Three and simple for Thomas Frank? Nicely, not fairly – that is Tottenham, in spite of everything. As an alternative it was Andoni Iraola's excellent Bournemouth who ended his 100% begin due to Evanilson's early strike as acquainted failings returned to hang-out Spurs.
Had issues turned out in a different way this summer time, Iraola may simply have discovered himself within the house dugout having been coveted by Tottenham earlier than they ultimately settled on Frank. However after Spurs gained Frank's first two Premier League matches since he succeeded Ange Postecoglou, their shortcomings had been uncovered by the Spaniard's excessive press and solely Bournemouth's profligacy prevented their victory being much more convincing as Tottenham's gamers left the pitch to a smattering of boos.
Xavi Simons, the brand new £51.8m signing from RB Leipzig, was paraded on the pitch beforehand and Frank will probably be determined to combine him as shortly as attainable after it took till the 69th minute for his group to register a shot on track.
“Bournemouth performed to their strengths and we didn't deal with it nicely sufficient,” stated Frank. “I'd choose [the supporters] to not boo nevertheless it was not a superb efficiency and so they have excessive requirements.”
Maybe unsurprisingly, he had determined towards altering a profitable method and chosen the identical facet that executed his gameplan to perfection towards Manchester Metropolis final week, even when Dominic Solanke was dominated out with an ankle harm that the Spurs supervisor hopes won't hold him out past the worldwide break. However he will probably be involved by how simply the pedestrian midfield trio of João Palhinha, Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Sarr had been outclassed by Bournemouth's technical superiority and it wasn't till Frank launched Lucas Bergvall within the second half that they at the very least regarded extra threatening.
“I favored nearly all the things we did immediately,” stated Iraola. “You possibly can see there's nonetheless work to do on the again with the brand new gamers however when you find yourself getting the outcomes it's simpler to appropriate issues.”
The guests had been additionally unchanged from the win over Wolves as their new-look defence, marshalled by their skilled captain Adam Smith – a product of Tottenham's academy – had come ready for an intensive examination. Nevertheless, it was Bournemouth who seized the initiative from the very begin with a zipper to their play that Spurs merely couldn't dwell with. A day after being handed his first senior England call-up, Djed Spence was introduced again right down to earth inside the primary 4 minutes when he was caught out by Marcos Senesi's by means of ball and performed Evanilson onside. The Brazilian's shot looped off Cristian Romero, over Guglielmo Vicario and into the web.
Evanilson nearly doubled his tally when he drilled vast after good work from Antoine Semenyo earlier than the Ghana ahead headed a luxurious outside-of-the-boot cross from David Brooks inches over. Tottenham may barely get out of their very own half and once they did after a mistake by Tyler Adams, Richarlison was responsible of gifting possession straight again.
Even the departure of Smith with an harm simply earlier than the half-hour mark couldn't halt Bournemouth's momentum and it required a last-ditch block from Micky van de Ven to maintain the deficit at one when Marcus Tavernier was performed in by Semenyo.
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Frank even needed to gesture for the house supporters to relax when yet one more Tottenham assault broke down. Nevertheless it was onerous in charge them contemplating Spurs ended the primary half with out making a single probability regardless of having nearly 60% of possession.
No matter Frank stated at half-time didn't seem to have labored as Bournemouth picked up the place that they had left off. It wanted a pointy save from Vicario to disclaim Semenyo inside 60 seconds of the restart after a lightning fast break earlier than a deflected effort from Brooks struck the crossbar when an extended throw prompted chaos within the Tottenham defence. Someway they remained solely 1-0 down after one other Vicario save from Brooks, with Frank turning to Bergvall and Wilson Odobert from his bench.
Spence was maybe fortunate to obtain solely a yellow card when he caught Bournemouth substitute Amine Adli late earlier than Vicario gave away possession and Tavernier fired into the facet netting.Odobert snatched at his probability when the ball dropped invitingly on the Frenchman's toes and he blazed means over. Finally Tottenham had woken up and a volley from Mathys Tel in harm time that missed by a foot would have introduced the home down if it had gone in. However there was no means again.
