Tottenham started their Europa League campaign in the best possible way on Thursday night, beating Qarabag 3-0 at home despite playing for almost the whole night with 10 men after Radu Dragusin’s early red card.
Dominic Solanke and Brennan Johnson continued their good recent form, both scoring, while Pape Matar Sarr also converted from a corner. It means that Spurs have now won their last three games ahead of their trip to Manchester United on Sunday.
We analyse the night’s major talking points.
Who was at fault for Dragusin red card?
Dragusin had only started six times for Tottenham since joining from Genoa in January for £25million before Thursday. This was an opportunity for the Romania international to build some momentum and mount a challenge to Ange Postecoglou’s first-choice centre-back partnership of Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. Within seven minutes, he had been sent off and Ange Postecoglou was shaking his head in frustration.
The moment was certainly avoidable. Van de Ven passed the ball backwards to Dragusin, who let it roll across his body. Juninho read his intentions, pinched the ball and Dragusin clumsily brought him down to deny a clear goalscoring opportunity. It was a nightmare moment for the 22-year-old and meant Lucas Bergvall was replaced by Destiny Udogie, with Ben Davies moving to centre-back.
Radu Dragusin fouls Juninho to earn a red card (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Postecoglou was reluctant to criticise Dragusin after the match. “It was a consequence to us starting the game really sloppily,” he said. “We were really passive with our passing. We shot ourselves in the foot unfortunately. Radu and Lucas paid the ultimate price. We made it challenging for us.”
Jay Harris
Vicario justifies his selection
The flipside of playing attacking football with 10 men is that you are going to leave yourselves open on the break. And there were certainly long spells here when Qarabag were peppering Tottenham’s goal with shots, especially towards the end of the first half and again mid-way through the second.
Spurs had to ride their luck and they were fortunate when Tural Bayramov put his second-half penalty over the bar. If Qarabag had scored that they might have come back into it.
But it was not only luck. Any team playing that long with one fewer player is going to concede chances. And Vicario had one of his best games for Spurs, making a serious of impressive athletic saves, and coming off his line to sweep behind the high line when required.
Vicario was in fine form (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
This was only Spurs’ second clean sheet of the season but it was also a vindication of Postecoglou sticking with Vicario. Last week in the Carabao Cup he played Fraser Forster. But it now feels as if Vicario will be the first choice in Europe this season.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Gray passes his Europa test
Archie Gray received a massive hug from Rodrigo Bentancur and Guglielmo Vicario at full-time. This was the 18-year-old’s first appearance in a European competition and he passed the test effortlessly.
In the first half, Gray linked up excellently down the right wing with Johnson, charging forward to join attacks even when Dragusin was sent off. He had the stamina to get back into position when they broke down.
Archie Gray flourished on his European debut (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Gray, who joined Spurs in the summer from Leeds United for £40million, showed all his different qualities. There was an intricate passing exchange with Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma in the 17th minute which saw them skillfully evade Qarabag’s press. A few moments later, he chipped a ball over the top of the defence that led to a Johnson chance. Then, after the break, Gray showed he is developing a good relationship with Dejan Kulusevski with a backheeled flick which led to a promising opportunity.
As Tottenham’s players began to tire, Gray made a couple of important defensive interventions, helping snuff out a chance for Emmanuel Addai and then closing down the same player when he ran after a through ball. He looked exhausted by the end but it was an encouraging performance.
Jay Harris
Solanke and Johnson prove their worth
If Tottenham are to achieve anything this season then they will need Solanke and Johnson to score regularly. They were too reliant on Son Heung-min last season and that burden must be shared this time.
Solanke and Johnson cost more than £100million between them and after the struggles of Richarlison, Spurs cannot afford another big signing not to deliver. The last week could, therefore, be important in Spurs’ season.
Neither Johnson nor Solanke scored in Spurs’ first four games of the season but Johnson got a brilliant winner off the bench at Coventry City in the EFL Cup last Wednesday, and both scored in the first half against Brentford last weekend.
They started again here against Qarabag, and Johnson scored Spurs’ first, converting Solanke’s pass after good work to win the ball. Solanke then got the third, sweeping in a rebound, much as he did against Brentford. Both players now look confident and in a good place, which bodes very well for Tottenham’s season.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Dominic Solanke scored again (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
What did Postecoglou say?
Ange Postecoglou said afterwards that Son “felt a bit tired” when he came off but he did not shed any more light about the Spurs captain’s fitness.
Johnson was taken off at half-time but Postecoglou said that was a tactical decision to replace him with Dejan Kulusevski, and he was impressed again with the Welsh winger’s performance.
“I thought again Brennan was really important for us, particularly going down to 10 men early, we were going to need some attacking outlet,” he said. “I thought he, Dom and Sonny provided that. It was a good first goal because we were only with 10 men, but we still pressed and forced a mistake. Brennan’s been good at taking up those positions.”
Postecoglou was also happy with how Spurs continued to play attacking football even though they were at a numerical disadvantage for almost the entire game. “We want to be a team that tackles whatever challenge we have in a certain way,” he said. “When you go down to 10 it’s invariable at times you can’t be as aggressive, or keep the ball as much, or play as fluently. But for the most part the intent was there. That’s the kind of team we want to be.”
What’s next?
Tottenham travel to Manchester United on Sunday in the Premier League (4.30pm; 11.30am ET). Their Europa League campaign resumes in two weeks against Ferencvaros.
(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
