Tottenham Hotspur were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with Leicester City in their opening game of the new campaign.
For large parts of the game, Tottenham dominated, but for all their possession and chances created, they walked away from the King Power with just a point.
Shocking defending just before the hour mark saw Jamie Vardy head home to cancel out Pedro Porro’s first-half goal for the visitors.
The result highlights just how much work Ange Postecoglou has to do if his Spurs team are to stand any chance of getting back into the top form this term.
Following the miserable evening in the Midlands, The Spurs News has identified the three biggest areas the Australian coach must address ahead of their clash with Everton.
Brennan Johnson and Heung-min Son prove too predictable
Tottenham’s wing combination of Brennan Johnson and Heung-min Son proved to be a real issue for the team’s attack.
James Maddison in the first half looked back to his best, but once he dropped off in the second period, Spurs became far too easy to defend.
The England international created some great chances for Tottenham’s forwards and even assisted Porro’s opening goal.
But the North Londoners needed more sources of creativity, especially with a key feature of a Postecoglou team being the wingers flashing balls in for the other attackers.
Johnson and Son both struggled for large parts of the game to beat their full-backs and left Dominic Solanke having to drop deep to find the ball himself.
This summer there was always the need for a more explosive winger and Spurs did sign one of those in Wilson Odobert.
But aged just 19, it is yet to be seen just how much of an instant impact the Frenchman can make on this Tottenham team.
Tottenham’s young core too easily rattled against Leicester
Spurs went into this new campaign with one of the youngest squads in the Premier League.
The club’s recruitment since the arrival of Postecoglou has seen them target talented youngsters with the average age of signings being just 21.8.
Regardless, Tottenham still have top, senior players, however, as often is the case with the North London club, in the heat of battle, they seemed to wilt.
As soon as 37-year-old Jamie Vardy headed home to level the game at 1-1 and the noise inside the King Power lifted, the Lilywhites crumbled.
Leicester fans were always going to be well up for this match with it being their back in the top flight on a Monday evening under the lights.
But there was no doubt Steve Cooper’s side faced plenty of issues and excuses for Tottenham not capitalising on these weaknesses are poor.
The Spurs boss must now find a way for his team to manage the game better when the going gets tough for his young squad.
Spurs lacking clinical edge against the Foxes
Despite all the criticism that will inevitably fall the way of the Australian coach, on another evening, his side could have won that game by four or five goals.
After the first 45 minutes, the away end will have been left wondering how their team were not out of sight.
By the interval, the visitors had already managed 10 attempts on goal to Leicester’s one, highlighting their dominance in the game.
But Ultimately, Postecoglou’s men were far too wasteful and their lack of cutting-edge ended up costing them two points.
Solanke will be the main man charged with making sure that changes moving forward, but others like Son and Maddison will also need to step up and be counted.
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