Premier League

BURNLEY 2 (Foster 4, Brownhill 90+4)
TOTTENHAM 5 (Son 16, 63, 66, Romero 45+2 Maddison 54)

LAST summer, Tottenham spent £60million on centre-forward Richarlison. It was seen as a large outlay for a player who would be a stand-in for Harry Kane.

With hindsight, it appears that the transfer was with one eye on Kane leaving. And when the England captain stayed, Richarlison was often left on the bench.

Now, four games into the new season, the understudy looks like he has stage fright when asked to take on the lead role.

Richarlison was dropped for Saturday’s 5-2 win away at Burnley: one explanation offered up being that he had been struggling with a minor knock.

But with captain Heung-Min Son stepping into Richarlison’s position and scoring a hat-trick, is the Brazilian about to be handed another bout of bench warming after the international break?

With the signing of Brennan Johnson from Nottingham Forest, and Manor Solomon knocking on the door for one of the forward roles, Richarlison’s chance to be the main man seems to be slipping away.

Spurs have been in a similar situation before. In 2007, it was clear Manchester United were sniffing around Dimitar Berbatov, and pre-empting a bid, Tottenham went out and bought Charlton’s Darren Bent for £16m – which was big money back then.

But Berbatov stayed put for another season, leaving Tottenham with a striker-heavy squad that included Bent, Jermain Defoe, Robbie Keane and Berbatov. Bent never had the chance to get into his groove and looked like a waste of money. Could this now be happening to Richarlison?

Ange Postecoglou’s team are a very different breed to the bore-you-to-death sides seen in recent seasons, yet against Burnley we were reminded of the curious soft underbelly of Antonio Conte’s side: Spurs were always keen to give the opposition a head start while the players recalled what they had been asked to do, and that was the case at Turf Moor.

Postecoglou has said that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is silly, and he has changed things in a short time in terms of personnel, formation and atmosphere.

And that is why when Tottenham went a goal down after just four minutes in Lancashire following a clinical finish from Lyle Foster, instead of being “the same old Spurs”, it felt out of synch and prompted the perfect riposte.

There was not going to be any dropped heads, and no grumpy manager on the sidelines waiting to bemoan the poor hand he had been dealt: instead, just the large and re-assuring presence of Big Ange.

And how the players responded. Straight from the re-start they shook the shock off by upping the pace.

On 16 minutes, Son, preferred to Richarlison through the middle with Solomon making his first start on the left, got his side level. Pedro Porro fired a perfectly weighted ball into his path, Son played the one-two with Solomon, and then dinked a finish over Burnley stopper James Trafford.

Burnley steadied, but their defensive rearguard was breached as the first-half wound down. A James Maddison corner created a game of penalty box pinball. A clearance fell to Cristian Romero in space, and from distance he walloped a shot into the top corner.

In the second half, Spurs stretched their legs and their lead. Maddison increased the gap after the visitors broke down a Burnley attempt to play out from the back. Destiny Udogie squared the ball to Maddison, who needed no second look as he gracefully guided a curling effort home.

Things got worse for Vincent Kompany’s men – and possibly Richarlison – as Son bagged two more goals in two minutes, the last being a beautiful team move that saw the ball stroked down the pitch before Son completed the 15-pass move with a clinical finish.

Josh Brownhill’s neat finish pulled one back for Burnley in stoppage time, but it was no more than a consolation.

Speaking after the match, Postecoglou said: “Today was a real testament to Sonny, Madders and Romero, the way they embraced that responsibility not just with words but with actions, and not just on game day but on a daily basis.

“That’s as encouraging for me as anything because as good as they are individually they have team spirit and that’s important for me. Madders is so creative and he showed how clinical he is in front of goal and his preparedness to work hard for the team is a great example.”

Spurs next entertain Sheffield United on September 17 following the international break and then head to Arsenal. The new Ange-era looks good and ready to take on such stiff tests.

Burnley: Trafford, Al Dakhil, O’Shea, Beyer (Cork, 74), Roberts, Gudmundsson (Delcroix, 45), Cullen, Berge (Brownhill, 45), Koleosho (Larsen, 68), Amdouni (Redmond, 60), Foster
Substitutes not used: Rodriguez, Benson, Odobert, Muric

Tottenham: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Sarr (Hojbjerg, 68), Bissouma, Kulusevski (Skipp, 86), Maddison (Royal, 86), Solomon (Perisic, 68) Son (Richarlison, 72)
Substitutes not used: Forster, Davies, Sanchez, Phillips