LASK (home) 22.10.2020

Images of the kits courtesy of the brilliant Colours of Football website

Tottenham opened their Europa League group campaign with a 3-0 win over Austrian side LASK without needing to play at full throttle.

A much-changed side from the previous Premier League match, Spurs gave a first start to Gareth Bale and a debut to Carlos Vinicius up front, thus resting Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son.  Unlike some games across Europe, the Tottenham Hotspur stadium was empty and the sounds of players and coaches could be heard echoing across the ground.

An early free-kick inside the first minute for LASK saw it evade almost everyone and was heading towards the far post after it was  flicked on, but it went harmlessly through to Hart. Spurs moved the ball well and Winks ran it through the centre-circle, finding Doherty in space on the right, but he delayed his ball in and he picked out Reguilon, whose shot was blocked for a corner, which came to nothing.

Eight minutes in, Doherty again found space on the right and his cross was perfect for Vinicius, who had the chance to open his Spurs scoring account, but didn’t get a good forehead to the ball inside the six-yard box and it squirted wide for a goal-kick. LASK were exhibiting an overly physical side with an early stamp on Doherty’s foot after the ball had gone and then an indefensible pull back on Moura, after his great control brought a Hart kick out down and he drifted past three black-shirted players.

Moura scored the opener when he profited from Vinicius’ ball into the middle of the box from the left-hand edge of the box. Davies’ ball forward picked out the new signing’s run and his first touch allowed him to play a low pass across the box that found Lucas in lots of space giving him the time to slide the ball home with 17 minutes gone.  It was a good run by Vinicius, with Lucas filling the position the centre-forward had run from to be in the right place to finish off the pass to him.

LASK’s lack of discipline in tackling was pretty shocking. Crude is not a term that does it full justice and it is hard to see how they will see out the competition without losing players to suspension.  Their tackling was almost as untidy as their attempts of possession of the ball, with it being given away. Bale and Doherty linked well on the right, but Matt’s ball in hit a defender and it could have
been a more decisive ball into a danger area.

The recklessness of the challenges were costing LASK and three slack efforts at knocking Reguilon over failed as he ran forward and then inside, allowing him to find Lamela, who played it right to Gareth Bale. His ball into the goalmouth with the outside of his left foot was heading towards Vinicius in the six-yard box, but Andrade got there first to poke the ball past his own keeper. It was good passing and a good run by Sergio that opened up the opposition and it looked like that would be the way to get at the Austrian side.

Within a minute, Lamela almost got a third goal with a shot that went through the keeper, who just managed to recover in time to grab the ball before it went over the line and before Gareth Bale got there too. Vinicius had returned a pass to the Argentine after Erik had initially nicked the ball off one of the LASK players from the restart.

Doherty’s passing was very disappointing, with his crosses and passes not finding a white shirt, causing moves to break down. Conversely, LASK were putting their crosses into Joe Hart’s hands or into the South Stand. When they did get the ball, they created a chance for Grgic, whose shot was blocked and then Gruber picked up a loose ball that ran away from Hojbjerg 20 yards out and fired in a shot that Hart did well to get a strong hand to and push wide diving to his right. Right on half-time, another agricultural challenge, wiping out Vinicius, brought a yellow card for Michorl, who had it coming.

2-0 at half-time and the only worry up until then was how would Spurs players escape serious injury.  Hojbjerg was already sporting a white wraparound bandage after a cut eye, although that was accidental, but the way they were playing had already brought two substitutions in the first half when LASK players came off the worse from their efforts to prevent Spurs playing.  That was doubled at half-time, in an attempt to shore things up, but when Vinicius won the ball back in the right hand corner of the attacking half, he passed to Lamela inside the right hand side of the area. He sold a defender with a dropped shoulder and opened up a bit of space to have a shot, but it lacked conviction and while heading for the far post, it didn’t have enough curl on it to be on target.

Doherty and Bale linked again on the right and Doherty’s intended cross was blocked for a corner.  Sanchez rose highest to meet it, but couldn’t direct his header on target. Michorl was throwing himself around to win a free-kick and when he played it in, Sanchez looked like he may have nudged Trauner, but it was only given as a corner. From that Grgic was at the far post, where the ball dropped for him, but his shot from the edge of the six-yard box was weak and trickled through to Hart.

As LASK started to push forward, but without looking likely to score, Tottenham were looking to pick them off on the break. Twice Lamela’s poor touch let him down when he could have made more of a pass to him and then Bale was almost set free, but the keeper came 10 yards out of his area to get there first to clear it away.

On the hour, three Spurs changes were made with Bale, Lamela and Hojbjerg going off, with Sissoko, Son and Dele replacing them. Heung-Min almost made an immediate impact, picking off a pass and nudging it past an opponent, but his pass found Vinicius and Moura running offside, leaving the ball for Dele, but a defender arrived to collect it.

When Hart collected a corner, he threw it out straight away to Sissoko, who made ground and then passed it to the right, where Lucas was in space. His first-time ball in was missed at the near post by Reguilon, but Vinicius was lurking at the back, but was denied when a defender touched it out for a corner. It was played in, with Doherty having a passable opportunity at the back stick, but he put his header over, when he should really have been making the keeper work.

The ball wouldn’t fall nicely for our forwards, when Moura sped away after exchanging passes with Moussa Sissoko and his cross was a bit behind Vinicius, who prodded it back to Dele, who moved it on to Son, who manoeuvred a shot, but the keeper just got a touch to it. They went even closer when Winks’ forward pass to Vinicius saw the striker pass to Son, who was offside just inside the area, so he left it for Dele, whose shot went through the keeper, but he got back to fly-kick the ball away as it made a slow journey towards the goal-line.

Spurs worked the ball from the back to front to back and then Davies’ pass was blocked, but he ducked in to win a header, spread the ball wide to Doherty and his ball in was nodded on by Vinicius putting Son in acres of space in the box to finish with his left foot past the keeper, who was coming out to him, as he was moving to his left. It was a great touch form the Brazilian, but it was soon to be his last involvement, with Jack Clarke coming on for his debut in his replace.

A deflected cross from the left hung the ball up beyond Davies for Raguz and he tried to loop a header over Hart, but the keeper back-pedalled to get the ball under the bar and before it got to the line. Spurs could have grabbed a late fourth, with Doherty’s cross coming to Clarke at the far post.  The young winger struck it with power, but not quiet the accuracy required and it flashed well wide.

The game saw Tottenham pass the ball pretty well and exploit the aggression to chase the ball by the LASK players, making a number of chances that could have brought even more goals.  Gareth Bale looked like he is still in need of match play and Jose is probably using him judiciously to get him to full fitness, but if he can reach that level on a regular basis, he will be a great addition to the squad.  Another good addition looks to be Carlos Vinicius, who, despite not taking a good headed chance, but looked like he is more than just a goal-scorer with good movement off the ball and a perceptive knowledge of where his team-mates are, creating scoring opportunities and linking play.  

The result helps Spurs get off to a great start and they travel to Royal Antwerp for the next group game next Thursday.  A win there would be a big step to qualification for the knock-out rounds and the further opportunity to use the group games to give players game time, as well as building confidence for the later rounds.

Kirk Hammerton

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