View: Ange ruthlessness pays off as Sky Sports pundit feels sorry for 100% Tottenham ace in EL

Ange Postecoglou had a ruthless decision to make for Tottenham Hotspur early on in their Europa League win over Qarabag as he withdrew Lucas Bergvall.

The 18-year-old will have been eager to continue his positive early impression for the club but was sacrificed 12 minutes into the European opener after Radu Dragusin had been sent off.

Bergvall was replaced by Destiny Udogie as the Australian was forced to shuffle his deck before Spurs went on to win 3-0, the call ultimately paying off.

Clinton Morrison was among those to admit his sympathy for him, stating live on Sky Sports [26 September, 20:51]: “I felt sorry for Bergvall. He’s 18, at a new club, gets his opportunity and has to go off.

“Being sacrificed doesn’t help him but he handled it very well.”

Postecoglou will likely have offered some comforting words to the young Swede, who stood out against Coventry City in his only previous start since arriving in the summer from Djurgarden.

Lucas Bergvall sees game cut short for Tottenham

Postecoglou’s experience shone through on Thursday night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, unfortunately at the expense of Bergvall who has learnt the hard way these moments come in a career.

Sofascore shows the midfielder had completed 100 per cent of his passes before Dragusin’s dismissal cost him his night’s work, continuing his consistency from his cameos in the Premier League in which he has maintained a 90 per cent passing accuracy – he has appeared in every game so far except the North London derby.

Fans were disappointed even when he was withdrawn shortly after the hour mark in the Carabao Cup win at Coventry, having shown some excellent actions as compiled by a fan on X [18 September]. In 62 minutes that night last week, he kept up an 87% passing ratio of his 31 attempts, making five ball recoveries and one vital interception [Fotmob].

It was James Maddison who replaced Bergvall that night and while Maddison is more direct (and far more experienced), the player comparison stats between the duo from FBRef show one notable factor.

Aside from Maddison’s far more games across his career and ultimately bigger impact, Bergvall does accumulate a superior combination of expected assists and goals with 0.61 per game to Maddison’s 0.47 when penalties aren’t included (0.49 when they are factored in).

The teenager is as likely as anybody on Postecoglou’s bench to play a part at Old Trafford on Sunday, as Spurs look to stick it to a suspect Manchester United side who faltered in Europe in the week.

Despite his disappointment with Thursday night’s events, Bergvall must remember the tremendous show of faith from Postecoglou he is already repaying – and it is a positive for the head coach, who sees his team start on a winning note in the Europa League.

In other Tottenham news, Bryan King takes aim at Daniel Levy after recent comments.

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