Ange Postecoglou believes Brennan Johnson can take a step up after completing a £45million move to Tottenham before Friday’s transfer deadline.
Spurs have reinvested some of the money received from Bayern Munich for Harry Kane on the 22-year-old Wales international, who scored eight goals and provided three assists to help Nottingham Forest avoid relegation last season.
Johnson was not registered in time to feature in Saturday’s 5-2 thrashing of Burnley at Turf Moor, but his arrival should add another dimension to a Tottenham side who were inspired by Son Heung-min’s hat-trick and could have scored even more in an exciting attacking display.
“He’s just another exciting young player. He’s a real threat in the front third, he’s different from what we’ve already got, he’s young and ambitious,” Postecoglou said. “It’s no secret that’s the model for me.
“It’s just as much about the person as well as the footballer, and looking at him he’s going to fit in really well with this group. He’s ambitious and hungry and wants to take his game to the next level.
“The technical and the physical attributes he has, he should fit in really well.”
Johnson was the ninth signing of a busy window for Tottenham, who spent more than £200million to reshape the squad in Postecoglou’s style.
But the Australian said it was just the start and that there is more work that he wants to do in the market in future windows.
“When you look at the team we have now, we virtually changed half the starting line up, the way we train, the way we coach,” he said. “The rebuild was never going to be one window.”
Spurs had fallen behind to an early Lyle Foster strike at Burnley but Son levelled in the 16th minute and they ruthlessly punished defensive mistakes from the hosts as Cristian Romero got a second in first-half stoppage time and James Maddison added a third early in the second half.
Son then scored twice in four minutes just after the hour to complete his hat-trick before Spurs took their foot off the pedal, with Josh Brownhill getting a stoppage-time consolation for the Clarets.
The defeat means Burnley have suffered three consecutive home defeats to begin life back in the top flight, conceding 11 goals in losses to Manchester City, Aston Villa and Spurs.
Vincent Kompany will now use the international break to pick the bones out of what has gone wrong for his side, but remains bullish that their methods will come good.
“During my career I’ve not just been a good leader or captain because of the good times,” the four-time Premier League winner said.
“It is easy to be a good captain or leader then, it is at these times I feel most confident in what you need to do to get better. You need to analyse what needs to get better and decide what the next step is.
“We will do everything we can to avoid defeat but it is at these moments you learn most about your team’s character.”
Portugal 2-1 Scotland: Ronaldo's late heroics seal comeback win
Cristiano Ronaldo came off the bench to score the winner as Portugal earned a 2-1 victory, condemning Scotland to another late defeat.
The 39-year-old, who started on the bench in a competitive match for the first time since the 2022 World Cup, added to Bruno Fernandes' strike after Scott McTominay had given Scotland the lead early on.
The home crowd were just as stunned as Portugal's defence when McTominay snuck in behind, thumping Kenny McLean's cross past a stranded Diogo Costa after just seven minutes.
The hosts certainly had their chances to get back into the game though – Angus Gunn made a brilliant save to deny Rafael Leao, who also fired a number of efforts wide of the left post.
Though Scotland tried to continue soaking up the pressure, their defence was eventually breached nine minutes after the break, with Fernandes marking his 30th birthday with a sweeping finish from 20 yards out.
Gunn smothered Joao Felix's low shot in the 78th minute before Ronaldo came within millimetres of a winner as his header hit the inside of the far post.
But Ronaldo would have the final say as he stretched out a leg in the six-yard box to turn Nuno Mendes' cross into the back of the net.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the hero once again
Steve Clarke could not have asked for more from his team in the first half, as they scored with their only effort, but also resolutely defended as Portugal racked up 16 shots (three on target), creating 1.21 expected goals (xG).
It was a regular creator that got the Selecao back on level terms though, as Fernandes got his 21st goal involvement under Roberto Martinez in all competitions, at least five more than any other Portugal player (11 goals, 10 assists).
And Ronaldo is now up to 901 career goals, with only Aleksandar Mitrovic (14), Erling Haaland (12) and Romelu Lukaku (10) bettering his nine-goal tally in the Nations League.
Switzerland 1-4 Spain: Fabian brace leads 10-man La Roja to victory
Fabian Ruiz’s double helped 10-man Spain claim a comprehensive 4-1 win over Switzerland in the Nations League on a rainy night in Geneva.
Joselu opened the scoring after just four minutes as he latched onto the end of Lamine Yamal’s pinpoint cross to flick goalwards.
The goal was confirmed after some controversy as Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel thought he had clawed it away before it crossed the line.
Switzerland thought they had an immediate response three minutes later but Becir Omeragic had a goal ruled out for a handball in the build-up. Instead, Spain doubled their lead on 12 minutes as Fabian powered home the rebound from Nico Williams’ parried shot.
The Swiss were handed a lifeline as Robin Le Normand was shown a straight red for bringing Breel Embolo down as he went through on goal, and Zeki Amdouni rattled the crossbar from the resultant free-kick.
Amdouni did find the net to bring scores level just before half-time, sweeping home Embolo’s flick-on from a corner after finding himself unmarked at the back post. He nearly had a brace after the restart, but it was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.
Instead, it was Fabian with two goals to his name by the final whistle, after he tucked away at the far post in the 77th minute against the run of play before Ferran Torres added further gloss.
Data Debrief: Spain's run rolls on
The writing was on the wall early for Switzerland who have not won any of their last eight matches after conceding first in the Nations League. Spain, on the other hand, are undefeated in their last five matches when they have scored first in the competition.
It means, excluding friendlies, Spain are now unbeaten for 17 matches in all competitions (W15 D2). It is their best unbeaten run under a single manager since Vicente del Bosque was in charge in June 2013.
Italy boss Spalletti expects to make five changes for Israel match
Luciano Spalletti is expecting to make up to five changes for Italy's Nations League clash with Israel owing to the tight turnaround between matches.
Italy produced a shock 3-1 victory over France on Friday, just three days before they face Israel in Hungary.
But their opening three points in Group A2 took their toll, with starters Riccardo Calafiori and Lorenzo Pellegrini both leaving the squad after sustaining injuries in the match against France.
As such, Spalletti feels it is necessary to rotate for their upcoming match.
"It's difficult to put the same team out as Friday. It's not possible to get over the fatigue after just two days. Let's see how the guys are, but it's not unusual to change three, four, five players," the Italy boss told the press.
Some players, however, will have to play due to the injuries sustained in that victory, which saw them register their first win against France since June 2008.
"Bastoni will play tomorrow because it becomes tricky taking both him and Calafiori out of the team. He has the most experience, he brings things to the table that can help the whole team," Spalletti added.
"Frattesi will be evaluated in today's training, but he says he is fine and good to go. He was substituted earlier than planned, to avoid any unnecessary dangers. We need to see after a bit of training."
Italy play Israel in the Nations League on Monday at the Bozsik Arena in Hungary.
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