces helped him escape a couple of times. He also went on a run across the pitch from right to left which allowed Chadli to set up Kane for a big chance. The bad was that he kept ignoring Walker’s frequent overlapping runs. The one time he did try to find Walker, he overhit his pass. He also delayed a pass too long for Ben Davies which led to Davies being caught offside when entering a dangerous position. He had a really poor two-minute cameo midway through the half: first he picked up the ball on his right foot, produced a Cruyff turn to get it onto his left and then looped a pass straight to the MLSAS full-back from the centre circle. Then, he let David Villa run in behind him in the box – fortunately the forward seemed to kick the ground and messed up his cross, allowing Dembélé to clear. Dembélé’s tendency to play the game at his own speed can be both a blessing and a curse.

– Alderweireld looked good in possession and strong at marshalling the defence and reading the game. David Villa lost him very easily in the box for the second goal – he briefly checked his run allowing him to prod home a cross-cum-shot from Kaka. I’m sure David Villa has done that to better players than Toby, so I’m not overly concerned. More concerning was Chadli failing to track the run from deep, which is fairly typical of him.

Second half

The MLS All-Stars second half team, was nowhere near as strong (or adventurous) as their first half team but still contained some talented players who are, I’m told, having good seasons. They set up in a 4-2-3-1, which I think was as below (forgive me if I’m wrong):

Ousted
Moor Marshall Ciman Francis
Cronin Juninho
Finlay Feilhaber Castillo
Kamara

Spurs continued in their 4-2-3-1 but with some personnel changes:

Vorm
Trippier Alderweireld Wimmer Davies
Dier Alli
Carroll Dembélé Chadli
Kane

With Alli more naturally attack-minded, and Dembélé more comfortable dropping deeper, the shape more closely resembled a 4-1-4-1 (or 4-3-3) at times, with Alli given license to push on.

Spurs ended the half with a very different side:

McGee
Trippier Fazio Wimmer Rose
Winks Alli
Yedlin Carroll Onomah
Coulthirst

– This was our first look at Kieran Trippier in a Spurs shirt. His first piece of action was an overhit cross which the goalkeeper claimed easily. He is renowned for his crossing, so I thought I’d keep a close eye on them – I may have missed one or two crosses, but here’s what I saw:

1. overhit and claimed by the goalkeeper.
2. fairly decent cross which came to Kane at waist height and so was tricky to control.
3. under-hit and cleared.
4. a little too high for Kane.
5. overhit from deep and ran out for a throw-in.
6. easily the best so far, drilled into a great area, nobody could get on the end of it.
7. well overhit on the run. NB: 7 crosses in 16 minutes!
8. very long, chested down by Onomah at the back post to keep it alive.
9. into right area but cut out at the near post.
10. aimed towards Winks, goalkeeper saved it as it was dropping in.

Crossing is a dying art-form – statistics show that not many goals proportionately actually come from crosses, and that it takes a lot of crosses to score a goal. Just hitting hopeful balls into the box is not helpful to a team that wants to dominate possession. I’m intrigued to see how Pochettino coaches Trippier. My best guess would be that ‘less is more’ is his slogan – attempt fewer crosses from better areas if possible. Trippier was barely tested defensively in this match, but I know from watching him a fair bit for Burnley that he is quite a rugged defender.

– Dele Alli looks a very confident player, and it’s so obvious that he has had plenty of exposure to first team football. Just five minutes in he was telling players where to pass to, hitting cross-field passes and roaming around the pitch as if he were the most experienced player on the pitch. Being used to playing in front of crowds will have helped him – he was not over-awed by the occasion. This video by SpursOnly captures his personal highlights from the match.

– Toby Alderweireld played an absolutely glorious pass which Chadli should have scored from. It’s totally GIF-worthy:

– Harry Kane was getting a little frustrated in that half. First, he messed up a chance (from Alli’s pass) then he made a bad pass. He pounded the turf after doing that, and then a few minutes later he took on a stupid shot from a really way out. Desperate to impress his adoring fans?

– After a glut of substitutions were made, Tom Carroll moved inside into the number 10 role, with Harry Winks partnering Alli and DeAndre Yedlin playing on the right. Carroll was so-so – he worked hard and tried to make things happen creatively, although not even close to everything came off. Winks had a very tidy cameo and one particular moment – where he started a move deep in midfield and then surged forward – showcased his ability to play in both halves. Yedlin’s touches were often disappointing and he struggled to have an impact. Josh Onomah played out of position on the left and had a great chance to score. He was found by Kane after a neat move on the edge of the box, and tried to pass it into the far corner – unfortunately he didn’t get enough on it and the goalkeeper saved it comfortably. Onomah didn’t see a lot of the ball aside from that. Luke McGee had a stint in goal and showed great distribution.

– Danny Rose made a fantastic saving tackle after Federico Fazio was caught out over on the right – Fazio is rumoured to be one who could leave, and our depth at centre-back (Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Dier, Wimmer) means that this could happen without a replacement being sought.

– The timing of this match was really bad. I get that the US market is huge to the club, and it’s genuinely great that American fans get to see the team up close and personal, but an uninterrupted period at our purpose-built facilities right now would have been really useful for fitness and for getting the team organised and drilled. All that travelling for one match seems a really bad use of time. The same can be said of the Audi Cup – it’s far, far too close to the season opener, and is clearly more about money and developing the brand than it is about preparing the players for the start of the season.

Some people are turned off by statistics in football. Frequently I get responses when I tweet basic stats saying ‘I use my eyes’ – or words along those lines – disregarding any form of data or numbers. That’s fine – we all appreciate football in different ways.

Well, I unashamedly like data. I don’t ‘do’ stats  particularly well; I don’t have a formal background in statistics and I’ve never been involved in that type of scholarly research, and so I leave it to the experts and mostly keep it simple, focusing on ‘events’ – tackles, passes, assists, shots, goals. But there’s a growing community dedicated to ‘advanced’ statistic and, at major football clubs, teams of statisticians are starting to use ‘football intelligence’ data.

I had been recommended this presentation by various people over the last couple of months, and today I finally got around to watching it. It is Damien Comolli – formerly Sporting Director at Spurs (2005 – 2008) – presenting a Performance.LAB Innovation Seminar about Squad Management.

I don’t want to spoil it, as it’s a must watch. But it’s fairly Spurs-centric, and Nabil Bentaleb is used as an example throughout. In addition, if this doesn’t make you want us to sign Christoph Kramer, nothing will.

At the same event, Paul Power gave a presentation about Game Intelligence. He states towards the beginning of the presentation that they used 260 million points of data to prepare for that presentation alone. That is remarkable in itself. But look at how they’re using it, and it will blow your mind.

It amused me somewhat that Comolli talks about how Luka Modrić – a player who doesn’t stand out when you look at event data alone – helped drive them to work on some of these models. To essentially prove, statistically, that he is the brilliant player that we know he is from simply using our eyes.

Where this will lead next is fascinating. This sort of data is already being used to recruit players, and to analyse existing players’ performance. Indeed at Spurs we have Paul Mitchell, recruited at the back end of 2014 from Southampton as Head of Recruitment and Analysis. He who is famous for his ‘black box’ and use of data. He uses data and visuals together, presumably in ways similar to what is seen in Comolli’s seminar.

The next step will be to drive coaching forward – to apply the numbers to coaching methods and to help players improve based on very specific data. To prepare players and teams for specific opponents by targeting their weaknesses and stopping them from using their strengths.

Of course you can’t just have the data. You need someone to analyse it, you need someone to present it, and you need to make judgements and have conversations – to remember that different coaches want different players to do different things. It’d be no good to give Mauricio Pochettino a player who is brilliant at controlling possession and tempo by taking lots of touches because he actually wants his players to move the ball quickly.

And so conversations need to be had, logic needs to be applied, and also personalities need to be analysed. But it’s fascinating nonetheless.

I expect some form of backlash in terms of how players will adapt to being analysed. For example, players all get their numbers back immediately after a match, and there have been stories about players playing lots of safe, square passes between one another late in games to drive their pass completion up. Advanced analytics and football intelligence will know this, and these sorts of safe passes will not allow the player to stand out – because only passes that matter will add value.

You can, of course, still continue watching football without digging any deeper – the beauty of the game need not change. But rest assured that beneath the surface is a team aiming to ensure that clubs get every inch of value from players in an ever-changing environment.