The Tanner Report: Spurs 3 Fulham 1
You can rest assured that if a player has to break a duck – in Harry Kane’s case scoring in August – he will do so against Fulham. All week long I read and re-read the dreary statistic of his August drought and feared for us. By the time the England skipper broke his duck to make it 3-1 the game was done and dusted. Spurs deserved their win, we only dominated in the first period of the second half when Alex Mitrovic opened his account for the season. Still we are a work in progress and have managed 25 shots on target in our first two games.
New signing Le Marchand had a better game than on his debut last week; Anguissa, whilst he conceded the free kick that led to Trippier’s second goal fo Spurs, brings pace and power to his deep-down lying role though we miss the Scottish lion Kevon MacDonald there.
New left back Joe Bryan’s teasing cross produced the Fulham equaliser. He looks every bit as good as Matt Targett but £10m cheaper. The right back position is more problematic as Tim Fesu Mensah looked error prone. Once Fulham old boy Moussa Dembele came on as the base of a diamond formation the game swung back to Spurs.
We now have a cycle of 3 winnable games: Burnley at home, Brighton away and Watford at home and if we do not get significant points from these, by which I mean 5, pressure will mount. The return of Tim Ream and Alfie Mawson will make a big difference and keeper Fabri, who flapped at one cross and could have positioned himself better for Kyle Trippier’s free kick, is a worry.
Fulham have only been to Wembley three times in their lifetime and now twice in succession. Back to the Cottage next week. There is no place like home … as Spurs fans could not tell you.
