Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 Qarabag Player Ratings as Johhnson and Solanke score for 10-man Spurs

Tottenham Hotspur managed to battle the odds despite being a man down to produce an emphatic 3-0 win over Qarabag in their Europa League opener.

Spurs were off to a dreadful start after Radu Dragusin was sent off inside seven minutes following a catastrophic blunder. Dragusin failed to control the ball as the last man in the defence before fouling Juninho, who was through on goal.

Despite that setback, Brennan Johnson opened the scoring for Spurs minutes later, slotting in a precise finish from the right-hand side after being brilliantly set up by Dominic Solanke. 

Meanwhile, Qarabag caused too many problems with their counter-attacks but failed to take advantage of them. Spurs, on the other hand, doubled the lead after the break, with Pape Matar Sarr finding the nets. Solanke put in the finishing touch by poking in a straight-forward finish after pouncing on the rebound.

The standout performer was Guglielmo Vicario as not only did he keep a clean sheet but put in a stellar display between the sticks, which featured a bevy of unbelievable saves.

Tottenham Player Ratings vs Qarabag

Goalkeeper

Guglielmo Vicario: 9/10 – If it weren’t for Vicario’s heroics, Spurs would have found themselves in deep waters. The Italian shot-stopper arguably put in his best performance in the Spurs shirt, making a flurry of outstanding saves, completely keeping Qarabag at bay.

Defenders

Ben Davies 6/10 : Nearly made a Dragusin-esque error but Vicario saved his blushes with a great sweeping tackle. Switched to the centre-back position from the left-back owing to Dragusin’s red card and fared well apart from that gaffe.

Micky Van de Ven: 7/10 – Had to deal with Qarabag’s swarming counter-attacks but will be breathing a huge sigh of relief for keeping a clean sheet. Won 5 duels and maintained a passing accuracy of 98% with 5 passes into the final third.

Radu Dragusin: 1/10: Had the chance to prove his potential but it turned out as a nightmare evening. Made a grave error by getting sent off inside 6 minutes as well putting Spurs in jeopardy

Archie Gray: 7/10: A solid display from the teenager. Made 7 recoveries and delivered 9 passes into the final third. 

Midfielders

Yves Bissouma: 7/10: Despite conceding a penalty and being tentative on a few occasions, Bissouma put in a defensive shift, making 11 recoveries, 4 interceptions and 3 clearances

Lucas Bergvall: 2/10: The unluckiest man on the pitch. Would have loved to seize the opportunity but the Swede ended up as collateral damage following Dragusin’s red card. He was sacrificed for defender Udogie.

Pape Matar Sarr 8/10: A sublime performance from the Senegalese young midfield dynamo. Maintained a pass accuracy of 96% and delivered 6 passes into the final third. Found himself on the score sheet with a strong strike.

Attackers

Brennan Johnson: 8/10: Netted a precise finish from the right hand similar to his goal against Brentford. Three goals in three games and Johnson must be brimming with confidence. Hauled off at half-time

Heung-min Son: 5/10: A performance atypical of the South Korean. Made just a touch inside the opposition box but forced a save from the Qarabag keeper, which was slotted into the net by Solanke on the rebound. However, the biggest concern will be the apparent niggle Son picked up in the game.

Dominic Solanke: 8/10: Was the provider for Johnson’s first after intelligently winning the ball off Romano and poked a relatively easy finish for his second goal in the second game running. 

Substitutes

Destiny Udogie: 7/10: Made a great impact coming off the bench. Made a last-ditch tackle to deny Qarabag’s effort to score a goal. 

Dejan Kulusevski 6/10: Whipped in a corner that resulted in Sarr’s goal

Rodrigo Bentancur: N/A

Timo Werner: N/A

Mikey Moore: N/A

Manager

Ange Postecoglou: 8/10: Was visibly upset with Dragusin’s early red card but he would be proud of the end result. Despite being vulnerable in the backlines, Postecoglou’s attacking tactics helped Spurs weather the storm.

Also Read: AS Roma vs Athletic Club Player Ratings: Aitor Paredes ruin the three-point hope of the host at Olimpico

Qarabag Player Ratings vs Qarabag

Goalkeeper

Mateus Kochalski: 4/10: Made a fine save against Kulusevski in the second half but apart from that, he was on the receiving end

Defenders

Elvin Cafarguliyev: 6/10: One of the bright spots from the Qarabag squad, Cafarguliyev created constant danger with his crossing and passing prowess but to no effect due to a toothless attack. He was also solid in duels.

Badavi Guseynov: 6/10 – Involved in 10 defensive actions, the second highest in the game, but couldn’t be on the winning side.

Bahlul Mustafazade: 5/10 – A decent performance as he delivered 5 accurate long balls and 3 passes into the final third.

Matheus Silva: 4/10 – Provided a dangerous cross but was squandered by Zoubir, but was a let-down defensively.

Midfielders

Patrick Andrade: 5/10: Won 6 duels and lost 6 as well. Also won 5 out of 6 tackles. 

Julio Romao: 5/10: The defensive midfielder was caught off guard by Solanke before setting up Johnson. Despite winning nine duels, he was hauled off in the middle of the second half as Qarabag sought attacking options

Yassine Benzia: 6/10 – As the team’s creative hub, Benzia created a game-high 4 chances and 13 passes into the final third, but was let down by a futile attack.

Attackers

Toral Bayramov: 3/10 – Missed two big chances and failed to take the numbers advantage

Abdellah Zoubir: 3/10 – Wasteful with his chances despite finding himself in the most promising situations. His experience was to no avail.

Juninho: 4/10 – Qarabag’s talisman but failed to rise to the occasion when needed. Was nowhere near his best and his positioning was awful, getting caught offside on a couple of occasions.

Substitutes

Marko Jankovic: N/A

Emmanuel Adai: N/A

Leandro Andrade: N/A

Abbas Huseynov: N/A

Manager

Gurban Gurbanov: 3/10 – Gurbanov must have fancied himself to make something out of this fixture after Tottenham went a man down but a poor performance from Qarabag’s attackers denied him a chance of creating an upset.

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