Andoni Iraola is a demanding manager, but even he had to admit he "liked almost everything" about the display from **Bournemouth**in North London as Spurs showed few signs of spark in a 1-0 loss.
‘It’s a good start to the season'
Iraola insisted that he had almost nothing negative to say about the first away victory of the campaign.
“Very pleased with the performance especially, The points are always important but especially now at the beginning of the season you have to trust the performances and I liked almost everything today.”
**Evanilson**ran down the left channel of the box to bury the ball in the back of the net inside the first five minutes. The manager mentioned how making a sharp start supported the ambitions of his group.
“Scoring early makes your game probably easier in the sense of gives you some confidence and boost of energy. But I we haven't even conceded chances against a team that is very good, plays very well.”
The one area for improvement will be efficiency. Almost as soon as **Evanilson**scored, Antoine Semenyo steered a header from a brilliant David Brooks cross over the bar. The left winger would force a flying save from Guglielmo Vicario at the start of the second half, while Brooks nearly caught him out with a free kick and saw a second half effort smash the bar as Spurs stayed in the game.
“That’s something to work on. It’s something they could have punished at the end. Every chance we missed normally in this kind of stadiums when you are missing chances there is a moment you regret. We were finishing very tired with some players cramping but I don't think we deserve to concede.”
It was a similar story to the nervy ending against **Wolves**last week. Iraola had also said pre-match that if his players pulled ahead, he did not want them to give hope back to Spurs after coughing up a two goal lead last season. He walked away successful this time, but with the same criticism in mind.
“I don't know if one of our very best games but if you analyse offensively defensively how the game has gone is like a solid performance of a good team but it's true to be better we should have scored.”
But there was little to critique at this stage of the season: Spurs could not register a single shot in the first half. It was the perfect reaction to a midweek 2-0 defeat against **Brentford**in the Carabao Cup.
“It was important. It's true that we changed almost all the team. I made the mistake to change too many players in the cup competition and there is no the cup competition doesn't give you a second chance. So this we cannot solve it. But it's true I wanted a bit of reaction. We are not happy the same way we won the other day in the league. I expected to start strong and it gives us a good platform.”
Heading into the first international break, the Basque believes that his players are in a good position.
*“The three Premier League games we've really had good very good performances. I would say even the first game that we lost in Anfield I saw our team, our strengths, the bad note there of the Carabao Cup, but overall it's a good start to the season for us knowing that we still have a lot of work to do.”*