Mauricio Pochettino watched Tottenham Hotspur produce an improved performance against Milan in the Audi Cup third-place play-off and yet he still endured a measure of frustration when his wish to fly straight back to London afterwards was thwarted by the German authorities.
Despite Tottenham kicking off at 6.15pm local time in Munich, Real Madrid – who play Bayern in the final, which kicks off at 8.45pm – managed to commandeer one of the night-time departure slots from the airport while Pochettino and his squad were grounded.
It meant Tottenham had to stick to their plan of training at Bayern’s Sabener Strasse complex on Thursday morning before flying home in the afternoon. They will train in Enfield on Friday morning and fly to Manchester later in the day, in readiness for their Premier League opener at United, which kicks off at 12.45pm on Saturday. They will be in London for a little over 24 hours.
Pochettino has described the travel arrangements before the United game as a “rush” and it feels inevitable there will be question marks over Tottenham’s participation in this tournament as it comes so close to the start of the season. Other Premier League clubs are understood to have turned down the invitation to the four-team event.
On the field, Pochettino enjoyed something of a tonic as Tottenham won for the first time in three public pre-season friendlies – and they did so impressively, albeit against a disappointing Milan. Nacer Chadli and Tom Carroll scored the goals but perhaps as encouragingly, there were second-half substitute appearances for Hugo Lloris and Ryan Mason.
Lloris has been suffering from a wrist injury that, according to Pochettino, followed an accident by a swimming pool on his holidays and he had been rated as a major doubt for the game against United. His appearance in the 54th minute was a surprise and when he saved smartly from the substitute Rodrigo Ely’s rasping drive, he effectively showed he is fully fit, although Pochettino continued to preach caution. “Maybe he is not ready for 90 minutes but it’s very important he is ready to come back,” he said.
Mason also came on in the 54th minute for his first action of pre-season, following a knee problem that he suffered at the end of last season on England duty. Spurs made light of their lack of recognised strikers, with Chadli and Carroll doing the damage from wide midfield and helping them to a comfortable victory.
Pochettino had to make sweeping changes after Tuesday’s 2-0 defeat to Real and there were only two survivors from the lineup – Eric Dier, who again played in defensive midfield, and Erik Lamela. It was a reflection of the dearth of options that Pochettino has up front that he started Lamela as the striker.
Apart from Harry Kane, who had to be rested after he played 86 minutes against Real, Pochettino has no recognised strikers, although he feels Lamela can do a job there. What kind of job was open to question on this evidence. Tottenham’s other strikers, Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado, were not a part of the squad in Munich, as they negotiated transfers away from the club, although Pochettino said that Soldado was still a part of his plans: “He did not come here because there was a problem with his back but he is in our plans.”
Tottenham played well and they took the lead early on when Chadli scored a screamer from the edge of the area. Picking up possession on the right-hand side, he dropped his shoulder to buy himself a yard away from Davide Calabria before unleashing a curling left-foot shot into the far corner. Christian Abbiati had no chance in the Milan goal.
Josh Onomah, who started for Tottenham in the No10 role, looked comfortable on the ball and he made some good runs but an end product was lacking, while Lamela produced an air-shot on a high ball forward when well placed. Lamela did have a good moment when he dropped deeper on 33 minutes and slid a low ball through for Carroll. The midfielder poked a shot towards the far corner only for Abbiati to make a fingertip save.
Milan finished 10th in Serie A last season and this is not one of their finest vintages. They created three first-half chances but on each occasion Alessandro Matri’s sights were awry.
The second one was the best opportunity but he failed to get sufficient power in a close-range volley and Tottenham’s young goalkeeper Luke McGee was able to save. Tottenham were the better team in the second half, too, with Mason going close from Lamela’s pass before Carroll steered left-footed into the far corner.
