Will Spurs, Spursing It, Inspire Confidence For The Season Ahead? 

Tottenham Hotspur were blown away by a last-minute flurry from Paris-Saint Germain in the UEFA Super Cup to begin their 25/26 campaign. After going ahead thanks to goals from Micky Van De Ven and Christian Romero, Spurs suffered a last-minute demolition at the hands of the European Champions, who managed to claw back a two-goal deficit thanks to goals from Lee and Ramos in the 85th and 94th minutes, respectively. The dominant French side then went on to beat Tottenham 4-3 on penalties to win the game on the night and bank their second piece of European silverware this summer. 

PSG went into this game the clear favorites from bookies and fans of football alike. For many, it’s hard to look past such a young and talented squad that seems to be working magically under Luis Enrique. Even if you were comparing TX sports offerings and checking out what sportsbook had the best offerings for gamblers to wager on, Spurs were considerable underdogs going into this game, sitting at -550 to win. 

Despite the result, Spurs seemed like a completely different outfit on the night. New coach, Thomas Frank, seems to have inspired the players into defensive structure and formation solidity, which was something that seemed to be sorely missing from the side under Postecoglou. 

PSG found it hard to break the North London side down for large portions of the game and only really looked like a threat when subs were made to bring on Lee and Ruiz after the hour mark. Before this, Spurs looked solid, dominant, and comfortable with little to no shots coming Vicario’s way. 

As PSG went on to lift the trophy after the penalty shootout, it was clear to see many despondent faces amongst the Spurs players left on the pitch who looked like they had given it their all. Despite this, there is a speculative aura about Spurs, even after this one game, that they might have a bit of a different attitude following last year’s dismal league campaign.

Whilst they have very much Spurs’d this cup this time and Frank has work to do on the training ground this week to ensure the players go into the new campaign against Burnley on Saturday, refraining from dwelling on this result, the new look from Spurs will be inspiring for both fans and players alike. 

They proved themselves against the current giants of Europe, who are considered to be the best in the world, with a cracking performance that they should be proud of. Yes, they may not have gotten the result they were looking for. But for large parts of the game, they were the better side, with Pedro Porro and Jed Spence notable in keeping the illustrious and magical PSG wingers at bay for the majority of the game, whilst applying pressure to the equally talented full-backs of the French champions. 

Given that Frank is operating with much the same team as he inherited from Big Ange at the start of the summer, aside from new signing Mohammed Kudos, Frank seems to have changed the tactical setup of the side, which suits the players he has got and seems to have brought out the best in them. This will feel like a good sign for what is to come in the upcoming season. Should Spurs perform like they did against PSG for the vast majority of the upcoming Premier League season, they are bound to improve on the appalling 17th position finish that cost Postecoglou his job, despite European success, last season.

The Spurs players will have to pull their socks up and dust off their despair from the Super Cup game and go into the new season this weekend with this refreshed attitude. This might just be the beginning of a whole new era for this team that fans have been desperately waiting for.