Early evidence suggests Postecoglou’s post-Kane New Spurs are going to be just as fun as we hoped

It was over four years ago that Mauricio Pochettino knew Spurs would need to endure a ‘painful rebuild’ before coming again with a new team.

The pain, in the end, came not in the rebuild but in Spurs’ refusal or inability to make it happen. Pochettino left. Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte came and went, but still the rebuild never truly came.

Only now has it finally arrived. The most obvious changing of the guard came in the conspicuous absence of Bayern Munich’s new number nine. But there’s more than that. The whole playing ‘leadership group’ that has been in place since Poch’s time has been disbanded. Hugo Lloris and Eric Dier remain for now Spurs players but in name only. Neither was anywhere to be seen at Brentford as Spurs march into a new era as the Premier League’s ultimate unknown quantity.

That it is utterly impossible to yet tell whether Spurs are going to be any good at all, and if they are then how good, only adds to the fun. And this new-look Spurs are undoubtedly going to be that. Certainly in comparison to the dreary fare they often served up under Mourinho and Conte. This is a team that is going to press high up the pitch and play out from the back. This is a team that is going to delight going forward and infuriate at the back. They will do wonderful things and stupid things, and their season will ultimately be defined by the ratio of these two inevitabilities.

The first half of a near-perfectly tone-setting 2-2 at Brentford was, perhaps, a bit too much this. Spurs scored early through Cristian Romero’s header from an exquisite James Maddison free-kick. They equalised late in the half when right-back Emerson Royal, apparently handed a Trent Alexander-Arnold-style free-ranging role from that nominal starting position, popped up in the No. 10 position to lash home an equaliser. The stumble-pass that gave him the ball also came from Maddison, who is thus off to a fine start in his role as Spurs’ new creator in chief.

But in between those two moments they conceded two incredibly silly goals, and that is going to happen an awful lot. The first came when new captain Son Heung-min found himself doing some last-gasp defending, which is rarely good news. He was a bit clumsy and a bit unlucky to concede what was a very, very VAR penalty; the sort of spot-kick that will always be described as soft, is enormously frustrating to concede, but which is nearly always given on review because “contact with consequence” still amounts on slow-motion replay to “contact”. Spurs have been awarded that precise penalty a dozen times in the last five years.

The second goal came when Royal, part right-back, part No.10, all vibes, was outmuscled and outpaced by Rico Henry who picked out Yoane Wissa. He scuffed his shot, but Micky van de Ven deflected it past fellow debutant Guglielmo Vicario. It was a mess.

There was mitigation beyond the fact both players involved in the final mishap were debutants; Spurs had already withdrawn Romero just after his goal due to concerns about a head injury. This, by the way, was Ange Postecoglou’s decision and not part of the concussion protocol. Romero was understandably reluctant to make way so early into the season, but it’s refreshing and welcome to see a manager taking no chances with a head injury. The fact it left Spurs’ already wonky-looking defence weakened further makes it all the more admirable, and here’s hoping the Australian has set a standard others will follow. Romero did look visibly shaky after scoring the goal.

The second half contained no goals but will arguably be the one that gives Postecoglou more satisfaction. Spurs’ control of it was near total and a Brentford team that lost just twice at home last season – to Newcastle and Arsenal – spent the entire second period clinging on for a point having spent the first giving every bit as good as they got.

Maddison’s creative spark caught the eye, but so too did Spurs’ new left-back Destiny Udogie. It was a stunning Premier League debut for the youngster, who Spurs signed from Udinese a year ago but are only now seeing after sending him back to Italy on loan for the season. He’s not going on any more loans now. He is a fine modern full-back and in him and van de Ven the left side of Spurs defence will at the very least not suffer from a lack of recovery pace. Which is probably just as well, because they’re likely going to need it.

But best of all for Spurs was Yves Bissouma. It was a performance that evoked the best of his Brighton days and also sits as a huge win for Postecoglou and indictment of Antonio Conte. It is inexplicable that any manager could prefer Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg over this. If Maddison evokes obvious Eriksen comparisons and Udogie looks like a left-sided Kyle Walker, then Bissouma on this evidence resembled another Poch mainstay: Mousa Dembele. High praise, but on this display deserved. We’re firmly in Like A New Signing territory here.

The irony of course, is that this was a Spurs performance and a Spurs team that could not have been more different to the football they served up for most of last season, and yet the result in this fixture was identical. A 2-2 draw. But Spurs were – as they often were last season – lucky to escape with a point that day. It was the very least they merited here.

We’ve already seen enough from Brentford here to know what they’re going to do this season. They may have played possum in pre-season but they’re going to be naggingly mid-table once again and no team is likely to come against them and have an enjoyable stress-free afternoon. They are a really good, really organised side impeccably led by a fine manager and in their goalscorers today already have the tools to cope with the absence of their own star striker.

Spurs, though? We still have absolutely no idea what they are going to be. And we can’t wait to find out – it’s going to be a hell of a ride.