Brennan Johnson’s prolific post-Instagram life goes on. Since deactivating his account, he has settled into a happy rhythm of a goal per game for Tottenham, performing like a one-man crusade against the ills of social media.
His fifth in five came from the bench in Budapest and proved to be the winner against Ferencvaros in the Europa League. Dejan Kulusevski created the space with a smart run and Johnson darted in from the right to find the bottom corner with another of those precision finishes which are fast becoming his trademark.
‘I never doubted he would make a massive impact for us and now he’s changing games for us,’ said Ange Postecoglou on Johnson. Pape Matar Sarr had opened the scoring in the first half although Spurs were grateful for Johnson’s goal, which doubled the lead before Barnabas Varga pulled one back for the Hungarian champions.
It produced a familiar frenetic finish but Tottenham were worth their victory and Postecoglou was rewarded for the courage to throw four teenagers into his team.
There was Archie Gray, who spent the first half in central defence before switching to left-back and was wonderfully composed and unruffled in both roles, and Lucas Bergvall, in midfield. There was Mikey Moore making his first start, initially wide on the right, and later on the left.
Brennan Johnson came off the bench to score for Tottenham for the fifth game in succession
A young Spurs side started the game, with Archie Gray, 18, lining up in various defensive areas
Mikey Moore (left), 17, and Will Lankshear (right), 18, made their first starts for the club
And making his debut up front was Will Lankshear, who missed an early chance, when he mistimed a header from a cross by Timo Werner and was unfortunate with a couple of opportunities in the second half.
Seventeen-year-old Moore flickered with promise. ‘I thought he was outstanding,’ said Postecoglou. ‘It’s brilliant for a 17-year-old to play 90-plus minutes in a European away tie.
‘It’s just his ability to deal with pressure and keeping the ball in really tight areas and making really good clean decisions for a young guy. He keeps his feet well, drives inside, takes man his man on.
‘He handled it brilliantly and I kind of knew he would. Mikey has shown something special, but we have to be careful how we develop that.’
Lankshear and Moore were involved in Sarr’s goal although the crux of it was terrible defending. Moore dribbled inside and flicked a pass towards Lankshear who battled with the centre-halves as they failed to clear the danger. Sarr pounced, darting forward to roll in his second goal of the Europa League campaign.
Until then, Spurs had lived dangerously on a slippery surface, which was soon cutting up underfoot after hours of relentless rain. Ferencvaros had opened with purpose and the home crowd were generating a raucous din.
Centre-forward Varga headed one chance over, Guglielmo Vicario saved from Adama Traore and Varga had a goal ruled out for offside. ‘I’m still guessing why,’ said Ferencvaros boss Pascal Jansen afterwards. ‘We have to trust the technology, but it was not to our advantage.’
The VAR took a long hard look. The flag went up but it was very tight. Eventually, the decision was ruled correct because when the digital lines were drawn, one of Varga’s knees was ruled a fraction offside.
In midfield was the highly-rated Lucas Bergvall, 18, started in midfield for the second European game in a row
Ange Postecoglou’s side now have six points from two games in the Europa League league phase
The game had earlier been delayed due to poor visibility after flares were thrown by home fans
Vicario made a fabulous save to foil Varga again before Spurs took the lead and took control until the interval. Pedro Porro almost made it two before the interval with a curling left footer against a post.
Still, without the second, the game remained in the balance. Vicario saved from Matheus Saldanha at one end and Lankshear twice went close at the other, first an effort which looped narrowly over from a Porro corner.
Then he was foiled by a last-ditch tackle. Werner wasted an excellent chance on the break, skipping around the keeper and hitting the side-netting from a tight angle.
Postecoglou sent on James Maddison, Johnson and Kulusevski to secure the game. Johnson rattled the bar before finding the net with his next effort and it helped Spurs make it two wins from two games in the Europa League.