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José Mourinho had framed the start of Tottenham’s Europa League group stage adventure with characteristic arrogance. Holding three soccer balls in a photograph for Instagram, he published that they meant the two European Leagues that he already had in his pocket and the one he intends to go this season. The record for the waning violet in the competition is two innings and two trophies with Porto and Manchester United.
The manager is determined to lead from the front in his mission to harden the team’s mindset, intimidate his charges into becoming winners, and after the implosion against West Ham, this was more so. Surrendering a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 had led to the inevitable taunts from the Spursy, but this was a discipline-allied cutting edge performance against the Austrian team that had beaten Sporting Lisbon 4-1 in Portugal to get here.
Mourinho gave Carlos Vinícius a debut and there was much to like in the forward’s performance. The first signs are that the club finally has credible specialist backing for Harry Kane. Vinícius scored the first goal for Lucas Moura and the last for substitute Son Heung-min and, with Gareth Bale forcing an own goal on Andrés Andrade for the second in the 27th minute, the Spurs were in something of cruise control.
Mourinho feels more confident in his options than when he started the competition in the middle of last month, courtesy of what he felt was an outstanding transfer window, and his lineup was bristling with quality, even though he made wholesale changes with compared to Sunday. Wild 3-3 draw against West Ham.
Vinícius, the signing on loan from Benfica, stood out from the start, missing a golden-headed opportunity with a cross from Matt Doherty (he missed the connection when he was not scored from close range), but managed to set up the first goal .
Ben Davies, who was playing to the left of a central defender and captained the team, dropped a ball over the top that Vinícius killed with a fine touch before watching Lucas run and, showing a beautiful balance, took it out with a cross. satin. Lucas finished calmly.
The Spurs’ second was all about Sergio Reguilón and a violent run from the left side that took him past three Lask players and away from a quarter. He found Erik Lamela, who played wide for Gareth Bale and stabbed him into a low cross from the right with the outside of his left boot. It was meant for Vinícius, although he was offside. Fortunately for the Spurs, the ball did not reach him, Andrés Andrade passed it over his own goalkeeper.
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The Spurs had fun in the first half, no one but Lucas, who took a couple of high balls out of the sky with touches of velvet and even wore his spring to win an impressive header inside the area. Bale and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg executed nutmegs, the former linked well with Doherty and the Spurs would have been ahead if Lamela had finished in a one-on-one with Alexander Schlager.
Lask brought a bit of attitude, especially attacking midfielder Peter Michorl, who was lucky enough to escape an early yellow card for a stamp on Doherty and was booked in the 45th minute for cleaning out Vinícius.
The visitors had blinks in the first half, with Doherty blocking well from captain Gernot Trauner just before half-time and Andreas Gruber extending Joe Hart with a shot that curled from the edge of the area. Husein Balic had previously passed Dávinson Sánchez only to scratch his shot.
Lask had started in a 3-3-1-3 formation, with Michorl in the gap behind the forwards, but they switched to 4-1-4-1 before the break as they tried to get tighter. Mourinho’s team was comfortable in their 4-2-3-1 favorite with Højbjerg in an authoritarian mood against defense. He was bloody in a head butt after he had passed the ball through René Renner’s legs and needed a bandage around his head. He reemerged for the second half without him, throwing the tough man look.
Mourinho made changes to the time, one of them changing Bale for Son. Bale had played 18 minutes against West Ham, but it should be noted that the appearance had brought his minutes since the end of February to 253. His performance here was more cunning than explosive. You are feeling your way back to your prime condition.
The second half was really tighter and the Spurs had to wait until the third, Vinícius muffled a perfect header from a Doherty cross for Son, who swept home his ninth of the season. There was even time for Jack Clarke to jump on his Spurs debut and almost add a quarter, his drive flashing just past the far post.
