By The Telegraph (World News) | Created at 2024-10-03 15:35:45 | Updated at 2024-10-06 01:24:55
2 days ago
After the recrimination and searching questions that followed last month’s north London derby defeat - which left Tottenham with four points from four Premier League games - things have picked up for Ange Postecoglou’s team.
Granted, they required a late turnaround at Coventry City in the Carabao Cup after failing to impress for most of the game, but Djed Spence’s equaliser that night could prove to be a sliding doors moment.
Spurs then came from behind to beat Brentford 3-1 in the Premier League, vanquished Qarabag 3-0 with 10 men before delivering their most impressive performance under Postecoglou at Old Trafford on Sunday.
As tends to be the case with Spurs, there was a helter-skelter feel to these wins: they fell behind inside a minute against Brentford; saw Radu Dragusin sent off and Qarabag miss a penalty; and benefited from a Bruno Fernandes’ red card against Man Utd. There is no question that Spurs were the better team though, and their possession and territorial dominance is starting to pay dividends.
With a trip to Brighton on Sunday, Postecoglou may well be considering some rotation for tonight’s Europa League away game against Hungarian side Ferencvaros. Spurs already have three points on the board in the competition’s new league phase, and are expected to require around 12 more points from their seven remaining games to reach the last 16. So there is margin for error.
Postecoglou’s options are limited by injuries to Destiny Udogie, Djed Spence and Sergio Reguilon. Ben Davies is expected to start at left-back. Dragusin would have started this one, but is suspended, so Spurs must decide whether to risk Cristian Romero and Micky van de Van or deploy Archie Gray as centre-back. Yves Bissouma and Lucas Bergvall are likely to start in midfield.
Despite their name, Ferencvaros have no connection to Farenc Puskas - who played his club football for Honved before joining Real Madrid - but the trip to Budapest may have some resonance for Postecoglou. Puskas managed Postecoglou at South Melbourne Hellas, and the Spurs manager has cited him as one of the foremost influences on his coaching philosophy.
