Tottenham: 3 takeaways from win in Europa League qualifying

Bright spots for Spurs

There were some bright spots for Tottenham. Despite not scoring a goal, the team started well in attack and all of the good things were coming from the play of Giovani Lo Celso. The Argentine making his first appearance this season for Spurs was commanding the ball and moving it from the off.

It was clear his overall fitness was lacking as Lo Celso faded about an hour into the match and became far less of an influencer. However, as his first game of the year after an injury and prolonged break, fitness is not really a worry for Lo Celso.

Less than two minutes into the match, Lo Celso’s impact could be seen as he played in Heung-Min Son, who had his shot denied with a nice kick save from Plovdiv keeper Martin Lukov. At about 10 minutes, Lo Celso had a wonderful pass to Steven Bergwijn, whose rocket blasted off the crossbar to keep the game level at zero. These are very positive signs for a team looking for a playmaker, Lo Celso just might be it.

Bergwijn was not great today, but he did display the ability to play hold-up football. Much is made of the lack of cover for Kane, but if Bergwijn can continue to grow as a player who can hold the ball and then either attack, redistribute, or get fouled, he can do the trick. While we did not see it a lot today, Bergwijn did show he can play with his back to the goal and the defender, not just with a full head of steam.

https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/status/1306677002808815616?s=20

The other bright spot for Spurs had to be Tanguy Ndombele, who made an immediate impact upon replacing Moussa Sissoko. Ndombele was quick finding his way to the ball and making passes across the pitch that had not really been seen a lot.

There have been many rumors of Ndombele leaving, but he just needed time and brings something others do not. While most of the team keeps the ball on the floor, except for the long ball, Ndombele can hit those creative dinks and chips that push players open and into space.

Maybe the most promising thing from Tanguy was his activity. In 29 minutes, he had 31 touches on the ball, was 26-for-26 in passing and of course converted the game-winner off a nifty little Lucas Moura cross on a move that Ndombele himself started with a pass outside the box and finished near the goal line as he burst in to receive the cross.

That kind of movement is what made Dele Alli great. If a player with the natural ability and creativity of Ndombele can start to add that movement to his game, Tottenham will start to get their monies worth out of the Frenchman.