A second ‘cupset’ (sort of) in two days was sealed when Tottenham Hotspur edged out Liverpool in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final.
Picking the bones out of Spurs’ win, it’s time for another Scout Notes.
WEDNESDAYโS RESULT
| Goal | Assist | |
|---|---|---|
| Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Liverpool | Bergvall | Solanke |
TEAM SELECTION/ROTATION
| Starting XI changes from Gameweek 20 | Players who kept their place (mins) | Other mins for selected players | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tottenham Hotspur | 4 | Spence (90), Gray (90), Dragusin (90), Porro (90), Bergvall (90), Solanke (90), Kulusevski (90) | Kinsky (90), Bissouma (90), Johnson (75), Son (72), Bentancur (15) |
| Liverpool | 4 | Alisson (90), van Dijk (90), Jones (90), Gravenberch (90), Salah (90), Mac Allister (80), Gakpo (60) | Tsimikas (90), Jota (60), Endo (60), Bradley (60), Quansah (30), Alexander-Arnold (30), Darwin (30), Diaz (30), Konate (10) |
KINSKY DEBUT
There was a new name between the posts for Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday.
Antonรญnย Kinsky (ยฃ4.5m), a ยฃ12.5m signing from Slavia Prague, made his debut just three days after joining the Lilywhites.
With Fraser Forster (ยฃ4.3m) still ill, Ange Postecoglou’s decision was made a lot easier.
But even when Forster is fit, the expectation is that Kinsky will now become the main challenger to the currently injured Guglielmoย Vicario (ยฃ4.8m) and number one until his recovery.
After 90 minutes against Liverpool, you can see why Spurs have made the move.
Far more comfortable with the ball at his feet than Forster (goalkeeper distribution is integral under Ange Postecoglou), he also made some smart stops. The save to deny Darwin Nunez (ยฃ7.0m) late on was excellent.
There were some jitters, including a small fumble from a Cody Gakpo (ยฃ7.3m) shot, but that was to be expected given his age (21 years old) and the occasion.
“Brilliant. Fantastic. I got the sense when I spoke to him before we signed him that he had a bit about him in terms of assuredness that probably belied his years. I threw him a mammoth task today to play against the best team arguably in the world at the moment, in a big game, a semi-final. He just handled it awfully well. Credit to Johan [Lange, sporting director] and his team, they were really big on him as a footballer who’s going to fit our style and work really hard to make it happen now. And you can see why. He’s an outstanding footballer.” – Ange Postecoglou on Antonin Kinsky’s debut
WHY ALEXANDER-ARNOLD WAS BENCHED
After a bit of a stinker in the draw with Manchester United, Trent Alexander-Arnold (ยฃ7.2m) found himself among the substitutes.
Dropped as a result of that shocker? Benched due to the off-the-field distractions? Neither, according to Arne Slot – just managed minutes.
Andrew Robertson (ยฃ5.9m), Ibrahima Konate (ยฃ5.1m) and Luis Diaz (ยฃ7.6m) were also rested, with the former namechecked in Slot’s pre-match interview:
“It has mostly to do with Trent playing so many minutes because Conor [Bradley] was injured. Now, it’s a good thing that we have Conor back as well. He needs his minutes as well.
“You see exactly the same on the opposite side with Robbo and Kostas where, as far as I know, Robbo is not distracted from a contractual situation!
“I’ve said many times before that is not in my mind when I make my decisions at the moment, till now – and it’s not today as well.” – Arne Slot on why Trent Alexander-Arnold was benched
Alexander-Arnold certainly looked like he had a point to prove when he came on, appearing a lot more focused.
Only an excellent goalline block from Radu Dragusin (ยฃ4.3m) denied the Liverpool right-back a goal.
As for the replacements for the benched quartet, all of them – from Conor Bradley (ยฃ4.7m) and Kostas Tsimikas (ยฃ4.6m) at full-back to Diogo Jota (ยฃ7.2m) up top – looked a little rusty. Only Tsimikas was to last beyond the hour mark.
WHY QUANSAH WAS SUBBED OFF
The fourth player coming into the side, Jarell Quansah (ยฃ3.9m), gave another nervy display at centre-half. His evening was cut short after 30 minutes but illness, not injury, was seemingly to blame.
“He didnโt feel really well, so from the moment the game started until the moment we had to take him off, he felt a pressure, I think he said on his chest.
“It went so fast: he came off and the game started again, so I have to ask him exactly, but he said he didnโt feel really well. It was not an injury, more not feeling really well.
“In the last few days he was a bit ill but we thought he was on his way back, but maybe that had something to do with it. I have to ask, but it had nothing to do with an injury.” – Arne Slot on Jarell Quansah
Spurs’ Rodrigo Bentancur (ยฃ4.9m) was also taken off in the first half with a head injury.
“I don’t want to speculate because I don’t really know either. All I know is he was conscious when he came off. Obviously it was some sort of head injury, but he was conscious when he was coming off the field. And he’s been taken to the hospital for observation. But I’m not really clear on how it happened.” – Ange Postecoglou on Rodrigo Bentancur
There was no James Maddison (ยฃ7.6m) for the Lilywhites: he was suspended.
SALAH + SON QUIET, BERGVALL WINNER
There was a rare blank for Mohamed Salah (ยฃ13.6m), who you were still expecting to pop up with a goal – so often has he rescued a haul from the jaws of anonymity. He had a couple of efforts here, for once to no avail.
Gakpo, in a real purple patch right now, looked the biggest danger for the visitors before his minutes were managed. The Dutchman, on a run of seven straight starts, was taken off on the hour.
Many of the big guns will surely get a much-needed rest against Accrington Stanley on Saturday before next Tuesday’s Premier League resumption.
“If you compare it with the 6-3 [in the Premier League] then that’s clear, but I don’t think we will reach that level in every single game we play. You can always expect a reaction from Spurs, which you saw today, you can always expect a reaction from the fans because it’s a semi-final. We all know how important it is to us but also how important it is for the Spurs fans to go to the final. We knew when we came here that it would never be the same game as we played here one week ago or two weeks ago, but still I saw a lot of things the same. I think even in that game the ball possession was equal, but now I think we had 60 to 40 [per cent]. There’s many good things to take for me, more than the [Manchester] United game, but the result was not as good as against United.” – Arne Slot on Liverpool ‘not being at the their best’
As for Spurs, another so-so display from Son Heung-min (ยฃ9.8m), something we’re sadly saying with increased frequency these days.
Budget FPL midfielder Lucas Bergvall (ยฃ4.4m) instead took the headlines. His evening could/should have been ended early with a second yellow card that didn’t come – and almost inevitably, he went on to get the winner after some good hold-up play from Dominic Solanke (ยฃ7.5m).
Bergvall’s tenacity had earlier led to Alisson (ยฃ5.4m) being dispossed and two excellent chances for Pedro Porro (ยฃ5.5m), both spurned. The Swede wasn’t beaten by any of his teammates for shots (two) or key passes (three).
Porro was also denied an assist by millimetres when Solanke was ruled offside.
And what’s this, a more conservative midfield set-up from Postecoglou? Is this the start of a new, pragmatic approach from the gung-ho Aussie?
In a word, no.
“When people said my midfield set up was a little bit more conservative today, that’s because I only had three midfielders to choose from. The others weren’t available, so we certainly went about it the same way.” – Ange Postecoglou
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