It is fair to say that things could not have gone any better for Tottenham last night. Their bid to win this season’s F.A. Cup got underway in ideal fashion on Merseyside, as they made light work of a rather hapless Tranmere Rovers outfit.
In any game of this nature, the talk beforehand is always in regard to banana skins. However, there was no such slip up last night as Tottenham hit an incredible seven goal haul against their League Two counterparts yesterday evening.
A result that will have undoubtedly pleased Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, even more so when you consider that this was nowhere near what you would call a first choice starting eleven. Yes there were a smattering of senior internationals, but at the same time it was the ideal opportunity for the manager to rest and rotate.
It was pretty much all one way traffic from the start, although it looked like it could have been one of those evenings as both Hueng min-Son and Lucas spurned early chances to open the scoring for Tottenham. Spurned opportunities that would have given Tranmere some hope of getting something out of the game.
They would have felt that the longer they could hold their Premier League counterparts then the more that Tottenham would have been frustrated. A theory that almost rang true for the hosts, until Serge Aurier finally broke the deadlock on the stroke of halftime.
The Ivorian’s rasping effort from fully 25 yards flew into the top corner and it was a goal that just took the sting out of the game, from there it was about making sure that he and his teammates finished the job in the second half. Something that they certainly carried out.
A stunning six second half goals were scored as Tranmere capitulated in front of their own fans. Fernando Llorente got in on the act with a second half hat-trick, Aurier added his second, the tireless Son got a deserved goal and there was still time for who else but Harry Kane to come off the bench and finish the scoring.
Whether you feel that Kane needed to come on in a game of this magnitude can be argued, but considering he gets a healthy goal bonus then he would have been licking his lips at the opportunity to fatten up his pay slip for this month.
All in all it was a job very well done from Tottenham, professional but also ruthless. It may only be Tranmere and no disrespect to them, but if you can keep putting teams to the sword then it will put you in good stead for the final few furlongs of the season. Next up is Chelsea on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup Semi-final.