NEW-BOYS Mohammed Kudus and Luka Vuskovic sparkled on debut to hand Thomas Frank a winning start to his Tottenham reign.
wonderkid Vukskovic, 18, teed up Will Lankshear for Spurs’ opener, and then fired home their second himself.
Kudus meanwhile, who joined last week from London rivals for £55million, fired in the corner that led to the first goal before assisting Vuskovic to make it 2-0.
Both players looked very sharp – although the same could not be said for a rusty-looking .
Spurs played two different XIs for each half at a packed Select Car Leasing Stadium.
, whom Frank had described as “very committed”; to the club on Friday, captained an XI that read: Kinsky; Porro, Romero, Danso, Udogie; Sarr, Bentancur; Johnson, Devine, Moore; Solanke.
The 3,021 Spurs fans who turned up instantly sang songs proclaiming their ‘Champions of Europe’ status following May’s triumph.
Chairman , who had controversially sacked the man who had delivered that trophy, , and replaced him with Frank, watched on from the directors’ box, deep in conversation with Spurs’ technical director Johan Lange throughout.
In truth, it was a dull first half that very much reflected its pre-season status, but there were a few hints of what Frank may bring to Tottenham from a tactical perspective.
First of all, he went with two holding midfielders – something predecessor Postecoglou rarely did until the final stage of the Europa League.
While out of possession his formation looked to be a 4-4-2, similar to how his side would line up when without the ball.
The only real chance of the first 45 came shortly before the break, when former Manchester United goalkeeper Joel Pereira beat away a powerful Pape Sarr shot from close range.
Pedro Porro was also on the receiving end of a very unfriendly tackle by Mark O’Mahony, who cleaned out the Spaniard after the Spurs man had knocked the ball past him.
O’Mahony was booked and gave him a shove for good measure.
Frank gave his team-talk to the completely new side he put out for the second period on the pitch in a huddle at half-time.
His line-up read: Vicario; Spence, Vuskovic, Van de Ven, Davies; Bergvall, Bissouma; Kudus, Donley, Son; Lankshear.
Kudus and Vuskovic, who officially moved to the club this summer two years on from when his £12m switch from Hajduk Split had been agreed.
The switches quickly had an impact with Frank’s men going 2-0 up with nine minutes of the restart.
Spurs’ opener came from a set-piece, which must have pleased their new boss immensely given it is an area he is looking to improve.
Academy product Lankshear got the finishing touch, but it was set up by two new-boys.
Kudus fired in an outswinging corner which Vuskovic flicked on, allowing Lankshear to nod home.
Five minutes later, Kudus and Vuskovic linked up again with the man signed from West Ham for £55m laying the ball off for Vuskovic to steer beautifully into the corner.
It was a brilliant finish from a centre-back, or any player, but then again Vuskovic has goals in his locker, having netted seven on loan in Belgium with Westerlo last season.
The Croatia international then showed his defensive awareness with an important clearance to deny Andre Garcia’s header.
There has been a lot of scrutiny around the future of Son this summer and the South Korean struggled with his touch when coming on.
There was a bit of crowd trouble between the two sets of fans up in the corner of the Sir John Madejski Stand in the final ten minutes of the game, with a few bottles thrown.
But it did not take the shine off what was a good start for Frank – and for Kudus and Vuskovic in particular.
