Tottenham 3-0 Qarabag: Ten-man Spurs start the Europa League season with a win

Postecoglou said before the game that the expanding football schedule was reaching a “dangerous level” and therefore used this as an opportunity to reshuffle his team, making six changes from the side that beat Brentford in the Premier League on Saturday.

He gave 18-year-olds Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray their second appearances at Spurs, but after Dragusin’s sending off, midfielder Bergvall had to be sacrificed while defender Destiny Udogie came on.

Swede Bergvall, who stopped Barcelona from joining Spurs in the summer, appeared lost on the bench as his opportunity to show Postecoglou why he should get more starts was missed.

However, there were many positives for Postecoglou.

Valuable minutes of action for his young players, a clean sheet despite only having ten players left and confidence-boosting goals for summer signing Solanke as well as Johnson, who reportedly deactivated his Instagram account due to criticism following his club’s derby defeat to Arsenal at the beginning this month.

But Spurs’ uncompromising attacking style often leaves them vulnerable to counterattacks.

Qarabag must have been wondering what else they had to do to score the goal as the profligate Juninho had a goal ruled out for offside, Bayramov went close several times and Vicario made a brilliant save to deny Cafarquliyev’s long-range shot.

The sight of Son hobbling off in the second half could also be a concern when Spurs face Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday before traveling to Hungary to face Ferencvaros next week.