Tottenham began life without Harry Kane with an entertaining 2-2 draw at Brentford on Sunday to start Ange Postecoglou’s reign in charge.
Cristian Romero headed Spurs in front early on, but the Bees bounced back to lead through Bryan Mbeumo’s penalty and Yoane Wissa.
Emerson Royal’s strike leveled the scores again before half-time and both sides had to settle for a point to begin the Premier League season.
Kane’s departure to Bayern Munich on Saturday had overshadowed the build-up to Postecoglou’s first competitive game as Spurs manager.
The Australian’s daring, front-foot approach that has won league titles in his homeland, Japan, and, most recently, in Scotland with Celtic was already in evidence.
However, so were a series of defensive deficiencies that Brentford could have made more of. For the second time in two days, the start to a Premier League game was delayed.
After Arsenal’s problems with an e-ticketing system ahead of their game against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, this time the delay was caused by no running water at the GTech Community Stadium.
