Lucas Bergvall made his first Tottenham start against Coventry City in the Carabao Cup
Tottenham Hotspur scraped past Coventry 2-1 in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday night, giving Ange Postecoglou some breather.
Ange Postecoglou will have felt the pressure heading into the cup tie after defeat in the North London derby last time out. Spurs dominated possession as everyone would have expected but were caught on the break by the hosts on several occasions, which has been a theme of our season so far.
It was a poor showing overall from the Lilywhites where Coventry City arguably deserved the victory, but Ange Postecoglou and Co. will certainly take the much-needed win and head back to North London. Among a few positives in the game was the performance of Lucas Bergvall.
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It was the teenage prodigy’s first official start in a Spurs shirt and he delivered a promising display. He was one of the eight changes Ange Postecoglou had made to his starting XI against Coventry City. The supporters were not happy when Postecoglou decided to substitute Bergvall, and the Spurs head coach defended his decision after the cup game.
When asked about the negative reaction he received after Bergvall’s substitution, Big Ange replied (h/t Football London): “I don’t make substitutions by poll, mate.”
“So, I’m sure the fans have got their own opinions, but yeah, Lucas, like I said that’s his first sort of significant game time for quite a while. What I didn’t want was us pushing guys over the edge today, that’s why we took Destiny off at halftime as well.
“We already had a couple of injuries, and I had some pretty good players on the bench that I thought could make an impact, but it doesn’t take away from Lucas’s performance. I thought he was outstanding tonight.
“They’re going to play a lot of football for us and hopefully getting through tonight, whether it’s 90 minutes for Archie or you know, 60, 70 for Lucas, will put them in a good space.”
Lucas Bergvall impresses vs Coventry City
Bergvall had a strong game against the Championship side in what was his first start for Tottenham. He started in a midfield three alongside Rodrigo Bentancur and Pape Matar Sarr. With Bentancur and Sarr holding, the teenager got the license to roam around, pick up pockets in the middle of the park and keep the game ticking.
Delving deep into his 62 minutes of action on the pitch, the Sweden international had 47 touches, made 27/31 accurate passes with a healthy 87% accuracy and completed one long ball. The midfielder made one interception, two tackles and one key pass. (Courtesy: SofaScore)
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Bergvall was put in a spot of bother by goalkeeper Fraser Forster with a wayward pass in the opening minutes which fortunately went unpunished, but overall, he was one of Spurs’ brighter players against Mark Robins’ side. It should have given Bergvall a lot of confidence as he hopes to get more minutes under his belt in the weeks and months ahead.
