Antonio Conte got off to a winning start in his new job as Spurs beat Vitesse Arnhem 3-2 in their fourth UEFA Conference League group game, in a match that also saw three red cards.
Appointed by Tottenham as their new manager on November 2, the Italian – wasted no time getting his ideas across to his new team. Spurs lined up in his preferred system against Vitesse Arnhem in the UEFA Europa Conference League, which meant a switch to three-at-the-back and two marauding wing-backs. However, it was Tottenham’s attacking trident of Harry Kane, Lucas Moura, and Son Heung-min that looked to have benefitted the most from the Italian’s arrival.
The South Korean put Spurs in front in the 14th minute after a move that saw both his attack partners denied from close range. After Moura’s shot was saved by goalkeeper Markus Schubert, and Kane was denied the opportunity to score from the rebound, Son fired in from a tight angle to give Spurs the lead.
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Kane then played Moura in for Spurs’ second in the 22nd minute with a defence-splitting pass. With just the goalkeeper to beat, the Brazilian kept his composure and picked a spot in the corner. Vitesse defender Jacob Rasmussen inadvertently put the ball past his goalkeeper while trying to prevent Kane, and Spurs were up 3-0 inside the first half-hour.
However, Rasmussen made amends almost immediately by firing in a header at the opposite end. Matus Bero made it 3-2 in the 39th minute after collecting a pass from Yann Gboho and putting it in the far corner from the left side of the box.
Spurs’ Cristian Romero saw a red card in the 59th minute for a second bookable offence. The Argentine pulled down Lois Openda just as he got goal-side of the defender and was about to race clear, leaving the referee with no choice but to brandish a second yellow.
Vitesse’s Danilo Doekhi received his marching orders in a remarkably similar fashion for a foul on Kane before Schubert was shown a straight red for a handball outside of the box.
