Results do not matter in friendly matches but there are always positives to be taken from them and certain Tottenham players will do so from their recent game against Motherwell.
Spurs hosted the Scottish Premiership side at their Hotspur Way training complex in Enfield for their first game since the 4-3 win against Leeds on November 12. Antonio Conte picked all of his fit non-World Cup players and watched on as they dominated in a 4-0 victory against their visitors.
While you cannot read too much into friendly encounters, here are five players we reckon will have at least benefited from the training ground game.
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Matt Doherty
With Ryan Sessegnon on his way back to full fitness and Ivan Perisic taking on Richarlison's Brazil in their World Cup quarter-final clash, Doherty took on the left wing-back role and caused Motherwell plenty of problems. He ended up as the game's top scorer with two goals - something even he seemed to laugh about after he planted the second goal into the net.
The Irishman struggled in the first half of this season to rediscover the form he was showing towards the end of the last campaign before that poor tackle by Aston Villa's Matty Cash injured his knee and left him with months of recovery.
Conte asks of his wing-backs that they are defenders when out of possession and auxiliary strikers and wingers when the team has the ball. Doherty did exactly that on Friday afternoon and his first goal showed his composure.
Yves Bissouma played a perfectly-weighted ball into the path of Dejan Kulusevski. The Swede found Bryan Gil and the diminutive dribbling Spaniard teed up the Irishman. Doherty cut inside, past two defenders, and hit a low shot with his right foot that rolled into the net. His second goal came during a period when he had shown yet more versatility, stepping into a role on the right of the back three for a spell. That gave him a different task at attacking set pieces and he duly accepted it, heading home Kulusevski's curling corner.
This performance will have provided a timely confidence boost at a time when Emerson Royal, another rival for the right wing-back slot, is out with a knock.
Bryan Gil
Gil was a constant pest, buzzing around the Motherwell backline and the Spaniard looked full of confidence, even when bringing the ball out of his own half, and he thoroughly deserved his clinical goal late in the first half.
He used the ball well throughout and provided a good outlet for his team-mates with his composure on the ball and his dribbling ability which proved too much for the Scottish visitors.
With his diminutive stature the 21-year-old Spaniard may never be Conte's cup of tea but there's no doubt of his football intelligence and his ability or that he can go on to become a terrific player.
The question will remain whether it will be at Tottenham. A loan move could be on the horizon in January if Spurs can bring in a more ready-made Conte-style attacker to supplement the front lines.
Djed Spence
The Spurs fans are desperate to see Djed Spence given a chance down the right under Conte and all he can do is take any opportunity he can to press his claims with Conte and show him that he can fulfil his high demands as a right wing-back.
While he did not face as stern a defensive test as he will in the Premier League, the 22-year-old showcased a lot of good work going forward against Motherwell. His footwork was particularly impressive, with technique that when allied with his pace gives him an immediate advantage over the opposition defender he is taking on.
Spence and Kulusevski showed plenty of promising moments of link-up play in this appearance together. The England U21 international put in a couple of dangerous early crosses before Kulusevski sent him clear midway through the half only for the goalkeeper to deny him as he tried to dink a shot over him.
In return he teed up Kulusevski for a chance before the half hour mark and sent a header across the box from Doherty's cross that White couldn't quite reach. Then in the second half he flashed a low cross across the face of the Motherwell goal.
It was an eye-catching performance from the young wing-back and vital minutes in his legs, but there is only one pair of eyes that matters and they belong to Conte.
Dejan Kulusevski
Dejan Kulusevski looked sharp from the off. He had promised to use this break to get himself back up to match fitness after his hamstring injury-enforced absence last month and he looks to have been true to his word.
You don't require a friendly match to quantify just how important the Swede has become for Tottenham but this was a reminder of just how much the game revolves around his performance. He was a dominant presence and every time the ball came to him he produced something exciting with it. He had a goal to his name just two minutes into the match when he picked up a loose ball, forced by the pressing of Gil, and he gratefully fired a low shot past the goalkeeper.
Kulusevski's fitness was clear to see as he covered plenty of ground and could easily have finished the game rather than come off with 16 minutes to go. He put Spence through for a big chance between Spurs' first two goals in the first half and was also involved in the build-up to Doherty's goal before teeing up Gil for Tottenham's third before the break. He then curled a pass into the path of Doherty for a second half chance before swinging in the corner the Irishman scored his second from.
After the game, Kulusevski hinted that Conte has been trying to bring in different ideas to implement for the second half of the season and he enjoyed that.
"I feel very good. It has been two hard weeks of a lot of training so this game was a little bit hard but it was very fun," he said. "As Matt said, we did it the right way, pressed good, played good with the ball, we have to improve and we did some new stuff that I like. So we keep working and it's going to be good weeks."
Yves Bissouma
Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg are set firmly as Conte's chosen midfield duo, but with the Uruguayan suspended and injured for the game at Brentford someone else will get a chance.
Yves Bissouma will be looking to take on that role ahead of the younger Oliver Skipp and both looked bright against Motherwell. Skipp mopped up everything in his more natural anchorman role and Bissouma was a machine in a box to box display, setting up chances for others and pressing high up the pitch in an impressive, energetic performance.
Brentford and Aston Villa will provide far sterner tests in the weeks ahead but this might have just reminded Conte that Bissouma and Skipp are very good players when they're used in the right positions.
Bissouma was one of the Premier League's best midfielder while at Brighton but is yet to rediscover that form at Tottenham. After this mini pre-season with Conte and a chance against Brentford, he might just find the spark to reignite under the Italian.
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