Spurs get their FIRST WIN of the season 🔥 Tottenham vs. Coventry City REACTION | ESPN FC

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ESPN FC on Spurs' first win: result over performance, Madison's return and the Chelsea derby

The panel discusses Tottenham's first win of the season against Coventry, agreeing that the result mattered far more than the performance. James Madison's return and the energy from the bench are seen as key positives, while Coventry's passivity helped Spurs. Looking ahead to the Chelsea derby, the panel sees Chelsea as stronger on paper but warns against complacency.

Steve Nicol, Shaka Hislop and Mario Melchiot join Alexis Nunes on ESPN FC to discuss Tottenham’s 3-1 win over Coventry City and if this performance can build momentum for the rest of the Premier League season. ✔️ Subscribe to ESPN Unlimited: https://plus.espn.com/ ESPN ESPNFC

Transcript

Beaten comprehensively. >> Beaten comprehensively indeed. But Tottenham Hotspur, as I said, the big news. Finally, a big win and a big three points for Deserby and his men. Just have a look at the bottom half of the standings. It's enough to take them well out of the relegation zone, but only just on six points in 16th spot. All right. Well, let's welcome in Mario Melkia, who's also joining us. But Stevie, I'm going to start with you. Spurs with their first win. Massive sigh of relief for the deserve. >> Yeah, absolutely huge. Uh certainly wasn't silky soccer at its finest. But you know what? You when you're in the position that Tottenham are in, they don't care. Yeah. >> And nobody, whether it's the fans, whether it's the staff, certainly the owners, they don't care about the performance. They care about the result. And at the end of the game, they probably deserved it. Uh I was a little surprised that Coventry with 20 minutes to go when they go 2-1 down didn't really >> force the game because there was absolutely jitters amongst the Tottenham players. You know, they were all running around looking as though they wanted the ball, but I'm not so sure they all did and Coventry made it too easy for them in those latter stages. But again, who cares? They won the game. They're out the bottom three and it's onwards and upwards if you suppose. >> Mario, mentally this would do a world of good for Spurs. Oh, definitely. I think you know like when they went up you could see already the reaction um medicine they were waiting you understand for the I will call him dead diamond because they were very happy because if you look at the game like what Stevie said it was a lot of hard work of them and it was maybe his influence of bringing a little bit more quality in the team. So that was one of the key things and then afterwards if you saw the substitution that the Serby was making he brought on the other side he took medicine off uh Gallagher came on you know the middle of the park he put more energy in it because this was a game purely based on that kind of factor for me because it was like who's going to bring more who's going to work harder who's going to bring more energy because it's not it wasn't a great game to watch but it was business was done and you could see the Zerby already when he when they equalized he was already down but then you could see when they scored But it it changes everything because they needed this win. >> They needed this win indeed. Shaka and James Madison came back for the first time as we said, first Premier League start since 2025 and kind of just reminding everyone exactly the kind of player he is. It >> it was a really welltaken goal um to to his credit gave the time out that he had to endure to renounce himself I thought is exactly what he needed, what Spurs needed, what Zerby needed, what those fans continue to pay their money to see. Oh, all in all, I I think without question Spurs deserve to to win this game. A little surprised by a couple of things in the game. At times I thought Spurs were dominant throughout. They certainly had the lion share possession, but seemed a little bit reluctant to really have a go at Coventry dur during the course of the game, which which surprised me a lot given given how well they were playing or at least how much they were controlling the game. Steve spoke about Coventry and and even when they were trailing, they seemed to be a little bit reluctant. Again, hugely surprising given their result against Newcastle last week. I thought they'd be looking to build on that. Everybody has to know how poor Spurs record is in this stadium. How these fans can turn quickly, yet you never really got a sense of urgency from Coventry. I thought they'd come on the blocks flying again, given the given the the game where it is and and those fans once the game settled. I thought they would try to have moments. They just never did. Um and and that for me just kind of played into to Spurs's hands. Now they have a result. They have that win. They're out in the bottom three. All great psychologically given the week that they had. We spoke about the Zerby taking the team away. Um the expectation now is to continue to build on this but it was a poor coventry. Spurs now have to if they have if to match the ambition of their spending in the summer they still have a lot of work to do. >> A lot of work to do and Stevie I'm sure a lot of work was put in for James Madison as well as Dian Klesvki to come back from injury after over a year out. Just mentally, physically, how hard is it for what we saw today? Well, I think absolutely it's a a mental thing. Uh in terms of their the physical state then there's no question with with with all the coaching staff, with all the the medical staff, the whole thing, there's no question they were >> Mhm. >> from a physical standpoint ready. As a player, you're never sure until you step on the field. And we know exactly how Madison felt. >> Yeah. because that real touch of quality is what has been missing from Spurs in the final third all season long. Uh in terms of Kulleski, you could see that he had a couple of 100 meter runs and by the end he was blowing a little. The fact that the fact he wasn't over that long was probably a good thing. But yeah, for him as well, again, it's a mental thing. Once you get once you get a game behind you, you get get on the field and then >> nothing goes wrong, then all of a sudden you you're kind of back to normal. But there's no question James Madison between now and and the the rest of the season is going to be key because they >> right now are are struggling for quality in the final third and absolutely he can deliver it. >> Oh, I love what Stevie said. He said at the end he was like steaming because people sometimes forget like we train so hard to get ready to be fit again and then when we get the opportunity I tell you one sprint and we are tired and it and people say like but how can you be tired you just came on because you haven't played that long so it takes minimum like playing in the Premier League it takes you about three games three 90 minutes full games you got to play before you up to your speed of your normality but for him to be out that long it maybe takes him four for five games it will take him to get him back. So after one sprint, oh trust me, next game he's back on that run again and we going to look at him again and say like, "Hey dude, you're going at it again." I know it Steve is right. >> Well, we know that a lot was also made of their mid-season camp in Marva. Told you last week you did say that they needed to come back with a win and so said so done, Stevie. when teams go away and they enjoy themselves, it's always on it's always the thought is in your mind, right? We need to make sure we do well here otherwise we won't get another trip and yet again it's come up trumps they've ended up with with the three points and as Shaka said they did deserve it. >> Yeah. But Coventry helped them along the way in my opinion because >> at the very time we about 15 20 minutes to go when they were 2-1 up there was a little lull and they weren't quite sure Tottenham whether to go after it or whether to be safe and they kind of got lost. They weren't really going anywhere and Coventry stood off them. So yeah, the break absolutely worked the treat but thanks very much Coventry for letting that happen. >> No, no, no. He'd be knocking on De's door. Can we go another trip? >> We should have. >> Hey, LOOK AT LOOK AT WANTS TO GO ON HOLIDAY. I'm telling you to go to the airport. I'm going straight to the airport on the door. >> Shaka loves a trip. Mario, as >> I >> go ahead, Mario. >> Marba in a bad place. So, I think we might lose him out there. So, we don't want to bring him there. >> No, we won't. We'll say what happens in Marba stays in Marba. But Mario, I want to talk to you about who Spurs have next because as Stevie just said, Coventry kind of helped them along to get this win. But up next, they do have Chelsea and I don't think Chelsea will be that helpful. >> No, because you know like when you that rifere will stay for for forever. You understand? And I think it's one of the the games that it does not matter how the the the league goes. That's we have to always remember that even if you play a derby, you can have the worst season, but when that game comes up, you kind of do everything to win that game. So, in a way, I don't think Chelsea needs to go into that game too confident. But are they steps ahead of of of Spurs? Yeah, definitely. You understand? That's that's just no one have to, you know, think or break his head about it. So, it's going to be a tough one for Spurs. The only thing is like they have to make sure that they don't get embarrassed and Chelsea have to make sure that they don't embarrass themselves by thinking like, hey, we're confident, we're doing well and we're going to walk right over them. But if not, yeah, if I look on the on the if I put two papers next to each other, yeah, Chelsea win that game.