Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Qarabağ: Much more difficult than it looks

In general, reducing to 10 men within the first 10 minutes of a game is poor football strategy. But Ange Postecoglu's boys are simply built differently and still won 3-0 against Qarabağ in the opening game of the UEFA Europa League.

Any hopes Spurs fans had for a normal, convincing performance were dashed in the 7th minute by Radu Drăgușin, who picked up a well-deserved red card before either team could settle.

Drăgușin seemed to think he had enough space to allow a pass from Mickey van de Ven to run past him, but much to his surprise, a wild Juninho appeared. As the Qarabağ attacker charged towards the goal, Drăgușin panicked and, as the last defender, made a clumsy attack, leaving the referee with no choice but to send him off the field for denying a clear scoring opportunity.

Tottenham played with a makeshift back three for a few minutes, but big Ange eventually decided to substitute Lucas Bergvall for Destiny Udogie in the 12th minute. Just seconds later, Spurs took the lead.

Great pressing from Pape Matar Sarr and Dominic Solanke forced Qarabağ to lose the ball 25 meters from goal. Solanke played Brennan Johnson into the box on the right and Johnson fired a first-time finish into the bottom corner from 12 yards to give Tottenham an early lead.

Both teams had a few half-chances over the next 30 minutes, but just before half-time Qarabağ missed a huge chance. Johnson and Archie Gray failed to track down Elvin Jafarquliyev, who released a cross down the left and passed perfectly to Juninho. The Qarabağ striker clearly missed the goal from 6 meters, and Opta missed 0.55 xG on a great chance.

Dejan Kulusevski replaced Johnson at half-time and quickly made a positive impact with a high-quality set piece. His corner in the 52nd minute was deflected towards the back post – with Ben Davies providing a very useful goalkeeper break – and Sarr fired home from close range to give Spurs a 2-0 lead.

Just two minutes later, Yves Bissouma converted a penalty, shooting Jafarquliyev into the box. But Juninho's miserable day continued as he fired his penalty several meters over the bar.

That felt like Qarabağ had lost faith that they could get a point back, and Spurs were generally the better team from then on, although Guglielmo Vicario had to make a few good saves.

Solanke made sure of the final score in the 68th minute, scoring from a rebound that was reminiscent of his goal against Brentford at the weekend. Davies started the move with a good long ball behind the defense, which Sarr ran towards before passing to Kulusevski. He found Son, who fired a shot from the edge of the box that Qarabağ goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski was unable to keep out, and Solanke was perfectly positioned to clean up.

Son suffered a blow and was immediately substituted for Timo Werner. The substitute appeared precautionary but Tottenham will be putting Son's status in jeopardy for their game against Manchester United this weekend.

In the 85th minute, Mikey Moore made his European debut as a substitute for Solanke.

Customize reactions

• xG from Opta including penalty: Tottenham 1.48 – 2.22 Qarabağ. NEVER IN DOUBT.
• Considerations here will be limited as it is unfair to judge someone in a game with a red card in the 7th minute. Here I am writing my first summary for the site in 10 years, hoping to make detailed observations about a few guys, and then this happens. Oh well, next time.
• What can you say about Drăgușin at this point, man? The guy keeps messing up. I have lost faith that he will eventually be okay. I hope he does, but I have no reason to believe he will.
• Bergvall looked understandably disappointed when he was substituted and I was too. The main reason I watch the midweek cup games is because I suffer from incurable Bergvall syndrome. I think he will be a big star for us and I want to see more of him.
• Really promising performance from Archie Gray in a difficult situation. He had a few shaky moments, but there was a lot more good than bad when he played against one man for over 80 minutes. He shows the ability to break pressure with his dribbling and make some long passes.
• After some fluctuations against Brentford, Vicario was clean today.
• I'm feeling good heading to Old Trafford! This may have happened for the first time in my entire life.