ANTONIN KINSKY risked making English football look easy.
After all, the relatively unknown from the Czech Republic had become the first Tottenham goalkeeper in 101 years to keep a clean sheet in his first two games for the club.
He had been only the second stopper to stop Liverpool from scoring this season, after which he successfully repelled Tamworth's aerial bombardment.
But a whirlwind first week showed the 21-year-old IS fallible after two difficult moments helped Arsenal fight back for a thrilling 2-1 win in the north London derby.
First, Kinsky became the latest goalkeeper to fall victim to Nicolas Jover's set-piece specials, with Declan Rice's corner sailing over his head, allowing Gabriel to head the ball home to Dominic Solanke.
Then Slavia Prague's £12.5 million catch failed to keep out a well-hit but saveable shot from former Spurs target Leandro Trossard just before half-time.
It would be a bit harsh to call them blunders, especially given the relentless pressure Arsenal were putting on Kinsky.
But they have erased an otherwise spotless script since arriving 11 days ago to solve Ange Postecoglou's goalkeeping crisis.
Spurs accelerated their plans to bring in a new window stopper after Fraser Forster struggled to play out from the back as Postecoglou demanded.
That followed number 1 Guglielmo Vicario breaking his ankle in November's 4-0 win over Manchester City, with the Italian only returning at the end of February.
Kinsky was the man they were looking for, having been identified by technical director Johan Lange and chairman Daniel Levy who spent two days in Prague from New Year's Day to finalize a deal.
The son of a former Czech international, also named Antonin Kinsky, had helped Slavia go seven points clear.
He has already been compared to Petr Cech for his concentration and praised as excellent with his ambidextrous feet.
Postecoglou threw him straight on against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup last week, where he was excellent, even doing an early keepy-up over Diogo Jota's head.
His save from Darwin Nunez in injury time ensured that Arne Slot's team – who had won 6-3 at Spurs seventeen days earlier – only scored in the second game of this season.
Kinksy then faced a very different challenge on the plastic pitch at National League Tamworth.
And while Spurs were at work – needing extra time to win 3-0 – Kinsky impressively nullified the minnows' high-ball threat.
With the two shut-outs he equaled the performance of Spurs stopper Freddy Hinton in 1924.
On Friday, Postecoglou praised Kinksy for the way his presence in the penalty area had given “confidence” to the defense around him.
That was the case for much of last night as Kinsky punched, clawed and claimed on the set-piece deliveries that came his way.
But crucially he failed to get close to Rice's inswinger for Arsenal's equaliser, punishing Son Heung-min's controlled volley five minutes before half-time.
Four minutes later he will know that he could have done better with Trossard's drive.
However, it didn't dampen the young man's belief, as evidenced by a brave back heel when under pressure after the break.
Spurs games under Postecoglou are always fun to watch, especially now with their new man between the sticks.
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