Our 3️⃣ points after Tottenham play out a six-goal thriller at LASK | OneFootball

Tottenham Hotspur are through to the last 32 of the Europa League following a 3-3 draw with LASK on Thursday.

Here’s our analysis of the action from Linzer Stadion …

Old habits die Hart

The first half of this game was so poor from Tottenham’s perspective that in the first 40 minutes, their only highlight was an excellent save from Joe Hart to deny LASK’s René Renner.

The way the goalkeeper came off his line to smother the chance was reminiscent of his performance for Manchester City against Barcelona back in 2015 when, after making a string of fine saves, Lionel Messi described him as a “phenomenon”.

But just minutes later Hart conceded a goal which brought one of his biggest flaws into sharp focus when he was beaten down to his left side for Peter Michori’s opening goal.

Those shots which bounce just in front of the goal are never easy to save, but Hart was far too slow to react and you have to say it was the kind of poor goalkeeping which has tarnished his reputation in recent years.

And if the first goal was a bad one to concede, the second was an absolute shocker, this time beating Hart down to his right side. A better goalkeeper would probably have kept the third one out, too.

The former England No1 undoubtedly backed himself to compete with Hugo Lloris when he joined Spurs this summer, but mistakes like this are probably why he will have to make do with being second choice for the rest of his career.

Bale left to rue poor final ball

Not that Hart was the only player to underwhelm in a Spurs shirt here and were it not for Son Heung-min and some penalty box stupidity from the LASK defenders, it might have been a different story.

It was Gareth Bale who converted a penalty to make it 1-1 on the stroke of half-time but the Welshman was quiet aside from that and still doesn’t quite appear to have regained his match sharpness.

This was perhaps best exemplified by a moment at 2-1 when Bale and Son both broke forward and looked sure to score a third goal, only for Bale’s poor pass to somehow evade Son with the goal gaping.

There were also disappointing performances from the likes of Matt Doherty, Davinson Sánchez and Lucas Moura. José Mourinho made all five of his substitutions in the second half, but none of his fringe players really staked a claim for a place in the starting XI anytime soon.

Except maybe Dele Alli, who nonchalantly Panenka’d a penalty not long after coming on. Imagine Mourinho’s reaction if he’d missed!

Job done … just about

Despite that late LASK equaliser, the Lilywhites are through to the knockout rounds and can seal top spot in their group by beating Antwerp next week.

The group stage has had its ups and downs so far and we’re on the edge of our seat waiting for Mourinho’s post-match Instagram post, but Spurs have to be considered one of the favourites to win the Europa League now.

Mourinho won it with Manchester United in 2017 but delivering a first piece of European silverware to Spurs in almost 40 years would be a much bigger achievement.

But first up is the small matter of the north London derby this weekend and after their exertions in Austria, José will know his side will have to be much better if they’re to maintain top spot in the Premier League this weekend.