Kane and Co kick-start season with five-star performance
TOTTENHAM gave their season a much-needed shot in the arm with a 5-0 demolition of Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League.
It has been a horrible start to the campaign for Mauricio Pochettino’s men, who had only won three games before this, but they put all their problems behind them in a pulsating display in Group B.
Harry Kane and Son Heung-min both scored twice while Erik Lamela had a red letter day on his 200th appearance for the club, adding a second-half goal to his two assists.
Pochettino, who has admitted his job could be on the line if their slump continues, will hope this can be the start of a resurgence, though that will be put to the immediate test in their next game when they visit Liverpool in the Premier League.
It has to be said that Red Star, who somehow were supported by over 200 fans despite a ban by UEFA, were not up to much, but Spurs were simply too hot to handle and produced a result that went some way to righting the wrongs of that 7-2 humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich last time out.
It also had importance in their ambitions of making it out of the group as they now move into second place and will fancy their chances of progressing.
The obituaries for this Spurs team have already been written, but they reproduced the form of seasons gone, helped by an electric start.
And if there was going to be one man who was going to set the tone, then Kane was the likeliest bet and true enough the skipper came to the fore.
Having already shown intent with an early mazy run into the box, he gave his side the perfect start with a ninth-minute opener.
He got in front of his marker to head home Lamela’s corner for his 17th Champions League goal in just his 22nd game.
It was the perfect tonic for Spurs and it was even better seven minutes later as they went 2-0 up as Serge Aurier and Lamela combined down the right, with the latter’s cross perfect for Son to ram home a half-volley at the far post.
Spurs could have racked up several more in the opening halfhour as Tanguy Ndombele and Lamela brought fine saves out of Milan Borjan.
In the end, they had to wait until the 44th minute to grab a third and Son was the man again, though he had Ndombele to thank.
The record signing robbed Marko Marin near the halfway line and played in the South Korean, who coolly slotted home.
There was a goal glut for Spurs if they wanted as they cut the
Serbians open at will and Lamela was guilty of missing two golden chances after Kane and Son laid it on a plate for him.
The Argentinian was not going to be denied a goal on his special night, though, and eventually got on the score sheet in the 57th minute when he fired home on the turn after a move that included another wonderful Kane pass.
Son could have had a hat-trick but his shot clipped the outside of a post, while Kane was unusually wasteful when he could not connect with a header in front of goal.
The captain had put in a virtuoso display, though, and was not going to miss another chance as he grabbed a second of the night and 18th in the competition.
Ndombele played him in and there was no doubt about the outcome as he passed the ball into the far corner.
There was an added boost of deadline day signing Giovani Lo Celso returning for the first time in seven weeks after an injury lay-off, but that was just one of many positives for Spurs.
FRANK LAMPARD has received plenty of plaudits for the way he has blooded Chelsea’s youngsters this season, but he knows they are facing the masters of youth development in Amsterdam on Wednesday.
Chelsea, featuring academy graduates Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount, Callum HudsonOdoi, Reece James and Fikayo Tomori, have racked up five consecutive wins in all competitions and climbed into the top four after Saturday’s victory over Newcastle.
However, Ajax have long been famed for their youth policy and last season that exuberance swept them all the way to the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they were agonisingly pipped by Tottenham.
Lampard said: “There’s a long way to go to claim there are similarities.
“We have pride in the short term, but we shouldn’t get carried away. It’s great, the good feeling at the club in terms of the young players that have come through.
“But we are in a place here steeped in history of bringing young players through, creating great teams with groups of young players, and we have a long way to go to do that.
“What Ajax did last year was incredible, to get as far as they did with such a young team.
“I think you see my belief in our young players because even though everyone says we had a transfer ban and it’s the only option I had, that’s not true. I have lots of options in the squad.”
LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp accepts his side will not be so lucky this season if they do not improve their Champions League away record.
For a team which has reached successive finals, Liverpool’s record on the road in the group stage is terrible.
They have lost their last four away games, scoring only once, and have not won any of the previous five with the last victory on the road in Europe in the group stage at Maribor two years ago.
Liverpool scraped through last season with a 1-0 win over Napoli in their final home game, three Anfield victories giving them nine points and second place in their group.
“Last year we were lucky with how tight the group was that we could lose three times away and still have a chance to make it through the group. That will not happen this year. It’s completely different,” said Klopp.
“We don’t rely on home games or whatever.
“Obviously we like to say European nights at Anfield are really special but other teams can make a special atmosphere as well.”
SOONER or later, Glasgow Warriors fans are going to see their World Cup players back in action but, even though they are all now available, it won’t be this weekend.
John Dalziel, the forwards coach, admitted that only two are being considered.
Canadian cap DTH van der Merwe, whose hoped-for final Test was called off after Typhoon
Hagibis brought down landslides in Kamaishi, where they were scheduled to face Namibia, may feature when the Warriors travel to face the Dragons on Saturday.
And Niko Matawalu, who played in all four of Fiji’s games but came off the bench in all of them, is also a possibility for head coach Dave Rennie.
“We’ve got the non-Scottish lads back training with us this week, but Dave [Rennie], has been pretty sensible with them,” said Dalziel.
“They’ve had a long lead-up to the World Cup and guys like DTH have had a lot of minutes. They’ve trained and a decision will be made after that.
“The [Scotland players] will be staged. Some have played a lot of minutes. Some of the ones who have played less will start to drip in next week or the week after, while the longer-minutes guys will be the third group to come back. There will be no Scottish guys this week.”
It has been a slightly disrupted week for Glasgow with speculation about the future of Rennie being revived by the announcement in Australia that Michael Cheika had resigned after his team were knocked out in the World Cup quarter-finals.
Rennie has been linked with the post ever since Scott Johnson,