Tottenham Hotspur completed its doubleheader day of friendlies with a 0-0 draw at League One side Luton Town this afternoon.
Using a split squad like many Major League Baseball sides do in the lead-up to the grueling 162-game season, Thomas Frank had his own version of this today.
With the first squad taking on Wycombe back at Hotspur Way — a game that resulted in a 2-2 draw — Frank got on the bus with other members of the squad and staff to Kenilworth Road for a 3 p.m. contest with former Premier
League foes Luton Town.
Putting forth a strong enough squad that would dictate the pace of the game, Jamie Donley came in last second for Destiny Udogie to fill in the left back role. But, for the majority of the first half, Spurs kept the League One side at bay as Kevin Danso and Mickey van de Ven controlled the backline.
Overall, the match was a snoozer, as neither side really created any dangerous moments, but the bright spots came from the duo of Mohammed Kudus and Mathys Tel. With Kudus playing out on the right and Tel floating around in the striker role to the left wing, the link-up play between the two brought the best attacking moment of the first half. Tel won the ball from a recycled defense and made a turn off his control towards the box. With Kudus running down the middle, Tel chipped a pass past the Luton defender and onto the feet of Kudus, who had his shot cleared off the line.
Antonín Kinský came on for Guglielmo Vicario in the second half to be between the sticks. And as the game progressed in the second half, Frank left his starters on the bench for 60-75 minutes, as he wanted his players to get some key minutes under their belt with the start of the season just weeks away.
The first sub of the match for Spurs came to 16-year-old Junai Byfield, who replaced Danso at right center back. Byfield connected with Tel — who came into a center mid role to call for the ball — who took off with the ball and sprayed a cross the pitch ball to Brennan Johnson out on the left.
As the game continued, Frank made a series of substitutions to allow the academy kids to showcase their skills.
This is how the final 15 minutes looked for Spurs:
Kinksy
Kyerenaten
Byfield
Roswell
Russell-Denny
Olusesi
Devine
Yang
Donley
Scarlett
Lankshear
In the closing minutes of the contest, Spurs had a chance to bag the winner, but Will Lankshear dragged his shot across the goal a little wide and outside the post.
Spurs now head off to Asia for the final leg of their summer tour, with Spurs taking on Premier League foes Arsenal on July 31st in Hong Kong and Newcastle United on August 3rd in South Korea.
The season is slowly creeping upon us, and although neither Spurs side got the win today, it is all about looking competent in what Thomas Frank is looking to build in his first year in charge.
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