After Saturday night’s 2-0 dismantling of Manchester United, when full-time came around, the Tottenham Hotspur stadium turned into a rave scene.

 You had delirious Spurs fans, me included, jumping up and down, singing Freed from Desire, Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur etc.

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You had the players down on the pitch celebrating, each with a huge grin on their faces, and of course, our manager Ange Postecoglou striding around the pitch clapping the fans who chanted his name all game long.

This was something I hadn’t seen in too many years.

The breath of fresh air that has wafted through n17 has gone from the pitch and into the stands. Gone are the days of muted atmospheres and toxicity from the fans.

Freed from Desire I thought was quite an apt song choice after full-time. Freed from the shackles of the Parmesan Pulis, Nuno and the so-called ‘special one’. Mind and senses purified with attacking, front-foot football. And we just want to see Spurs more and more.

I always have been a Spurs fan, my family have always been fully COYS as Paul O Keefe would say, but in recent times it has been quite easy to feel slightly disconnected with the club.

You have the failure in managerial appointments, you have the transfer of your best-ever player because he couldn’t win anything at Spurs, you have the fossil football, you have the fairly shocking transfer windows in past years, the list could go on.

While ticket prices have gone through the roof, it is fair to say the hierarchy of our club is still rotten to the core, but with Big Ange at the wheel, it finally feels there might be a shift of power over team affairs. Something that has been lacking for decades.

But enough of that boring stuff, let’s talk about the match.

Tottenham on fire against Man United

Where do I start, the first half hour or so I thought we were quite passive and shaky, not having the confidence to play our game and actually dictate the tempo.

With Bruno missing the absolute sitter, it felt like then the momentum had shifted and we finally got out of 2^ndgear.

Ever since then, the game was only going to end up one way.

As for the players well…

I’ve got to give Expressions Oozing credit here for this nickname, “Yves Saint Laurent Bissouma”, because it couldn’t be more fitting.

Bissouma rang rings around Casemiro and to think we stole him for 25 million pounds from Brighton  (The Athletic) is mind-blowing. That man oozes class, confidence and a certain degree of swagger as he just glides with the ball, effortlessly bypassing United’s hopeless midfield.

Pape Matar Sarr played like a combination of Yaya Toure and Paul Pogba. This lad is special, and I have to give credit to Fabio Paratici here because he’s found a star.

Last season in the Champions League against AC Milan, the Senegalese midfielder absolutely rang rings around Sandro Tonali and was a shining light in what was a pretty shoddy tie.

It is absolutely criminal that Skipp started ahead of him towards the second half of the season.

James Maddison, WHAT A PLAYER. The man I have been craving us to sign to finally fill the Eriksen-shaped hole in our side has not failed to disappoint. We got him as well for an absolute steal. There is no doubt he is world-class.

Vicario and Porro also deserve a fair few plaudits considering fans have not been completely sold on Vicario’s all-around game and Porro’s defensive abilities.

Vicario was a saving machine and looked far more comfortable on the ball than against Brentford. Porro was incredibly solid defensively as the game grew and now provides real competition for Emerson in the starting RB spot.

Overall, this game was a real signal of intent. Comfortably dismantling a team tipped for top 4 and now with the fanbase 110 per cent behind him, Ange Postecoglou can shut people like Paul Merson up and exceed preseason expectations.

The days of 5 at the back are over, Big Ange is here and it’s going to be a hell of a ride.

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10 years ago, we sold Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for 86 million pounds. With that money, we signed 7 players. Roberto Soldado, Erik Lamela, Paulinho, Christian Eriksen, Etienne Capoue, Vlad Chiriches and Nacer Chadli.

The fact Christian Eriksen was the only good bit of business on that list is an absolute disgrace. Yes, the argument is there that Lamela and Chadli were good bit part players for the club, but for the price tag of Lamela especially, it was disappointing. As for the other names in the list, they are better to not be mentioned at all.

The only good thing that came out of that season was the HP kits.

Unlike then, now we have a side that does have talent (in areas). We have several exceptional players but then that is countered by our lack of good-quality defenders.

Should Kane go, and it is worth noting that it isn’t a dead certain he’s leaving this window at the time of writing, here is a simple way of using the money…

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Sign two central defenders

The saga that has felt like it’s dragged on for years now, our hapless pursuit of a partner for Cuti Romero. Fabrizio Romano has tweeted the exact same thing about our efforts to sign Edmond Tapsoba or Micky Van De Ven for the past month. Always mentioning the deal “isn’t easy and Spurs are actively working on it” (Fabrizio Romano).

There was a depressing tweet doing the rounds the other day that said we had only permanently signed 3 centre-backs since the arrival of Toby Alderweireld in 2015, two of those being Davinson Sanchez and Joe Rodon. Enough said. Unacceptable for a club with aspirations of a top 4 place or winning a piece of silverware.

With the influx of funds hopefully being made available if Kane goes, there will be no excuse to not get a Tapsoba + another or Van De Ven + another, or if Levy is feeling adventurous, both of them.

Sign another striker or trust Richy?

After a sub-par first season in North London, our record transfer might finally be given a run of games in his proper position.

Last season Richarlison scored 1 goal in the Premier League and 2 goals in the Champions League (TransferMarkt). Hardly impressive numbers considering he got booked more times for taking his top off celebrating a disallowed goal than actual goals being scored.

However, after playing all but one of his games in his unnatural position on the wings and struggling with persistent injuries whenever he has had a run of games in the team, as well as playing in a dysfunctional team that had 3 managers, it is harsh to make an overall judgement on that season.

After his second-half hat trick against Lion City Sailors, the Brazilian was all smiles and looked finally happy to wear the Lilywhite shirt. In this match and against West Ham it was quite clear to see the difference in playing style between him and Kane, with Richy having much more success.

Richarlison is exactly the type of player that works effectively in an Ange Postecoglou system, where he keeps the defenders on their toes and is willing to make the runs in between the defenders, unlike Kane where he drops deep into midfield positions.

Alternatives

Now, if we were to have money left over, another striker to provide competition for our number nine wouldn’t go a miss. I’m sure Sonny would thrive in this position, but another acquisition in the centre forward department would be smart.

One name linked is Eintracht Frankfurt forward Randal Kolo Muani (RMC Sport). The 24-year-old Frenchman scored 15 goals and got 11 assists in 32 Bundesliga matches last term and fits the criteria of a quick, competent striker who can carry the ball extremely well and break through the defensive lines. He is to command a lofty price tag though, should they be willing to sell.

Although there is no replacing Harry, and it will be a bitterly sad day if he goes, Ange is the best manager we have had in recent times to lead us into a post-Kane era and move on to an exciting era of front foot, attacking football. It certainly isn’t all doom and gloom as long as Levy handles this correctly…

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When the dynamic Frenchman joined us from Lyon in 2019 for a then-club-record fee under Mauricio Pochettino, it felt like a real statement signing that we had lured in one of Europe’s top midfield talents after the heartbreak that was the champions league final.

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Finally, we thought Levy showed some sort of ambition in the transfer market after years of relative neglect.

I remember watching that Aston Villa game at home, Ndombele’s debut and thinking we have some player on our hands, a Mousa Dembele but more attacking astute.

To top it off he scored a fabulous goal from the edge of the box to get the game back on level terms and ultimately give us the momentum to go on and win the game.

After that moment the central midfielder’s Spurs career seemed to falter as he lost form under Poch and was publicly called out by Mourinho and Conte for being too lazy off the ball.

On the ball, Tanguy was and still is one of the very best in the league, his close control, flair and dribbling are just mesmerising to watch.

You only have to look up a video of him running rings around Mason Mount and Ngolo Kante, the outrageous flick he scored against Sheffield United, the way he sent James Ward Prowse to a different postcode with a Maradona turn, it was evidently clear ‘Ndomballer’ had serious potential.

Pure box office football. In the double pivot next to Hojberg under Jose, it masked up some of the problems that Tanguy has off the ball as the Dane was the one that mopped up everything in front of the defence.

Ndombele, since Jose’s departure went to France on a six-month loan and of course, spent last season as a rotation player for runaway Italian champions Napoli.

If you have been keeping up with preseason videos released by Spurs of training and watching Instagram stories from the players that haven’t been on international duty and returned to Hotspur way at the start of the month, you would have noticed a growing bromance between Ndombele and Yves Bissouma.

Both have been providing amusing content on their Instagrams of their antics in training and the pre-season tour so far which has led to a strong sense of optimism among the Spurs fanbase that Ndombele is far from the hood overhead, dejected face, poor body language version of himself over the last 18 months.

In training videos, and yes I am aware you shouldn’t get carried away with clips from training, he has looked assertive on the ball, using the body feints we’ve come to synonymise with him over the years, as well as actually running off the ball tracking back to prevent counter-attacks.

Ange has said that the player is ‘working hard’ in preparation for pre-season and re-iterated before the squad left for Australia, that ‘Tanguy has been good’ (via Football.London).

It fully seems that Ange has opened the door to a Ndombele career revival in N17.

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Will Ndombele get another chance at Tottenham?

Since Rodrigo Bentancur’s injury in the 4-1 loss against Leicester in February, we haven’t had that midfielder with any sort of presence in the opposition half, whether that be ball-carrying, creativity or finishing.

Having Skipp and Hojberg in a midfield two towards the end of last season was like having two square pegs in round holes.

Having one would be fine, having 2 very similar players would just be ineffective as we often saw. With Ange playing a 4-3-3 formation with a number 6, number 8 and number 10 in his midfield, it is evident that Ndombele fits the bill of an Ange number 8, especially if he is willing to apply himself more off the ball.

In a midfield trio of Yves Bissouma as the 6 and Maddison as the 10, Ndombele would find himself high up the pitch, predominantly in the left half-space behind Son or whoever might be on the left and Kane/Richarlison in the middle.

Unlike Conte where our midfield would typically have their back to the opposition goal, it is clear that Ange wants his midfielders to play on the front foot. Something which will benefit Tanguy as we will have over 65 per cent of possession most of the time.

He will have the freedom to roam and do what he does best, driving through defences aiding in the build-up for goals as well as making those attacking runs off the ball into the box.

After picking up a knock in training the night before the West Ham game, Ndombele wasn’t included in the two pre-season matchday sides, but hopefully he will return for the next game.

I know for me personally, seeing Tanguy Ndombele not fulfilling his potential over the last few years has been sad, especially considering those moments of stardom he used to bring on the ball.

Having an icon in Gareth Bale saying he was a ‘phenomenal footballer and a real talent’ (Sky Sports) and an opposition player like Declan Rice saying he ‘was one of the hardest players to play against’ (talkSPORT) means there is a real player in there.

I genuinely think Ange is the man to extract the most output out of Ndombele and I am looking forward eagerly to the start of the season with this midfield.

Before Ange I was in the camp of ‘let’s get 15-20 million for a player that is useless to us’ but now I have faith in Ange and if he wants to give Ndombele a second chance, then so do I.

Will we get to see the midfield trio that we all want to see? And do you think Tanguy has a long-term future in North London?

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