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This was not exactly how José Mourinho would have planned it. But having watched his Tottenham side fight for long stretches against opponents competing in the Austrian second division in 2017, a late penalty from substitute Dele Alli ensured that they have now qualified for the Europa League round of 16 with a game for despite Mamoudou Karamoko’s late draw.
On a night Joe Hart will quickly want to forget, a 12th-goal penalty from Gareth Bale and Son Heung-min seemed to be enough until Lask tied with six minutes to go after taking the lead after a mistake by the former. England goalkeeper. But in a frenzied finale, Alli kept her nerve before Karamoko’s latest blockbuster won a share of the points for the Austrian team.
“People are wrong,” Mourinho had responded when asked before the game whether Tottenham’s position at the top of the Premier League after a quarter of a season meant that they were enjoying life more than in recent years. “When people thought they weren’t enjoying it, nothing happened. I still had my passion. “
But after selecting a solid starting lineup despite making eight changes from the team that stopped Chelsea’s attack at the weekend, even he would have had trouble finding the positives of his lackluster first-half performance.
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With the Spurs having crushed these opponents aside in a comfortable 3-0 win in late October to start the group stage, Dominik Thalhammer’s team entered the game knowing that only a win could keep their hopes of progress alive. and they might consider themselves unlucky for not doing so. be ahead in the first six minutes. Johannes Eggestein was given too much space after Tottenham gave up the ball in a dangerous position and the German striker on loan from Werder Bremen saw his shot hit the post in the first of a series of chances created by the home team.
The decision to retain Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Tanguy Ndombele and Son in the draw against Chelsea was an indication of the importance that Mourinho had placed on advancing with a match to spare, and Harry Kane was left out after missing training for the Wednesday. The England captain is expected to face Arsenal again on Saturday, but it remains to be seen if that applies to Harry Winks, who was left on the bench alongside Alli. “Options,” explained the manager.
Bale has played just 116 minutes in the Premier League since signing on loan from Real Madrid, but he made his fifth consecutive start in this competition. However, in addition to seeing a goal-bound free kick shot off volleyball style by Michorl, however, his main contribution up to his penalty with the last shot of the first half was losing track of the player he was supposed to score as Hart. forced an excellent stop to deny René Renner.
Hart should have dealt with Lask’s next attempt after Matt Doherty lost possession, but Michori’s effort from long range gave his team a deserved advantage. Tottenham needed a stroke of good luck to intervene and it came just before the break when a shot from Ndombele hit the unfortunate Panamanian defender Andrés Andrade in the arm – who scored an own goal in the London game in October – and Bale hit him shot home. from the spot for his 200th career goal.
Doherty resurfaced for the second half after limping off as Lask took the lead and Tottenham took the lead 11 minutes into the restart. Ndombele’s fumble in midfield left Lask’s defense at the mercy of Son’s electric pace and he was right to give the Spurs the lead. He should have had another one shortly after, but Bale’s disinterested pass through the area was deflected.
The introduction of Moussa Sissoko to replace Lucas Moura with 25 minutes left to play was a sure sign that Mourinho was satisfied, while Eric Dier was also introduced by Lo Celso when Tottenham tried to close the store. For once, the plan didn’t work. Davinson Sánchez was guilty of playing Eggestein on the side, but Hart was again at fault when the forward’s shot hit him at his near post before his substitute teammate Steven Bergwijn was brought down on the other end to give Alli his moment. .
