The Ange Postecoglou era at Tottenham began in entertaining but ultimately losing fashion as West Ham picked up a 3-2 win in Perth.
Back in his home country, Postecoglou named a strong lineup in Spurs’ opening pre-season fixture, Harry Kane leading the line and James Maddison among those handed debuts. Jarrod Bowen started for West Ham, with Danny Ings partnering Divin Mubama up front.
Tottenham had much the better of the first half too, but went into the break two goals down, as headers from Danny Ings and Divin Mubama made them pay for some poor set-piece defending.
Cristian Romero, Oliver Skipp, Yves Bissouma and Manor Solomon, impressive on debut, all had big chances for Spurs, but none were able to convert in a wasteful showing.
Postecoglou made 11 changes at the break but the pattern was the same, Spurs continuing to create chances at regular intervals. Giovani Lo Celso pulled one back as he volleyed past Lukasz Fabianski, before Destiny Udogie marked his first appearance for the club with an equaliser a couple of minutes later, flicking a header into the far corner.
At that point, with 20 minutes remaining, a Spurs winner felt almost inevitable, as they finally began to make their dominance count.
But it was at the other end that the goal came. Pablo Fornals slide a ball through Tottenham’s high line for Gianluca Scamacca, who made no mistake with the finish to make it three wins from three for West Ham in pre-season.
