Five things we learned from Tottenham’s 1-0 Europa League win over AZ Alkmaar
Spurs played out a tight 1-0 win over Troy Parrott’s AZ Alkmaar this evening in the Europa League. But what did we learn from the match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium?
Top of the league
Tottenham’s 100 per cent record in the Europa League continues! Three wins from three is pretty good going for the Lilywhites, especially considering how much Ange Postecoglou has rotated the team across those three games.
Sure, Spurs aren’t technically top of the Europa League on goal difference but that doesn’t matter too much at this stage of proceedings. The more wins they get under their belts, the more they can rest players in the weeks to come.
Mikey Moore of that, please!
Mikey Moore’s first half on the right wing featured a couple of bright moments, but he struggled to get into the game in any meaningful way. But, as soon as he was switched to the left in the second half, it was like a different animal had been unleashed! The 17-year-old was skipping past defenders for fun like Lionel Messi in his prime. Not to mention some of the wicked crosses and passes he was coming up with at the ends of those runs.
It goes to show the old saying is true: if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. Tottenham need to use this lad off the bench more, especially when Sonny can’t always play 90 minutes every week these days.
Not your usual Europa League 1-0 win
We have all seen plenty of disjointed Europa League and Conference League performances over the years, especially when seven, eight, nine changes are made from the weekend. While Spurs were most certainly not at their best, this was not one of those evenings. A number of players – Maddison, Moore, Bentancur, Richarlison – played really well and Spurs were good for another goal or two.
There were some sloppy moments at the back but overall the performance was deserving of a win. It does feel like, as much as the starting XI is getting better and better, the second-string team is also raising their game this season.
James Maddison silences his critics
Maddison has been forced to sit back and watch the footballing world rinse into him this week for being taken off at half-time against West Ham. Let us remind people, Madders didn’t even play poorly in that game; he was close to his creative best. Postecoglou simply saw a need to create a different kind of midfield for the second half and it worked a treat.
It was great to see Maddison go out there tonight with the armband and dictate proceedings for 60 minutes. You could tell he was a level above a lot of the other players out there and that should do his confidence the world of good.
Fighting over the penalty… really?
One slight negative on the night was seeing Maddison and Richarlison squabbling over who gets to take the penalty. That is schoolyard amateur stuff.
There should be a 1-5 hierarchy written in stone before you step out onto the pitch. If number 1 isn’t there, number 2 takes it. If number 1 and 2 aren’t there, number 3 takes it. And so on. It puts so much more pressure on the eventual taker if they had to wrestle the ball out of someone else’s hands in front of a load of cameras.
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