Very strange game--both Brentford goals were complete gifts, with the second being one of the biggest gifted goals you will see in the EPL all year. Spurs had an amazing eight minute span coming out of the half, but outside of that were pretty meh.
Having Romero and Mickey back and healthy is huge, as together they cover for a lot of mistakes, which was necessary giving the way Udogie was playing. Hoj was also really bad when he came on in the second half, just needlessly giving the ball away left and right. On the plus side, Maddison starting again is a total game changer for this team, his ability to pick up the ball and drive it forward either with his pace on the ball or his passing vision, is irreplaceable in the side.
I thought they didn't have enough width in the first half--Werner and Kulu were closer to the edge of the penalty area than the touchline in a lot of instances and that allowed Brentford to clog the middle of the attacking third. In the second half, they added more width and voila, the goals started happening.
Werner was huge in that regard, the first goal he got the ball out wide, which gave Udogie more space to cut inside and score. The second goal was all Timo just getting the ball on the run, behind the defense, and setting up a perfect ball for a Johnson tap-in. Great stuff.
It's been huge, especially with Son out, that Richarlison has gone from being a sunk cost to a consistent goal scorer. He was looking like one of the biggest busts in club history not that long ago, and now he has scored seven goals in his past seven games and doing a lot for Spurs with his pressing and activity from the #9 position.
Will be nice to have Maddison and Son together again soon. Spurs obviously miss the clinical finishing of Sonny.
