An own goal gives Frank his maiden UCL win

In the past two seasons, Tottenham was at times a joy to watch and guaranteed exciting football, but it rarely managed to capitalize on that. Now with Thomas Frank on the bench, Tottenham looks different. And more successful. In the Premier League, they started with three wins in four matches, narrowly missed out on the UEFA Super Cup, and tonight they successfully opened their Champions League campaign. In London, Villarreal fell, a team that did not deserve to lose, but was harshly punished – 1:0.

Although not the favorite, Villarreal came with an attitude and a game plan to pick up their first points away from home. Coach Marcelino showed it with a formation of two strikers – Mikautadze and Ayoze Perez – supported on the wings by the speedy Buchanan and Pepe. That’s four very offensive players, probably the maximum risk the coach was willing to take. If this were Postecoglou’s Tottenham, Villarreal’s tactics might have had a better chance of succeeding, but Thomas Frank is a different kind of coach – one who has made Spurs a more compact and responsible unit, with far less defensive risk.

In a firm full of Arsenal fans, you can reject a Spurs applicant

Even though Marcelino had a clear idea of how to attack Tottenham, he underestimated the problem he had in defense – the goalkeeper. His plans were ruined after only three minutes. Brazilian keeper Luiz Junior, who arrived a little over a year ago from Portuguese side Famalicao for 12 million euros as the most expensive goalkeeper in Villarreal’s history, had already shown himself last season to be a risky investment. That’s why Villarreal reacted at the end of the summer transfer window and brought in Arnau Tenas from Paris Saint-Germain. The Brazilian showed right at the start of the Tottenham match that it was time for a change in goal. Out of practically nothing, a poor cross from Bergvall was turned into his own net by the goalkeeper’s dreadful intervention.

This Tottenham looks very promising!

Villarreal could have responded quickly when Vicario parried Buchanan’s cross into the path of Comesana, but the Spanish midfielder reacted poorly. Soon after, the Canadian missed a good chance. Tottenham managed to take control of possession and, with sharp wing attacks, kept Villarreal under pressure, even if that wasn’t reflected in clear chances. Bentancur managed to threaten from deeper positions, while Richarlison had an opportunity after another poor intervention by Junior. Tottenham’s game plan wasn’t particularly attractive to watch, but it was effective. Villarreal pushed even harder at the start of the second half and, from a counterattack in the 55th minute, created the best chance of the night – but Pepe was inaccurate in aiming for the far corner.

Tottenham were even luckier about ten minutes later when the referee spared Xavi Simons a second yellow card. Frank had to react as Spurs were losing ground and introduced Palhinha and Udogie first, then Johnson and Kolo Muani. Marcelino, on the other hand, was late with his changes… his first substitutions only came in the 75th minute. He eventually threw on everything useful he had, though perhaps he should have tried Tottenham’s former player, Manor Solomon. Once again, the referee turned a blind eye to the home side late in the match, when Van de Ven escaped with only a yellow card after fouling Mikautadze. From the resulting free kick, Pepe struck brilliantly, but rattled the post… It just wasn’t the night for the former Arsenal striker.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - MATCHDAY 1

Tuesday

Athletic Bilbao - Arsenal 0-2 (0-0)

/Martinelli 72, Trossard 87/

PSV - St. Gilloise 1-3 (0-2)

/Van Bommel 90 - David 9 pen, Ait El Hadj 39, Mac Allister 81/

Benfica - Qarabag 2-3 (2-1)

/Barrenechea 6, Pavlidis 16 - Andrade 30, Duran 48, Kashchuk 86/

Juventus - Dortmund 4-4 (0-0)

/Yildiz 64, Vlahovic 68, 90+4, Kelly 90+6 - Adeyemi 52, Nmecha 65, Couto 75, Bensebaini 83 pen/

Real Madrid - Olympique Marseille 2-1 (1-1)

/Mbappe 29 pen, 81 pen - Weah 22/

Tottenham - Villarreal 1-0 (1-0)

/Luiz Junior 4 og/

Wednesday

19.45: (1.45) Olympiakos (4.40) Paphos (7.50)

19.45: (1.85) Slavia Praha (3.60) Bodo (4.30)

22.00: (4.10) Ajax (3.50) Inter (1.90)

22.00: (1.67) Bayern (4.25) Chelsea (4.85)

22.00: (1.62) Liverpool (3.90) Atl.Madrid (5.60)

22.00: (1.50) PSG (4.50) Atalanta (7.25)