LASK Linz coach Dominik Thalhammer was thrilled about the way his side ‘dominated’ Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur team in a 3-3 Europa League draw in Austria, as he told Kleine Zeitung.
If Mourinho was happy to seal his place in the knockout stages, his face didn’t show it. Then again, the Portuguese is not only a pragmatist but a perfectionist too.
Never one to hide his true feelings, Mourinho made sure to remind his players at full-time that far more was expected from a group of players who, despite conceding a brilliant last-gasp equaliser to Mamadou Karamoko, were fortunate to take even a point back to north London.
Two of Tottenham’s three goals came from contentious penalties while even Heung Min-Son’s tidy finish, set up by a fine Tanguy Ndombele through ball, originated from a LASK error.
The hosts, meanwhile, outshot the Premier League leaders 14 to eight and even hit the post early on. On another day, they would have had a famous victory to savour.
“I see it as extremely positive how we dominated the leaders of the Premier League. We did our job extremely well. They took advantage of their few situations (to score),” Thalhammer said.
“The performance was phenomenal, the tactical approach, how we dominated Tottenham. I’m very proud of the team.
“You have to stay focused for over 90 minutes against an opponent like that, they take advantage of every mistake. But we always come back after being twice behind.”
“We played an unbelievable game,” added Peter Michorl, the scorer of LASK’s first.
Mourinho believes only Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Heung-Min Son did themselves justice in Austria, with many of his fringe players missing an opportunity to stake their claim ahead of this weekend’s North London derby.
Davinson Sanchez had one of those nights (Spurs fans will undoubtedly know what we mean) while goalkeeper Joe Hart should have done better with LASK’s first and second strikes.
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