Tottenham 3-0 LASK: Spurs roll to comfortable Europa League win

The last time Spurs were up 3-0 against a side it didn’t end well. On Thursday, however, Spurs made no doubt of it. Tottenham Hotspur scored twice in the opening half hour behind a goal from Lucas Moura and an own goal, and substitute Son Heung-Min added a second half goal off the bench, and rolled to a comfortable 3-0 win over LASK in the opening match of their 2020-21 Europa League campaign.

It was a rotated side, as expected, with a pretty powerful bench. With Eric Dier and Japhet Tanganga both injured, Ben Davies captained the side and started beside Davinson Sanchez in the back line. Harry Kane made way to give Carlos Vinicius his first action — and start — in a Spurs shirt. Gareth Bale, Erik Lamela, and Lucas Moura were in the attacking band behind him. Harry Winks and Pierre Hojbjerg were in central midfield, while Joe Hart started in goal. The likes of Kane, Gio Lo Celso, Dele, Aurier, and Ndombele all started on an expanded 12-man bench, with five subs allotted to both sides.

Key Moments

First Half

3’ — LASK are coming out pressing extremely high and attempting to force Spurs into making a mistake. Hasn’t worked yet.

9’ — First real chance for Spurs, and for Carlos Vinicius. Doherty chips a ball in from the right into the box and Vini gets a head to it but puts it wide.

18’ — GOAL!! LUCAS MOURA with a tap-in to put Spurs up! Vinicius set up the goal and got the assist with a square ball into the box off of a long ball from Ben Davies, and Spurs lead 1-0!

19’ — Owwwwww, Pierre Hojbjerg nutmegged a dude and on his way past ended up headbutting him, leaving him bloody and getting treatment on the sidelines. It was a headbutt nutmeg. A buttmeg. This is a thing now.

27 — OWN GOAL!! Tottenham go up 2-0 after a half hour! Sergio Reguillon had a great run up the flank and found Erik Lamela, who tapped it out to Gareth Bale. Bale’s little cross was deflected in by Andres Andrade and Spurs double their lead!

45’ — First sign of life from LASK as Gruber tries his luck from the top of the box and forces a good save from Joe Hart.

47’ — First yellow of the match for Michorl on LASK, who slid in late against Vinicius.

HALF-TIME: It’s been pretty smooth sailing for Spurs thus far against LASK, but they should be wary of complacency. We all remember the LAST time we had a lead...

Second Half

No changes for either side in the second half.

47’ — Ooooh, nearly a third for Spurs. Erik Lamela had a glorious opportunity in the six yard box, but somehow managed to put the ball wide of the post. Looked like he had Hojbjerg open?

61’ — A triple sub for Spurs as the air has been mostly taken out of this match. Son Heung-Min, Dele, and Moussa Sissoko come on for Hojbjerg, Lamela, and Bale. We got our Winkssoko midfield back!

65’ — A couple of half-chances for Spurs — Doherty fires a cross into the box but Son is a half step from getting a boot on it. On the ensuing corner, Doherty gets a head on the ball but puts it over.

71’ — Wow, another near goal for Spurs. Lucas Moura did great to dispossess a LASK player, dribble past two defenders, and poke a ball in to the center of the pitch. Vinicius tapped it to Dele, who found Son, but Sonny couldn’t fire it into the net. You get the feeling there are more goals in this match.

75’ — Dele is through on goal but the keeper somehow gets a hand to the ball. A slow-rolling ball then is cleared off the line by LASK.

78’ — Sub for LASK — Balic is on for Goiginger, while Lo Celso comes on for his first appearance in weeks, for Lucas Moura.

84’ — GOAL!! IT’S SON HEUNG-MIN! Great build-up play from Spurs as Doherty’s cross is headed down by Vinicius to Son’s feet, and Sonny cooly slots it home.

86’ — Final sub for Spurs as Jack Clarke comes on for Vinicius. Great shift by the Brazilian, it must be said.

90’ — Jack Clarke tried to rip one towards goal but he got just a touch too much on it and he pushed it wide. That would’ve been the icing on the cake.

FULL TIME! A nice, comfortable win where nobody got injured and lots of players got minutes. Great stuff! Job done!

Reactions

• Sergio Reguilon had a role in both of Spurs’ opening goals. His speed means with a little space he can just torch defenders, and if he doesn’t have the space he can create it.
• PEH had a great little turn sequence at the half hour mark in midfield. He’s good with the ball at his feet, but we don’t see it that often.
• Vinicius sure looks like a real striker, though it’s now odd to see one that doesn’t constantly drop into the half spaces to pick up the ball. He didn’t have a ton of offensive output, but he was involved in a lot of the good things that Spurs did on offense. Two assists in your club debut isn’t too shabby!
• We had the Winkssoko midfield for a good part of the second half again today, but it wasn’t nearly as disastrous as it was against West Ham. Winksy even had a few long progressive passes!
• Gareth Bale wasn’t spectacular, but I guess he didn’t have to be? His cross was deflected in for the own goal, though.

• Y’all know what we think about Joe Hart, but to his credit he had a couple of nice saves today.
• A comfortable win and a clean sheet in a game where Harry Kane didn’t have to play? That’s a DOUBLE win.