Five things we learned from the loss against Man United in Shanghai

Tottenham Hotspur took on fellow Premier League outfit Manchester United in the Shanghai heat this afternoon, as they looked to build on their International Champions Cup victory over Juventus earlier this week.

Unfortunately, goals from Anthony Martial and Angel Gomes made Lucas Moura’s strike irrelevant, handing Spurs their first loss of pre-season.

Let’s look at the five talking points from the match:

Poch reveals his favourites – 

It seems as if Pochettino has a few favourites from the academy this pre-season, perhaps hinting at who will feature on the fringes of the first team this season. Troy Parrott, Japhet Tangaga, Anthony Georgiou, and Kyle Walker-Peters have all started both pre-season matches so far. It would look as if those four, along with Oliver Skipp, are the favourites under Poch at the moment.

Fight at right-back –

With Walker-Peters starting the first half and Juan Foyth for part of the second half, it seems to be a straight fight between those two for the starting right-back spot come the new season, with Aurier yet to return to training. However, Walker-Peters will have the upper hand, as Foyth is banned for the first two matches of the Prem season.

Problem at left-back –

As this pre-season rolls on, it becomes stranger and stranger than Danny Rose is being allowed to explore his options away from Spurs. Anthony Georgiou doesn’t look like a left-back to me, Ben Davies is still recovering, and there is no sign of Ryan Sessegnon as of yet. It is a little worrying to see the likes of Georgiou and Harvey White occupying the left-back area for the entirety of pre-season.

Troy Parrott –

The more I see this kid, the more I think he should definitely be Harry Kane’s back-up this season. Not only has he impressed when Kane is off the pitch, but he linked up well with Harry and Dele today too. He should have had his second assist in as many games, but Alli squandered the chance. Big things to come from Parrott.

Eriksen returns –

Christian Eriksen made his first appearance in pre-season today after recovering from an injury of his own. The Great Dane appears to be staying put in North London for the time being and looked pretty sharp in his first run out. It remains to be seen whether he will be in the starting line up come August though.

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