Team K League 3 Tottenham 4: Last season's issues linger, and a ...

Tottenham Hotspur won their fourth straight pre-season match, but their victory over Team K League — the select XI of South Korea’s top division — was not without a few shaky moments.

The Premier League side stormed into a 3-0 lead before half-time thanks to goals from Dejan Kulusevski — starting the game as the central forward — and two from South Korea captain Son Heung-min.

The second half was less of a breeze for Spurs, who looked alarmingly vulnerable to counter-attacks after the break, twice being caught out within 10 minutes of the restart in scenes reminiscent of the second half of last season.

Will Lankshear continued his impressive pre-season with a composed finish, as Spurs eventually ran out 4-3 winners.

The Athletic’s Seb Stafford-Bloor analyses the key talking points…

Have Spurs found the midfield of the future?

Maybe. This was a first start in the same midfield for Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall and it was a fun tease for what may lie ahead. In the first half, Bergvall was more advanced, Gray was much deeper, and Pape Matar Sarr sat between them.

There were positional kinks and that was to be expected given their lack of familiarity. Still, there were signs of natural chemistry. Let’s not overdo it — this was pre-season and we are talking fleeting moments — but the one- and two-touch football and the ease with which the three interchanged made the midfield encouragingly fluid.

Sarr is not quite fit and it has not been his tour. Bergvall’s technique and size are old news; we covered both during the Vissel Kobe game. Perhaps the takeaway from this evening was the range of positions he occupied. There are no heat maps yet to make that point — Opta are still on the beach — but Bergvall’s touches came across the pitch, making him the grease in Tottenham’s gears. It is all about the little things he does.

Gray? He has such poise. Perhaps the most desirable quality in an orchestrator is the ability to disguise the direction of even simple passes. He has it — the little feints that open up space and the darting eyes that keep opponents off balance. He has those traits and used them.

To make the point differently: when the midfield was reconfigured after half-time, Spurs looked terrifyingly porous.

Some of the old issues remain

The mood of the tour has been extremely positive. The new signings have adapted well, in the footballing and social sense, and there is much to be encouraged by.

The second half in Seoul squeezed the brakes on that — it was a reminder that, even against a team who had never played together, Spurs can still be easy to pass through. Team K League attacked the spaces behind their full-backs and created chances. There are some asterisks — the heat, the players in unfamiliar roles, internationals still to return — but it was hard to avoid the conclusion that there are still significant flaws in this squad. Postecoglou is using players and combinations that, ideally, he would not have to depend on, even in the early rounds of domestic cup competitions.

It is a process but it has some way to go.

A first look at Yang Min-hyuk

Consider the pressure on Yang — playing against his new team, in his country’s national stadium, with Son, a national hero, on the pitch. That is a tough task, given that this would have been many Tottenham fans’ first viewing, eager to understand the fuss.

It is important to be measured. Yang had two good moments in his 45 minutes, both of which saw him break into space. The second chance, ending with a fierce drive over Tottenham’s crossbar, came after he blurred his feet and drove hard into the box. He was a nuisance, showing that he could beat defenders off either foot, in both directions.

Remind you of anybody? Just kidding, but there were enough reasons to look forward to January 2025. The K League side were not particularly balanced in the first half and Yang had few supporting team dynamics around him. Given that context, he was not bad at all.

More on Tottenham’s ambitious young signings

Lucas Bergvall’s road to north London: ‘My gut feeling was always Spurs’ Inside Archie Gray’s move and a manic 48 hours The transfer plan is clear — they are focused on the future What did Ange Postecoglou say?

On his starting midfield trio: “Yeah, I thought it worked ok. Obviously they are three very young players in that midfield set up and as you said, the first time they had played together.

“But for the most part I thought they handled it pretty well. I think Lucas found it tough physically. It’s a very demanding role in there and it’s gonna take us a while to get him up to speed from a physical perspective, but you can see the quality he has when he’s on the ball.And Archie, he’s what he’s shown the whole time. He’s been very composed, he seems to understand the game really well and, and, you know, for the most part, I thought he was taking up the right positions.

“But again, physically I think we’re gonna have to build him up. And I thought Pape’s running is just unbelievable. He’s a benchmark for us in that midfield area. So, yeah, I think the three of them — considering they’re so young and that’s the exciting bit — if we keep pushing them and improving them, they’re going to be very good footballers for us.”

What next for Spurs?

Saturday, August 10: Bayern Munich, 5.30pm BST (12.30pm ET)

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(Top photo: Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images)