Anyone who has played at any level of football has at one time done this: A goalie or a defender has the ball, you’re playing against a team that aggressively presses, and you “call” for the ball from a position where you know the player on the ball will never find you. The brave thing to do would be to match the defensive aggression with your own movement and demand the ball, regardless of the immediate threat you’ll likely face when you receive the ball.

For twenty minutes after scoring against Burnley on the opening day of the season, Tottenham’s play regressed for exciting attacking play to a ponderous and uninspiring period when touches by the central defenders must have been three of four times more than any other player. This period allowed Burnley to recover from an inspired start by Tottenham and gain a foothold in the game that looked to derail and otherwise impressive start to the season.

What changed then?

Lucas Bergvall decided to be brave.

The midfield pairing of Gray and Bergvall was a surprising one, and looked to possibly be misplaced faith placed by Frank in these two young but promising players. For a twenty minute period, the Tottenham defenders seems to only have the option to pass between themselves, back to the keeper, or play a slow ball out to a full back – all of which only invited greater pressure from the Burnley attackers, and saw the momentum of a quick start rapidly dissipate.

Then all of a sudden Lucas Bergvall began to show and demand the ball – he picked spaces between the midfield and attacking press of Burnley, and he turned and he ran. He didn’t play the easy ball back to his defender, he broke the lines. His most exciting attacking move came from some beautiful movement and running with the ball to receive it from the excellent Richarlison’s hold up play.

The reason I have chosen to write a whole article highlighting the importance of this, is that with Spurs currently lacking a recognised, experienced playmaker, Spurs will be reliant on the sort of play Bergvall demonstrated to come from unexpected sources. While Kudus’ debut will fill Spurs fans with hope that he will be a rich attacking outlet, an over reliance on their right wing will inevitably lead to teams cheating their defence to cover, to double teams and will require adaption and other players to be bold to utilise the space that makes available.

Eberechi Eze’s career thus far has been filled with the kind of brave, bold play that Bergvall showed, but until he signs, Tottenham will need their young Swede to show the kind of bravery he did yesterday – the moment of brilliance he has already demonstrated to be capable of will be key to turning a loss to a draw, draws to losses and see Spurs deliver on the strong promise their early season performance has suggested they are capable of