Brentford v Tottenham Hotspur: Premier League – live | Premier League

GOAL! Brentford 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Mbuemo pen 27)

PENALTY TO BRENTFORD

24 min … but now he’s called to have a look and we see Son unable to stop himself going through Jensen as the ball is taken away from him. Welcome to the job skip! This is surely going to be a penalty.

23 min Not immediately…

23 min Now then! Jensen, down the right side of the Spurs box, ducks inside Son – back to help out – and Son clips him! That’s got to be a penalty, but the ref says no. Will VAR intervene?

22 min I meant to say before, the water is back. Phew!

21 min Brentford look dangerous now, Pinnock curling in a nasty ball for which Viacario cant come lest someone impart a touch; no one does, so he collects, but it’s another warning.

20 min Brentford spread it left again, Henry cutting back a decent low cross … but Udogie doing brilliantly to nip in from left-back just as Mbuemo prepares to despatch the equaliser.

19 min More Spurs possession and, at the end of it, an attempt at something definitive, Bissouma injecting pace and wriggling past a challenge before sliding another ball in behind that’s just too much on it for Richarlison.

17 min Then, from the corner, Hickey collects Sanchez’s headed clearance, dragging a shot wide from the edge … a shot which takes a deflection, but this time Spurs get the resultant corner away.

16 min Spurs, by the way, earned that goes, not just with the delivery and connection but by the way they played in the few minutes leading up to it. But now here come Brentford, Norgaard winning a big tackle outside the Spurs box and Wissa sliding in Henry outside him; his leathered shot is beaten away at the near post by Vicario.

15 min In other news:

13 min But this is no good – Romero seems to be departing with the head injury sustained when challenging Mbuemo, and he’s every bit as disappointed as you’d expect – but this is good – a player being saved from himself. That, my friends, is progress, and Davinson Sanchez comes on.

There was!

But was Romero offside?

GOAL! Brentford 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Romero 11)

10 min Maddison cuts across Jensen, wearing the inevitable lunge, and Spurs have a free-kick on the left corner of the box. Maddison will fancy this…

9 min Eesh, Flekken comes for Maddison’s inswinger, gets nowhere near, and does well to see the ball drop away from prowling attackers.

8 min Nice from Spurs, Bissouma snapping a ball into Maddison, operating in pockets, and he slides a clever pass down the side of the centre-backs that’s a little too strong for Richarlison. But it’s precisely the kind of service he’s there to provide, and shortly afterwards, his team win a corner.

7 min

6 min First bit of concerted Spurs possession, but it’s all side-to-side, Brentford pushing them back, then both Romero and Viacrio narrowly avoid being caught in possession. This has been a lively start, both sides looking to speed the game up.

4 min There’s still no water able to get into the ground, but it’s been decided that the game should begin anyway, now we’ve all absorbed the resonance of the broken Britain metaphor.

3 min “He left coz you’re shit, Harry Kane, he left coz you’re shit,” sing the home fans. Then “Where’s your Harry gone.”

3 min Mbuemo and Romero head one another, but both should be fine.

2 min Thinking about footballing terminology – Alan Smith says Udogie is “sharp” – is that slower than “rapid”, which itself is slower than “lightening”?

1 min Immediately, we can see that Spurs are pressing high, men around the ball. But Brentford are doing likewise, winning the ball inside the final third and Norgaard’s low cross forcing Romero to kick away.

1 min And away we go!

The teams take the knee. Black lives matter.

The ref calls the captains together and will toss whatever trinket has replaced a good, honest, old-fashioned coin. The teams switch ends, I’m guessing because Son, who called correctly, wants to play with the sun behind his keeper.

“I’m not sure who I’m more surprised to see on stage with all those other stars,” writes Charles Antaki. “Grumpy old Van Morrison, or (surely not?) Radio 1’s own Hairy Monster, Dave Lee Travis.”

Kick-off delayed to an indeterminate time

The Spurs go over to the away corner, then huddle; a little change, but part of the rabble-rousing I mentioned.

“Mike Dean’s also working for Paddy Power,” notes Alan Pugh.

Football is the winner.

And here come our teams!

So where is this game? Spurs will, I imagine, look to gang up on and attack the spaces behind the Brentford wing-backs, sending Royal and Udogie forward to support Kulusevski and Son. Brentford, meanwhile, will look to hit their strikers and get close to them in support, while also looking to the aforementioned wing-backs to sling in crosses.

“Once again the MBM has inexplicably ignored the crucial issue at stake in today’s games,” chides Richard Hirst. “Will Fulham end the day top of the West London League? All else is incidental. PS Knowing you are a Dylan lover, I’m sure you can be relied upon to post a suitable tribute to the almost as legendary Robbie Robertson.”

This is one of my very favourite things: amazing artists getting together to sing. It’s a shame we’ve lost that, though UK grime acts and West African Afrobeats acts have recaptured the spirit in recent years.

“I wonder if Robert Jones (Merseyside) is the new Mike Dean (Wirral),” wonders Ian Copestake.

Lil Mikey has a new job!

“Football fans know I gave out my fair share of red cards in my career. But this one is less about early baths and instead about helping friends and families get a better deal on their rail tickets” — celebrity ref Mike Dean joins with Railcard.co.uk to promote ‘the fairest red card around; the Family & Friends Railcard’. “Remember to always carry your red card on match day … and you’re off!” he added.

Oh clever, clever.

I really fancy Brentford’s midfield here. Janelt, Norgaard and Jensen give them a bit of everything, and I’m not sure Bissouma and Skipp are equipped to stop them. It may be that Maddison’s class makes the difference in that area, but it feels like Spurs will need to rely on moments, rather than their ability to dominate and work opportunities that way.

I hate myself for saying this, but I do wonder if we’ve seen the best of Son. I can’t help but fear he’s lost his burst though, with the brutal Kulusevski down the other flank, if there are balls coming into the box, he should get enough opportunities to exercise his still-tidy finishing.

“Fairly uneventful” deadpans Postecoglu when asked about the last few days’ activity. But his team are focused for a tough game against a good opponent and he’s not putting too much on his four debutants – they’ve all been working hard in pre-season and want to show the kind of football team they want to be. He’s known Son, his new captain, for a while now, and thinks he fits in well with the group. When looking for a leadership role you want someone who embodies the team you want to be and he does that, so that’s why he was awarded the armband.

Bit of Big Ange action:

“He gets it” is once of my worst footballing cliches – it’s not hard, there’s not much to get – but he gets it.

“Looking forward to new season,” chirps Yash Gupta. “Ange’s principles have been clear to see every time Spurs have played in friendly matches. Today’s match against Brentford is as tough as it gets since Brentford play their own way of football which has unsettled every team in the past. But I’m confident Spurs will win this. Thoughts on Udogie? Only played in friendly matches but looks like a real deal. A perfect combination of Ben Davies, Reguilon and Sessegnon.”

“How much was Udogie in the window” sounds like the start of a decent terrace tune, but I’m afraid I’m yet to see him play. Given Son will want to cut infield, he’ll have to be a one-man flank, but the inclusion of two defensively-minded midfielders should give him scope to do that.

They’ll find Wissa and Mbuemo a tricky proposition, but. It’s not that often centre-backs face two strikers, and handling a man each – a bristling, bustling man each – is very different to one between two. I’m certain Brentford want to get the ball forward quickly then get the centre-backs turned before they’ve settled.

Playing next to Van de Ven should help. I’ve not seen loads of him, but his, er, profile suggests the two can be a really good combination, each able to go in or sit off, build the play and dominate aerially.

I’m really interested to see what Postecoglu does with Cristian Romero, who has a lot of talent but, by 25, ought to have binned the hilarious but self-defeating wildness. If he can reduce the murderous scythes and ill-advised romps, he can be one of the best around – but that if is seriously sizeable.

This is tremendous. JAG is as woven into the fabric of football as any player.

“Thought I’d chip in as a Spurs fan,” writes my colleague Tom Meltzer. I’m pretty sure we’re playing a 4-3-3 (and will be all season) rather than a 4-2-3-1, based on what we’ve seen so far and Ange’s history. Maddison is the more attacking of two 8s, on either side of Bissouma as the 6. Make of that what you will!”

Yes, I can see that. But if Skipp’s a defensive 8 and Maddison allowed to roam, the end result will probably be fairly similar.

Talking of whom, he gives debuts to Guglielmo Vicario in net, Destiny Udogie at left-back, and Micky van de Ven at centre-back. Then, in front of them, it’s Yves Bissouma – who barely featured last term and Oliver Skipp, a muscular and aggressive, if limited pairing, while Richarlison gets a go up front with new captain, Son, operating from the left.

Ah, and here’s Frank, curtains and all, on Sky. He’s excited to get going at home – “hopefully we can make it rock and roll again” – and he’s glad to be an optimist, having lost Raya and Toney. But their replacements are very good, around them their teammates are growing, and though it’ll be hard to beat least season’s ninth position, you have to dream. As for Spurs, he notes they’ve replaced England’s no9 with Brazil’s, so they’ve made a couple of minor tweaks but not much has changed, and he’s been watching Postecoglu’s Celtic to get an idea of what he’s likely to face.

Frank gives a debut to Mark Flekken, who replaces the Arsenal-bound David Raya having arrived from Freiburg. Otherwise, Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbuemo are paired in Toney’s stead, and will look to get up against and in behind Spurs’ centre-backs.

I’ll write these down, then we’ll have a think about what they mean.

Teams!

Preamble