It was Joao Palhinha on the edge of the Tottenham Hotspur box flying in to block Ross Barkley, who looked set to shoot, on the edge of the Tottenham Hotspur box. His celebration afterwards, kneeling and pumping his arms, was met with the travelling support chanting his name.
It was Rodrigo Bentancur floating around the middle of the park, faultless when he had possession and directing traffic and tempo without it.
It was Conor Gallagher, who almost signed for Aston Villa in January, delivering his first decisive moment in a Spurs shirt at Villa Park, firing low and controlled into the bottom corner from the edge of the box to open the scoring.
Much of the discussion leading into Tottenham’s 2-1 win at Villa Park was centred on how they could possibly cope without Xavi Simons, who De Zerbi described as one of their “best” and “most important players” since coming into the starting line-up for the 2-2 draw with Brighton and Hove Albion.
Simons — like James Maddison, who was again named in the matchday squad at Villa but has not played a competitive match for more than a year, and Dejan Kulusevski, who is still without a return date having been injured since last May — is set for a long spell on the sidelines as he recovers from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
Without the creative talents of their injured No 10s, Tottenham needed to be dogged and determined, and deliver just enough quality to win a Premier League game.
And in that, it was Roberto De Zerbi’s midfielders who led by example.
Before Sunday, Tottenham had not won back-to-back league games since beating Burnley and Manchester City in their first two games of the season. Perhaps that 2-0 win at the Etihad Stadium was the last time Tottenham played this well in the league. Fittingly, it was the ‘Bentinha’ pivot, which swarmed Nico Gonzalez, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki and prevented Pep Guardiola’s side from building from the back, which inspired that win, too.
Palhinha is congratulated by Roberto De Zerbi (Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
Justifiably, the Bentancur-Palhinha pairing became one that many Spurs fans were content to see the back of. Before suffering a hamstring injury in January, the ‘Bentinha’ label was synonymous with the elements of Thomas Frank’s football Spurs fans hated: slow, sideways, unimaginative. Particularly at home, where Tottenham have been under par for successive seasons, Bentancur and Palhinha were challenged to hurt the opposition with the ball, but lacked the invention or tactical direction to progress through the middle of the pitch.
At Villa Park, their roles appeared to maximise their strengths and minimise their weaknesses, with Palhinha dropping back into the defensive line, allowing Pedro Porro, a more gifted technician, to push ahead into the right half-space, while Bentancur relieved pressure on team-mates, providing an outlet in possession.
In Manchester, it was Pape Matar Sarr who buzzed around ahead of them, crunching into every tackle, driving the press and hunting down every loose ball. In Birmingham, Gallagher was the workhorse No 10.
Even when he appeared to be running on fumes, Gallagher drove the team forward with a maniacal press. He led the team in defensive contributions, registering one interception and one block, three tackles and a remarkable six recoveries in midfield.
“When Gallagher plays like this, we play with 12 players because you can find him as a striker, as a midfielder, as a full-back, everywhere on the pitch you can find him,” De Zerbi said in his post-match press conference. “Great player, great passion, great qualities.”
It’s the type of performance Tottenham have been waiting for from the England international. De Zerbi has consistently namechecked Gallagher in his press conferences, hoping to see the midfield dynamo who impressed him as a Chelsea player, and his faith in his qualities, in and out of possession, was repaid in a man-of-the-match performance.
Under Frank and Igor Tudor, £35million on Gallagher appeared a careless waste of money. But having been rejuvenated under the Italian, he delivered a performance and a goal that could save Spurs much more than that sum.
While it is true that Villa may have had their eyes on the Europa League semi-final second-leg on Thursday, with Unai Emery resting seven players in a manner reminiscent of Ange Postecoglou’s rotation leading to Tottenham’s triumph in Bilbao, Spurs, led by their dominant midfield, were comfortable and convincing in a manner they have rarely been since the Australian’s first season in charge in north London.
Aston Villa could not get to grips with Rodrigo Bentancur (Michael Steele/Getty Images)
“I’m really pleased for the performance with the ball, without the ball,” said De Zerbi. “Without the ball, we showed great courage; with the ball, great qualities. I’m happy for this type of performance, more than three points. Okay, we are one point more than West Ham. But the most important thing today, tonight, is to play a great game, to believe more and more in ourselves, to believe in our qualities.”
Ahead of the game, De Zerbi said it would not be a miracle if they beat Villa. But perhaps the miracle is helping a team bereft of confidence, symbolised by a midfield that lacked the vigour to offset an absence of magic, believe in themselves again. Like Postecoglou, who was sniggered at for his second-season trophy prophecy until it came true, De Zerbi suggesting Tottenham could win all five of their matches this season after the deflating Brighton draw seemed ludicrous.
Now, the fans and the players believe it. And if there are still some doubters, at least they believe he believes it — which is just as important.
