"Tottenham Hotspur strolled to a rather uneventful three nil victory on their return to European Club Competition" is a sentence that was never likely to be written by anyone covering the club but even by Spurs standards of chaos Thursday nights game was something else.
OK, so even I can't blame ENIC for the serious accident that caused the A10 to be closed near to the junction with the North Circular Road and for trains from Cheshunt and Enfield being severely disrupted. This meant that with the kick-off time approaching the opposition hadn't even made it to the ground. I'm not sure where they were staying but their coach (the bloke in the tracksuit, not the fifty-two seat mode of transport) said after the game that the journey had taken two and a half hours. Welcome To London.
All this led to a kick off delayed to 8.35pm. By 8.43pm Spurs were down to ten men. Radu Dragusin let a simple pass from Ben Davies run passed him, Juninho (not the Middlesborough one unfortunately) swooped to take the ball from him, Radu panicked, brought him down, and being the last man had to go. I might be wrong but I can't remember a Tottenham player being sent off earlier in a match.
Shortly afterwards Ange replaced a clearly gutted Bergvall with Odogie as we re-arranged the defence. Whilst this was going on Solanke pressed brilliantly to win the ball, drive forward, make a nice pass to Johnson who placed the ball accurately into the corner for his third goal in three games. I'm old enough to remember that both Chris Waddle and Sonny himself really struggled when they first joined the club. Both went on to be two of the best we've ever had. Not everyone starts like a house on fire, so I'm hoping this is the beginning of Johnson making all those trolls eat their words.
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| Johnson Scores Again. A 1000 Instagram Trolls Cry In Their Bedrooms |
The game swung from end to end. Juninho (him again) inexplicably missed when it was easier to score, Vicario made some decent stops and despite being a man short Spurs had more possession.
Half-time arrived with our unusual rarity, a clean sheet, still intact. Perhaps with an eye on Sunday and a very small part of another eye on being ever so slightly more defensive(?) Ange replaced Johnson at half time with Kulusevski. This move of utter managerial foresight paid dividends early in the second half when the keeper flapped at a Deki corner which fell to Pape Sarr who volleyed in despite the efforts of the defender on the line.
Two up, only ten men, playing well, pressing like we've got eleven, looking competent despite the changes to the line up? Its time to get that metaphorical gun out, the one we've used since the early 80's to shoot ourselves in the foot every time it looks like things are going well. Fortunately, Toral Bayramov decided to have a go at Sky's Crossbar Challenge rather than just score the penalty awarded to Qarabag after Bissouma's rash tackle.
Exactly ten minutes later, some nice build up play involving Sarr and Deki led to Sonny curling a shot that the keeper could only parry and in an almost carbon copy of his goal against Brentford, Solanke followed it in to tap home the third. After this Werner replaced a limping Son, Bentancur replaced Bissouma, Captain Vicario made a few more saves, one particularly brilliant full stretch diving one from the unfortunate Bayramov and Juninho (yes, him again) had the ball in the net but was judged offside. The fans were even treated to five minutes of Mikey Moore who'd been given special permission by his Mum to stay up late on a school night, when he replaced Solanke near the end.
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| Vicario, channeling his inner Jennings |
Overall, you have to give the players great credit for playing so long with only ten men and finishing with a comfortable victory. Qarabag took Bayer Leverkusen all the way in this competition last season and are experienced at this level. It was just the start we needed on the journey to Bilbao (I wish).
Moving on to Sunday when the Spurs bandwagon rolls (hopefully on time) into Old Trafford for the Manchester United away fixture. There are plenty of pointless things that you can do with your time and trying to predict the outcome of this game falls into that catagory.
Fans of any opposition facing either of these teams when musing about the possible result would think "well it depends which <insert Spurs / Man Utd> turns up. By the evidence of my own eyes, I'd say United's defensive organisation, if not individuals, is better than ours but we look a lot more fluent once we get on the attack. A lot will surely depend on the quality of our final ball into the box and to Solanke especially. If that improves I feel we can win the game but obviously we will still be susceptible at the back, worryingly so from dead ball situations.
Generally, its been a very bad venue for Spurs, specifically since the beginning of the Premier League era during which we've also managed to lose what seems about ten FA Cup Semi-Finals there. There have been a few bright moments, a 3-2 win under AvB, the 3-0 when Mourinho was United manager and that incredible 6-1 victory during Covid.
We've had some decent performances away from home in 'big' games under Ange, plus a few stinkers, but I think its about time we really put a marker down. Hopefully Sonny will be fit. As I write this they're saying he'll have a late fitness test tomorrow so that doesn't feel me with optimism that he'll make it. With Richarlison and Odebert already out, it'll probably be Werner on the left being given another chance to show us what the fuss was all about. Wouldn't it great though if when the team is announced a certain Mikey Moore is making his first league start?
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