Harry Kane described Christian Eriksen s impact off the bench as perfect as he helped Tottenham come from a goal down to beat Aston Villa on Saturday.
Spurs were trailing 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when Eriksen, whose future remains uncertain, was brought on as a substitute.
The Denmark international impressed in attack and it was his cross that eventually led to debutant Tanguy Ndombele firing in a debut goal to level the scores.
Captain Kane struck twice in the closing stages to secure a 3-1 victory and ensure a positive start to the season for last term s Champions League finalists.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Kane praised the way Eriksen, who has long been linked with a move to Real Madrid, controlled Spurs attacking tempo.
We know what Christian s like, he said. I ve been playing with him for five, six years now.
His quality on the ball, assists and goals He came on and dictated the pace and for me it s perfect.
We started the second half with a high tempo, and when Tanguy got his goal it was full throttle until the end. We stayed in the game, created a few chances and thankfully a few came to me and I put them away.
2010 John McGinn is the first Scottish player to score on his debut since Matt Phillips in September 2010 (for Blackpool vs Blackburn). Hero.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
Spurs had been trailing through John McGinn s well-taken first-half goal, although Villa ultimately could not keep up their impressive defensive effort as fatigue seemed to take its toll.
We d have swapped it for a different result, said McGinn. We gave a good account of ourselves, but we need to be a bit braver going forward and stop the mistakes. A team like Tottenham punishes you.
Speaking of his goal, the former Hibs man admitted: It s surreal. It s been quite a nice journey for me a few years ago I was playing in the Scottish Championship, so to score at a stadium like this for my first Premier League goal was obviously an incredible moment for me.
We had confidence, it s just a bit of an eye-opener that the jump up to the Premier League is massive. You can t let Harry Kane go free in the box. The whole team is to blame; it s not just individual mistakes.
For Kane and Spurs, the focus now is on building a run of results at the start of the season, so they can challenge for a first trophy since the 2008 EFL Cup.
It s the first game but it s always nice to win, at home as well, he said. We know we have the quality, we have been in big games. It s down to us players to perform on the pitch.
