The central challenge of Tottenham’s Europa League campaign has been to step onto the pitch and become a different team. To transform themselves from the side who has lost more than half of their league games into something else. To show different sides to their game, qualities that we do not see from them most weekends.
That was how they got past AZ Alkmaar, staying calm after a disastrous first leg to overcome them here in the second. That was how they got past Eintracht Frankfurt, producing a mature, canny defensive performance in Germany to make it through to the semi-finals. And that was what we saw again from Spurs for most of this first leg against Bodo/Glimt.
This was the biggest game Spurs have played since the 2019 Champions League final. It was about not only the Europa League, Bilbao and the prospect of a trophy, but the whole historical memory of the Ange Postecoglou era. His legacy will be defined by these two games and the final, should they get there. It felt as if the crowd and the players understood the weighty stakes.
What made this performance so impressive was that Spurs showed us strengths that they have kept under wraps for so much of this year. They did not simply throw everything at Bodo/Glimt, to try to blow them away with attacking football, leaving themselves vulnerable in the process. Instead we got a more clever, measured Spurs display. It felt like a tactical plan tailored to this game and this opponent. That is not something we see every week.
This was a Tottenham performance built on experience, intelligence and power. The traits Postecoglou kept proudly pointing to afterwards were Spurs’ discipline and organisation. You could see it in the team selection. Lucas Bergvall went down with an ankle injury in training. Postecoglou did not turn to Pape Matar Sarr or Dejan Kulusevski, but to Yves Bissouma. And the 28-year-old repaid all that trust in full, giving his best performance of the season, sitting alongside Rodrigo Bentancur and shutting down almost every single Bodo/Glimt attack. It made you wonder where this Bissouma has been all season.
Yves Bissouma was back on form for Tottenham (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
Postecoglou had another choice to make on the left hand side. He could have gone for Mathys Tel, who had started the last four straight games on the left. Or Wilson Odobert, their best one-vs-one winger. But rather than either of the 20-year-olds, he went for the relative veteran, 27-year-old Richarlison. It was his first start out wide for Spurs since October 2023. He was here to use his physical power in the box. It only took him 38 seconds to win the far-post header to help Brennan Johnson score the opening goal.
Throughout that first half Tottenham were happy to play a game you might not always associate with them. They were calm enough to wait when Bodo/Glimt had the ball, confident that Bissouma and Bentancur gave their defence protection. When Spurs won it they moved the ball forward quickly, knowing that Richarlison and Dominic Solanke had the physical edge over their opponents. James Maddison was always willing to run beyond, and he was threatening even before he scored Spurs’ second goal. All of the intricate but blunt possession football was being played by the visitors. Tottenham were here to go direct.
After Solanke put Tottenham 3-0 up, the tie was in their hands. The frustrating thing was that they were unable to push even further. Richarlison was taken off at half-time, then Maddison and Solanke were taken off after feeling knee and quad twinges respectively. All of a sudden Spurs had lost that physical edge in the final third. They had plenty of speed on the pitch, but not the players who could hold onto the ball and slow the game down. When Ulrik Saltnes pulled one back for Bodo/Glimt, he changed the feel of the tie. A very good night was suddenly merely a good one. A tie that was almost won is now a tie that must be won all over again.
Postecoglou was still bullish afterwards. He argued that if Spurs play next Thursday like they did here, that should be enough. Tottenham do at least now have a method, a benchmark, a way of playing in games like this. Last month they went to Frankfurt, came up with new gameplan and won a game where they had been written off. Replicate that in Bodo, that same intelligence, patience and nous, and they will keep the door shut on their hosts.
Ange Postecoglou’s tactics worked a treat against Bodo/Glimt (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
Anyone can make a plausible case against Spurs doing it. They will be further out of their comfort zone than ever before, on an artificial pitch in the Arctic circle, against a team who are almost unstoppable at home. Tottenham have limped from league defeat to league defeat this season, and even in Frankfurt they conceded enough big chances to get knocked out.
The last time they played on an artificial pitch they needed extra time to beat Tamworth. The last time they had a two-goal first leg lead in a European knock-out tie, against Dinamo Zagreb in the Europa League quarters four years ago, they froze in Croatia, lost 3-0 and were knocked out. Jose Mourinho only lasted a few more weeks. If you want negative omens you have plenty to choose from.
And yet despite all of that, this is a European campaign that now deserves to be judged on its own terms. This was Spurs’ 13th Europa League game this season. They have not always been brilliant but they have always found a different side, a different strength, right at the moments they most needed it. They have relished the freedom of travelling light, leaving their domestic baggage behind. They have always found a way through.
Their path from Bodo to Bilbao is clearly lit up in front of them. It will be hard, harder than it should have been, but they are still in front. One more night like this will do it.
(Top photo: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)