Tottenham Hotspur kicked off their Europa League campaign with a home tie against Qarabağ FK last night, and while it ended up as a relatively comfortable win, it could have been entirely different.
In just the seventh minute, the North Londoners were reduced to ten men as Radu Dragusin, who came into the lineup for Cristian Romero, was shown a straight red for bringing down Juninho Vieira as the last man.
At that moment, it felt like it might be a very long night for Ange Postecoglou’s side, but in the usual fashion under the Australian, the Lilywhites maintained their high line and ultra-attacking style and eventually ran out comfortable winners.
There were several stand-out performers on the night, but along with one of his teammates, Brennan Johnson stood up and put in a display that saved the Romanian from what would have been an avalanche of criticism had the game ended in a defeat.
Johnson's performance vs Qarabağ
After a tough start to the campaign that saw pressure rapidly mount on his shoulders, Johnson has looked to have found some real form lately, and last night was no different.
It took just five minutes for the Welshman to score Spurs’ opener after going down to ten men, and while it might have looked like a relatively straightforward finish, it really wasn’t, with Sofascore considering it worth a total of 0.11 expected goals.
The former Nottingham Forest ace didn’t do much else in his 45 minutes of action, but as the Standard’s Dan Kilpatrick wrote after awarding him a 7/10, his impressive form is ‘starting to justify Postecoglou’s faith’.
Overall, while he was only on the pitch for the first half, Johnson helped to stabilise the team, reassert their control over proceedings and, like one of the other stars on the night, ensured Dragusin wouldn’t be blamed for an embarrassing defeat.
Guglielmo Vicario's game vs Qarabag
Yes, Guglielmo Vicario is the other starter who deserves just as much, if not more, praise than Johnson.
The Italian shot-stopper was probably expecting a relatively quiet game before Dragusin was sent off, but even with his teammates’ three goals, he had an awful lot to do.
Luckily, unlike his opposite number, the 27-year-old was in top form. In addition to coming out when needed to smother opportunities, he also made some brilliant reaction saves, and thanks to what might have been the worst penalty of the season so far, he ended the game with a clean sheet.
Unsurprisingly, Kilpatrick was even more impressed with the former Empoli ace, giving him a 9/10 on the night and writing that he ‘Made a string of outstanding saves’ throughout the night, which is an opinion backed up by his statistics.
For example, in his 93 minutes of action, he made five saves, two of which were in the box, prevented 0.56 goals, was successful in his one run out, made one high claim, took 58 touches, maintained a passing accuracy of 89%, made two clearances, one tackle and one interception, and won 100% of his duels.
Minutes
93
Goals Prevented
0.56
Saves (Inside the Box)
5 (2)
Run Outs (Successful)
1 (1)
HIgh Claims
1
Touches
58
Passing Accuracy
33/37 (89%)
Clearances
2
Tackles
1
Interceptions
1
Duels (Won)
3 (3)
Overall, Spurs managed to turn what could have been a disastrous night into an impressive win. While there were plenty of standout performers, Johnson and Vicario were potentially a step above the rest, and Dragusin should be thanking them for the next week or so.
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