Less than 24 hours after Harry Kane opened his Bundesliga account with a goal and an assist, Tottenham won the battle between What Was and What Might Have Been. An opportunist strike by Pape Matar Sarr and a scruffy Lisandro Martinez own goal decided a game which could have seen a hatful of goals at either end if either side had the England skipper at the spearhead of their attack.
United had been expected to fight for his signature all summer but went instead for Rasmus Hojlund – an unproven talent as far as the Premier League is concerned and one who arrived injured from Atalanta. Tottenham, on the other hand, having finally got what they wanted for their major asset and decided it was money they did not need to reinvest, look in more troubled straits.
For all the euphoria surrounding new manager Ange Postecoglou’s home debut, not least the raw energy and attacking flair of a new-look side under the Australian, one thing was missing. A main man.
Richarlison, tasked with filling the void left by Kane in the absence of any deadline-busting activity from Daniel Levy, is struggling. After failing to hide his displeasure at being substituted late in a game in which he never really got involved, he admitted as much to the comfort of a Brazilian reporter from ESPN.
“I think the fans have to be a little patient,” Richarlison said. “It’s not easy to replace an idol like Harry Kane, that time is normal. Like it or not, a match in which I don’t score a goal, they’re going to miss him.