Thanks are due once again to our correspondent in Sweden, Jan Juhlin for his exclusive report

Tottenham Hotspur FC – FC Copenhagen 2-2 (1-1)

4’ 0-1 Alvaro Santos
26’ 1-1 Dean Richards
58’ 2-1 Jermain Defoe
77’ 2-2 Tomas Röll Larsen

Line-ups: Spurs: Keller, Carr, Taricco, Richards, Bunjevcevic, Davies (Marney, 61), Brown, Davis, Jackson (Ricketts, 68), Keane, Defoe.
Subs: Doherty, Fulop, Kelly, Mabizela, McKie, Hughes, Yeates, Barnard.

FC Copenhagen: Raboczki (Kihlstedt, 45), Jacobsen, Svensson, Santos (Moller, 45), Silberbauer (Larsen, 62), Tobiasen (Thomasson, 45), Traore, Norregard (Heerden, 78), Bech (Jonsson, 45), Bergvold (Fredgaard, 45).
Subs: Saarinen, Moller.
Attendance: 15,104.

The second game of the pre-season tour was against a strong FC Copenhagen, that won the Danish championship the past season. Spurs started with a strong team albeit Ledley King and Anthony Gardner were missing in defence, and instead Santini had opted for Goran Bunjevcevic and Dean Richards. New signing Pedro Mendez did not get a chance to show the Spurs fans what he is capable of, though Sean Davis got a full 90 minutes.

The game started in a very poor fashion for Spurs as a mix-up just outside the box gave Copenhagen’s lethal striker Alvaro Santos a one-on-one situation with Kasey Keller. The Brazilian made no mistake and dinked the ball over Keller, rolling it into the back of the net.

After the goal Copenhagen got more confident, while the Spurs players looked tired and out of position. A dangerous free-kick in the 20th minute could well have given Copenhagen a 2-0 lead, but Keller did well to save to his left. Spurs did eventually get into the game, and were playing the ball around better and better. A corner in the 26th minute was perfectly struck by Michael Brown, and Dean Richards headed home the equaliser.

The goal came at a perfect moment, as Spurs at that point were the better team. Throughout the rest of the first half Spurs controlled the game, passing the ball around, and avoiding the long balls that were so used last year.

Overall the first half was a rather slow, and you could easily tell that at least Tottenham’s players had been put under tough training earlier in the week.

The second half started brightly for Spurs and the most interesting thing to watch was the willingness from each player to try to move and pass the ball. Instead of hitting ball out in no mans land, the Spurs players were looking for easy solutions. It didn’t always pay off, but at least the intention was there for everyone to see.

Spurs had a good opportunity after 52 minutes when the lively Keane hit a free-kick just outside post. 6 minutes later Jermaine Defoe showed just why everyone sees him as a player to watch for the future, as he sprinted away from Danish defender Johansson, and side footed the ball to the right of the keeper.

Spurs made two substitutions just minutes later with Marney and Ricketts replacing Davies, who never really got into the game, and Jackson who did a lot of running, and had a couple of decent crosses.

The tough traning sessions were now beginning to take their toll, as Spurs players were beginning to tire. Copenhagen got the upper hand, and Spurs’ passing game was now lacking precision and pace. After 77 minutes a perfect curler by Röll Larsen saw Keller beaten and the Danes had equalised. Defoe then had another souple of chances to seal the game for Tottenham, but in the end 2-2 was a just result.

Trying to compare Tottenham of this season and last season, one thing is for sure. Santini wants to play a passing game. He wants his team to control the play, and to be patient in the build ups. I didn’t count the number of long hoofing balls, but they were significantly fewer than last season. Keane and Defoe look lively up front but the two need to work on their combinations, and need to work better together. Carr and Taricco had good games, whilst Davis tried a lot, but never really got his game going.

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