Tottenham Hotspur overcame a late deficit to advance in Europa League, qualifying 2-1 over Lokomotiv Plovdiv, thanks mostly to Tanguy Ndombele and some dumb Plovdiv mistakes.
Tottenham Hotspur were poor against Everton on the weekend, leaving their coach questioning their fitness and desire. Thursday in Bulgaria, anyone watching would have had a hard time questioning the desire of the Spurs on the pitch, as there was little doubt as to the effort demonstrated.
While the effort that was not present at Everton was in Plovdiv, the overall play of the team was not great, but was good enough thanks to the introduction of Tanguy Ndombele and a couple of Plovdiv red cards for stupidity.
So, what happened in Bulgaria for Spurs to advance?
Tottenham troubles
It is difficult to question Jose Mourinho and we know he prefers a 4-2-3-1 line-up, however, starting the game with two holding midfielders was just far too conservative an approach. In our projected XI, we recommended a 4-1-4-1 line-up as just one defensive midfielder would be enough – particularly if that midfielder is Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Instead, Jose decided to use two holding midfielders in Moussa Sissoko and Hojbjerg. While the combination kept the lethal attack of Lokomotiv at bay, the pair did little to move the ball forward and are just far two slow recycling the attack to be played together.
Maybe it was the pitch or the temperature or something, but there were several Spurs who simply had no touch today. There were at least two or three balls where they came into both Sissoko and Heung-min Son where instead of controlling them, the ball popped up and became a 50/50 that never should have been.
While they were not the only players to struggle with their first touch, they were probably the most egregious and obvious. That is something you can get away with in Bulgaria, but not in England and needs to improve. Poor first touches contributed to the breakdown and multiple potential attacks tonight and simply needs to be improved.
Lokomotiv Plovdiv’s implosion
Lokomotiv only took two shots in the match and only had one corner. Fortunately, for the Bulgarian side, that one corner led to the only shot on target for the team and a goal for a 1-0 lead and the possibility of a miracle to advance against Tottenham Hotspur in Europa League qualifying. However, the dream was not to be and Lokomotiv only have themselves to blame.
Tottenham looked like they were going to finally break through. Son’s corner had gotten into the middle, the keeper missed the ball and Lucas Moura was powering a header on target. However, Dinis Almeida had other ideas, sticking out his fist and blocking the would-be goal. Sure, there was a chance Kane might miss, but given everything overall, 1-1 playing 11-on-11 football was a lot better option than 1-0 down to 10 men with Kane stepping up to the penalty spot.
Just when it would seem things could not get any worse for Plovdiv, Birsent Karagaren decided to get cheeky. Karagaren thought he would be that guy and went over and started cleating up the penalty spot, which is a yellow card. The problem for Karagaren was he was already on a yellow care, which meant a second yellow and now a second Plovdiv player red-carded.
So now, instead of 1-1 playing 11-on-11 football, Plovdiv was down to nine men and Harry Kane was walking up to the spot. Of course, Kane drilled the penalty and less than five minutes later, Tanguy Ndombele put home the winner for Spurs and the Lokomotiv dream died. If only Almeida had just let Moura score, who knows what might have been.
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.