Risky selection pays off in Budapest, but not without some resistance.

On Thursday evening, a bright young Tottenham squad took on the reigning Hungarian champions Ferencváros TC at the Groupama Arena in Budapest. In the end, Spurs were victorious but that wasn’t without some resistance from the Hungarians.

There were five changes to the Tottenham line-up from their home game against Qarabag. Radu Dragusin and Micky Van de Ven made way for Ben Davies and Cristian Romero, as the Argentinian replaced the suspended Romanian following the conclusion of his own suspension. The midfield remained the same with Bergvall, Bissouma and Sarr. However, Postecoglou decided to try a new combination in attack with rising stars Mikey Moore and Will Lankshear, making their first senior starting eleven for Tottenham. A more experienced Timo Werner accompanied them.

Image from the Evening Standard

Dominic Solanke has gained his first call-up for England since 2017 after his current run of good form for Spurs. He has scored 3 goals so far this season, against Brentford, Qarabag and Manchester United, following a brief ankle injury he sustained during the season opener against Leicester.

This run of good form has caught the eye of England Manager Lee Carsley who has selected the striker in his second squad selection for the UEFA Nations League. England will take on Greece and Portugal next week in an already very busy schedule and question marks will be surrounding whether Solanke will play both games. Carsley has also selected England captain Harry Kane, who has already scored ten goals this campaign, and Aston Villa’s Ollie Watkins so Solanke may struggle to worm his way into the starting eleven.

It was a relatively slow start for Tottenham as Ferencvaros applied the pressure early on in the game. Will Lankshear missed a golden opportunity, where Timo Werner crossed the ball to the nineteen-year-old, glancing the ball onto his shoulder which subsequently flew over the crossbar. Mikey Moore and Pape Sarr also produced opportunities for the away side but both chances went begging.

In the 16TH minute, Varga scored a header from a cross delivered by Ćivić for the home side, but a VAR check ended their hopes of an early advantage. This was closely followed by another headed effort from Ferencvaros’ Adama Traore, but a more threatening close-range effort from Varga was spectacularly denied by Vicario.

Pape Sarr broke the deadlock not long after, putting Tottenham ahead, as Spurs capitalised on a sloppy Hungarian back-line. Stefan Gartenmann completely lost Sarr as he sneaked in behind the defender to slot the ball past the goalkeeper. More chances were accumulating for the North London side as Pedro Porro, after briefly claiming a foul inside the penalty area, rose to his feet and cut onto his left foot to slot the ball across goal and clip the woodwork.

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Changes were made to the backline at half time, with Archie Gray moving over to left-back after and Ben Davies adopting a more central role. Udogie’s injury, a suspended Dragusin, and a nonincluded Djed Spence left Spurs’ defence rather exposed. This showed early on in the second half after a fully stretched Vicario prevented a Matheus Saldanha goal.

Croatian referee, Igor Pajac, briefly had to stop play because of the accumulation of smoke present in the stadium, making it impossible for either himself, the players or the supporters to see the ball.

Tottenham needed to be more clinical if they wanted to double their lead, as both Lankshear and Werner missed their opportunities. The youngster attempted to connect with a cross from a corner, delivered by Porro but miscued his effort and the ball hit the ground and bounced over the crossbar. Werner’s opportunity should have made it 2-0, with the German approaching the Hungarian keeper, Dénes Dibusz, on-on-one after an impressive progressive run by Mikey Moore.

Image from the Guardian

On came the substitutes. Bergvall, Werner and Lankshear made way for the inclusion of Kulusevski, who inherited the role at centre-forward, Johnson, Maddison, and later Dominic Solanke. Brennan Johnson was looking the most threatening of the four, clipping the top of the crossbar in the 80th minute and then scoring in the 86th making it four goal in four games for the Welshman.

All looked set for another Tottenham clean sheet, but Spurs’ biggest threat, Barnabás Varga, scored applying a lot of pressure to the visitors to see the rest of the game out. Fortunately for Postecoglou’s side, the final whistle finally blew making it five consecutive wins in a row in all competitions.