BRENNAN JOHNSON got Spurs out of the brown stuff with his belting first-half strike here.
But goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario still offered up some hair-raising moments to leave Tottenham fans s***-scared this win would slip through their grasp.
Johnson had copped so much abuse after Sunday’s North London derby defeat to Arsenal he had shut off his Instagram account.
He then raced through to net an injury-time winner in Wednesday’s unconvincing Carabao Cup victory over Coventry.
It led to his boss Ange Postecoglou quipping that if Johnson’s critics had faced the pressure of running through on goal like the winger, “they would be looking for a change of pants pretty quickly”.
Johnson showed he had the stomach for this level by completing a quick turnaround, after Dominic Solanke’s first Spurs goal chalked off Bryan Mbeumo’s 22-second opener.
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Yet Vicario’s antics – which included him appearing to go unpunished for handling outside his box – meant it was a far from a spotless victory for Postecoglou’s side.
That was until the excellent James Maddison finished off a blistering counter-attack with four minutes to go.
Scraping through 2-1 against the Sky Blues in midweek only increased the need for a persuasive performance here to breathe new life into the Postecoglou project.
But the Aussie’s side suffered the worst possible start as Mbeumo’s brilliant volley gave Brentford a stunningly early lead.
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The Frenchman directed a cross from Keane Lewis-Potter – afforded too much room by the slack Micky van de Ven – into the far corner.
Just like Manchester City last week, Spurs were caught out by a goal on 22 seconds – suffering a football Catch-22, if you like.
City responded to that Yoane Wissa header with an Erling Haaland double before half-time, and Pep Guardiola’s men held onto that 2-1 lead for the rest of the game.
Spurs did exactly the same as far as the opening 45 was concerned, firing back through Solanke and Johnson.
Given the poor run of seven defeats in 11 league games stretching back to last season, you feared for Postecoglou if his side had crumbled from the early setback.
But it seemed to free them up to attack the way he always wants them to – that thrilling style that makes his football, when it is good, so pleasing on the eye.
Brentford did not help themselves though.
Ethan Pinnock, perhaps still feeling the effects of blocking a shot in a way no man would choose to, cocked up a pass which allowed Maddison to fire a shot that was saved weakly by Mark Flekken.
It allowed Solanke to stroke home his first Spurs goal since joining from Bournemouth for £65million on the rebound.
On 28 minutes Johnson made it two goals in a week.
The industrious Maddison won the ball back, allowing Son to lay the ball to Johnson who buried the ball into the far corner.
Johnson put his finger to his lips in a ‘sssh’ motion, presumably in reference to the flak he has received.
But the fans in the stadium – those who actually turn up rather than keyboard warriors – showed their support by loudly singing his name.
It was exciting to watch but this being Postecoglou’s Spurs – particularly at the moment – there was always the threat of something chaotic at the back costing them.
Goalkeeper Vicario was the man to provide the panicky moments here, giving fans kittens when the ball was at his feet.
At one point before the break, the Italian attempted to dribble along his goal-line and lost the ball to Fabio Carvalho, but made up for it by repelling Mbeumo’s shot.
Home fans even cheered ironically minutes later when Vicario took the safe option and booted the ball up field, such was their concern over his possession skills.
Then just before the hour came Vicario’s moment of madness which bizarrely went unpunished.
He leapt to try to claim a high ball near the edge of his area and then looked like he handled it outside of the box.
Referee John Brooks did not seem to think so and because it was not denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity, and so therefore not a red card offence, VAR could not intervene.
Brentford were incensed with both defender Kristoffer Ajer and boss Thomas Frank booked for dissent.
If that was the worst of Vicario, we then saw the best, shortly after a fizzing cross-shot from Johnson evaded Solanke and went just wide of the far post.
Bees sub Kevin Schade lost his marker Cristian Romero and aimed a free header towards the far post but Vicario brilliantly kept it out.
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Relative calm was finally brought about as Maddison finished off an explosive counter-attack in the final minutes, earning Postecoglou an important, if not the cleanest, of wins.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
