SO EUROPEY
Spurs stars on a slippery slope
JOSE MOURINHO accused some of his Spurs stars of believing themselves to be too big for last night’s clash.
They performed that way too, outplayed in the first half by a LASK side second in the Austrian league.
This was Spursy Spurs. Shocking Spurs. A throwback to the old days of the slap- dash attitude that saw the north Londoners throw away games they were nailed on to win.
On paper – even with a string of fringe players in the side – they were good enough to have wiped out their hosts.
On the pitch Tottenham were lucky to escape with a point after leaving it until the second half to get their act together.
Manchester United fans will bristle at his comparisons with the egos at Old Trafford but the struggles of that expensively assembled squad under Ole
Gunnar Solskjaer perhaps underlines Mourinho’s point.
The Spurs boss will hammer that out of his current side for sure as he seeks to change the attitude that for so long has been at the root of their inconsistency.
Only midfielder Pierre- Emile Hojbjerg and forward Heungmin Son were spared criticism and rightly so. The rest were much of a muchness.
If Mourinho and Spurs go on to win the trophy next summer, nobody will remember nights like this. But the players who were passengers here will not be forgotten when the time comes to trade up in the transfer windows both in January and next summer.
Peter Michorl lashed LASK into the lead from outside the box in the 42nd minute. Joe Hart could have done better, despite the ball bouncing just in front of him.
Gareth Bale equalised from the spot with the last kick of the first half after defender Andres Andrade bundled Steven Bergwijn over in the box.
Son then sent Spurs ahead 11 minutes after the restart. Sent clear of the defence, he smashed a diagonal effort into the bottom corner.
But after Bale squandered a sitter by squaring the ball to Son with ith the goal at his merc mercy si six minutes later, Johannes Eggestein levelled with six minutes left.
Again, Hart was at fault, failing to get a strong enough arm to a shot from outside the box.
In the 87th minute Spurs were back in front again. This time Bergwijn was brought down. Dele Alli, fresh off the bench, chipped the penalty home.
But Mamoudou Karamoko curled home a last- gasp leveller.
Lask deserved the point. Spurs did not.
LASK ( 3- 4- 3): Schlager 5, Wiesinger 5, Holland 5, Andrade 5, Ranftl 6, Madsen 6, Michorl 7, Renner 6, Gruber 6 ( Reiter 69, 6), Eggestein 7, Goiginger 7 ( Karamoko 69, 8).
SPURS ( 4- 3- 3): Hart 4, Doherty 5, Tanganga 5, Sanchez 5, Davies 6, Hojberg 6, Lo Celso 6 ( Dier 72), Ndombele 6 ( Bergwijn 65, 6), Moura 6 ( Sissoko, 65, 6), SON 9 ( Alli 82), Bale 7 ( Aurier 82).
Referee: Pawel Raczkowski ( Poland) 6.