Thomas Frank made the perfect start to life as Tottenham head coach as his side beat Reading 2-0 in his first game in charge.
A tepid first half at the Select Car Leasing Stadium made way for a more competitive second, with goals from Will Lankshear and summer signing Luka Vuskovic sealing victory against the Sky Bet League One side.
Mohammed Kudus – a £55m signing from West Ham last week – was introduced after the break and made a brilliant impact, with a hand in both goals.
The first half had a distinctly pre-season feel to it. Spurs had almost 70 per cent possession and Reading were largely chasing shadows, though they did well to protect Joel Pereira’s goal.
There were chances for the visitors; Dominic Solanke dangled a leg to meet a cross, which ended up with the ball on the roof of the net, before Pereira made a smart stop to deny Pape Matar Sarr at point-blank range, then punched a Mikey Moore shot that looked destined for the top-right behind.
Frank completely changed his team at the break, with Heung-min Son, Micky van de Ven and Kudus among those to join the action.
In his first press conference on Friday, the Dane had suggested he wanted to play an attacking brand of football, and that soon came to the fore.
There was significantly more purpose to their play in the second half, which resulted in the opener after 49 minutes, when Kudus’ corner was flicked on by Vuskovic to Lankshear, who headed past Joel Pereira.
Inside four minutes, it was two. Djed Spence moved the ball on to Kudus, who teed up Vuskovic to clinically sweep home.
Reading acquitted themselves well and had chances to get on the scoresheet, most notably in the final 10 minutes, when Guglielmo Vicario tipped a Ben Elliott shot over the bar, before denying Ashqar Ahmed with almost the final kick of the game.
Sky Sports to show 215 live Premier League games from next season
Watch more Premier League matches on Sky Sports ever before with 215 games live of the 2025/26 Premier League season.
From next season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.
And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games next season are on Sky Sports.
