Premier League

TOTTENHAM 2 (Gallagher 86, van Hecke 90+8)
ASTON VILLA 3 (Manzambi 45+4, Jackson 67, Buendia 79)

FOR the football fan, the September international break is the source of annoyance.

They come when you’ve just got your Premier League groove on, you’ve had a handful of games, the afternoons aren’t dark at the final whistle, and the season isn’t a write off… yet.

As a supporter, it’s normal to groan a bit when internationals come up – you’ve waited all summer and you want the real football to get going.

But for everyone connected with Tottenham Hotspur, not playing again now until October 10th feels like blessed relief.

Today (Saturday) Spurs were turned over at home by Aston Villa, losing 3-2. This leaves the club sitting third from bottom and still awaiting their first win of the season.

There are two ways this can go. Either the international break gives Roberto De Zerbi a second bite at pre-season; asking every player picked to play for their country to bunk off international duty so that he can get them fitter and more attuned to his tactics would be a good start.

Or Spurs fans accept that the close season transfer window has not, in fact, made up for the serious deficiencies the side faced last season.

It looks, at the moment, like it was highly negligent to have allowed Djed Spence and Luka Vuskovic to leave, and to spend £185m on Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes ahead of fixing an attack crying out for a new focal point.

Tottenham conceded their first this afternoon to a Johan Manzambi tap-in in first half stoppage time, and then went on to concede two more goals after the break via strikes from Nicholas Jackson and Emiliano Buendia.

Conor Gallagher and Paul van Hecke’s late efforts mattered little – even if they were the first league goals that Tottenham have scored this season. It turns out that the wait wasn’t worthwhile.

Speaking after the defeat, manager De Zerbi remained bullish. He claimed: “We could have scored in the first half many, many times.”

But he recognised Spurs were soft after they went behind, adding: “We were too fragile. We’ve got to work harder. Football is like life – you are strong or you lose.

“The game was finished before the end. We played very well in the first half and we did not score. Maybe we were unlucky. But we conceded the first and second goal in an unacceptable way.

“We have to become stronger. On the pitch we have to put in something more than we do – it’s tactical, but it is also blood, it is fighting.”

The scoreline flattered Tottenham, and it’s barely a silver lining that the side broke its duck for the season. Their first goal came from Gallagher coming on and being just about the only person on the pitch who looked invested in changing the final score: the Villa players had done their shift, the Spurs players were shell-shocked and rudderless.

Aware that Spurs needed to get the season going, they actually started well. On 10 minutes, they had two very good sniffs to take the lead: Dominic Solanke looked like he was going to get on the end of a deep through ball but was bundled over.

Tonali recycled possession and played in Savio, who had two bites of the cherry. From close range, Zion Suzuki pulled off two great saves.

The Pedro Porro / Savio axis is something fans have anticipated all season. It immediately caused Villa problems.

But on 17, the World Cup winning full-back Porro went down and did not get up. Archie Gray was called on, robbing Spurs again of a flank combination that has had so little time to get going yet this season.

Gray is learning the hard way about Premier League life, but his first touch was a shot that Suzuki only stopped by good fortune.

It was a decent opening period, with Omar Marmoush also firing one from distance that flew wide.

Villa’s first effort came via Buendia, who lashed a shot from inside the box that Antonin Kinsky saved well. Jackson, who had a running battle with Micky van de Ven, also had an effort go wide on 27.

Spurs had began quickly but the same issues began to surface: a bright start but no goals to show for it, and then, when the game began to settle, a lack of confidence rose once more.

It all went pear-shaped for Spurs moments before the half-time whistle. A cheeky over the top by Buendia forced Spurs into a panic and Andy Robertson, stretching not to concede a corner, kept the ball in play but on his opponents behalf.

Possession was worked back and then into the six-yard box by Joao Gomes, and it was tucked home by Manzambi.

Tottenham made a half-time switch, bringing Mohammed Kudus on for Fernandes, with the hope the Ghanaian winger could offer some more positivity up top. But he was asked to play inside right instead of his natural position on the flank, and was ineffective.

On 60, with the score at 1-0, Robertson burst down the left and his cross-shot was parried and then finished by Kudus. Cue pandemonium on the terraces, until the VAR officials spotted Robertson had drifted offside when Spurs broke.

The Villa second came from a break that Jackson finished on 67, and then 10 minutes later Buendia capped a fine game with a lovely effort from distance.

De Zerbi dragged Spurs through the last crucial games of last season, and the idea was, with a summer break and some fresh faces, that he would put out a side that might not tear up trees, but would also not face a weekly ritual humiliation.

De Zerbi has three weeks until Spurs meet Manchester United at Old Trafford. Building a new side requires patience – and stocks of that commodity are very low in N17.

Tottenham: Kinsky, Robertson, van de Ven, van Hecke, Porro (Gray, 19), Bentancur (Bergvall, 84), Tonali (Gallagher, 84), Savio, Fernandes (Kudus, HT), Marmoush, Solanke (Maddison, 65)
Substitutes not used: Dubravka, Udogie, Adarabioyo, Senesi

Aston Villa: Suzuki, Wan-Bissaka (Cash, HT), Lindelof, Mings, Ruggeri, Kamara (Mbaye, 84), Gomes, McGinn (Barkley, 84), Manzambi (Hemmings, 72), Buendia, Jackson (Abraham, 84)
Substitutes not used: Wright, Harwood-Bellis, Garnacho, Bogarde