Tottenham 2-3 Bayern Munich: Spurs set-piece problems exposed again in final pre-season defeat
The set-piece problems to have sparked so much debate at Tottenham last season continued in their defeat to Bayern Munich on Saturday.
While pre-season results may not go on to have much bearing on the Premier League campaign ahead, Ange Postecoglou’s side saw a familiar flaw exposed once again, albeit with the caveat that not the entirety of his first-choice backline were playing.
Spurs had got off to a dream start, Dejan Kulusevksi opening the scoring within 30 seconds after the Swede sparked a counter.
He found Brennan Johnson, whose return ball fell behind the forward, though a fortunate deflection set it back into his path before poking the ball past Manuel Neuer.
The hosts made a typically explosive start but could not find a quick-fire second despite driving runs into the Bayern box from both Heung-min Son and Yves Bissouma.
After falling behind early, the German giants started to develop something of a foothold and were level within 15 minutes when Dayot Upamecano turned in Mathys Tel’s header from close range, one parried back into danger by goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario following an in-swinging free-kick.
Former Arsenal star Serge Gnabry had been guilty of wasting chances but made the most of some lax defending to give Vincent Kompany’s side a quick-fire lead before Thomas Muller exploited Tottenham’s set-piece issue again by nodding in a third after another crossed free-kick.
Postecoglou railed against the idea of appointing a set-piece coach when debate raged last season. Though surely unlikely to change his approach because of a friendly, doubts will continue until the Australian can find some kind of resolution to the problem.
The second-half brought a raft of changes and an increased tempo, though it was the familiar Kulusevski who got Spurs back into the game with an ice-cold finish following Lucas Bergvall’s cute pass, with Bayern having been caught out in their own half.
