It appears that the goals are going to flow for Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham team in the 2023/24 campaign if their performances in pre-season are anything to go by. Having a total of 69 shots on goal in the two games on their Asia-Pacific tour as they dominated proceedings against West Ham and Lion City Sailors, Spurs had 32 attempts, with 20 of them on target, in Sunday's 5-1 triumph over Shakhtar Donetsk.
Again, Tottenham were in total control with 68 per cent of possession and they passed their opponents off the park with twice as many passes (734 to 359) as they hit 92 per cent for pass accuracy. Harry Kane may have only notched one penalty in their first two pre-season fixtures but he was in top form against Shakhtar as he found the net four times.
Replaced by Dane Scarlett for the closing stages, it was the Tottenham youngster who capped off the scoring with a well-taken strike on the cusp of full-time. Whereas Kane was out in front by some way last season when it came to Tottenham's goalscorers, there should be a greater share of goals this time around with all of Spurs' attackers having good opportunities on goal this summer.
One player who will be looking for a major increase on last season's tally is Dejan Kulusevski, who joined the club on a permanent £25.6m deal in June after his initial loan spell that cost £8.5m. Only managing two goals in all competitions last season after previously making such an impact in his first four months of his Spurs loan following Fabio Paratici's transfer masterstroke, the Swede will be intent on having a big say in Spurs reclaiming a place in Europe.
If they are to get back into Europe after the woes of last season, Kulusevski has a major role to play for the Lilywhites as he makes Tottenham tick. Postecoglou's football philosophy suits him down to the ground and the appointment of the Australian may well bring out the very best in the 23-year-old once again.
Tottenham fans will be hoping that Kulusevski's showing in the 5-1 win over Shakhtar bodes well for the coming season as he was virtually unplayable at times against Patrick van Leeuwen's team. On the front foot from the start and taking the game to Shakhtar, the attacker teed up Kane for an early chance before testing the goalkeeper with an effort himself midway inside the first half.
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His performance went from strength to strength after the break, with the ex-Parma man getting two assists to his name. His first was quite simply sublime as he slipped Kane in for his hat-trick with a delicate pass from the edge of the box that nutmegged his opponent to give Spurs' No.10 a sight on goal.
Pulling the strings and incredibly unlucky not to get a goal for himself after cutting inside a couple of times and testing Dmytro Riznyk at his near post, Kulusevski's final contribution of the match came in the dying minutes as he swung in the ball from the right that Scarlett expertly took down before scoring on the swivel.
Toying with Shakhtar at times throughout the game and looking more like his old self after more subdued performances vs West Ham and Lion City Sailors, Kulusevski has given Tottenham fans a glimpse of what could just be around the corner as the team prepare for the new campaign. If he can recapture his old form and even surpass the incredible levels he produced in his first few months at the club, his influence on what Postecoglou is trying to achieve in north London could be massive.
It's not just his work in an attacking sense that pleased his head coach, with Postecoglou outlining in an interview with SPURSPLAY after the 5-1 win that Kulusevski and Son also put in the work defensively to help the team out.
"When you see the intent of the boys, it's not just about having one attack, it's about having waves of attacks," he explained. "It's when you have the opposition on the back foot that you don't take that moment to sort of slow things down.
"There were a couple of moments in the first half where I thought we did that really well, you can see how aggressive our back four were. It means at times we're going to be caught on the counter attack but again, as long as we're prepared to work hard defensively and run back. Especially in the second half I just thought they clicked into it a lot better.
"You saw Deki and Sonny were working hard with our full-backs to shut down those wide areas and I thought Madders' pressing, his football is unbelievable, but his pressing was really good in the second half and that set the tone for us. I think for all the team when you see your attacking players doing those things it kind of inspires everyone else to work hard.
"That's the kind of things I look for, it's not the stuff we know they can do as the attacking players are so creative and can score goals. When I see them working hard it gives me the encouragement that they are getting what we want to do."
Getting plenty of encouragement from Kulusevski in the win over the Ukrainian team, Postecoglou will be hoping for more of the same on Sunday when Tottenham begin their Premier League campaign away at Brentford. If he can take his form from the Shakhtar triumph into the game in west London, Thomas Frank and his Bees team may have a big problem on their hands.
