Tottenham Hotspur certainly did it the hard way but they are through to the next round of Europa League qualifying after a 2-1 victory over Lokomotiv Plovdiv this evening.
The Lilywhites went 1-0 down with just 20 minutes to go before the home side handed Mourinho and his men a penalty while simultaneously getting two people sent off.
Kane dispatched the spot-kick and Tanguy Ndombele scored from off the bench to turn things around late on for the North Londoners.
Let’s take a look at the five things we learned:
Premier Sports…
For anyone watching the Premier Sports pay-per-view stream, well, there wasn’t really much watching to do. The connection went down repeatedly throughout the game before cutting out altogether with 25 minutes to go. Stressful viewing indeed.
Spurs have missed Lo Celso –
Giovani Lo Celso made his first appearance of the campaign for Tottenham today after missing out on every pre-season game and the opener against Everton. It is fair to see that the little Argentine absolutely ran the show in Bulgaria for Spurs and looked to be the only real spark of energy and creativity. Mourinho will certainly love having him back!
Ndombele from zero to Europa League second round qualifier hero!
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Let us not blow things out of proportion, but coming off the bench, putting in a great performance, and scoring the winner is just what Ndombele needs for his confidence. We are starting to see small improvements in both his game and Mourinho’s trust in him. Long may that continue!
Fitness is an issue –
Some players, mainly the ones who were denied a pre-season, certainly look half a yard behind the rest. In particularly, Harry Kane and Matt Doherty seem to be struggling in terms of their sharpness out on the pitch, which is to be expected. However, Spurs cannot afford passengers at the moment and both will have to get up to speed quickly with the games coming thick and fast.
On we march –
Spurs are now two games away from the Europa League group stages, although we hope to see some far more comprehensive wins along the way that the one we witnessed this evening!
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