Tottenham Hotspur were in pre-season action on Wednesday night as Ange Postecoglou’s side thrashed Heart of Midlothian 5-1 at Tynecastle.
Less than two months on from the strange post-season friendly with Newcastle United in May, Tottenham Hotspur were back in action again on Wednesday night.
The first pre-season friendly of the summer arrived and Tottenham got the job done with a convincing win over Hearts.
Brennan Johnson’s first-half opener was cancelled out by Lawrence Shankland but Tottenham put the game away in the second half.
Teenagers Will Lankshear and Mikey Moore put Tottenham 3-1 up before Djed Spence added a fourth.
Lewis Neilson’s own goal added gloss to the win for Tottenham, handing Ange Postecoglou a thumping win on his return to Scotland.
With a number of first-team players unavailable, this was a great night’s work for Tottenham and a fine start to the pre-season schedule.
Ange Postecoglou on Djed Spence
Pre-season always presents talented prospects and some fringe players with chances to shine.
That was the case for Djed Spence, who has suffered a difficult time ever since signing for Tottenham.
Spence joined Tottenham in 2022 after producing an outstanding campaign to help Nottingham Forest win promotion to the Premier League.
Viewed as the right back of the future, Spence has just never been able to show his quality in a Spurs shirt.
Loans to Rennes, Leeds United and Genoa haven’t really proven that Spence should be featuring for Tottenham on a regular basis.
Spence is now back with Tottenham this summer and he took his chance to impress on Wednesday night.
Spence’s driving run and threaded through ball teed up Lankshear to score before converting Timo Werner’s cross to get himself on the scoresheet.
A goal and an assist is impressive stuff for Spence, who is looking to prove himself to Postecoglou this summer.
The Spurs boss has now told Football London that he felt Spence ‘did well’ against Hearts.
Postecoglou acknowledged that Spurs has endured a ‘tough couple of years’ but will treat him with the respect of being a Tottenham player, rather than somebody who is just around until somebody comes in to sign him.
Postecoglou added that Spence ‘contributed well’ against Hearts, doing himself no harm as he fights for a future at Tottenham.
“Djed did well. He has had a tough couple of years,” said Postecoglou. “He is training with us and I think with all of the players they are here with us at the moment and when they are here with us I treat them as Tottenham players unless something suddenly changes. He was good tonight. Took his goal well, he contributed well and got an assist,” he added.
Spence pushing despite likely exit
We would still expect Spence to move on this summer, either on loan or permanently.
Still, the attitude is right from Spence in terms of trying to make an impression this summer and prove himself to Postecoglou.
Emerson Royal continues to be linked away from Tottenham this summer and Spurs will need competition for Pedro Porro at right back.
Spence may not be the ideal man for that role but all he can do is attempt to push for a Spurs future rather than being offloaded once again this summer.
Wednesday night was a great start but Spence will have to keep catching Postecoglou’s eye in training and future pre-season games to stand a chance of sticking around.
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