Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 Vitesse: 5 talking points as Antonio Conte era starts with win in crazy encounter | UEFA Europa Conference League 2021-22
Tottenham Hotspur overcame Vitesse in a pulsating 3-2 victory in a Europa Conference League game that saw three players sent off. Heung-min Son, Lucas Moura and an own goal from Jacob Rasmussen gave Spurs a 3-0 lead inside the opening half an hour of the match.
But Rasmussen (again) and Matus Bero scored soon after to cut the deficit to just one goal. Although the second half witnessed little to no goalmouth action, it was riddled with red cards, three in fact. Cristian Romero for Spurs and Danilho Doekhi and Markus Schubert all saw red.
Romero was the first to go off after receiving a second yellow in the 59th minute. Then Doekhi was given his marching orders for pulling down Harry Kane, before goalkeeper Schubert was guilty of a handball outside the area.
In the space of just four minutes, Vitesse were down to nine men with only six odd minutes of normal time left on the clock. With that, all their hopes of a comeback got squished.
Despite the win, Antonio Conte, overseeing his first Spurs game, was given plenty to ponder. On that note, here are the five key talking points from the game:
#5 Tottenham's lively attacking display undone by defensive frailties
During the opening 30 minutes, Tottenham were breathing fire. They cut open Vitesse like a knife through butter, and looked likely to score every time they drove forward.
While Kane and Son linked brilliantly up front, the real secret sauce were the full-backs. Emerson and Sergio Reguilon both offered great width from the wide areas.
Tottenham 3-2 Vitesse HT:
15': Son Heung-Min
22': Lucas Moura
28': Jacob Rasmussen (OG)
32': Jacob Rasmussen
39': Matus Bero
And there's still 45 minutes to come. 😍
#UECL https://t.co/MV3e0XBlPh
That worked wonders as Tottenham raced to a 3-0 lead inside the opening half hour of the match. The game was seemingly over as a contest, but Vitesse responded by scoring twice in the space of seven minutes.
Both goals were a result of some poor defensive play from the hosts. Their failure to clear a set-piece resulted in the first before Moura was caught out of possession for Vitesse's second.
#4 New Tottenham Hotspur manager, same Son
Son Heung-min was once again at the heart of Tottenham's victory. He got Spurs in front in the 14th minute by slamming home a loose ball off Moura's initial shot.
It marked the first goal of the Conte era as Son continued his trend of scoring first under a new Spurs manager for the third consecutive time. He had opened the Jose Mourinho and Nuno Santo eras at Tottenham too with a strike.
3 - Son Heung-min has now scored Tottenham's first goal under each of their last three permanent managers (Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte). Induction. https://t.co/HiSlI2AuAL
Son just loves to herald a new manager at Spurs. Conte would hope he lasts longer at Tottenham than his two predecessors.